Stitching Patterns

In spite of that snow-day cancellation last week, our group met this weekend to explore some stitching patterns that could be used for making exposed bindings. Heather Loney told us how she had spent some time working out many different stitching patterns for binding. She shared her planning process and some tips for us if we want to try making new patterns in the future.
Heather had, very helpfully, prepared a few patterns for us to try. She came equipped with several pre-punched sewing cards and a dozen spools of thread for us to use. Everyone made at least three of these following her instructions.
Heather and others also brought along a variety of handmade books that demonstrated a wide range of exposed binding styles for discussion, comparison, and inspiration.
Thank you, Heather, for sharing this with the group!

Book Swap 2024 - Marilynn Rudi

Marilynn Rudi created this handbound book for our recent book swap. It is a case binding with coordinated Japanese Chiyogami on both sides of the cover boards. The binding is an exposed lattice pattern sewn through the case.

Book Swap 2024 - Katherine Taylor

The next book to be featured from the NSBAG book swap is a hardcover book by Katherine Taylor. The cover is custom book cloth. The book is a rounded spine case binding with brown endsheets and matching striped endbands.

Book Swap 2024 - Jeffrey Cowling

Next in our book swap lineup is this handbound journal made by Jeffrey Cowling. Jeffrey's contribution is a flat back, case binding in full cloth.

Book Swap 2024 - Sally Crawford

Sally Crawford's contribution to our book swap is a Chinese Thread Book or Zhen Xian Bao. Sally made this using her own eco-dyed papers. Her thread book creation consists of over thirty individual folded boxes.

Book Swap 2024 - Emily Brown

This unique book was made by Emily Brown for our book swap. It is bound in full cloth as a case binding, featuring a rasied frame and bee on the front. The cover boards and the pages are all cut as hexagons and the tricky hexagon endsheets feature a coordinating bee print.

Book Swap 2024 - Joe Landry

Next in our lineup of books from the 2024 book swap, is this book made by Joe Landry. This is a millimeter binding with goatskin leather spine and corners with cream-coloured paper for the covers and endsheets.

Book Swap 2024 - Stephanie Morley

Here is Stephanie Morley's contribution to our book swap this year. The stitching and cover wrapper are based on a 16th century limp binding structure. The cover of this book is handmade paper from Papeterie St-Armand and it is stitched with linen thread. There are also hand-marbled flyleaf pages and a Velcro closure.

Book Swap 2024 - Rhonda Miller

Rhonda Miller made this book and box for our recent book swap. The book is made using the sewn board binding technique with custom endsheets that feature an original lino print. This custom clam shell box and matching book are both made with Rhonda's original marbled paper. There is a faux leather spine and the marbled paper has a polished beeswax coating.

Book Swap 2024 - Heather Loney

Heather Loney's contribution to our book swap is this lovely cloth-covered book with rounded corners. The binding is sewn through the case using a decorative pattern in two colours of thread. The paste-down on the inside of the case is Heather's own marbled paper.