Switched from glued spines to sewn bindings for a local history project

I was working on a collection of old family letters from a client in Salem, and something felt wrong about just gluing them into a case binding. I spent a weekend trying a sewn binding on a practice run, using a simple link stitch. The result just felt more solid, like the pages actually belonged together instead of being stuck on. Has anyone else moved away from glued spines for certain projects?

2 comments

2 Comments

lee_butler23d ago

Oh, I've been there with the uneven stitches too. What finally helped me was marking the spine with a pencil line at regular intervals before I even picked up the needle. I use a simple piece of card stock as a template, poke the holes with an awl through the template into the signatures, and then the spacing stays pretty consistent. It still took me a few tries to get the tension right, not too tight or the book won't open well. But once you find that sweet spot, the whole thing just feels like a real book, not a craft project.

caseyclark23d ago

Oh man, I tried a glued spine once on a batch of my grandma's recipe cards and ended up with a pile of loose pages and a sticky mess all over my desk. I swear I spent more time cleaning glue off my fingers than actually binding anything. I totally get what you mean about the sewn binding feeling more right - it's like the pages are actually shaking hands instead of just being taped together. My favorite part is how you can lay the book flat without fighting it, which is huge when someone's trying to read these old fragile letters. I'm still terrible at keeping the stitches even though, my last practice run looked like a drunk spider got loose with the thread. But hey, at least it holds together better than any of my glued disasters.