Stab binding with leaves

This work in progress had been sitting on my table for a few months. When the time for the bindathon arrived, I took the steps needed to finish it.

First, the cover was very bland. Vague light purple stains. I did a quick overdye with leaf prints. Lots of leaves to try to get a mix of color and shape. Botanical printing is an inexact process, for me anyway. The inside covers show rather undifferentiated darkness. I decided to feature the nice print of four leaves of bunchberry on the front.

Next to choose a pattern for the stab binding. This step required a lot of browsing on Becca Hirsbrunner’s website, which is fascinating. I ended up choosing the maple leaf pattern, which is relatively simple and echoes the leaf printing on the cover. I downloaded her template and printed it out in several sizes so I could pick the right size for the book from the printout.

https://beccamakingfaces.com/2013/10/05/japanese-stab-binding-tutorial-maple-leaves/

I actually practiced the binding stitches first on a piece of card. The practice run went more smoothly than the final binding. I had to unpick the final binding twice due to wrong turns! But in the end I was able to correct it and I really like the binding pattern.

Notes for next time: the most room for improvement is related to the sewing holes. Consider pricking holes through the template first to mark them, then going back without the template to finish making holes. This will preserve the template. (Or – print out several identical templates.) I held the book together with clips and punched the holes all at once, which was an advantage in terms of alignment. But it might have been better to make holes three times, in front cover, back cover, and text block separately. Then I would have more control over the unsightly ridges of paper that built up around the holes. Also – could try the screw punch instead of the awl.