I obtained a tiny little e-reader (the Xteink X4, highly on trend for nerds at time of writing) and wanted something to combine it and my MP3 player (a 2020 Sony NW-A55 Walkman). It got a little elaborate.

I’m really enchanted by the customization capabilities of the X4 after having flashed the firmware with Crosspoint, and I wanted to match that energy in a craft project. I also, of course, need to get off my dang phone.

Table: Materials/Function/Source

Process

Prototype 1: a simple folder design. I didn’t like the screens hitting each other when it was closed, or feeling the device on the back of the unit when a facing page was tucked behind.

Prototype 2: tab-and-spine piano hinge binding, simple clear pockets using ziplock bags, no quilting. Agile, lightweight. Lots of raw edges.

Consider returning to this design for an ultralight use case like backpacking, but with a frayless material like Tyvek.

Process

The total size of the unit is controlled by the e-reader. It would be smart to make a page size template before beginning.

Almost all materials used were scraps from my stash, with the exception of the paracord, vinyl, and hair tie.

Sew MP3 Player Page/Back.

• Determine spacing of “cage” to keep player in place while leaving all buttons and ports accessible. Create folded extra-narrow twill tape (3/16ths). Mark placement on vinyl with removable washi tape. Sew folded twill tape to vinyl.
• Bind vinyl edges with twill tape, going long on the horizontals.
• Sew “cage” details to a fabric backing, covering raw ends with wide twill tape.
• Quilt fabric backing, batting, back cover together (swap in contrast thread for back cover). See right for results of this step.
• Catch remaining “cage” details in edge binding around all non-spine sides. Hand-sew outside-facing binding side.
• Set aside until spine assembly.

Sew E-Reader Page/Middle.

• Determine placement of magnetic ring. Hand-sew on to fabric.
• It would be smart to trim the fabric to size after those steps but alas I did it before.
• Quilt the magnetic ring host fabric, batting, backing fabric together.
• Bind all non-spine sides. I machine sewed both sides of this one because it’s white on white.
• Set aside until spine assembly.

Sew Cover

• Make a little star (one 1.5” square in Banana, four 1.5” squares in terracotta where two corners of each are snowballed with 1” Curry squares, four plain terracotta squares in the corners). Add more terracotta strips to bulk it up to cover size.
• Quilt together with batting and backing fabric.
• Bind all non-spine sides, same procedure as MP3 player page.

Spine Assembly

• Cut a bunch of little lengths of 3/8ths twill tape. Iron in half (not lengthwise). I needed ten tabs given the width of my twill tape and the length of my “book” spine.
• Line the tabs up nicely and neatly, stick washi tape on them, sew the two ends of each piece together, tear away washi tape.
• Cut the tabs apart. Line them up nice and neat again. Stick two narrow parallel pieces of washi tape down the full length of this line.
• Carefully peel away one piece of the washi tape, taking every third tab with it.
• Replace the piece of washi tape on the remaining tabs. Then do basically the same thing again but with the next tab after each previously removed one.
• This results in three sets of evenly-spaced tabs.
• Attach one set of each tabs to each page. Do a lot of dry fit alignment tests. Do not remove the washi tape prematurely.
• Unintuitively, sew the tabs with the raw ends facing out, aligned with the raw/unbound edge of the page, and the tab/loop/functional part facing in. The raw ends will all get covered by the binding.
• I chose to put the tabs on the front of the back page and the back of the other two pages.
• NOTE: I made the tabs too short! A lot of their length gets eaten up by the binding they have to wrap around. They still work, especially as the paracord is flexible, but it’s a bit annoying.
• Sew binding over the tabs. Fold in and gluestick down the raw edges of binding at top and bottom before wrapping it around the edge.
• Thread the paracord, in the form of a long loop tied at the bottom, through the tabs.
• Add the elastic band/jump ring apparatus halfway up (after five tabs). Attachment to spine means it is fully hidden when the front cover is turned to the back of the unit.
• It would be smart to burn the paracord ends before this step. However….
• Add carabiner to the top paracord loop to lock in that side.

That’s it!

What would I change:

• Make the pages a tiny bit larger and make the spine tabs longer.
• Consider a thinner alternative to batting…?

Note: Piano hinge bookbinding, the inspiration for this binding, works with more than one central spine (example). This could be considered for future flexible spine endeavors.