Book Bindings

Putting it together

Here is a brief Tutorial on how I put my Rust books together.
The spine of the book above is Lace made to look like rusted metal.  I also did one with an actual piece of the inspirational metal which was from an old turn of the century chandelier factory.
To construct your book
Place the pages in the order you want them to appear.
Cover, Page 1 will be Signature 1;  Page 2 and 3 will be Signature 2; page 4 and 5 will be Signature 3; page 6 and back cover will be Signature 4.  If you did not use felt to back the pages, insert one between the pages to create your stack.  Insert one of the stiff felt pieces behind the front and back covers. Stack them in this order and attach a small slip of paper with the page number with a pin.  The groups will become your signatures.

We are going to attach the pages together around the top, outer edge and bottom.  The open edge will become the spine of the book. I used a simple running stitch ¼” from the edge.  Begin and end your sewing ¼” from the spine edge.  Once your signatures are formed, overlap the spine edge of pages 1 and page 2 and sew down the center.  Repeat for pages 3 and 4, pages 5 and 6.  You should have a book you can open and close and leaf through.  Now is a good time to remove your page numbers. Sew the rusted lace to the center of the 1 ¼” rusted fabric strip. Take the 1 ¼” strip of rusted fabric and sew one long edge over the front cover and the other long edge over the back cover.  Congratulations!  You have a completed book!

Lace Book Construction

Fabric book

Cut 4 pieces of muslin 6" x 12" for the pages

Cut 2 pieces of Muslin 6 1/2" x 12 1/2" for the covers (so they will be a little larger than the pages

Cut 8 pieces of iron on interfacing 5 1/2" x 5 1/2" and attach to the pages, two to each page, 1/4" from the outer edges.  There should be 1/2" without interfacing on the center where the spine will be.

Cut 4 pieces of iron on interfacing 6" x 6" and do same as pages for the covers

Cut 2 pieces of chip board 6" x6" to insert into the covers (optional)

I also added a piece of felt cut the same size as the interfacing for backing and sewed through all these layers as I embellished each page.

To assemble book:  sew covers together around the outer edge, inserting the chipboard if you like a stiff cover  I also added a line of stitching form the center spine.  

Sew pages together the same way so you have two "signatures" measuring 6" x12".

To assemble the book: Tack a long - 24" at least- piece of ribbon down the center of on side of the pages.  Tie around the center of the cover at the spine. Tie the ribbons and embellish as you like.

Pics of the book tied together viewed from the top.

Paper Bead Binding

Preparing the book:

Sew the pages together to form signatures.  I create each page separately so I arrange them as I would like the see and then sew the pages together front to back, i.e, Front cover to page 1, page 2 to page 3, page 4 to page 5, page 6 to page 7, page 8 to back cover.

This is the finished binding.  I added beads to the spine edge of each page starting with the front cover.  I spaced the beads atleast one bead apart along the spine and made them as even as possible  so I had one at the top and bottom of the page.  I then took the Second page layed the spine edges together and sewed beads to the spine so they would be inline with the spaces.  Repeat this for all the pages including the back cover.

                           
Now you are ready to lace the pages together.  Using a piece of 1/8" narrow satin  ribbon 4x the length of the page edge (spine).  Thread one end through a chenille or silk ribbon needle.  NOTE:  this is why I made paper beads so I could contril the size of the hole - it needed to be large enough for two strands of the narrow ribbon to fit through.  Lay page one/cover over page 2-3 matching beads with spaces.  Starting at the front cover top, sew through first bead, then bead one of Page two.  Go back and forth between pages until you get the last bead on page 2-3 and go back into the top of the last bead on the front cover..  Lay page 4-5 on page 2-3 and adding beads (I used pearl beads as filler but you could also use any bead that fits the space) Go into the bottom bead on page 4-5 from the bottom and then through the beads on page 2-3 again.  Tie off when you get back to the top.  Repeat until all the pages are sewn together.  Add charms to the ends of the ribbon ties on the book top.  In the following picture, the ribbon lacing the beads is shown as red attaching cover/page 1 to Pages 2/3 and pink attaching pages 2/3 to pages 4/5.

Imaginary Girls Binding

Completed page of the Imaginary Girls book showing the spine strip used to join the pages together.

I took all the completed pages, folded them on the spine seams and stacked them to determine the width of the spine.  I cut a piece of Chipboard this measurement by the height of the pages + 1/4" all around.  I then cut a piece of fabric 1/2" larger all around.  On the wrong side of the fabric, I made lines to correspond with each page and sewed the pages to the right side of the fabric.

I glued this to the chipboard spine and wrapped the excess around to cover the edges completely. 

I also added a piece of fabric for the inner cover lining and first page backing using a blanket stitch.  I also sewed the pages together along the top, side and lower edges of the pages only not including the spine strip.

I created the book cover from fabric I dyed.  Using my embroidery machine, I added a frame with an oval opening in the center. for the book Title.  I determined the cover measurement by adding the width of a page + 1/2" (front cover) + the width of the spine +1/2" + the width of a page + 1/2" (back Cover) x the length of the page + 1/2" and added about 3/4" all around.  I basted the outer cover to a thin batting.

Cut 2  pieces of chipboard for the front and back covers the height of the spine and the width of each page plus 1/4".  Glue these to the front and back cover portion of the cloth over  leaving the width of the spine + 1/4" space between the front and back cover pieces.  Fold the excess cover fabric over the chipboard.  Place the spine of the book in the opening and carefully stitch around attaching the spine and the cover linings.  I also added a metallic cord wrapping as shown.

As a finishing touch, I added a large bead to the side and metallic trim all around the book and front cover.