How to Bookbind Hardback Covers

Hardcover binding is a challenging but rewarding craft project.

Binding your own hardback book is a challenging but rewarding project. Whether it's collecting recipes into a cookbook, creating a blank diary, binding a self-published manuscript or simply refinishing an old beloved book from the bookshelf, hardback binding provides the most lasting protection for the pages inside. Because the steps are difficult enough to require some practice, it's a good idea to try your first binding with blank paper rather than pre-printed or archival pages.

Things You'll Need

• Paper, four times the size of the final pages, at least 32 sheets
• One sheet of paper slightly larger and thicker than the interior pages
• Two pieces of cardboard sized for the front and back covers
• Two strips of flexible cardboard about 1 inch high and 4 inches long
• Bookbinding glue or PVA paste
• Awl with sharp end
• Large sewing needle
• Waxed linen thread
• Heavy paperweight or several books to use as weights
• Craft knife or other blade for cutting thick paper and cardboard
• Ruler
• Spoon
• Tape
• Brush to use with glue
• Bookbinding fabric for the spine

Instructions

Preparing the Interior Pages

1. Align the interior paper so that the grain is vertical. You can find the grain of the paper by wetting a small corner of one sheet. The corner will curl in the direction of the grain. Orient the paper so the corner points across the table and not up or down.

2. Cut your paper to the desired size. Each sheet should be the size of two pages facing each other in an open book.

3. Stack the sheets into groups of eight.

4. Fold each group in half. Press down on the middle, then crease up and down from there. Use the back of a spoon to press the crease. Make sure the edges of the paper align.

5. Stack the folded groups. You may wish to place the paperweight or books on top of the folded part of the stack to press the crease and give it a stronger fold.

Sewing the Interior Pages

1. Fold the two cardboard strips around the exterior of one of the folded page stacks. Place each strip at about the one-third mark of the spine length. They should be equidistant from each other and from the edges.

2. Tape the cardboard strips to the edge of the table so they line up with where you placed them on the first stack. Tape just one end down and leave the other end free to fold over the spines of the remaining stacks. These strips will serve as your hole-punching template.

3. Punch holes in each paper stack using the awl. Punch one hole at either side of the cardboard strip and one an inch away from each end of the paper. Punch through both layers of the stack, keeping the fold as tight as possible.

4. Thread the needle and sew into the first hole of the first stack while it's lined up with the cardboard strips.

5. Pull the thread back out the hole before the first cardboard strip, wrap it over the strip and go back in the hole on the other side. Repeat for the second strip, and finish the first stack by threading out of the last hole.

6. Place another stack on top of the first one. Sew into the first hole directly above the one you finished from the previous stack, and sew along the edge and around the cardboard strip as you did with the first stack.

7. Place the third stack on top. Before sewing into the third stack, go down and around the origin of the thread heading into the first stack's first hole. Continue sewing in this pattern, always looping back to grab the thread end of every other stack, until all stacks are finished.

8. Cut the thread and tie the end off in a double knot.

9. Place the paperweight or books back on the stack to flatten it. You may choose to either line up the folded backs exactly or have them bulge slightly.

10. Brush paste along the entire spine, making sure to work glue into the gaps and around the cardboard strips.

Creating the Cover

1. Cut the two pieces of cardboard so they are slightly larger than the page stack.

2. Cut the thicker sheet of paper so that it is the size of the two pieces of cardboard, plus the size of the spine, plus six times the thickness of the cardboard, plus 4 inches. For example, if the covers are 1/8-inch thick and 8 inches wide by 10 inches tall, and the spine is 2 inches tall, the thicker paper should be 22 3/4 inches wide (8 + 8 + 2 + 6/8 + 4) by 14 inches tall (10 + 4).

3. Lay the thicker sheet down with the two cardboard covers placed appropriate on top. The covers should be exactly 2 inches away from each edge, which will automatically leave enough room for the spine between them. This is the spine width plus six times the thickness of the cardboard.

4. Slice the corners of the paper at a diagonal to each corner of the cardboard covers, leaving a small amount of extra paper at each corner. Mark the location of cardboard covers and pick them up.

5. Cut bookbinding fabric to be the same height as the paper and wide enough to cover the spine gap between the covers with 2 inches to spare on each side. From the example above, the fabric would be cut to be 6 3/4 inches (2 3/4 + 2 + 2) wide by 10 inches high.

6. Cover the thicker paper sheet with paste. Brush liberally and work quickly.

7. Place the cardboard covers where they were, then place the binding fabric between them. Make sure all edges align and are straight.

8. Paste the underside of the fabric to the cardboard covers and press firmly.

Assembling the Book

1. Cover the spine area with glue. Place the page stack spine into the spine area of the cover.

2. Pull down the first and last pages so they are flat against the covers.

3. Refresh the paste, if necessary, at the edges of the cover sheet, and fold the edges over onto the cardboard covers and first and last pages.

4. Close the book and lay it flat. Place several books or other heavy objects on top of the book to hold the pieces together firmly.

5. Allow the glue to dry for at least one day.

References

• Moth Teeth: Bookmaking
• Dave the Designer: Book Tutorial