DIY Ribbon-Bound Correspondence Book: The Keepsake Genevieve Keeps Her Letters In

Every letter Genevieve Ashworth receives finds its way into the same worn, ribbon-tied book on her writing desk — pressed flowers tucked between the pages, wax seals cracked open and saved, notions and scraps of stationery gathered like small treasures. It's not fancy. It's not meant to be. It's simply hers — a place to keep the things too small to matter to anyone else, and too dear to let go.

Today we're making that same book. No sewing, no special tools — just cardboard, ribbon, a little paint, and the Victorian Haberdashery printable stationery collection to bring it all together.

What You'll Need

• Cream cardstock (for the book covers and interior pages)
• Corrugated cardboard (for the raised frame — a cereal box or shipping box works fine)
• Victorian Haberdashery printable stationery sheets and journal cards
• A focal image, printed (a floral design from the collection works beautifully)
• Dusty-rose and sage-green ribbon
• A hole punch
• Small scissors
• White craft paint and a small paintbrush
• Small strips of plain paper (for covering the cardboard edges)
• Craft glue
• A wax seal stamp and sealing wax (optional, for the finishing touch)
• A sprig of dried lavender (optional, for styling)

Step 1: Gather Your Materials

Lay everything out before you start — it makes the whole project move faster, and honestly, half the fun is just looking at the pretty stack of stationery before you cut into it.

Step 2: Cut and Prepare the Covers and Pages

Cut two matching rectangles of cardstock for your front and back covers, then trim your printable Victorian Haberdashery stationery sheets and journal cards to fit as interior pages. Keep everything the same size at this stage — you'll thank yourself later when it's time to bind everything together.

Step 3: Build the Raised Cardboard Frame Cover

This is the step that gives the cover its heirloom, dimensional feel. Cut two identical frame shapes from corrugated cardboard — just a rectangle with a smaller rectangle cut from the center, like a picture frame. Glue the two layers together for extra thickness, then cover the exposed corrugated edges with small torn strips of paper so the ridges don't show. Once the glue has dried, paint the whole frame white. If you love a worn, vintage look, lightly distress the edges once the paint is dry — a little sanding or gentle rubbing goes a long way.

Finally, glue your printed focal image flat onto the front cover, and glue the painted cardboard frame on top of it like a raised window. The result is a cover that looks — and feels — like a real keepsake, not just a printable.

Step 4: Punch the Binding Holes

With your covers and pages stacked together, punch two to three evenly spaced holes along the spine edge. This is also a good moment to double-check everything lines up before you commit to the ribbon.

Step 5: Thread and Tie the Ribbon Binding

Thread your dusty-rose ribbon through the punched holes and tie it into a bow along the spine. No sewing, no glue needed here — just a simple bow holds the whole book together, and it means you can always untie it later to add more pages.

Step 6: Add the Printable Pages Inside

Fan the book open and tuck in your trimmed Victorian Haberdashery journal cards and stationery pages as the interior. These become the pages where letters get written, notions get pressed, and small thoughts get kept — exactly the way Genevieve keeps hers.

Step 7: Style and Finish

Add the final touches: a wax seal stamped in dusty-rose wax on the cover, a sprig of dried lavender tucked into the ribbon, a few loose petals scattered nearby for the photo. This is the step where it stops looking like a craft project and starts looking like something someone kept for years.

Make It Your Own

This project is endlessly adaptable — swap in a different focal image for each season, use a different ribbon color to match another collection, or make a whole shelf of them as gifts. However you make it, it becomes a little more like Genevieve's the moment the first real letter goes inside.

Want the printable stationery and journal cards used in this tutorial? You'll find the full Victorian Haberdashery collection in the shop.

Genevieve Ashworth and the Shop on Milsom Street

The bell over the door has barely stopped ringing when Genevieve Ashworth sets the pattern book down on the counter, smooths the page flat with two fingers, and turns it so the light from the window falls across the sketch.

It is not yet nine o'clock. The shop is hers alone for another hour — before the seamstresses arrive, before the first fitting, before Bath's morning foot traffic finds its way down Milsom Street and in through her door. She likes this hour best. The bolts of fabric are still stacked exactly as she left them the night before, the ribbon spools still catch the early light in neat rows, and the only sound is the soft tick of the clock and the occasional rustle of a page as she works through the morning's commissions before anyone can interrupt her.

A cameo at her throat, a pin already between her lips, she bends over the open book and gets to work.

Who is Genevieve Ashworth?

Genevieve inherited the shop from a mother who built it out of nothing — one bolt of good wool and a reputation for turning a plain length of cloth into something a woman would be proud to wear. Genevieve has spent every year since making sure that reputation only grows. She does not simply sell notions. She designs, drapes, pins, and re-pins until a gown sits exactly as it should, and she remembers every client's preferences the way other people remember faces.