Articles : Tutorials - Hybrid

Make Your Own Book - Stitch Binding

A Simple Technique Anyone Can Do

Here’s a simple stitch binding technique to use if you want additional stability for a cardstock book or if you just want to make a fun cereal box book for the kids.  You can use this technique to put together your word book, to make a cute little mini album, to make a book for your purse.  Enjoy!

 

Materials:

Heavy cardstock, lightweight cardboard (cereal boxes are ideal), or other similar material for the cover

Printer paper for inside pages

Wax cord or fiber (ribbon, cotton yarn... nothing too stretchy)

1/8th inch hole punch (or size appropriate for your binding material)

paper cutter

scizzors

binder clip

 

Instructions: 

Determine how big you want your book to be.  Cut the front and back, slightly larger than your internal pages.  For this example, my cover (made from a taco shell box) is 4 5/8 x 3 15/16 and pages are 4 1/4 x 3 5/8.

 

 

You can get 6 "pages" out of one piece of printer paper for this size book!

 

 

You’ll need an odd number of holes in your book for this technique; the stitching directions below are for 5 holes.  Measure 1/4-1/2 inch in from the left side of the book.  Make a mark 1/4-1/2 inch from the top and bottom and then at the midpoint.  Make another mark midway between the top and midpoint and another between the midpoint and bottom.

 

 

Punch your cover. (Note that because I was using a "busy" box for my cover, I put the right sides together, marked and punched on that side so that I could more easily see what I was doing.)

 

 

 

Then assemble your book.  Remember that the covers should overlap all sides of the pages--less so on the left so that you have plenty of room to punch the holes.  Use a binding clip to hold your book together.  Punch through your pages.

 

 

Mentally number your holes from the top down; hole 1 is the top, hole 3 is the middle, and hole 5 is the bottom.  I've drawn it out on a piece of scratch paper to show you, but you don't have to do draw it yourself unless you find it will help you keep track!

 

 

Stitching directions:

1)      Cut a length of wax cord 5-6 times the height of your book.  You can use thread or fiber if you like.  You can double your thread (remember to double the length if you do this) for a different look or to combine fibers.  You may need to use a needle. 

 

2)      Pull your cord (or needle with fiber) down through the top hole (hole 1) leaving 3-4 inches dangling.  You’ll finish this off later. 

 

       3)      Pull the cord up through the next hole down towards the bottom of the book (hole 2) and then around the left edge and back up through the same hole. 

 

4)      Repeat step 2 for holes 3-5 reversing the direction each time (down through 3, up  through 4 and down through 5). 

 

 

5)      To finish off the bottom of the book, wrap your cord around the bottom edge of the book and back up through the same hole. 

 

 

6)      Use a running stitch back through holes 4, 3, 2 (up through 4, down through 3 and up through 2.

7)      Skip hole 1 and wrap your cord around the top edge of the book, pulling up through hole 1 and then around the left edge of the book and back up through the same hole making sure that you are on the opposite side of the thread that skipped the hole on your first pass. 

 

 

8)   Tie the ends together over this thread, embellish and trim.

About the author ...
Glenda has been scrapbooking for several years and started digital scrapping in 2006. She has two daughters who are the main focus of most of the pages she creates. Glenda uses Paint Shop Pro Photo for her digital scrapbooking pages and still delves into paper scrapping occasionally as well as her myriad of other crafty endeavors - cross stitch, knitting, sewing, stamping, quilting, stained glass, needlepoint... She often has many projects ongoing at any given time!

Submitted by bamablue

Reader Comments ...

lizziej . Home state of the Texas Longhorns!	5/5/08 2:22 pm
Great class, Glenda!! Thanks for posting this!
Kara . Maryland--land of the crab!	5/7/08 4:06 pm
Thank you for the instructions!!!