How to Bind a Book
Ever had trouble looking for a notebook that fits your exact specifications? Making and binding a book may be the answer to your prayers. A personalized notebook also makes for a great gift for friends and family. Here’s how you can make one for yourself:
Materials
Paper
Paper cutter
Scissors
Straight-edge ruler
Paintbrush
Cover board or binder’s board
PVA glue or bookbinding glue
Bookbinding cloth
Bookbinding needles
Head material
Loose weave cotton
Awl
Cover paper for book cover design
Thicker paper for end and starting pages
Bone folder (optional)
Procedure
Gather your paper together. You have the option of leaving them as they are or cutting them further to the size that you prefer, the height that you want and twice the width.
book bind
Fold each page with the long edge in half, half-hamburger style. Make sure that the edges of the paper are lined up accurately.
Once the pages are folded, collate them into signatures. A signature is like a smaller book, made up of at least seven or at most seven folded papers. The number of pages per signature depends largely on the thickness of each individual paper. The optimum thickness of each signature should be not too thin and not too thick to be able to work with properly.
Get your ruler and from the top folded edge of the signature, mark the 1/2″ measurement and the 3/4″ measurement from the bottom folded edge. Mark the measurements with different colored pens.
In between these two measurements, take divide them into three sections and mark them across the spine. This will be where your binding strips will be. You may wish to add more strips if you like, just be sure that they are divided in equal increments.
Measure the head material’s width, divide it by half and mark each side of the frame or marking.
Use scissors to cut out small triangles from both the head and foot marks.
Use the awl to punch through the triangular cuts. Punch them out of the spine, not the page.
Thread the bookbinding needle with some waxed thread.
Cut the bindings to the thickness of the book or the combined signatures, with an additional inch.
Sew the signature for the first end pages. Follow this with the first signature and then so on.
Inser the needle into the head, and draw most of the thread through except for the last two inches. Thread out of the first punch nearest and pull tightly. Go in the next hole again, making sure that the binding comes between the thread and the spine. Repeat for the other bindings, and then end by coming out of the foot notch.
At the next signature, start from the opposite, at the foot. Repeat for the third, and then once you get back to the bottom of the third, kettle stitch it back to the second. Take the needle and put it under the thread that runs between the first and second signatures, and then put it through the loop that it forms. Afterward, you just continuing the kettle stitch.
If you run out of thread, knot the tail end on the inside and cut off the excess thread.
Paint the PVA glue onto the spine using the paintbrush.
Cut a piece of cloth that is a little bigger than the dimensions of the spine. Smooth it out Make sure the bindings are centered. Let dry
Prepare your cover material by covering the book covers with the patterned paper. Add 1/2″ to all sides, and glue the cover board exactly in the middle of the patterned paper. Smooth out when attaching with glue to get rid of air bubbles.
Cut out the bookbinding cloth. Measure out the dimensions by multiplying the amount of cloth you want on the cover by two and adding half an inch.
Center the cloth to the cover and spine. Glue them down and fold the excess cloth in. Glue the binding strips inside the covers and center on the spine piece. Attach bookbinders to keep in place
Let dry for 24 hours.