I feel like the yellow pages are such a waste of paper in this digital age! Either they collect dust for the next renters to deal with, or they get dumped the recycling bin. Hardly fair for something straight off the press, don’t you think? Last week we got our beloved yellow pages delivered on our doorstep. Chris brought it in & suggested that we recover it & use it as a booster seat for Penelope. She’s stopped eating in her highchair & is much too short to successfully transport food from her plate to her mouth. Of course I needed to cover this. Why hadn’t the though occurred to me before?
Sometimes I totally ride on the creative coattails of others. Like my husband.
Those are tennis balls on the legs of the chair. AND yes, they’re awesome.
I did it. It didn’t take long to figure out, although I did end up unpicking a few seams along the way. Besides stopping & photographing the steps, this project took a half an hour. I used a thick canvas for our cover because a) it was on hand & b) it matched our chairs. I think oilcloth would be perfect for this project.
Yellow Pages Booster Seat Tutorial
Supplies:
- pencil
- washable marker
- measuring tape
- pins
- sewing machine
- thread
- fabric (1/4 yd)
- ribbon (1 yd)
- yellow pages
Measure your yellow pages. Mine were 20 inches x 24 3/4 inches. Make sure to measure accurately, but not too tight, otherwise you might be cursing me later.
Cut your fabric. From the measurements I took I used a simple formula to calculate my measurements:
X ÷ 2 + 1 = WIDTH Y ÷ 2 + 1 = HEIGHT
Cut two squares using the above formula & cut a third rectangle at: HEIGHT x 4 inches.
Snag one of your large rectangular pieces & the small one & fold the long edge over twice (for a clean edge on both sides) iron and hem. Set aside.
Cut ribbon in half & fold each half in half. Grab the remaining large rectangle (the one without the hem) & pin the ribbon 3 inches from each corner along the long side of the fabric with the ribbon fold flush to the edge of the rectangle. Pin ribbon in place.
Place large, hemmed rectangle right-side down on top of your ribbon. Match the long unhemmed side to the side where ribbons are secured. You want to have the ribbons opposite of the envelope opening.
Place the smaller rectangle right-side down on top of the two fabric pieces. Line up the unhemmed side to the bottom of the first rectangle. Pin all pieces in place. Sew along all four sides with a 1/2 inch seam allowance.
While the casing is still inside out, slip your yellow pages into the cover (binding side first) & pinch off corners (the two corners that are opposite of the envelope opening. Pinch the excess fabric & mark a line where the edge of the yellow pages are.
Remove yellow pages from casing & sew along those two perpendicular lines. This will create two boxed corners.
Flip casing right side out & insert yellow pages binding side first. When enclosing the envelope, bend the pages of your book in order to get the envelope over the book. Push pages back into place.
Tie the book to a chair & use as a booster seat! Enjoy!
For your convenience, click the button above to download the printable version of the tutorial. Cheers!
This tutorial is free for personal use and should not be distributed/republished without my consent. Altering the file NOT ALLOWED. If you would like to use this tutorial for commercial purposes, please email me. Thanks!
Oh, and by the way. . . I just finally updated the tutorials page!! Check it out to see if you’ve missed anything.
