the zeitgeist of zoe

A review of the Moterm Original Weeks Cover in Full Grain Veg Tanned Leather

Full disclosure, I’m not using a Hobonichi Weeks this year. Oh I bought one…in fact I bought two; a regular Weeks and a Mega so that I could try both. “Trying them all” is apparently a thing I do.

I discovered that I just can’t make a book this size work for me as my main planner or even as an on the go type planner, so I put them away after abandoning the effort in roughly March. Since the Weeks was a fail for me, technically I did not need to order one of the new Full Grain Veg Tanned Leather Moterm Original Weeks Covers when they were announced. But did that stop me? Absolutely not.

In the full grain veg tanned leather timeline, the Original Weeks Cover was actually released before the Personal Luxe. It might have even been the first release in the new leather. Initially, I wasn’t going to order one because I knew I would’t use it and I was trying to be sane and wait for a size I would use. But sadly for my checkbook, patience is not a virtue I possess and curiosity about the new leather got the better of me so I ordered the only color left at the time, Espresso.

Yay, a brown! Comfort zone intact.

As always, the covers you are about to see were purchased using my own funds and this post is an honest review consisting of nothing more than my own personal opinion and experience.

When it arrived and I saw, felt, and took a whiff of the new leather for the first time, I knew I’d better figure out how to make a Weeks work for me because I was going to need this cover in my daily kit.

If you have read my recent review of the Personal Luxe 2.0 ring planner, then you already know my feelings about this new full grain addition to the Moterm family. If you haven’t seen it yet I’ll wait while you go read it and learn about why this leather is so special.

(……..hums a tune while waiting) 

Once again, in my excitement I failed to take unboxing photos, but I don’t really need to because Moterm tells you exactly what to expect. The lovely branded box, the dust bag, and the cover itself.

Espresso is a rich, dark chocolatey brown color that is absolutely stunning.  Since this was released prior to the Personal Luxe, this Espresso Weeks Cover was my fist exposure to the new leather. My enthusiasm for this cover is why I jumped into the Personal Luxe planners with both feet. By the time that release rolled around I knew the leather was kickass!

Look at it in sunlight and prepare to have your socks knocked off.

Because the first release of these covers sold out in the blink of an eye, Moterm quickly offered a pre-order so that anyone who missed out on the initial offering could order one. What did I tell you about Moterm listening to its customers and being responsive? They are really fantastic about giving their customers what they want. Even though I know this to be the case, it impresses me each time I see it happen.

So anyway of course I went ahead and pre-ordered another one, this time in Apricot. If I’m going to have two Weeks that I’m not going to use, why not have two covers to not use with them. Planner addict logic.

Although they had originally said to allow approximately 45 days for production after the pre-order period closed, I was surprised to see a shipping notification after only 30 days. It arrived on day 33. Kind of amazing if you ask me. 

Apricot is a light honey color, very much like un-dyed leather (it is dyed, but it is the pretty much the same color as un-dyed leather). I knew I was going to love it since when my pre-order arrived I already had the Personal Luxe in this color. I was definitely not disappointed when I opened the box.

Now that we’re done drooling over the leather, lets get into the plethora of features:

• 5 card slots and an additional smaller pocket at the bottom of the front interior

• an outward facing slip pocket on the front interior

• 2 inward facing slip pockets on the front interior

• 2 bookmark strings with leather tabs

• that awesome big back wallet pocket

• 2 slip pockets and a small secretarial pocket on the back interior

• High, outward-facing partially elasticized pen loop to accommodate a wide variety of pen sizes (my Lamy Safari fountain pen and Dr. Grip multi pen both fit without issue)

• Double snap closure in case your book gets phat

I want to talk a moment about that high, outward facing pen loop. In previous versions of the Original Weeks cover, the pen loop (while still placed high up on the cover, which is awesome) was more inward facing. It held a pen just fine, but kind of felt…wrong. In my opinion it got in the way of the book too much and was awkward. Many people had the same impression and sent their input to Moterm about it and they changed the design based on customer feedback. I cannot stress enough how incredible this company is.

Although made for the Hobonichi Weeks planner or Weeks Mega, this cover measuring in at 4.3″ tall by 8.8″ wide can accommodate any other notebook or planner of comparable size (any book approximately 3.75”x 7.4”). I’m told you can use it for your Skinny Mini Happy Planner, and there are several weeks-sized notebooks available on Amazon or Etsy as well. 

As I mentioned, both the regular Weeks and the Weeks Mega fit perfectly – with the plastic Hobonichi Cover on Cover even. Of course you don’t need the plastic cover since you have this gorgeous leather one, but I like the extra pockets. You can never have too many pockets am I right?

Just yesterday Moterm did a re-stock of the Original Weeks Cover in Full Grain Veg Tanned leather on Ali Express, and there are still a few colors left as of this writing, so go claim yours while they last. At $57.99 for this quality leather they are a steal.

I may or may not have picked up Honey and Caramel in this re-stock, so I seriously need to find a use for a Weeks in 2023!

Help a girl out…what are some other ways I can use a Weeks (not planning, I’ve got that handled in my Personal Luxe)? Drop some ideas in the comments.