5 Day Fabric Journal Finished!

When last I wrote I was mulling which color thread to use for stitching my book together. Those of us leaning toward the black thread were right! This binding is best sewn lying flat. It includes kettle stitches, link stitches and long stitches.

And here it is all sewn together. I have a slight spring in the front cover which is not uncommon, but a little manipulation and more time under weights solves the issue. That batik I used to make the bookcloth for the cover looks so fantastic. I am very pleased.

I'm happy enough with my stamped endpapers, if for no other reason than the ink color  is a perfect match with the batik. And really, you could make this book in 5 days easily, as many who took the challenge did. Don't let my dilly dallying convince you otherwise!

If I do another book with lined paper, I'm already thinking of how I would do it differently, altering the pdf I used or coming up with my own. There are signatures where the center is a plain page, and others like this one that are lined all the way across. In my mind, this would be better with a break at the center, like conventional book pages that have a "gutter".

And here is an example of the alternating plain and lined pages. Again, it bothers me that the lines run all the way to the center rather than having a margin like on the fore edge. But live and learn. This won't be the last book I make. This also shows how the book lies flat when open and the unavoidable gap between signatures. The heavier the thread (and sometimes the weight of the paper too) the wider the gap may be  This is not a feature that bothers me.

Here's a closeup of those 3 stitches we used. From left to right, the kettle stitch (which is essentially a knot to increase the stability of the book at top and bottom), the link stitch (sometimes called a coptic stitch which is an attractive stitch you want to show off - it makes me think of my crocheting days), and the long stitch (versatile, utilitarian, quick, and can be gussied up with beads, weaving, gathering and even French linking it - yes, I want to try them all).