New to Chic Sparrow?

Buying Your First Leather Notebook Cover

Chic Sparrow has been making high quality leather notebook covers since 2014, and the journaling community has blossomed alongside the business. However, we want our new customers to feel welcome, too! In this blog post, you’ll learn about our leathers, travelers notebook designs and size guide. 

At first glance, our product pages may look similar, but they all have different designs with unique purposes. The product titles show the Color, Collection and Design of each notebook cover. Using this guide, you can select the right notebook cover for you! 

Full Grain Leather

You may notice some terms on our website like “soft hand” “patina” and “pull-up.” These terms are common in the leather industry, but may be new to the average customer. Check out our Common Terms to learn more about the descriptions we use on the website.

If you’re ever in doubt or deciding between multiple colors, try ordering a Leather Sample to decide if which leather is right for you! You also may find information in our Facebook Group about specific leathers and how they feel. 

Leather Thickness

Depending on the notebooks you plan on using, you may prefer to have a thin, medium, or thick leather notebook. Thicker or firm hand leathers may need to be broken-in to flex around your notebook, while medium and thin leathers will fold easily around your inserts from the start. 

Some examples of thinner, flexible collections are Carroll, Express and Artist. Medium thickness collections include Waypoint and Austen. In contrast, Crème, Maverick and Scout are examples of thick leathers. Each product will have a thickness measurement under the “Design” section.

Leather Variation

Chic Sparrow uses full grain leather for the majority of our products. This is an organic, natural material that has variation in texture, color and markings. Additionally, each leather hide is uniquely dyed, adding to the color variation. Read more about this in the Leather Variation blog post.

Collections, Limited Edition & Retired Leathers

Collection leathers are released in multiple colors and have a similar thickness and characteristics. Long term collections like Austen and Crème are beloved by the CS community and new favorites like the Express collection feature fun colors and characteristics. 

Sometimes, we create designs with a beautiful leather that doesn’t fit into our existing collections. You can find these leathers under the “Limited Edition” section of our website. Once these leathers are gone, they are typically not re-stocked.

We are always improving our products and love experimenting with new leathers. With that said, we occasionally “Retire” older leathers to make space for new. Retired leathers are on sale while supplies last. 

Leather Notebook Cover Designs

What Is A Travelers Notebook?

Travelers notebooks are designed with strings on the spine to hold soft back paper TN inserts. There are 4 elastic strings on standard sizes and 6 elastic strings on Pocket Plus and Passport Plus sizes. 

Chic Sparrow travelers notebook covers come in several designs with unique pocket styles and layout. Check out the line drawings on each product page to see the differences in each design. Use the descriptions below to learn about the differences. 

Notebook Cover Designs

Please note: the pockets are not designed to hold credit cards. Instead, they are designed to hold ephemera like stickers, photographs and paper supplies. 

• Cascade: 3-4 Vertical pockets on the left side with a secretarial pocket on the right. This design features a stitched pen loop (unless the product description says “RPL”). Pocket layout is different on small vs. large size T.N. covers, see product drawings for details. See product drawings for pocket layout details.

• Heritage: 2-3 Horizontal scalloped pockets on the left side with a secretarial pocket on the right. This design features a stitched pen loop (unless the product description says “RPL”). See product drawings for pocket layout details.

• Nº7: This design is great for adding structure to thinner leathers. It has a double layer of leather (front and back), so it adds stability without feeling bulky. This style is only available in the A5, B6 and Pocket sizes. The Nº7 design features the Removable Pen Loop. See product drawings for pocket layout details. 

• Classic: Like the name implies, the classic travelers notebook is a no-frills cover. This style does not have pockets or a pen loop. However, you can add-on optional perimeter stitching, a riveted pen loop or a stitched pen loop to the cover. 

What is a Folio?

Folios come in several sizes and have a simple design. It is a great option for hardcover or bound journals that don’t need elastic strings to attach them to the cover. Front and back slip pockets hold the covers of your notebook. Alternatively, slip in two paper TN inserts on the front and back covers  

What is a Weekly Planner Cover?

The weekly planner covers were designed to fit the Hobonichi Techo Weeks planner. Slip your planner in the front and back pockets to protect your covers.

• Weekly Calendar: A simple folio design with scalloped pockets on the front and back. There is no pen loop on this design. 

• Cascade Folio: This design fuses the functionality of a Folio with the storage of the Cascade pocket. This design features a Removable Pen Loop on the Weekly size only. 

Notebook Cover Size Chart

If you know which notebook size you’re looking for, you can shop by size on the CS website. However, our Size Chart is a great resource for choosing the right notebook cover size for your journal. Make sure you have a ruler to measure the notebook size you need to cover. Please Note: Our products sell out quickly and not all leathers are available in all sizes. 

As always, please reach out to our Customer Service department if you have additional questions! 

Email: support@chicsparrow.com

Phone: (509) 325-7206