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Want to start a scrapbook, nature journal, or diary? You can, of course, buy a suitable book at the store, but if you really want to make it your own perhaps it's time to rediscover the not-quite-lost art of bookbinding. There are many ways to bind a book, from stapling to taping to sewing, and the method you choose should depend on the book you're binding and the time and skills you have. This article will teach you how to sew a high quality binding that you can use for books of any size, whether you're making your own or repairing your favorite novel.
Steps
- Prepare the signatures. The leaves of a book are the sheets of paper that make up four pages of a book (two pages on each side of the sheet of paper). The signatures are groups of leaves. To make a strong book, you sew some leaves--usually 8 leaves--together into a signature, and then you sew the signatures together. While you can use more or fewer than 8 leaves per signature, you probably don't want to go over 10 or under 3. If you're simply repairing a book, the arrangement of the leaves is already done for you, but if you're making your own book, this can get a little complicated.
- Print the pages. If you're just making a book of blank pages to use as a journal or scrapbook, you don't need to worry about this step. If you're binding your own novel or any other printed material, though, you need to print the pages so that they will go together correctly in the book. Base your printing on the arrangement of individual signatures. Suppose you have a signature of 8 leaves. This makes 32 book pages. Pages 1 and 32 should be printed on the "back" of your first leaf, while pages 2 and 31 should be printed on the "front" of the first leaf. Inside this leaf you would insert the leaf containing pages 3 and 30 on the back and pages 4 and 29 on the front, and so on until you come to the center leaf, which will have pages 15 and 18 on the back and pages 16 and 17 on the front.You want to make sure they are all cut to the same size and that the margins of any printed material are all the same. For longer books you follow the same pattern, arranging your printed pages in signatures. Thus for a 300-page book, pages 1 and 32 would still make up the back of the outer page of your first signature--you would not put the whole book together in one signature so that pages 1 and 300 would be on the same leaf.
- Fold the leaves. Carefully fold each leaf down the middle so that it has the characteristic book shape. It's essential that the crease be directly in the center of each page, so be sure to line up the edges before creasing the leaf.
- Group the leaves into signatures. Insert the leaves into each other to form each signature. The edges of the pages should be nearly as perfectly aligned as possible.
- Print the pages. If you're just making a book of blank pages to use as a journal or scrapbook, you don't need to worry about this step. If you're binding your own novel or any other printed material, though, you need to print the pages so that they will go together correctly in the book. Base your printing on the arrangement of individual signatures. Suppose you have a signature of 8 leaves. This makes 32 book pages. Pages 1 and 32 should be printed on the "back" of your first leaf, while pages 2 and 31 should be printed on the "front" of the first leaf. Inside this leaf you would insert the leaf containing pages 3 and 30 on the back and pages 4 and 29 on the front, and so on until you come to the center leaf, which will have pages 15 and 18 on the back and pages 16 and 17 on the front.You want to make sure they are all cut to the same size and that the margins of any printed material are all the same. For longer books you follow the same pattern, arranging your printed pages in signatures. Thus for a 300-page book, pages 1 and 32 would still make up the back of the outer page of your first signature--you would not put the whole book together in one signature so that pages 1 and 300 would be on the same leaf.
- Mark the edges of the first signature for binding.
- Measure down 1/2" from the top of the first signature and 3/4" up from the bottom. Make a mark on the edge of the signature at each of these points.
- Measure the space between the two marks, and divide that measurement by the number of bindings (straps that will hold the signatures together) that you will use. For smaller books, 3 bindings are usually enough, but for large books or books that will be put through a lot of stress you may wish to use 4 or 5.
- Take the measurement you just calculated and measure that far down from the top mark (the one 1/2" down from the top of the pages). Mark this point on the edge of the signature, and now move the same distance down and mark that point, and so on. You should have one point for each of the bindings that you will apply.
- Center a binding over each mark and mark the signature on each side of the binding. Alternatively, you can measure the width of a binding, divide that number by two, and then measure (and mark) that far up and down from each of the binding marks you already made. Note that where you place the bindings doesn't matter so much. Making sure you correctly mark the width of each binding, however, is more important.
- Measure down 1/2" from the top of the first signature and 3/4" up from the bottom. Make a mark on the edge of the signature at each of these points.
- Prepare the signature for sewing. At the top and bottom marks, use a mini-hacksaw or scissors to cut a small notch through the spine of the signature. Then use a sharp awl or similar "punching" tool to pierce the spine of the signature, from the inside out, at each of the lines that mark the width of your bindings (don't pierce the center lines). Make sure you see the point of the awl come all the way through the signature.
- Repeat the last two steps for all the signatures.
- Cut the bindings to the correct length. Put the prepared signatures together neatly so that you can measure how long each binding needs to be. The bindings should as long as the thickness of the book (the spine of the book) plus an extra inch.
- Sew the bindings in place on the first signature. If you're using endpapers--you will want to do so for most uses--sew the bindings onto the front endpapers first (see Tips section below). Thread a bookbinding needle or similar heavy duty needle with waxed thread. Insert the needle into the notch near the top of the spine and pull all but a couple inches of the thread into the signature. Then push the needle out through the first hole, place the first binding so that the top edge is aligned with the first hole, and then draw the thread over the binding and back into the second hole (the hole directly on the other side of the binding). Pull the thread tight, and make sure the binding is between the thread and the spine of the signature. Secure the remaining bindings in this way, and then pull the needle out through the notch at the bottom of the spine.
- Sew the second signature. Align the second signature with the first. Guide the needle (with the same length of thread) through the notch at the bottom of the second signature (the thread should now go come out of the notch at the bottom of the first signature and enter directly into the notch at the bottom of the second). Sew the bindings to the second signature as you did with the first.
- Sew the third (and subsequent signatures). When you pull your thread out of the top notch of the second signature, align the third signature with the other two and then draw the thread through the top notch of the third signature. Sew the bindings on as you did with the other two, but this time, when you pull your thread out the bottom notch, kettle stitch the third signature to the second. The rest of the signatures--all the way to the end of the book or the end endpapers--are sewn in the same way, using a kettle stitch each time.
- To make a kettle stitch, pass the needle under the thread that connects the previous two signatures. For example, when you've finished sewing the third signature, pass the needle under the thread that connects the first two signatures. Then pull the thread up so that a small loop is formed. Pass the needle through this loop, and pull it tight, forming a small knot. Then continue on to the next signature. The first and last signatures (or the endpapers) should be double kettle stitched.
- To make a kettle stitch, pass the needle under the thread that connects the previous two signatures. For example, when you've finished sewing the third signature, pass the needle under the thread that connects the first two signatures. Then pull the thread up so that a small loop is formed. Pass the needle through this loop, and pull it tight, forming a small knot. Then continue on to the next signature. The first and last signatures (or the endpapers) should be double kettle stitched.
- Apply glue to the spine. When you've sewn all the signatures together, take some wheat paste, PVA glue, or other non-toxic, acid-free glue, and rub it into the spine of your book. You want a layer of glue to coat the outside of the spine, but you also want some glue to get into the spaces between the signatures. You can use a paintbrush, cotton ear swabs, or your finger (provided the glue is non-toxic) to apply the glue.
- Cut a strip of cloth to be as long as the spine and a little wider. Mull cloth, a woven linen, is usually used. Press this onto the spine while the glue is still wet, and smooth it out. Make sure the ends of the bindings are straight and stick out from under the cloth.
- Cut a piece of cardstock, coverstock, or other heavy paper or thin, non-corrugated cardboard to exactly match the dimensions of the spine of the book. Glue this over the cloth.
- Prepare your cover. The cover is actually two separate cover boards generally made of coverstock or some other heavy cardboard. Cut each cover board to equal the width and height of your book pages plus 1/4-1/2". This little extra helps protect the edges of the pages.
- Glue the cover paper onto the cover. The cover paper is what you'll actually see of the cover, and it can have pictures, the title of the book, or whatever you want. Cut one sheet of cover paper for the front cover and one for the back. The dimensions should equal the dimensions of the cover plus about an inch so that you can fold the paper over the edges of the cover and glue it. Apply a thin layer of glue to the outside of one coverboard, and then center the cover paper onto the glue and use a small roller to smooth it out so there are no wrinkles. Brush a little glue along the inside edges of the cover board and fold the excess cover paper over onto the glue.
- Glue on the book cloth. The book cloth or "bookbinding cloth" will cover the spine piece and overlap each cover board by about an inch or two. Cut your cloth to the height of the cover and wide enough to cover the entire spine and that inch or two on each cover board.
- Take your completed book and apply glue to the spine cover. Apply a strip of glue to the outside edge of each cover board adjacent to the spine (how wide the strip is depends on how much the book cloth will overlap each cover board). Now work quickly so the glue doesn't dry. Center the book cloth over the spine and press it down firmly onto the glue, smoothing it out as you go. Then glue the cloth to the outside of each of the cover boards, making sure to leave just a small gap between the cover boards and the spine cover so that the book will open properly.
- Glue the ends of the bindings to the inside of the cover boards. Glue any excess mull cloth from the spine here as well.
- Glue the endpapers to the inside of the cover boards. The binding tape will be covered by the endpapers.
- Take your completed book and apply glue to the spine cover. Apply a strip of glue to the outside edge of each cover board adjacent to the spine (how wide the strip is depends on how much the book cloth will overlap each cover board). Now work quickly so the glue doesn't dry. Center the book cloth over the spine and press it down firmly onto the glue, smoothing it out as you go. Then glue the cloth to the outside of each of the cover boards, making sure to leave just a small gap between the cover boards and the spine cover so that the book will open properly.
- Let the book dry for about 24 hours. Your book is now bound.
Tips
- Endpapers are simply pages at the beginning and end of a book. The cover is attached to these pages so that it won't stick to the first page of your book. Endpapers are sometimes made of a slightly stronger paper than the pages of the book (or they are made of two pages glued together), and the bindings are sewn onto them just as with the other signatures. If using endpapers, you should double kettle stitch under the thread connecting the first and last pages and their adjacent endpapers.
- To ensure that your bindings are long enough, you may want to get several long strips or rolls of binding tape, secure one end of the binding, and then sew all the signatures before cutting the ends off.
- You may want to use different colors to mark the edges of the signatures so you won't be confused about where to punch the holes.
- You'll need a lot of thread to sew all of the signatures, but you can always knot two pieces together if you don't want to pull a huge amount of thread through each and every hole.
- Most books are printed on folios, which are large sheets of paper that hold two leaves. Once the folios are printed, they are cut in half to form two leaves.
- You can fold all the leaves of a signature together at once if you desire. Just make sure that all the edges of the pages are perfectly aligned.
- Add some thick paper (of book size obviously) on both sides of the book to act as extra covers. You can even decorate your book that way!
- Cover your book with a thick cellophane sheet.
- A better quality spine can be made by a process called rounding and backing, which is done after the signatures are all sewn together, but before the spine cover or mull cloth is applied.
Warnings
- Be careful while handling the needle.
- Exercise caution not to tear the holes in the signatures when you are sewing them. Endpapers in particular are fragile, so be especially careful when sewing these.
Things You'll Need
- Bookbinding needle or other suitable needle
- Bookbinding thread or other waxed thread
- Cover boards
- Glue (usually PVA glue or wheat paste)
- Ruler
- Binding tape
Related wikiHows
- How to Make or Repair Books Through Japanese Bookbinding
- How to Make a Sketchbook
- How to Write a Book
- How to Cover a Book
- How to Self Publish a Book
Sources and Citations
- Instructables.com The primary original source of these instructions
- University of Alaska, Fairbanks Christopher Swingley's detailed narrative of a bookbinding project, including some more advanced techniques and tools, as well as details on printing folios
Article provided by wikiHow, a collaborative writing project to build the world's largest, highest quality how-to manual. Please edit this article and find author credits at the original wikiHow article on How to Bind or Reinforce Books. All content on wikiHow can be shared under a Creative Commons license.
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