Tutorial: hanging book display

ATTENTION: IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN POSTING A LINK TO THIS TUTORIAL ON YOUR BLOG OR WEBSITE--AWESOME! THANKS SO MUCH. I'M FLATTERED. YOU HAVE MY PERMISSION TO USE ONE OF THE PHOTOS HERE, AS LONG AS IT IS ACCOMPANIED WITH A LINK TO THIS PAGE. BUT PLEASE DON'T COPY THE TEXT AND POST THE ENTIRE TUTORIAL ON YOUR OWN SITE. THANKS. HAPPY SEWING AND BLOGGING!

 

 If you're here just for the book sling tutorial, skip this intro and scroll down a bit. It begins with the bolded word "tools."

My tutorial on making a hanging book display for kiddos is up on Ohdeedoh now. 

Again, this is my entry in the Apartment Therapy February Jump-Start contest, which called out for small home projects that can be completed in a weekend or two. The person with the most "thumbs up" in each category (kids, kitchen, general home, office/high tech, and green ... am I missing one?) win a $250 gift certificate to Etsy. Heaven, huh?

You can look at all the other entries here, and if you want to know who I'm up against just look at the projects in the Ohdeedoh column. Even if I don't win, there are some inspiring ideas there worth bookmarking for later.

FYI--If you're not familiar with Apartment Therapy, it is the umbrella site for several more focused sites, like Re-Nest (green topics),The Kitchen (cooking/kitchen topics) and Ohdeedoh (babies and kids design and parenting issues).

I'd been meaning to make something like this book display for Bo for a while, and the contest truly inspired me to get off my duff. Nothing like a prize to really get me going, I guess. 

So if you like my project, please head on over to Ohdeedoh and click on "thumbs up" to support it. Thanks!

Here are the directions with a few more photos than I was able to submit to Ohdeedoh.

 

Tools:
-A 47-inch by 42-inch piece of fabric (I used Amy Butler's daisy bouquet). (When you're buying the fabric, ask for 1 1/3 yard, then wash and dry it before cutting it to 47" x 42". It will shrink a bit.)

-Two double curtain rod brackets. I bought mine for about $5 each at Lowes.

-Two, 4-foot long wooden dowels or curtain rods that fit into the brackets. Shouldn't cost more than $3 each.

Drill and drill bits 

-Level 

-Stud finder 

-Pencil 

-General sewing supplies, like a sewing machine, thread and scissors 

-Optional: paint, paintbrush and sandpaper (options 1 and 2) and wooden balls or other end caps for the dowels (option 3).

Steps:
We’re bonkers for books at our house, but allowing our 3-year-old daughter to choose her own every night before bedtime can be a lesson in patience. She’s a dilly dallier as it is, but what makes it harder is that her bookcase, like most bookcases, only displays the spines of the books. Since she can’t read the book titles, she pulls every book off the shelf until she recognizes the cover art of the one she wants. 

I made this hanging book display to help solve that problem. It’s modeled after school-grade book display cases that show the fronts of books, and hopefully will make choosing a bedtime book easier (and faster!). 

Instructions: 

-Fold the fabric lengthwise, with right sides facing, so you are working with a double thickness rectangle that is 47 inches by 21 inches. 

-Using a 1/2-inch seam, sew the fabric together around one of the short sides, the long side and about half-way down the other short side. 

-Turn the fabric right side out through the opening, poking out the corners with a turning tool (a pencil will do—just don’t poke all the way through). 

-Sew the opening shut by folding the raw edges toward each other, then top stitching down that short end of the rectangle. 

-Now you’ll need to sew casings for the dowels on the two long ends of the rectangle. Working with one side at a time, fold the long end over so it overlaps by 2 inches. Pin, then stitch all the way down the length of the fabric. Repeat on the other long side.

-It’s time to hang the hardware on the wall. Locate two studs 47 inches apart on the wall where you want to hang the book holder. (Note: my studs were four feet apart. It’s not a bad idea to find your studs before you start the project and make a book sling that aligns with your studs. Or just use those little plastic things they sell to hold screws in the wall. The bracket packages I buy come with them.) 

-Using a level, mark the locations where you'll need to drill lightly with a pencil, then drill the holes for the screws. 

-Screw the brackets onto the wall. Hang the fabric on the dowels, then insert the dowels into the brackets. The brackets should come with tiny screws that tighten onto the dowels, holding them in place. 

-Load with books. If you screwed the hardware into studs your book holder should be able to handle a good amount of weight, but don’t go too crazy. 

-Option 1: Before getting started, you could paint the ends of your dowels a color that matches the décor of the room or the fabric. 

-Option 2: If you don’t like the color of the brackets, you could paint that, too, with a paint that adheres to metal. Sand the metal first so the paint has something to grab onto. 

Option 3: In addition to or in place of the tiny screws that hold the dowels in place, you could cap off the ends of the dowels with a cute wooden ball or some clever object. I plan to do this but haven’t found the right thing yet. 

Option 4: The brackets don’t jut out very far at all, but if you’re worried about someone bonking their head, sew slipcovers for them with a little padding inside. 

Option 5: If you have enough wall space, make four or five of these and install them above one another. It could be cute to make a rainbow-like display—red patterned fabric for the top one, orange for the next, then yellow, blue, green, and purple.

 

Update:

Option 6: Make the sling reversible, sew a pocket on the front for holding little treasures or applique an animal shape, alphabet letter, etc. Here are some of the slings I've made since I first wrote this tutorial:

 

This one was made for Finn, the son of Meg from Sew Liberated:

 

And here are some slings I've seen on blogs after folks followed my tutorial ...   

By My Life is Written on an Etch-a-Sketch:

By Kunz Family:

By Little Dash:

Melanie's double book slings for her office/nursery, featured on Ohdeedoh:

 

These alphabet book slings were made by reader Angela Chevalier:

This book sling was made by Sarah over at Trixie's Table:

 

I know I've seen others out there, so please drop me a line and attach a photo or a link to your blog. I'd love to add more book sling pictures here. ([email protected])

Comments

[Liv]

This is the most fantastic idea. We are off to start collecting supplies.

[Susannah]

I am so excited to try this! I've already dragged my handy husband over here to show him the 'hardware' supplies.
So wonderful Megan!

Zana

[farrah]

this is it! the book display option I've been waiting for! love your blog... can't wait to try it out... and of course I'll give you a thumbs up on ohdeedoh...

[Astrid]

I love this! We may go ahead and use this for one of the girls' rooms! Thanks for sharing! :)

[Megan]

Thanks so much, guys. I'm tickled that you like it and that you might even make one of your own. Please send me photos if you do! I'd love to post them here.
Happy Friday, everyone.

[Nis]

This ROCKS, Mimi! You are getting all kinds of "thumbs up" on ohdeedoh...how fun! :)

[Megan]

Thanks, Nis! I'm shocked by all the "thumbs ups." They will announce the winners on Monday. Wish me luck!

[Stacy of KSW]

Wow, how great of an idea is this? So glad I found you through a new to me site (wists). Going to tweet about this great project now. LOVE IT!!

Stacy of KSW
http://www.kidsstuffworld.com

[Mariah Neeson]

I love this! I will be trying to make one myself. It is simple and elegant and oh so practical. I gave you a thumbs up and saw that you are kicking butt over there. I checked out a bunch and you are way above the rest! You might be enjoying that Etsy gift yet!!

[Megan]

I'm a little late in responding, Stacy and Mariah, but thank you all the same!

[Juliana]

wow! arn't you awesome?! I am so making one of these for both my kids (since my 6yrold is on a bunk bed it would help alot) and maybe one for my sewing area too! you rock and then some!

[Megan]

Thanks, Juliana! I've received a couple of e-mails from people who have made their own. I'm going to post the photos soon. If you end up making one, please let me know.

[nicole spring]

oh i must make this! thank you!!

[Lorilee]

FABULOUS! I am so gonna do this! Thank you for your brilliance!

[Abby]

thanx for this fantastic tut. WE finally got around to it today!! My 2 yo loves it.

[Megan]

Thanks so much, guys. Abby--your book sling looks great! I'm so flattered when I find out someone has made one.

[Jess]

AH! THIS is genius! LOVE it! Thank you so very much. Wonderful job!

[Debra]

I finally got around to making this! It is such a great project. Photos and link back to here are on my blog!

[Megan]

It looks great, Debra! Well done. Thanks for your kind words about my tutorial.

Thanks, Jess!

[shawnee]

Awesmist idea ever!!! I love it thank yo so much!

[Leandre Waldo-Johnson]

I LOVE this tutorial! I am making several of these today. Quick question, what is the final depth of yours? I have one child who is still reading board books, so I want mine to be shallow enough for those to be visible...thinking of making one more shallow than the other. I would love to know what size yours came out; from the measurements it looks like it is probably 6.5"? Thanks!

[Ashlie]

I made 3 of these tonight. I love them! Just waiting for hubby to come home tomorrow so he can hang them. Thanks for the tutorial. :)

[Megan]

How great, Ashlie! Three of them! Please send me a link to photos once you hang them. One of these days I'm going to write a roundup of all the book slings that are out there.

[Mary Beth]

Making this today for my daughter's room! We need a bedtime book solution!! Thank you!

[Megan]

Thanks, Mary Beth. Let me know how it turned out!

[pinka]

OWWWWWW. This is real smart!

[Jessica]

Thank you so much for the tutorial. I saw the bookslings mentioned on Sew Liberated's blog but was dismayed to find your etsy shop closed. I think this will be a perfect solution for all my kids' rooms!

[Megan]

Oh good, Jessica. I'm glad you found it. I should probably remind folks of that tutorial in an upcoming post. I'm just taking a break from the shop--pulled in too many different directions right now and something had to give. I'll open it back up by January, I'm sure.

[Holly]

Ooh, this is so great! I saw Meg's on SewLiberated and came over to find out how to make my own - we're swimming in books! Thanks for taking the time to make the how-to.

[Jessica]

This is genius! I can't wait to make one.

[Jill]

Wow! Followed over here from oneprettything.com - love your idea and will have to incorporate it into my ds's bedroom!!!

[CitricSugar]

This is fantastic - what a great idea!!

[beccy ridsdel]

I love this! Never mind kiddiwinks, I'm making one of these for me :)

[Megan]

Aw, thanks so much guys. Send me pictures if you end up making it. I'd love to post them here on Penny Carnival.

[Andrea @ The Train To Crazy]

I LOVE these. I've been trying to figure out how to do something like this simply and now I can stop trying to figure it out! I'm definitely going to be making a few of these!

[Lenetta @ Nettacow]

Oh, so THIS is how to keep the daily pulling down of every single book on the shelf from happening! :>) Linked on my weekly roundup - post is under my name. Thanks!!

[Jedda]

BEAUTIFUL! We love books and are out of bookshelf room-a great solution!

[Suelly Christiansen]

I really like the book sling, however I really really love the chicken on the wall. how did you do that?

[Megan]

Thanks, Suelly! The rooster (or chicken or whatever shape you want) is really easy to make. Here's my tutorial:
http://pennycarnival.typepad.com/penny_carnival/2008/06/ohdeedoh-yodela.html

Thanks for all these other nice comments, too, guys. Please send me photos of your book slings when you're done. I'd love to post them on the blog.

[Account Deleted]

this is a great tutorial.. thank you!

[Megan]

Thank YOU, Deena. You're very welcome.

[Sherryl]

THANK YOU SO MUCH for this tutorial. I got a sewing machine for Christmas and this was my first project (never sewed before)... I made this for my daughter's playroom and your directions were so easy to follow and it turned out GREAT. We LOVE it! I have a slideshow in my blog if you'd like to see it...

[Megan]

Thanks so much, Sherryl! I'm totally flattered that this was the first sewing project you made and I'm glad to hear that the directions made sense. It came out great! What is that fabric?

What an adorable playroom for your beautiful daughter. Happy reading.

[Ashlee]

I just love this!! I'm definitely going to be doing this for my daughters room!

[Fauryn78]

I love when people share the wealth of a great idea!!! Thank you!!!

[Megan]

Thanks, Ashlee and Fauryn! Please send me pictures when you're done. [email protected]

[Tmar]

Oh, I love this idea so very much! Pretty genius!

[Alexa]

They look fantastic ;o) I'm going to make some for the play room and will also make one for the teddies that we only have a thousand of ;o) Of course I'll have to get brackets that are wider so maybe the ones for three rods would do. And maybe sew a matching/contrasting finial for it.
I'm thinking maybe rocket theme or flowers or...
now you've done it, I'm hooked!
Thanks a million Alexa

[Natalie]

Oh my goodness! I LOVE these! What a great idea. I will be sharing this idea over at endlesscrafting.blogspot.com

[Liz Rose]

I love these Book Slings, and am definetley making one for my boys, I can't seem to find the double brackets over here(Uk) any suggestions on what they are called over here?? Or whaere I can find them??

[Stcoletterc]

I've seen something similar to this on a stand that had several different levels, but I definitely like this better!! I have a toddler who loves to climb. We recently caught him standing on the window seal which is about 3 1/2 feet off the floor. He had climbed up his changing table to get there. He has tons of books and we've been debating putting a bookshelf in there for fear he would climb up it and a) pull it over on himself or b) fall off of it. This is definitely a great idea!! I plan on making several!

[Samantha Barris]

WOW, I was looking for instructions on the free standing one Ive seen, but this is so much better and super decrative!! I love it and will be making some for the kids playroom and each of their bedrooms!! Thanks so for sharing!

[Toni Turbeville]

FYI I featured your post on the Reading Roundup at Toni's Treehouse today! (http://www.TonisTreehouse.com or direct link http://toniturbeville.typepad.com/tonis_treehouse/2010/06/reading-roundup-best-links-of-the-week.html.html)

[Adrienne]

I love this idea! I have bought the fabric and rods, but can not find the double brackets any where. I have looked on-line(extensively), went to home depot, annas linens, walmart, target, hobby lobby and lowes. Any suggestions?

[Lisa]

Very cute! I am re-doing my childrens bedroom and these just might show up in there. Or....maybe they'll show up in my sewing studio! Great tutorial - thanks for sharing it with the world!

[Yarnyoga]

Thanks so much for the great tutorial! I posted mine here: http://yarnyoga.com/blog/?p=709

[vanessa @ silly eagle books]

I finally made mine! You can see them here: http://www.sillyeaglebooks.com/2010/07/reading-corners-for-kids-how-to-make.html

Thanks again for the great tutorial! I love how they turned out. :)

[sewsara]

brilliant idea ... great tutorial ... thank you!

[Janimal]

I just love this. These would be great for our playroom. Thanks so much!

[Aimee]

This is such a clever idea! I had to share it. I featured you: http://sprik.blogspot.com/2010/08/brief-bits_05.html

[Meg]

I just featured this on my blog! I'd love it if you could come and grab and "I've been featured" button! Thanks for such a great inspirational project!
http://alittleknickknack.blogspot.com/2010/08/someday-ill-have-time-to-do.html

[Tara @ Feels Like Home]

Just saw your project in Family Fun magazine, and I love it! We're redoing my daughter's room right now (painting the walls hot pink) and I think I may make a couple of these in varying shades of pink. Or maybe I'll use some Amy Butler fabric from my stash. I can't wait to get started. I love the project!

[Carrie @ Oh Baby Oc]

Mine can be found here:
http://ohbabyo.wordpress.com/2010/08/23/for-the-birthday-book-worm/
Thanks so much for the great tutorial!

[Megan]

I love all your wonderful comments and seeing the pictures of your beautiful book slings! Thank you, thank you! I'm sorry that it has taken me so long to respond, but in answer to the question about where to find brackets:
I buy my double brackets at Lowe's home improvement store. The only other place I've seen double brackets is at Target, but they've been discontinued. If you still have trouble finding them, let me know. I can buy a bunch and list them in my etsy shop.

[S Conger]

These are so awesome, Follow the instructions to a tee cause I got a bit less fabric and they were a bit small. Plus got to Menards or Hardware store for the Wooden Dowels cause Walmart and Craft store only have 3 feet long ones not 4ft. Lowes was the only place I was able to find the double brackets and they were only $5 each.

[Krystal]

What fantastic idea! I've been looking for something to do with my boys' room that would allow them to put books away neatly. Thanks!

[sierak nicole(france et soudan )]

trés bonne idée ,je confectionne cet ouvrage tout de suite pour les jumeaux de ma fille !

[sara]

This is the best idea!! I have 6-yr-old twin girls in bunkbeds; every time I change their sheets I find SO many books hiding in their beds. I am going to make one of these for each bunk; it'll be just perfect. Thank you!

[Sofia]

Thank you so much for this tutorial. I made one for my son's room.
Here is the link to photos:

http://www.sofiasworld.org/2010/09/kids-hanging-book-display.html

Sofia,x

[Kelly M]

Love this! Posted on our blog today. We're beginner sewers trying to figure out what we're doing :)

http://www.mommyscraftymisadventures.blogspot.com

[Kristina]

Love this. I am going to make my son one soon.

[Shannon]

I made one of these without sewing. I used iron-on hem tape instead. Thanks so much for this idea. The kids LOVE it!

http://yellowfence.blogspot.com/2010/12/no-sew-book-sling.html

[Amy K]

I'm so glad I found this! I've wanted book slings forever but just couldn't bear to pay for the pricey ones. Fantastic idea that uses the vertical wall space so often neglected. Thank you!!!

[angie]

This is such a fabulous idea. You have NAILED the execution, and judging by all the photos, really inspired a lot of people. I LOVE this book display.

[Greta]

I love these! I made two ..just need hubbys help putting them up! I plan on making some for my daughters room and for our living room! We ran out of space to store all of our books years ago! LOL We LOVE TO READ! Thank you so very much for sharing!

[Onyx]

My fiance and I just started planning/working on our nursery, and I've had this page book marked for ages now. This has been a "must-make" on our list, and we began picking up supplies to get started! Can't wait. Linked your page on our blog for others to check out, too. :) Thank you so much for this tutorial!!!

[megan]

totally love the idea, gonna give this a try... hope i can find the right fabric to go with my little man's bedroom. thanks for sharing with us!

[Lindsay Carlson]

Just an FYI-
IKEA sells the "double-rod-holders" (2 pack) for $3.99, rods not included.
Lowe's are similar, but they're $4.99 each- what a ripoff!

[Rebecca]

Where to you find the brackets alone? I've only seen them in the rod sets????

thanks!

[Michelle Breum]

Awesome! I've never seen anything like this. I'm not super crafty. I do know how to sew. This is worth the work. Thanks for sharing this.

[Kimberly]

Oh my gosh! Absolutely fabulous! I must try this. (And what beautiful fabric is used!)

[kirsten]

My mom made three of these for my children for Christmas! thank you! I'll link right to the post...

[Donella]

Thnaks so much.
I made one last night for my daughters room.

[ashley @ pure + lovely]

BRILLIANT. saving this one for later!

[Courtney @ The Cozy Home]

I just wanted to let you know that I've featured this post on my blog. I'm super excited to try this project very soon!

Courtney
http://thecozyhome.blogspot.com

[Kiki]

Thank you so much for sharing this. I just post the one we made following your tutorial on my blog: http://chriskiki.blogspot.com/2011/02/hanging-book-display.html

[Charity]

http://gallery.projectnursery.com/projects/865-Baby-C-s-Nursery

credit where credit was due!! Thank you for the inspiration - freaking LOVE it!!!

[Brigitte75]

Superbes idée et réalisations!! bravo, quel succès!!

[heather]

i love this! thank you!!

[Andrea]

Thanks for the tutorial! I posted about it today on my blog
http://www.thetraintocrazy.com/2011/03/book-sling-a-good-idea-kind-of.html

[Kathleen Field]

Adorable! What a clever idea, and adaptable to all kinds of styles and sizes. Love it!

[JonFen]

Those look great!

My only concern is small board books. I have a number of those and it looks like the fit might be tight between the rods.

If the book did fit in there, would it fall to the bottom and then be difficult to get a hand in there to get it out?

[Kate P]

Made up one of your book slings a while back - love this idea! Blogged at:
http://betweenthetoys.blogspot.com/2011/04/hanging-book-sling.html

Kate

[Paula @ JC's Loft]

Absolutely love this idea. Featured it on my blog: http://www.jcsloft.com/2011/05/book-sling.html

Thanks,

Paula

[Robin]

This is AWESOME!!! We made one this weekend-- super quick and easy and it was exactly what we needed. I've posted it on my blog:

http://crafty-musings.blogspot.com/2011/05/book-sling.html

Thank you so much for the tutorial!!!

[Jaspenelle]

Just made a couple of these today, redoing my kids room in a space theme. Such a great tutorial!

Ours: http://www.paganites.com/2011/mommy-monday-hanging-book-display/

[Julie]

OMGoodness! This is so fantastic! I'm in the process of redoing my 3 girls' rooms and was just thinking about getting the book rack from PBK for their books. I don't have a lot of space to work with and this seemed to work for me, but I was cringing at the price tag and I would need 3 of these! I can easily make this book sling and it will save me oodles of money! Thank you so much!

[Emily @ ReMarkable Home]

I have seen these before and have considered making them but was afriad my boys would rip them out of the wall on accident. How sturdy are they?

[Mom Photographer]

wow!!! you rock with this project!!! just love it!!!

[CrazyHomeCrafter]

OMG I love this!!
My hubby does not want to buy book cases.
I might have to put a bunch of these up around the house