Mermaid Sequin Notebook Tutorial

Do you love that reversible color changing sequin fabric (often called mermaid sequin fabric) as much as I do?  It's so satisfying and fun to push the sequins back and forth and watch the colors change.  I bought some of the sequin fabric a couple months ago for a different project, but always had grand plans for the fabric left over.  This notebook covered in reversible sequins is one of the easy DIY projects I had in mind to show off this cool material.

Who wouldn't want such a fabulous, fun journal?  It makes even writing down the most mundane lists more fun.

Materials for DIY Mermaid Sequin Notebook

• Inexpensive plain notebook (I bought mine at the dollar store)
• reversible sequin mermaid fabric
• low temperature hot glue gun
• sequin string (I bought mine at the dollar store)

Where to Buy Reverisible Sequin Mermaid Fabric:

• I bought my sequin mermaid fabric on Amazon.  They had a good selection of colors, prime shipping, and the best prices I found around.  Drawback:  you have to buy the whole yard of fabric.
• I also found the fabric at Joann Fabrics (online only, and about 30% more expensive than Amazon)
• If you just have a small project to do, and don't want to buy a whole yard of fabric, check out your local dollar store.  I keep seeing mermaid sequin pillows there (usually for $2.99).  You could easily deconstruct one of those pillows to use the fabric for your craft.

Cut a rectangle of fabric the size of your notebook.

Tips for Working with Mermaid Color Changing Sequin Fabric:

1. Use sharp scissors, but don't use your good fabric scissors to cut this stuff.  It will dull your scissors horribly.  Using a rotary cutter (with a replaceable blade when it dulls) and self healing mat is your best option.
2. It's much easier to get a clean line cut if you back the fabric with paper to help stabilize it.  You could use a proper iron-on stabilizer, but I didn't want to risk damaging the sequins with heat, so I simply used my low temperature glue gun to glue a piece of notebook paper lightly to the backside of the fabric.  See the video above for more information on how I did that.  Remove the paper from the fabric before adding it to your notebook.
3. The edges of the cut sequin fabric will be rough and look messy.  I cut the piece of fabric for my notebook slightly smaller than the dimensions of the notebook cover, so I could cover the raw edges with sequin string trim.  That gives the project a finished, polished look.

Glue the sequin fabric to the front cover of your plain notebook.  

Cover the raw edge of the sequin fabric by gluing sequin string trim to the edges.

And that's all there is to it!  Isn't it mesmerizing?   What would you do with this amazing reversible sequin fabric?  I still have a bunch left over!