My fascination with handmade book binding happens in fits and starts. I’m either completely obsessed with it, or I can’t be bothered. There’s no in-between.

Currently I’m in the obsessive stage, and January has been quite productive.

I’ve been trolling through Instagram and YouTube tutorials to find binding styles I’m inspired to try. I would be easier if I could watch the entire tutorial, but I tend to fast-forward through them to get the gist of the technique, and then try and wing-it by myself before I’ve reached the end of the instructions.

Sometimes my designs work out, and sometimes it’s a struggle. But this month I’ve realised that the challenge of figuring out how to do the techniques is a major part of the fun.

Different Bookbinding Stitches/Techniques

So far this month I’ve tried a variety of different bookbinding techniques:

Coptic Stitch

Coptic Stitch (aka chain stitch) – is one of the most popular stitches because it creates a book that’s able to lie flat, which is especially useful the for type of books I make filled with sketch and watercolour paper. The page sections (called signatures) are sewn together, and the stitches are left exposed on the book’s spine.

I’ve made my own paper before, but this is the first time I’ve created “cheat/faux” homemade paper. It’s basically layers of tissue paper glued together with a watered down white glue mixture, with thread and string between the layers. I liked how this turned out.

French Link Stitch

This is another exposed stitch technique where the page sections are joined with an X pattern is called a French Link Stitch. These linking stitches tend to be on the loose side, so you have to add a couple of rows of coptic or kettle stitch to stop the sections from flopping about.

Case Binding

This year was the first time I tried case binding, where the covers and spine are joined together and the spine stitching isn’t exposed. It seems like the standard way to create this case binding is to create a single case binding framework consisting of the front and back covers and spine.

The other approach is to create the front cover, back cover, and spine as individual sections, and join them on the inside. I don’t know if this is a case binding or is called something different, but I actually like this approach.

Secret Belgium Binding

This method of bookbinding used two sewing stages. One to connect the covers and spine, and the second to connect the page sections to the spine board. It’s a bit fiddly to do, but creates a nice looking spine pattern.

I’m yet to create a true secret Belgium Bound book. The “proper” way is to connect the spine within a loop of thread, but each time I’ve tried this binding technique I’ve added a row of holes down the centre of the spine to hold it in place more securely.

I like how this technique looks, but now sure if this variation on the Belgium binding has a name.

Australian (Reverse) Piano Hinge Binding

I stumbled across a tutorial for this no-stitch binding method, using a loop of card pushed through the crease of the paper sections, which is held in place with a rod of card. I really like this technique when I’m not in the mood to do battle with needle and thread. The benefit is that you can remove sections from a bound book and replace them with new pages. This binding is a variation on the Piano Hinge which uses external rods (toothpicks or bamboo skewers work), to hold the pages in pace. Whereas the Australian version used internal/flat hinge bindings. Not sure why these are called a Piano Hinge, when you actually use an accordion fold!

What I love about bookbinding is that there are established techniques for creating bound bounds, and once you familiarise yourself with them, the world is your oyster. You can mix and match techniques and styles to create you own version of these foundation designs.

Have a closer look at my matchbook style books using the Australian Piano Hinge Binding and standard stitching.