How to bind your own Hardback Book

Step 9 Mark and cut the material

Position the book covers and the spine on the reverse of your chosen fabric or leather and mark out so that there is a border of about 1 inch / 25mm all round.

Cut out the material.

As already mentioned, you can use any material you want really, although very thick material will be difficult to fold and glue (although, who knows how patient you are?).

Actually, I used material from a pair of my ex-wife's linen (Toast) trousers, thought I might give her the book as a Christmas present in an ironic sort of way... don't worry only joking and she had thrown them out anyway...

Comments

[themixtape27]

There is a way to bind the corners that allow you to get a more professional look. Simply take the corners of the fabric, and pull them and glue them down first. This will create little triangles that are glued from the corners while the rest of the edges aren't glued yet. Then, when you pull the edges down, they look like this:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/maria_papel/5633998135/in/pool-59608321@N00

See how there is a seam on the corner, so that there seems to be two pieces meeting, rather than one side of the corners being on top of the other. The trick is to pull the corner in at a perfect diagonal, think a 45 degree angle. Also, if your fabric is thick or your cardstock is wide, it may gap a little, but it will still look very nice.

[KaptinScarlet]

Looks cool, good comment

[benjaminjrichards]

I'm a bit confused about one aspect: how far away from the front and back boards should the spine be measuring out the fabric to be cut? This in turn affects positioning when gluing. It does say later (in instruction no. 12) that they should be glued next to each other, but the pictures show otherwise. And, when studing how hardback books are made, there is always a slight gap for folding. Have a missed a point, or just misread a bit? This whole process is great though. Can't wait to try it. Thank you.

[KaptinScarlet]

point 10 "Make sure you stick them neatly in a row so that they are aligned with each other and straight and that there is a gap of about 1 or two thicknesses of the card you are using between the spine and each of the cover boards." although I probably could have made it clearer. Hope you enjoy, please post a pic of your finished book. Cheers

[benjaminjrichards]

Oh yeah. Must have just missed it. Thanks for pointing it out. Will do.