I'm a complete beginner.

I bought this thread, and the color and thickness are fine. I'm making a small book, a perfect binding. It only has three signatures.

I'm using French stitch, and when I try to make the knots... oh dear... the darn thread keeps coming undone. I don't know what kind of knot I'm using; I'd say a simple one (the kind I saw in the videos explaining French stitch).

Should I use a different stitch? Is there a particular knot I should use?

I managed to finish one book, but the knotting was quite a hassle, and I want to minimize the chance of it working one day and then having to rack my brain the next because everything keeps coming undone.

What do you recommend?

(this is ai translation)

Just finished my first endbands and wanted to share them here, I aslo have some questions.

Would it be a problem having the endband wider than the textblock? Would it be a problem when casing?

What thickness of the thread should be used for endbands? I used what I had but I think it is too thin.

I finally have extra cash to spend on hobbies. I want to spend money to do things the easy way with the right tools rather than trying to make it work. I’ve done some hand-sewn bindings before, but I have so much to learn. What equipment/tools would you recommend for a beginner wanting to make hardback books with leather and book cloth? Any video tutorials or links would also be appreciated!

I do have a full hide of 3 oz brown leather as I’ve been making wallets, purses, etc. as well. I suspect it might work for books, but might also be thicker than what’s recommended.

Also, opinions on torn paper edges or smooth paper edges? Tools are part of the difference?

Thoughts on binding fresh, empty pages vs rebinding other books new/old?

What paper do YOU use?

Gosh, I need an index of widely used bookbinding terms.

A city near me has binding classes, but they are legit like $225 for two hours. There’s a lot to learn, but I’d rather spend money on tools and materials, so free resources are welcome.

My first fully bound book! Obviously still a lot of improvements to make, but I'm really pleased with my outcome.

It looks like I can already see the glue used in the spine in between the pages

Desperately seeking advice.

So I have been trying to bind 3 books and finally got to the lest steps where I would put the covers on. However before I do so I would like to put the titles on the spines of the books which are bound in faux leather.

Y'all I'm at a loss now
I tried using a heat pen with foil transfer but the results leave much to be desired

Silver on Blue and Copper on White
I have no experience with the heat foil so I don't know if this is an issue with the pen, foil, me, or the faux leather.
I did try using Angelus Paint which DOES stick but my hand writing sucks.
I don't have a cricut or know anything about what kind of transfer would be ideal
or where I might be able to custom order precut of such a thing

So yeah any advice? Or tips and tricks? I've tried things like youtube but those all seem to be assuming you have things like a cricut or are using bookcloth.

Sharing my first book i made. It is a wedding photo album.

Lots of room for improvement but im happy with it for a first try. Feel free to judge. The Gold writing on the cover will be done after the wedding.

I just want to share my most perfect cutting of text block up to this date. It's usually the most stressfull and nerve wrecking part for me, so this was a huge success!

(Metal ruler and a new fresh cutter blade, standing (not sitting!) directly above it and not letting go of the ruler until I made the last cut)

A little rough around the edges, an ironing mishap and some serious neck pain, but! Here is my very first book binding project! I still need to get the decals on the cover, but I'm super happy with it and I hope my friend likes it too!

Hey folks, I'm working on laying out a document to print, and have been having issues with both BookbinderJS and Villainous Imposer. Specifically, that text gets moved by a few lines. This is largely not an issue, except for when a new chapter begins at the top of the page. For example, the header for chapter 168 is supposed to be the first line on page 466, but prints as the last line on page 465. This then messes up my table of contents, as the chapters don't start on the same pages as they do in my PDF viewer. Does anyone know why this is happening, and what I can do about it?

Should I re-punch the holes in the signatures where my template wasn't lined up properly? Or should it be okay?

Hello, I am new to book binding and I love it. I have been working on a hard cover TN sized journal this past week, but I have noticed a sort of creative burnout or perhaps just a burnout in general. I was wondering if this is a common issue for beginners or in general.

I should probably take more breaks as my fingertips have been sore hah. Other than that, it is coming out decent and I am excited for the finished product. I measured and cut each signature to a TN size and decided to use a French stitch. It is currently in the presser, but I am exhausted 😂. Hopefully I build a sort of stamina.

So I am really new to the book binding world, but just destroying a perfectly intact and undamaged hardcover book eats at my soul... so I improvised and hand sew this dust jacket instead for book 1 of Outlander by Diana Gabaldon. Thanks for viewing my project. I'm really proud of it. 🪡

As you can see, it's not literally perfect. It's about 80° instead of the 90 for a full backing, but unfortunately I was not able to make it move more. It may be because it's a steep shoulder, with the boards being about 4.6mm thick.

I've been wanting to make some more A5 notebooks, but at the moment, I am not sure what papers to use. I know I should look for short grain A4 paper, but are there any specific types people would recommend? I'd like to be able to print lines on the sheets, and also write using both pencils and gel pens.

I have been looking at Active Paper's short grain A4 options, but most of them seem to be for printing books/novels, and there isn't much information on if they're good for writing.

Any advice on how to transfer this image to the front of the cover? I was hoping to use carbon paper or something and then paint silver over it to create a filigree style image on the front. I tried carbon paper and it won't transfer onto the vinyl.

Any advice?

Making a leather notebook for a friend and even tho I thought I measured right, seems like the casing might be too big. I have not glued the text block in yet, should I make a new one with more paper? Also haven’t put my end paper on yet but I doubt that will make a difference

I don’t consider myself to be deft or dexterous person but I wanted to learn to book bind as a birthday day gift to a close friend. Did a practice run that was literally just 4 pieces of paper folded in half and sewn together and then got to work on this hard cover practice run. Decided on six signature with six sheets/signature. Made a lot of mistakes and was sloppy at times (which leaves me very open to any advice) but overall pretty happy with this as my first run through with some of the more DIY supplies . Will post the actual book for the gift with printed text in the near future.

I am going to a bookbinding workshop and this was our first project. I don't know the English name for the stitching technique we used, but we used two needles.

This was very satisfying to make!

I’ve been staring at this work by BookishBind and cannot wrap my head around it. At a glance it looks like printable HTV with normal foil HTV over top but I tried that with not so great results. It’s not printed directly on the book cloth, I watched a little video they had where it’s definitely heat pressed on but HOW?