Cool Ways to Bind a Book Together

Bind your own books for family and friends.

Creating your own book is a unique and rewarding experience that allows you to express yourself creatively both through words and through arts and crafts. A homemade bound book is also an excellent gift for a family member or friend who loves to read, write or draw. There are several unique ways to bind your book and bring your passion to life.

Saddle Stitching

Saddle stitching is a simple, inexpensive way to bind your own booklet. To saddle stitch your book, you'll need all of the pages of your book arranged the way you want them and a similarly-sized card stock laid on top. Fold the book in half with the card stock on the outside and staple along the spine of the book. Alternatively, you can use a thick needle and durable thread or yarn to stitch the spine together. If you have a large number of pages, you can make several smaller saddle-stitched sections and glue the sections together onto a durable cover.

Coil/Spiral Bound

You can bind your book in a similar way to a spiral-bound notebook using the coil binding method. Stack all of the pages of your book on top of each other in the appropriate order, making sure that all of the edges are perfectly lined-up. Make a series of evenly-spaced holes along the left-hand side of the stacked paper using a hole punch. To bind, use a piece of yarn or a needle and thread to weave through the holes.

Perfect Binding

Perfect binding requires a stronger glue and sturdier card stock cover that can hold a crease, but the process produces a uniform, clean design for binding your book. This is the method that most book manufacturers use today. To perfectly bind your book, stack all of your pages in the correct order, making sure that all of the edges are perfectly aligned. Paint the left side of the pages with a strong, flexible glue. Once the glued pages have dried, glue the card stock cover onto the bound pages and allow it to completely dry.

Post Bound

For a non-traditional bookbinding experience, try binding your book in post bound style. Post bound books are bound only on one corner of the book, usually at the top left-hand corner, to create a book that can swivel open on the single axis. To post bind your book, align the pages and cover appropriately. Make one hole using a hole-punch or an awl at the top left-hand corner of the book. Use a ribbon, thread or yarn to tie the page together.

References

• DIY Bookbinding: Do it Yourself Book Binding
• Gregath Publishing Company: Post Bound
• Gregath Publishing Company: Coil/Spiral Binding