Binding book pages together- sewing signatures together

Welcome to part 2b- sewing book signatures together (Part 2a involved a method to bind single or individual folded pages together).  Wait, what's a signature, I hear you say.  Isn't it the messy scrawl you write a hundred times without thinking but then muck up when you need to sign the back of your credit card?

Well, yes.  And no.  A quick run through on some book terms:

book:  a collection of papers joined together in some way.
spine:  the edge of the book where the pages are joined.

Pile of seven unbound signatures

leaf:  A single piece of paper or page that is part of a book
page: Similar to a leaf but generally refers to one side of the paper (eg, a leaf could be of page 57 with 58 on the other side)
folio: A single piece of paper folded in half.  This will become two leafs or four pages of  book.
signature or section:  a group of folios that are bound together as a unit
text block:  the pages between the covers of the book that form the bulk  This could be made of a single section or signature for a small book or of several signatures joined together for a larger book
endpapers:  Special papers on the inside front and back covers.  These are often decorated in some way, such as marbling.

So with that out of the way, let's get on with the show!  This tutorial covers binding sections together to make a text block.  I'm going to assume that you have your pages folded and placed into the correct order, ready to go.  See Part 1 where I go into this in more detail.

You will also need some other things:

• Some strong string- I like to use crochet cotton because it comes in a pure white colour that matches paper well, and is strong.
• Some bands.  The stuff I use is a woven cotton tape about 1cm wide but you could use ribbon.
• A needle with an eye big enough for your string
• A fine drill bit and hand drill (or you could use a pin or sewing needle to punch holes through the paper)
• Paper cut the width of the spine OR some loosely woven thin fabric
• Ruler, pencil, glue and other bits and bobs

Signatures can consist of any number of folios.  I like to use signatures made of four folios when using office paper.  If you are using thicker or thinner paper you may choose to use less or more folios in each section.

Step one is to mark out where your pages will be sewn through.  First, pile your pages in a neat pile- it may be easy to rig a way of clamping the pages together to stop them moving.  You will also need to know how wide your tape or ribbon is- mine was 1cm but just vary the measurements as needed.  I'll explain further below.

Use a pencil to mark where your holes will go

I used three bands to help hold my book together- for an A5 book this is plenty.  You could get away with two, I just prefer three due to symetry and ease of stitching.  First off, find the middle of your book.  You want your middle band to be centred on the spine- easiest way is to measure out from the centre each way to half the width of the ribbon.  Use a pencil to mark all the signatures for each point.

Then you want to measure for the other two bands.  The exact distance doesn't matter but to look the best and provide the best support, you want to ensure that the top and bottom bands are the same distance from the ends.  Mine are 5cm in from the top and bottom of the spine.  Finally you want holes at each end- about 1cm in from the top and bottom of the page.

All up, you should have 8 marks for your spine, all at the same spacing for each signature.  The spacing should look similar to the picture below.

 With your marks made you are now ready to either drill or use a needle to make holes through all four layers of paper for each section.  Take the pages out of your clamp.  Take one section and open it partially (but not all the way as the fold helps keep all the pages aligned).  Using the needle or the hand drill, make your holes.  You want the holes to be on the fold for every piece of paper and in the same position for every piece of paper- otherwise you'll have pages that are crooked.  Do this for all the holes you have marked for all the sections.

I use a small hand drill to make my holes (the bit size I use is around 0.7mm)

Now we are ready to start sewing!  Take a long length of your string and thread your needle.  I like to work from the last section forward but it doesn't really matter.  Now take a look at the numbers I gave the holes above.  Starting from the back go in at 1, and out at 2.  Place one of your ribbons or bands in position against the spine.  Bring the thread over the band and go in at 3.  Out at 4, again place the band in position and go in at five, out at 6, band in position.  In at 7 and out at 8.  Tada!  You've sewn your first section together!

At this point you should have something looking like above.  The bands are held in place by the string.  You string should also be firmly taunt.  Don't pull it so hard you start ripping the paper, but you shouldn't be able to stick your finger through the slack either.

Now you are ready for your next section (double check your page numbers to ensure you don't sew a section on in the wrong order or upside down as you work!)  Using the same sewing pattern just the reverse order, go in a 8, out at 7 etc.  Make sure your thread goes around the bands, holding them in place.  It's these bands that will hold all the sections together over time.  When you reach the end, stop and pull the string  to remove any slack in the line.  Once you are sure the sections are as close together as possible and the string is not loose, tie a knot between the end of your string and your working length.  This ensures that both sections are well connected at each end by string as well as by the bands.

Take your third section and sew as before to the other end.  This time, when you get to the end you will need to tie it off to the first two.  Take your needle and thread it through the loop connecting section 1 to 2, from the outside of the book, in. As you pull the string through, take it back through this loop to make a knot.  Pull the string gently until the knot is tightened.  This is a kettle stitch, or a half-hitch knot.  You should do this at the end of each section.

Continue in this manner until all your sections are sewn together.  Make sure your string remains taunt as you go so you sections are not loose or wobbly.  Also, make sure your bands don't bunch up as you go- give both ends a light tug at each section.  If you run out of string part way, stop at one of the ends and tie your current string off.  Take your new string and tie it in at the same point before continuing to sew.

When finished, your text block should look like this.

At this point you have a few options.  First of all, I like to rub a little bit of glue into the knots at each end.  This is just a bit of extra security to ensure the knots won't work their way loose over time.

Next, we want to glue something onto the spine to give it a bit of extra support and to ensure that there is no gap between sections that might look unsightly.  This can either be a strip of paper cut to the width of the spine and running from the top stitches down to the bottom, or a piece of fabric.  I like using fabric for the extra material to attach the spine by (see Part 5) but the choice is yours.  Using your finger, put a thin coat of glue evenly on the spine.  Don't use too much glue or it may seep inwards, gluing your pages together.  Centre your paper or material and glue down.  Let this dry.

At this point you are done- your pages are secure and should stay that way for at least the next hundred years or so.  Put your text block somewhere safe and let the glue dry.  The next section will talk a little about little touches you can add at this point to make your book special while after that our attention moves to the covers.  Hope this was helpful to you all!