Bookbinding on a Budget Part 1: Preparing Your Pages and Making Your Signatures
Iâm going to show you how I bind my books. This is not entirely traditional or âcorrectâ but I find it works best and needs the minimal amount of tools and supplies. You will get a sturdy book out of it, though this method is not designed to be perfect by any means. I think it gives a book character.
The total cost of materials depends on what you have on hand and is largely determined by what paper and cover material you choose. If you have to buy an awl/needle/thread youâre looking at $10-$15 for tools max, and if you shop with coupons and sales you can easily get the tools for under $10.
Paper and cover materials can range from free and scrounged up from around your house to super fancy expensive stuff, but you can easily make a nice, 8.5x5.5" 250 page book with decent paper for under $20, even less if you already have some tools or supplies on hand.
What you need:
-Paper. Any paper will work for this method as long as itâs not too heavy (I.e. watercolor paper). Iâm using 32 lb paper here, but feel free to use basic copy paper, or something fancy like parchment or linen paper. Your book will be half the size of your starting paper dimensions (e.g. 8.5 x 11" paper will give you a 8.5x5.5" book, 11x14" would give you 11x7", etc.)
-Heavy duty thread. I use extra strong upholstery thread which is readily available at craft and fabric stores. If you can get your hands on book binding thread, go for it, but itâs by no means necessary. Donât use embroidery floss or standard sewing machine thread. Both will break too easily.
-Awl. I use a sewing awl which again are easy to find at craft stores or fabric stores. You can also use a heavy duty needle or a leather awl.
-Needle. Doesnât really matter. Any normal sized embroidery/hand stitching needle with an eye will do.
These are the materials you need for making the body. I will go over materials for the cover and spine in my next post.
Procedure:
1) Determine how many sheets will be in your signature. I like to work in 10 unfolded sheets which make 20 pages (40 counting both sides) per signature when folded. If you are using thin paper, you can have more pages per, bulky paper will be less per.
2) Fold your stack of sheets in half. Your page edges will not be perfectly aligned, and thatâs okay. If you want perfectly even page edges, look up more traditional tutorials that use knives and jigs and such. Crease the fold really good. Running the handle of your awl over the crease can help.
3) using your awl, punch holes down the inside of the crease approximately Âź" apart. If you like you can use a ruler and premark the holes. I just eyeball it and do it free hand.
4) Measure out a piece of thread about 6.5 times as long as your pages are high and thread your needle. Pass your needle from the outside to the inside of the signature. Leave about a 3" tail.
5) loop around and go back to front twice more to lock the thread in place
6) The next few steps will outline the stitch we will be using. First, bring your needle inside to outside through the 2nd hole down
7) bring your needle outside to inside back through the 1st hole
8) bring your needle inside to outside through the 3rd hole down
9) take your needle back up outside to inside through the 2nd hole
10) repeat the previous steps until you have stitched all the way down. Your inside and outside will look like this
12) go outside to inside through the 2nd to last hole. Go inside to outside through the last hole. Flip your signature so the âbottomâ is on top, and repeat the stitch just as you did going the other direction, but this time the sides are switched (youâll be going forwards and skipping a hole on the outside and looping back on the inside)
11) lock your stitch twice around the end like you did at the beginning, your needle should be going inside to outside as you do this.
13) lock your thread and tie off with the original tail with 2 or three knots. Trim the ends. Voila! You have completed your 1st signature!
(10 image limit, sorry :( )
Next up is part 2: Combining the Signatures
Hiiii I have a few suggestions for improvements if you want to do books this way: 1) Go and find an upholstery needle from anywhere you can get needles. Theyâre big fuck-off needles that make great hole punching devices, theyâre also super sharp. They also do not cost much and usually come in a pack of different needles.
2) Put a yoga mat under the signatures as you pierce them. Itâll prevent the holes from having that punctured with a bullet look.
3) Fold a scrap piece of paper in half and mark where you want your holes on that and use that on each signature as you puncture so theyâre all the same
4) like⌠halve or quarter the amount of holes you have O.oâ Iâve only seen that amount of holes on books that have been made on a machine. It kinda looks like youâre just making more work for yourself than you need.
Great, practical advice!
