Working On: finishing the notebook

You could make a book, too!

I am taking this weekend off and calling it a Sewing Retreat. This means that I'm not going to clean the kitchen, or do the laundry, or cook, but rather I will more or less lock myself in the attic (my sewing room) and Get Some Work Done. The list of sewing projects I want to make is so long, and I'm finding it SO hard to motivate myself to do any sewing after work, when it's dark and cold and lonely up there, that I decided I need to spend a few nice mornings in the sewing room and see what I can accomplish. I have already cut out a few things so hopefully I can just sit down at my machine and really spend some quality time sewing, drinking tea, and listening to an audiobook.

Because I'm trying to be chill this weekend, I'm not going to write much in this week's newsletter. However, I did want to let you all know that I did indeed bind all of last year's morning pages into a simple, softcover book and I'm really pleased with how it turned out!

When I was a fifteen-ish I went through a bookbinding phase. I made a lot of little notebooks that didn't survive, but one year for Christmas I wrote a biography of my younger sister, printed the pages, and bound them into a book for her - and that thing is still kicking around to this day. This is interesting to me mostly because I didn't have good supplies when I was a teenager, so the book is made of printer paper, regular sewing thread, cotton muslin, and Elmer's glue. And it's actually held up great.

Over the years I've had remarkable success with making things solely out of whatever I've had to hand or could scrounge at a thrift store. I'm particularly pleased that this book has lasted so well, because I think bookbinding is kind of an intimidating craft. It can feel like you have to buy all of these special supplies in order to try making a book, and not only is that expensive, it can also put some emotional pressure on you, the maker. If I invest a lot of money into buying materials, I usually feel like I have to a) produce amazing objects and b) absolutely love the process and c) continue with that hobby or craft for the rest of my life. If these things really were true, I would never get into bookbinding - but if all I actually need in order to give it a try is regular paper, thread, and a needle - well, that’s very different. So, I am here to tell you that if you have ever wanted to try making a book, you definitely can. Even if all you have is a travel sewing kit and some string.

The instructions I used to make this book (though I treated them more like guidelines, really) are from a wonderful 1980s Reader's Digest book called Crafts and Hobbies. These are the same bookbinding instructions I used as a teenager and they are simple and straightforward. All of the instructions in this book are excellent, actually; I've used it to make lots of things.

For my book, I used printer paper (American letter sized, except for one section that is UK A4 paper), mercerized cotton crochet thread, a large-ish needle, a tack, and a 2024 calendar that I no longer needed. It is softcover, with an exposed spine, since I couldn't be bothered faffing about with glue and stuff, and I mostly just wanted to make sure that all of the pages were contained and would stay together.

As I wrote my morning pages throughout the year, I would make signatures whenever I needed them. (The signatures are the individual folded sections of paper.) My signatures were four pages of printer paper folded in half, though when binding I found that they didn't need to be so thin - my 2025 signatures will be 5 pages. This was a great, low-pressure, low-effort way to keep a journal - though I am a little annoyed that I didn't bring the right paper with me when I went to England in the summer, and ended up having to make an A4 signature.

I was originally not going to put a cover on the book at all, and then I realized that I had a beautiful 2024 Eric Ravilious calendar that was obviously no longer useful, but too lovely to throw away, and would make nice, thick-ish covers for my notebook. To add the covers in, I simply cut pieces that were the size of my signatures, plus about an inch for folding, and added them to the first and last signatures.

The sewing on the spine is a real mess, but that's my fault for not really planning what I was going to do ahead of time. However, I would like to stress that although this stitching is ugly, it is not weak, and the book is perfectly sturdy and functional. It feels like a well-read softcover novel, which I really like. (Since sewing this, I saw a video on Instagram of someone making woven book spines, and that is definitely what I'm going to do for my next book.) I hope that this is a good reminder that handmade things do not have to be perfect to be useful!

I had forgotten, before making this, how much I enjoy bookbinding, and I think I'll probably try to find an excuse to make more books soon. I'd like to try ribbon-binding and experiment with fabric covers too. When I was in college, and heavily inspired by 'studyblrs' and bullet journalers on Tumblr, I kept a very detailed daily notebook with to-do lists, notes, inspirational quotes, observations, that sort of thing - it was a popular Internet thing at the time. (Please tell me other people were on studyblr and remember with fondness the incredible satisfaction of a perfectly color-coded set of biology notes!) Seven years later, that book is an incredible record of my life at that time, and I've been wanting to start doing something similar again - so perhaps I will make a notebook for that. I've also been really intrigued by junk journaling lately, and might give that a go.

The process of making this journal was fun too - I really enjoyed the way it came into being physically at the same time as it was written. I literally wrote this book into existence.

Well, that turned out to be a lot longer than I thought it would be. I really must get to my sewing now, so I’ll wrap things up here. However, I did want to call out an amazing knitting pattern I discovered this week: Hedgebind by Marina Skua. This colorwork sweater was inspired by Art Nouveau book covers and it is truly stunning. I think this may be one of my next cast-ons!

OK, that’s it from me this week. I hope you have a lovely weekend, working on something that brings you joy. Talk to you soon!

Best,