July 20, 2015, Week 3 - Content and Template

Hello Everyone,

This week I was able to make the two drawings to add to my Lemonade book.

I did do a bit of photo editing on them before I printed them for the book.  (I decided to print them instead of glueing in the originals to help keep the pages similiar.  This will help the binding look more uniform.)

 

With the content is complete,  I have folded and organized my pages and they are ready for binding.

I'm beginning by creating a template for the stitching holes.  For my version of the French Link Stitch, there will be a Coptic stitch on the top and bottom and three French Link Stitches in the middle.

For my templates, I always mark TOP, usually as big as I can.  (I am very good at not paying attention to what is the top and this can make your stitching crooked.)  So from the top to the bottom, I measured and marked 1 inch, from that mark 1 1/4 inches, then 1 inch, then 1/2 inch, then 1 inch then 1/2 inch, then 1 inch, then 1 1/4 inches and then 1 inch.  There will be 1 1/4 Inches between the Coptic stitches and the French Link Stitches and just a 1/2 inch between each of the French Link stitches.

Next, using an awl, I punched holes in each page, aligning the template with the center fold of each page.  Take the time to make sure you align the template perfectly, always putting the top of the template with the top of the page and that you punch the holes exactly on the mark and in the crease.  The more accurate your holes, the nicer your binding will look.

If you have a punch cradle, by all means use it, but it's not necessary.

Once all the holes on the page are punched, it should look similiar to the above.  Not the greatest picture, but you do want to make sure your holes are where they need to be.

Then I continued to punch the holes for all the pages.

With that done, I'm ready to sew.  

Soooo, next week will be a demo of the stitching process and the final book.

Until then,

Happy Book Binding!

Sheila