Nifty Ribbon & Button No Slip Bookmark

This is one of my favorite things I’ve made ALL year! Okay, okay…the year hasn’t been that long, but still…I love this bookmark. If you’re anything like me, you’re constantly loosing regular bookmarks…if you still read old school, non-e-reader style books like this hold-out girl. So…I have a solution. Here’s a great, custom way of marking your page which is pretty and won’t fall out or get lost. And…it’s super easy to make. You can even make one if you don’t have a sewing machine, by hand stitching that is.

Here’s what you’ll need.

Ribbon

Hair elastic

Button

Scissors

Tape measure

Sewing pin

Thread

Step 1: Measure how long you want your bookmark to be. I cut mine at 17 inches and the finished piece is 14 1/2 inches from sewn area to the button. This size is good for medium to regular sized books, but for large books or small paperbacks you will want to measure for their specific size.

Step 2: Fold one edge of ribbon down to prepare for sewing. If your ribbon tends to fray, you may want to fold it twice.

Step 3: Add hair elastic, fold over and pin.

Step 4: Sew a straight or zig zag stitch along the ribbon fold. If you don’t have a sewing machine, you can sew this by hand. If you do sew it by hand, make sure to stitch the area twice to reinforce it.

Step 5: Measure from the folded, sewn area to where you want your button and sew button in place. Optional - Gather fabric behind button and hand-stitch it together for a finished look. The solid brown one attached to a book below shows it without a gather. Also, if your ribbon tends to fray, you will want to finish the edges of the ribbon.

And presto…pretty nifty ribbon bookmarks that won’t slip or mysteriously get lost, unless they’re not attached to a book and you miss-place them…but that’s a whole other story