I bought a book today that I intend to use as a journal of sorts, but didn't much like how the cover looked, so I recovered it in a very easy and pleasing way, in my humble opinion. Here's how:
You'll need:
- about 1 yard of fabric, medium thickness, and a good durablity. I used polyester, but others would be better I think.
- A glue gun and glue sticks
If you would like to have something to tie it shut with you'll need:
- Ribbon (or whatever you want to tie it with, just make sure that it's at least wide enough to staple)
- A staple gun and staples to match
- A hammer
Just cut the fabric to size, leaving about an inch or two ( based on your preference) room on top and bottom as well as enough fabric to cover at least half of the inside cover on both sides. Then turn under the fabric on all ends about a 1/2 inch to make a neat hem. Hold this down with glue.
Then put the book in the middle of the fabric so that there is an equal amount of room on both sides. Start by making a cut in the fabric from the top and bottom to the bridge of the book. Then take the top and bottom part of the fabric and, book open pages to the right or left, run glue around the bottom part of the inside cover. Lay the fabric on top of it (reaching around from the bottom) and press it down into the glue. Trim the excess fabric off. This gets rid of puffiness when you close the book.
After that, lay the cloth to the side of the cover over the inside to see where the edge of it will lay. Remove this momentarily to run glue down that edge. Then lay the fabric back over it, flattening it. Try to put it close to where the edge of the fabric will be so that you don't have excess fabric. Then go back to the bottom and top edges and turn under the excess fabric to create another hem. Do this to the other side as well.
If you would like to have a method of tying it shut, this is how I did it, but I'm sure that there are better ways of doing so...
Cut a piece of ribbon long enough to go around the width of the book. Then cut it in half. Using the staple gun, staple it horizonally across the inside cover towards the pages. Then hammer the staple down (if it pokes out the front of the book, just hammer that down too). Then staple again towards the edge of the cover. Repeat the hammering process. Then apply a very small amount of glue to the top of the ribbon, just to keep it more securly in place. Do this on both covers of the book.
That's it. No sewing, and it really doesn't take that long.
*note* don't glue anything together that isn't supposed to be, and be extra careful with the staple gun, those things hurt., trust me. | 
