How to bind a book

Step 5 Cut and sew the bindings

The bindings need to be cut to the thickness of the book (when all signatures are together) plus an inch or so.

The first signature you should sew are the first endpages, followed by signature 1 of the book, then the rest.

Insert the needle *into* the head and draw all but about 2 inches through. Then go *out* at the first punch you come to and pull it tight. Go *in* to the next hole-- but make sure that the binding is between the thread and the spine (as in the image). Repeat for as many bindings as there are, then come out through the foot notch. Prepare the next signature.

Comments

[HeatherNicholds]

Couple questions... what are the endpages you refer to for where to start sewing? what happens to the first end of string? i.e. what do you secure it to? Thanks - I'm sure once I get myself sorted out a bit this will all make perfect sense!

[eleraama]

The endpages are the blank (usually differently coloured) pages before the actual title page and text block (if you open up a hardcover, they're the first and last pages you see). Usually there are 1 or 2 (unfolded) pages at the front and at the back-- you're going to glue the first page of the front pages to the board, and hence the last page of the bottom pages. The thread doesn't actually have to get attached to anything (sometimes I knot it so it doesn't slip through the cerf in the first couple of signatures; after that, the sewing itself is what keeps the signatures together and the end is useless.)