Bookbinding Projects

To make this limp binding, you will need a soft leather hide (about 4 oz weight), hard leather (8-10 oz), paper (16 sheets of 20 lb, 8½″ x 11″), linen thread, beeswax, and lace or cord.

For tools, you will need a bone folder (for creasing and slitting paper), an awl, a bookbinding needle (or tapestry needle), scissors, a ruler, a piece of cardstock a little larger than your pages will be, and a utility knife (or equivalent). Partway through making the model book for this guide, I decided that I also needed a thimble...

(It is highly recommended that you use a piece of scrap softwood for piercing against. It will save you from painful recriminations later...)

16 sheets of paper is enough to make 8 gatherings of 8 leaves each (2 sheets per gathering).

Begin by folding each sheet of paper in half, bringing the two narrow edges together (folded size: 5½″ x 8½″), creasing the paper using the bone folder. Use enough pressure to break the fibers so that you will be able to slit the paper along this crease.

Next, fold the paper at right angles to the first fold (folded size: 5½″ x 4¼″). This time, gently crease the paper. This fold will be against the spine of the book.

Form the gatherings by nesting one piece of folded paper inside a second. Repeat this process until you have 8 gatherings.

Using the edge of the bone folder, slit the upper folds on the pages of the gatherings. There should be four such folds to be slit in each gathering.

When slitting the folds, angle the bone folder so that it is close to parallel to the fold, rather than at right angles to it. This will help prevent the slit from “running out” of the fold.

At this point, you should have 8 gatherings of two pieces of folded paper each. Take the gatherings together, keeping the slit edges together at one end of the group. This is your “text block”.

Squeeze the spine of the text block (the side where the unslit folds of the gatherings are) together and measure the width of the compressed spine. This will be the width of your spine reinforcement — the length of the reinforcement should be the length of this spine.

Using the awl on the flesh (rough) side of the hard leather, mark out the dimensions of the spine reinforcement.

Apply only enough pressure to get a clearly visible line with the awl — if you're using an alternate tool, such as a needle vice, be careful that you don't bend the needle while doing this step.

Cut the spine reinforcement from the hard leather.

(Trimming the edge of the spine reinforcement.)

You can make two buttons for the fastenings using the same leather as the spine reinforcement. Alternatively, you can use two regular buttons.

Mark and pierce the spine reinforcement for four sewing stations and for sewing on the two buttons.

The outermost sewing stations should be about ½″ from either end, and the two inner sewing stations should be about 1¼″ in from there. The positions for the buttons should be centered between the outer and inner sewing stations.

(You can vary the location of the sewing stations, but make sure that you know what positions you're using for making your piercing template, below.)

Draw a line across the spine reinforcement using the awl at each sewing station (not shown). Pierce four evenly spaced holes along this line — these holes will be the sewing stations in the spine reinforcement, with two gatherings sewn through each hole.

NOTE: Take the time to make sure that the holes in the spine reinforcement will allow your needle to pass through smoothly. This little extra effort will save you a lot of extra effort later.

Pierce the leather where the buttons will be sewn (shown).

Sew the buttons onto the spine reinforcement. Leave enough play on the buttons so that the cord or lace that you have chosen for your fastening can wrap around them.

(The reinforced spine with the buttons attached.)

Measure and mark the positions of the sewing stations on the edge of the cardstock (not shown).

Cut the cardstock to length for the spine (not shown).

The piece of cardstock will be used as a piercing template when piercing the gatherings (see below).

Lay the text block down on the flesh side of the soft leather, with the top of the text against one straight side (if your leather doesn't have a straight side, mark a straight line first using the ruler and the awl).

Using the awl, mark a line on the leather along the bottom edge of the text block. NOTE: This mark may be difficult to see.

Roll the text block over the spine (to allow for the width of the spine) and mark the bottom line again. Roll the text block over the fore-edge (edge opposite the spine) and mark the bottom line a third time, and then mark a line to close the rectangle.

Cut the rectangle from the soft leather. This will become the cover of the finished book.

Lay the text block down on the inside of the leather cover.

Lay the spine reinforcement beside the text block.

This positions the spine reinforcement so that it can be used as a piercing template for the cover.

Using the spine reinforcement as a piercing template, pierce the leather cover in the same places as the holes pierced for the sewing stations (see above).

NOTE: As with the spine reinforcement, take the time to make sure that the holes are large enough for the needle to pass through smoothly. With the soft leather, this has the added benefit of making sure that you can see these holes while you're sewing.

(A view of the cover showing the holes for the sewing stations. Yes, they're really there, about an inch away from the index finger of my left hand — see my note above about making sure that the holes are large enough to be visible...)

Lay the cardstock piercing template inside the innermost fold of each gathering and pierce the folder for each of the four sewing stations.

NOTE: Unlike the picture to the left, you might want to put that piece of scrap wood under the gatherings so that you don't mark up your table...

Measure out your thread. You want a minimum of one spine length for each gathering in your binding, plus at least one extra spine length for working length at the beginning and end of your sewing.

Wax your thread using the beeswax.

This helps your thread pass smoothly through the sewing stations, as well as helping strengthen the thread by consolidating the fibers.

Lay your leather out so that the flesh side is up (not shown), with the holes for the sewing towards the left. The left side will be the front of the book, and the right side will be the back of the book, with a flap that will overlap to the front.

Begin sewing by inserting the needle in the rightmost hole of the lowest sewing station row. Leave one or two inches of thread. Insert the needle into the flesh side of the spine reinforcement, through the matching sewing station hole. Draw the needle all the way through the spine reinforcement and snug the reinforcement against the cover.

Insert the needle back into the same hole in the spine reinforcement and cover, and draw the thread through until you have a small loop sticking out of the hole.

(Showing the small loop sticking out of the hole, next to the thumb of my left hand.)

Insert the needle through the bottommost spine edge of one of the gatherings and pull it all the way through to the inside of the gathering (not shown). Snug the spine up against the cover.

Insert the needle into the next hole in the innermost fold (the “gutter”) of the gathering, and through the rightmost hole of the cover and spine reinforcement.

NOTE: I usually pick the slit fold of the gatherings as the “top” of the gatherings, for consistency.

Pull the needle and thread all of the way through the gathering, cover, and spine reinforcement, snugging all three together.

NOTE: It is not necessary to have this snugging be tight at this point — the first three gatherings will need to be adjusted anyway. The main purpose of drawing everything snug at this point is for better control as you work.

Insert the needle at the next sewing station in the spine reinforcement, through the cover and fold of the gathering. Draw snug.

Insert the needle into the gutter of the gathering at the last sewing station, through the cover and spine reinforcement (not shown). Draw snug.

Insert the needle back into the spine reinforcement at the same hole, through the cover but not through the first gathering (not shown). Instead, you will take a second gathering and lay it on top of the first, inserting the needle into the spine fold at the matching sewing station. Leave a small loop sticking out of the hole in the spine reinforcement as you did at the first sewing station (visible in this image between the thumb and finger of the left hand).

Insert the needle into the gutter of the second gathering and through the same hole in the cover and spine reinforcement as the sewing for the first gathering (shown).

Insert the needle back through the spine reinforcement and cover at the next sewing station, using the same hole as the first gathering but sewing into the second gathering. There should now be two threads lying side by side between the inner sewing stations.

Insert the needle back into the gutter at the bottommost sewing station (at the same edge where you started), this time going through the next hole in the cover and spine reinforcement. Run the needle through the loop sticking out of the first hole; this will form a chain stitch on the spine.

Insert the needle back into the same hole in the spine reinforcement and cover, but not through the second gathering. Instead, add the third gathering at this point, sewing through the spine fold at the bottommost sewing station.

NOTE: The chain stitch and loop that it goes through should be left a little loose at this point. We will be adjusting them when we reach the other end of the third gathering.

Sew in the third gathering, using the second set of holes all the way along, including at the topmost sewing station.

Pass the needle through the loop at this end of the spine, as you did at the other end. This will form a chain stitch at this end.

(Not shown) At this point, draw the standing loop down tight against the spine reinforcement, and take up the resulting slack all along the first gathering to the loop that is sticking out of the other end of the spine reinforcement, drawing that one up tight as well. Take extra care to make sure that the first and second gatherings are snugged up against the inside of the cover.

Next, draw the first chain stitch tight at the bottommost edge (where the third gathering was added) and take up the slack all along the third gathering, snugging that gathering up against the inside of the cover.

NOTE: In my opinion, this is the most awkward part of doing this binding, and you really need to take the time to make sure there isn't any slack between the gatherings and the cover or between the cover and the spine reinforcement.

(Not shown) Insert the needle back into the second hole (completing the chain stitch) in the spine reinforcement and cover, adding the fourth gathering at the same time.

Sew along the gutter of the gathering and out through the second hole of the next sewing station, through the cover and spine reinforcement. As with the first two gatherings, the threads for the third and fourth gatherings will lie side by side on the outside of the spine between the inner sewing stations.

(Not shown) Continue sewing in the remaining gatherings. At the bottom of each row, move to the next hole and form a chain stitch around the previous chain stitch back into the same hole, starting the 5^th gathering. At the top of this gathering, take the chain stitch around the previous one and back into the same hole, starting the 6^th gathering.

NOTE: After the first, the odd number gatherings (3, 5 and 7) use new holes, while the even number gatherings (2, 4, 6, and 8) use the same holes as the previous gathering except at the bottommost sewing station, where you move to the next hole.

At the bottom of the last gathering, only sew through the gathering itself, not through the cover and spine reinforcement.

NOTE: This is your last chance to check to make sure there aren't any slack segments between the gatherings and the cover, and between the cover and the spine reinforcement.

Draw the working end of the thread around the top of the text block, under the cover.

Tie the working end and the starting free end together, nice and snug. Trim the threads to about half an inch.

(A view of the spine when the sewing has been completed.)

Close the cover on the text block, and fold back the leading edge of the flap so that the flap covers about two-thirds of the face of the book.

Trim the leather cover along the fold line described above.

(A view of the cover with the trimmed flap.)

Using the rule as a straight-edge, mark a line from the corner of the fore-edge of the book towards the button on the same side.

Trim the flap along the line described above.

(Not shown) Repeat the process of trimming the flap along the bottom edge.

Take the cord or lace that you will be using as the fastening and cut a piece to the width of the book plus about two or three inches.

Take the piece of the cord/lace and lay it from one of the buttons to the fore-edge of the book, using it as a guideline.

Using the scrap wood to protect the book, pierce the cover at two points, the first about ½″ from the edge of the flap closest to the spine and the other about ½″ past that.

Using the utility knife, cut a small slit parallel to the leading edge of the flap at both holes made above.

Insert one end of the cord/lace into the slit that is farther from the edge of the flap, and then back up through the slit that is nearer to the edge.

NOTE: If you are using parchment for the cover instead of soft leather, use a small rectangle of parchment on the outside of the flap to reinforce the attachment for the cord/lace (seen on at least one of the limp bindings in Szirmai's Archaeology).

Wrap the working end of the cord/lace around the standing end at least twice and draw tight. Leave the short end about ½″ long.

(Checking the alignment of the cord/lace with the button.)

Repeat the process with the other side of the flap, lining up with the second button.

Wrap the free ends of the cords/laces around the buttons, tucking the end under the standing part to lock it in place.

You're finished.