Choose the paper you would like to use when you make your own hardback children's book. The paper can be regular printer paper, paper that resembles parchment paper, colored or plain.
Select the number of pages the child wishes for the book, and fold the paper in half. Temporarily bind the the pages together with a ribbon so the child can write and illustrate the book.
Remove the cardboard from the back of a legal pad. Fold it in half when you make your own hardback children's book.
Allow your child to pick the fabric for the cover when you make a hardback children's book. Lay the cardboard flat on the wrong side of the fabric. Decide how much you wish to have the fabric overlap the cardboard. Remember to leave only 1/2 to 3/4 of an inch overlap for the top and bottom of the book. Use a yardstick and tailor's chalk to draw your pattern for the cover. Cut the fabric with a pair of scissors.
Remove the ribbon from the pages when the child is done writing and illustrating the book. Lay the paper flat and make light lines, about an inch long up the center of the topmost page. If you wish, you can use a ruler to plot these lines. Measure up an inch and draw the first inch-long line. Measure up another inch, and repeat the process until you reach the top of the fold. Make sure you end an inch from the top.
Place the folded paper inside the folded cardboard as you make your own hardback children's book. Line up the paper so it is even inside the cardboard.
Open the cardboard and the paper. Thread the needle with the thread of your choice.Start from the cardboard side of the book, and push the needle through to the end of one of the 1-inch marks you made. Push the needle back through the paper and out the cardboard at the end of the mark. Repeat the process until you have 1-inch-long stitches spaced an inch apart along the middle fold of the paper. Make sure you end your last stitch on the cardboard side. Knot the thread.
Place the open book in the center of the fabric when you make your own hardback children's book. Make sure that the fabric is lying wrong-side up. Fold over the edges of the fabric at the top and bottom of the book. Gently slip the fabric beneath the pages. Put glue on the fabric and press it down against the cardboard. You will have to fold the fabric around the cardboard in the same way you wrap a present. Try to do so in as flat a manner as possible.
Add more glue if you think you need to when you make your own hardback children's book. Wipe off any excess glue. Place a sheet of plastic between the inside of the cloth-covered cardboard and the pages of the book. Do this for the back of the book as well.
Place the hardback children's book underneath a heavy stack of books and allow it to dry overnight. Gently remove the plastic the next day. Enjoy the hardback children's book you made.