Today we will be learning two basic book binding stitches: a 5-hole pamphlet stitch, which we will use for our class chapbook, and a stab binding, which we will use for our class zine. I will be demonstrating both, but I provide these resources so you can go back, pause, rewind, and return to them after class.
We will only have time to cover two stitches in a single BookLab lab, but there are a plethora of additional resources in the world you might use for other patterns and styles, if relevant to your book project. YouTube is absolutely chock full of binding tutorials, and I have a book at Skeuomorph describing hundreds of binding styles that do not require glue that you can use as a reference.
Resources
- “A Brief Guide to Common Bookbinding Stitches” by Harikleia Sirmans
5-Hole Pamphlet Stitch
- “Pamphlet Binding” from University of Iowa Conservation Department
- “Single Section Sewing” from Brighton University
- (Video) “5-Hole Pamphlet Stitch for Journals”
- (Video) “5 Hole Pamphlet Stitch”
- (Video) “Five Hole Pamphlet Stitch - Hardcover - Multiple Signatures.” This one is advanced, but possibly relevant to your book projects. Also just check out the cool book she’s binding!
Japanese Stab Binding
- “How to Create a Book Using the Japanese Stab Binding Method”
- (Video) “Make Time: Japanese Book-Binding”
- (Video) “4 Hole Japanese Bookbinding Tutorial” and, from the same creator “More Japanese Bookbinding Tutorials,” which teaches the Noble Binding, the Hemp Leaf Binding, and the Tortoise Shell binding
- (Video) “Binding A Japanese Stab Bound Book · Timelapse.” Less a tutorial and more a demonstration, but this shows a slightly more advanced version of what we will do in class, as she constructs a separate cover and spine structure that’s then attached to the body of her book.
- “A Theory of Japanese Stab Binding” is not really a tutorial, but features some of the more elaborate binding structures such as the “butterfly” or “dancing snowflakes” binds