You notice something special about a handmade journal before you even open it. The cover is the first thing you see, touch, and connect to. Choosing the right material can completely change how a finished book feels.
We love experimenting with Lokta paper, cotton fabrics, book cloth, and other tactile materials. But not every beautiful paper or fabric makes a good book cover. Some handle glue perfectly, while others wrinkle, stretch, or become difficult to work with.
Choosing your cover material doesn't have to be complicated. Here's what we've learned about the materials that are easiest to work with, what to watch out for, and where to find them.
What Makes a Good Journal Cover Material?
For a handmade journal cover, you're looking for a material that is:
- Strong enough to withstand handling
- Flexible enough to fold around the edges of your boards
- Stable when exposed to moisture from glue
- Thick enough to hide the texture of the board underneath
- Easy to smooth without stretching or wrinkling
This is especially important when you're using PVA glue. PVA is water-based, so the material you're covering will interact with moisture as the glue dries. A material that absorbs too much moisture or stretches easily can develop wrinkles, bubbles, or uneven areas.
For beginners, mid-weight Lokta paper and properly prepared book cloth are two of the most forgiving options. Our long-stitch tutorial specifically recommends mid-weight Lokta as a beginner-friendly cover material.
Lokta Paper: Our Favorite Beginner-Friendly Paper
If you've never covered a journal before, Lokta is a great place to start.
Lokta is a handmade paper made from the long fibers of the Lokta plant native to Nepal. These long fibers give it more strength than you might expect from a relatively lightweight paper. Hollander's describes its Lokta as approximately 105 gsm, acid-free, tree-free, and highly suitable for bookbinding.
It also has that handmade quality we love: natural variation, beautiful colors, and deckled edges that make every sheet feel uniquely theirs.
We recommend mid-weight Lokta as one of the most forgiving cover materials for beginners, but make sure to ensure the edges of your paper are an even thickness to the rest of the material.
Why we love Lokta
Lokta is especially nice for:
- Decorative covers
- Colorful or patterned journals
- Projects where you want the cover material to remain part of the visual design
It is also relatively easy to cut, fold, and glue compared with very thin decorative papers.
One important note
Not all Lokta is the same. Very lightweight papers are more delicate and can be more difficult to handle with wet adhesive. When you're making a cover, look for a mid-weight sheet rather than tissue-thin Lokta.
And remember: even strong paper can buckle if you apply too much glue.
100% Cotton Fabric: Beautiful, But Choose Carefully
Fabric gives journals a completely different personality. It can make a book feel soft, warm, colorful, and completly your own, but fabric selection matters.
Not all cotton fabric behaves the same way when you add PVA.
For a beginner, we recommend looking for medium-weight, tightly woven 100% cotton. You want a fabric with enough structure to hold its shape when glue is applied.
Fabrics that tend to work well
Prepared cotton book cloth
This is the easiest fabric option for a beginner, but can sometimes be hard to find at traditional craft stores. Book cloth is designed specifically for book covers and is backed with thin paper, plastic, or treated to make it more stable.
Medium weight 100% cotton
A sturdy, tightly woven cotton can also work great when properly tested. Heavier fabrics tend to be less prone to stretching and wrinkling than very lightweight fabrics.
Cotton canvas
These have enough body to hold their shape and can create a wonderfully tactile journal cover. They can be a little more challenging to fold around small covers and tight corners, so they're often better for larger journals.
Fabrics we're cautious about
Very thin cottons can absorb glue quickly and become floppy, stretched, or wrinkled.
Loose-weave fabrics can allow glue to soak through unevenly and may be difficult to smooth without leaving visible glue streaks.
Very lightweight synthetic fabrics can be particularly frustrating. They may stretch, shift, resist glue, or create hard-to-remove bubbles under the surface.
Shiny or slippery synthetics might look beautiful at the fabric store, but that doesn't necessarily mean they'll make a good book cover. Check the back of the fabric to see if there is a more textured backing for glue to adhere to before buying.
This doesn't mean you can't experiment with them. It just means they're better saved for when you've gotten comfortable with the process.
Book Cloth: The Easy Start
If you love the look of fabric but don't want to fight with raw fabric, book cloth is a great option.
Commercial book cloth is specifically made for bookbinding and comes in paper-backed and starched varieties. Hollander's carries a large selection of book cloth, including 100% cotton options.
For example, TALAS's Kennett Bookcloth is 100% cotton with a starch coating and is specifically designed for book fabrication. Their Cialinen is another 100% cotton option with a paper backing, designed for subtle variation and texture.
The backing or treatment adds stability, making it easier to apply without fighting wrinkles.
What About Synthetic Fabric?
We love experimenting, so we're not going to tell you never to use synthetic fabric.
But if you're just learning, we'd put it toward the bottom of your experiment pile.
Thin polyester, rayon, satin, and other slippery synthetics can be more difficult to glue neatly because they're often lightweight, smooth, or prone to shifting. For example, Columbia Finishing Mills offers purpose-made book-cover materials, including coated cotton and synthetic-based options designed for specific bookbinding applications.
The takeaway: Don't judge a fabric simply by whether it's natural or synthetic. Judge it by weight, weave, stability, and how it behaves with your adhesive.
Why Some Fabrics Wrinkle With PVA
This is one of those things that can make a first bookbinding project feel much harder than it needs to be.
When you brush PVA onto a material, you're introducing moisture. Some fabrics absorb that moisture and change shape more than others.
A thin fabric can quickly become saturated. As it dries, the fibers may contract or shift, creating wrinkles, ripples, or bubbles.
That's why we generally prefer sturdier, tightly woven fabrics for book covers. That being said, once you become more familiar with the process, you can start to work with thinner materials by experimenting and understanding where and why they behave differently.
Where to Buy Journal Cover Materials
You don't need a professional bookbinding studio to find beautiful materials.
For Lokta & Decorative Papers
Hollander's
A fantastic source for handmade decorative papers, including 100% Lokta sheets in different colors. Their Lokta is approximately 105 gsm and specifically listed for bookbinding and box making. Their store is centered around bookbinding and offers great beginner kits for various other types of binding methods.
Paper Source
Paper Source carries natural Lokta handmade paper in 20 × 30-inch sheets and describes it as suitable for bookbinding and craft projects. They also carry flat wraps in various patterned and illustrated designs, but some of them can be very thin, so check the product details before buying online.
Mulberry Paper & More
Mulberry Paper & More offers a wide selection of handmade and specialty papers, including Lokta paper and other beautiful materials well suited for bookbinding, journaling, collage, and paper crafts. Their collection makes it easy to explore different textures, weights, colors, and natural fibers when choosing a cover material.
For Book Cloth & Binding Supplies
TALAS
TALAS is a great resource when you're ready to explore actual bookbinding materials. Their selection includes paper-backed and starched book cloth, 100% cotton options, binder's board, bone folders, and bookbinding adhesives.
For adhesive, TALAS's Jade 403 PVA is acid-free, pH neutral, dries clear and flexible, and is specifically used for bookbinding and adhering cloth to board.
A Quick Test Before You Cover Your Book
Here's our best beginner tip:
Don't cover the book until you've tested the material.
Cut a small scrap of your fabric or paper.
Brush on a thin layer of the same PVA adhesive you'll be using.
Smooth it onto a scrap piece of mat board or book board. Repeat the same process by applying the glue to the matboard and pressing the fabric firmly to see if it behaves any differently. When crafting your cover, use the method that provided the best results or that you are most comfortable with.
Let it dry completely.
Ask yourself:
- Did it wrinkle?
- Did it stretch?
- Did the glue soak through?
- Did the color change?
- Does the surface still feel the same?
- Does it stay attached once completely dry?
If the answer is yes, you're ready to start making your cover
If the material looks like a bumpy road, try something else. This doesn't mean you have to scrap the material altogether, but it does mean that you have to adjust your process. The most common solution is that you used too much or too little glue. Other possible problems include fabric that isn't flattened and needs ironing, glue applied unevenly, or glue that dried too much before the pieces adhered.
Making a Simple Hardcover Journal
Once you've chosen and tested your cover material, the construction process is fairly straightforward.
Our process uses mat board for the covers, with the exterior cover material cut larger than the boards so it can wrap around the edges. Typically, we suggest roughly a 1-inch allowance around the boards, but it depends on your board thickness. Make sure to leave small gaps between the cover boards and spine so the finished book can open properly.
1. Make Your Pages
Fold your sheets into folios and group them into signatures. Use groups of 4–10 folded folios to create each signature, but adjust it based on the thickness of your paper.
2. Cut Your Boards
Cut two cover boards slightly larger than your finished pages and a separate spine piece sized to the thickness of your signatures lightly compressed.
1/16–1/8-inch mat board is a nice middle ground that provides structure, but doesn't make it overly thick on your shelf or in your bag.
3. Cut Your Cover Material
Cut your Lokta, book cloth, or fabric larger than your boards, so you have enough material to wrap around the edges.
This is one place where it's better to have a little too much than not enough.
4. Glue the Boards
Place your cover boards and spine onto the back of your cover material, leaving the appropriate gaps between them.
Apply an even layer of PVA and press the boards into place. We recommend working from the center outward when applying adhesive to avoid pulling it onto the front of the material.
5. Wrap the Edges
Trim the corners at a 45-degree angle, fold the material around the edges of the boards, and glue each flap down. If there is excess material in the corners, pull the sides down and fold a small piece in toward the center.
Take your time here. Your corners are where a little patience makes a big difference. It is best practice to do your shortest sides first, then your longest, to ensure even corner coverage.
A bone folder is especially helpful for pressing the material firmly into the corners and edges.
6. Add Your Interior Cover
Once the exterior is finished, add your interior cover paper and smooth it carefully into place. Use a bone folder to crease the gaps between the spine and cover while the glue is still tacky. This will help your book open and close smoothly and prevent gapping in the cover that can expand over time. Then let everything dry completely before moving on to sewing your signatures.
7. Sew Your Long Stitch
With the cover prepared, punch your stitching holes and sew your signatures directly through the spine and cover.
The long-stitch pattern creates both the structure and a visible decorative element on the finished journal. Our binding tutorial walks through the stitching pattern and finishing process step by step.
The Best Cover Material Is the One You Want to Touch
One of our favorite things about handmade journals is that there isn't one right way to make them.
A deep green Lokta cover can make a journal feel earthy and collected. A soft cotton fabric can make it feel like something that belongs on a grandmother's writing desk. A bold book cloth can turn a simple sketchbook into a statement piece.
Start with materials that are forgiving, test everything before committing, and then let yourself get weird with it.
Try an old fabric remnant. Pair a patterned paper with a contrasting spine. Make a cover from a textile you couldn't bear to throw away.
The best part of bookbinding isn't just making a book.
It's making a book that couldn't have been made by anyone else.
Happy binding,
Dovetail Studio ♡
