As I am a self confessed stationery addict I love to make and design it in my spare time.
one thing that has stuck with me throughout my time at uni and after, is how to bind your own notebook. One term we had a very interesting lesson on how to make a book from start to finish. I absolutely loved it, which is why I chose to develop my final major project around notebooks and stationery, as I wanted to make my own books.
Here is a little insight of what one looked like,
In total I had a collection of seven books all made from hand.
How to bind!
1. Here I have cut and folded my papers to make my book pages.
these can be any size you like, depending how big or small you want your book.
I have 6 sections and each section as 4 A4 pages folded in half.
2. Now to stitch the pages together you need to make holes in the correct places where you needle with thread your thread. Here I am using a hole punching tool to get my holes, instead of just using my needle.
3. Here you can see that all 6 sections have been hole punched and are ready to stitch. Notice that all the holes are in line with each other to the book pages line up. :)
4. The stitching part.
Always make sure that you start by going into the centre of the folded paper, so the ends of the tread are on the outside. This is so your ends don't end up in the middle of your book. That wont make a pretty finnish.
5. Gradually work your way along all the pages stitching them all together.
6. To give the book extra support and to hold the pages nice a tightly together. We add little straps of tough fabric. you only need two pieces on an A5 book. these get tucked under the stitching to keep it all together.
7. Here you can see all the pages have been sewn together and are ready for the next stage.
8. Chose you book cover. this can be anything you want from fabric to paper.
I have chosen my own design fabric. I have added interfacing on the back to make it stronger.
9. For the actual cover you need two pieces of thick card to make it strong and sturdy. make sure that the card is slightly longer than your pages, and but we don't it over the spin area as we need to be able to open the book.
10. To make the spin we need to add a small piece of thin card which is the full length and width of the pages that have been sewn together. This acts as the spin and will be glued into the book then the cover is put on.
11. Here we have got out pages ready to be glued and out cover card board.
The 4cm paper is the measurement between both pieces of card which make up the book cover, and the pages inside. So 4cmm is how wide the book will be.
12. Now to the messy part... glueing it all together.
Lay your chosen book cover down and glue it all over right up to the edges.
Place one pieces of card down where you want it. Then place the 4cm piece of card that you measured as the width of your book, next to the card, and place the second piece of card.
This is so you will have enough room for your pages to sit and your book to be able to be opened.
Now just fold over your edged on to the card (removing the 4cm piece and replacing it with the small thin card which is you books spin)
Fold over the top and bottom first and then the sides.
When all stuck down places the book pages in the centre and glue the first and last page to the
cardboard covers.
13. Here is my finished book.
