Pen Lock + Tally Book Cover | November Project Box

Why You'll Love It

Two projects, two templates, one box. This month Aaron is walking you through a pair of tally book covers you'll actually carry every day: a Pen Lock Tally Book Cover with six stacked card pockets and leather loops that lock the cover shut with your pen, and a slim Small Tally Book Cover with a pocket for your ID or business cards.

Whether you keep one in your back pocket at work, give them as gifts, or build a few for your next market, these are quick, satisfying builds with a finished piece that's as useful as it is good-looking.

About The Projects

We made a pen lock cover for our Field Notes books a while back, and enough of you asked for one in tally book size that we finally built it. The Pen Lock Tally Book Cover holds our standard tally book, carries six cards in pockets stacked down the inside front cover, and has three tabs that fold over and interlock. Slide a pen through them and the cover locks shut, so you'll never be without something to write with.

The Small Tally Book Cover is about as simple as a leather cover gets: four pieces, two sleeves to hold the book, and a card pocket for your ID or business cards. It's a great first build if you're new, and a relaxing one if you're not.

Both covers come clicked out of Texas Oak veg tan with El Matador bridle interiors. Leave them natural and let them patina with time and wear, or dye and tool them to make them your own.

What Makes This Project Box Different

This month you're getting two complete projects and two acrylic template sets. Build the kits with Aaron, then use the templates to cut and build as many more as you want, for yourself, for gifts, or for customers.

Inside your Project Box, you'll receive:

• Clicked-out Pen Lock Tally Book Cover kit: Texas Oak cover, two El Matador sleeves and six card pockets
• Clicked-out Small Tally Book Cover kit: Texas Oak cover, two El Matador sleeves and a card pocket
• Pen Lock Tally Book acrylic template set
• Small Tally Book Cover acrylic template set
• One standard tally book (3 3/8" x 7 7/8") and one small tally book (3 1/4" x 5 1/2")
• Two step-by-step YouTube build videos

Follow along as Aaron shows you how to:

• Skive card pockets so they stack flat
• Space and stitch stacked card pockets evenly
• Edge and burnish thin interior leather without wrinkling it
• Fold and stitch interlocking pen-lock tabs
• Saddle stitch by hand, or run a perimeter stitch on the machine
• Finish your edges and fit the cover for a snug tally book

Watch the builds: Pen Lock Tally Book Cover | Small Tally Book Cover

Please Read Before You Order:

• Tools and Thread Not Included: Check the tool list further down the page before you build. Pen not included.
• Hand or Machine Stitched: Aaron machine stitches the Pen Lock cover and hand stitches the Small cover in the videos. Both can be done either way.
• Following the Pen Lock video? Aaron marks one line too many and adds a seventh pocket. Your kit comes with six, five angled card pockets plus the base pocket, spaced 5/8" apart.
• This box ships around November 15th, after the sale window closes, and arrives separately from anything else you order.

Only available November 1st through the 15th. Once the window closes, this box is gone.