Farmgirl Bloggers

Holding On to Home: Preserving the Meals That Made Us

Posted on February 19, 2026 by Ranch Farmgirl, Uncategorized Dori Troutman

Hello dear friends! When MaryJane shared with me that the upcoming magazine (April/May/June) will have a section on Family Recipes, I had just returned home from New Mexico where I spent 10 solid days helping my dear Momma turn her collection of recipes into a cookbook. My mother had started this project over 30 years ago… and due to all the normal busyness of life that project got put in a drawer. It has been a dream of mine to help her get these recipes typed up and compiled into a book for the girls (and guys!) in the family. My mother is turning 89 soon and I just felt like there was no way I could let this project go another year without getting it done! I worked 8-10 hours a day, with Mom mostly by my side, where we re-typed, re-wrote, edited, and tried to make heads or tails of recipes that were missing pieces!

I felt such a strong urgency to get this project finished. I will always cherish the memories of Mom and I working together, long discussions about hard times on the ranch where she was raised, her mother cooking during those dark days of the Depression. I’m so thankful for the beautiful memories that Mom wrote about and we put in the book.

In working on this cookbook, it became so clear that old recipes are not just instructions written in faded ink. They are the taste of Sunday afternoons, the sound of laughter around a crowded table, and the quiet comfort of knowing exactly how something should smell when it’s almost done. An old recipe holds stories — of hard seasons and celebrations, of stretching ingredients when times were lean, and of abundance when the garden overflowed. When we pull out those flour-dusted cards and splattered pages, we aren’t simply cooking. We are remembering. We are honoring. And in a small but meaningful way, we are keeping our family’s story alive.

And so I’m super excited today to share a simple sewing project with you… we will be making a quilted binder cover! This is a beginner friendly sewing project but it makes a big impact! It will make preserving your family recipes so much “prettier”! I’m here to step you through it, so don’t be worried that you can’t do it! YOU CAN!

Building a Recipe Binder Full of Love

Supplies:

1 yard of fabric (I used a half yard of two different fabrics)
Quilt batting remnant piece
Regular sewing supplies and tools
1-1/2 inch wide three ring binder

Step One: Cut your fabric.

From outer fabric cut one piece 26” wide x 13” tall
From lining fabric cut one piece 26” wide x 13” tall
Cut 4 pieces 7” wide x 13” tall (either outer or lining fabric)
Cut one piece of quilt batting 27” x 14”

Step Two: Quilt your outer binder fabric.

This is an optional step and if you would prefer not to quilt it, just jump to step 4! Even if you choose not to do any quilting, you will still use the quilt batting.

On your fabric piece that will be the outside of the binder, mark your quilting lines. Or you can quilt any random way that you like!

Step Three: Either use pen or spray baste to attach your outer fabric to the quilt batting. If you are planning to quilt it, then do that now.

My fabric piece was a “cheater fabric” that looked like I had pieced it, so I just quilted around those little blocks.

Step Four: Once you have completed your quilting (or chose not to quilt it), use a rotary cutter and ruler and cut your quilted fabric and batting piece to 25.5” x 13″. This is the time to add any “embellishments” to your binder cover, if you choose to. I love to use selvedge words to embellish projects like this and I found the perfect one for this project! Simply iron the raw edges under, place it where you choose on your binder, and sew it in place. Set aside for now.

Step Five: Take two of your smaller pieces of fabric (slip pockets) and lay them out right sides together. Sew a 1/2 inch seam on one long edge. Turn the two pieces wrong sides together and carefully press that seam.

Top stitch 1/4” from the sewn edge and then 1/2”from the sewn edge (creating 2 topstitch seams). Press again. Repeat on the other two pieces of fabric. These are your slip pocket pieces.

Step Six: Place your slip pocket pieces on the top side of the lining, one will be lined up on the left of the lining and the other one will be lined up on the right side. Make sure the raw edges are together and the sewn edge is towards the center of the lining piece. Pin or clip in place.

Note: These are the pockets that the binder edges will slide into. If your fabric is directional, make sure the direction is correct.

Step Seven: Baste a scant 1/4 inch around the three raw edges of each slip pocket and lining.

Step Eight: Place the quilted outer piece on top of the pocket/lining piece; right sides together. Pin or use sewing clips around the entire outside edge. If your fabric is directional, this is the time to make sure you have the front and the lining in the correction direction.

Step Nine: Sew 3/8” inch all the way around, leaving a 3 inch opening at the bottom edge of the fabric (this is for turning right sides out). Clip your corners once you’ve finished sewing, being careful not to clip through the seam.

Step Ten: Push your binder cover out of the opening you left and use a pointer tool to push the corners out. Carefully press, making note of the opening and fold and press those seams in preparation for sewing the opening closed.

Step Eleven: Make sure you’ve turned your binder cover so that the quilted portion is to the outside and pockets and lining are to the inside. This is the time to slip your binder in and make sure everything fits. It should not fit super snug, but you don’t want it loose either, take it up a little bit more if needed.