Binding Pamphlets Like the Pamphlet Binding Pioneers

Some days just don’t go very well. Some days seem like every attempt at anything at all just doesn’t work. Then you need a win.

This doesn’t mean it has to be perfect…just something that sort of works.

I needed a “brain break” (for lack of a better term) but I still wanted to practice something. I decided to find a bookbinding technique that was easier than Coptic or Japanese stab binding, but I didn’t want to do accordion binding, which is basically folding paper like an accordion and sticking a cover on each end.

Pamphlet binding it is! I found a tutorial for five-hole and got to work. I wanted to keep it simple, so I got 8 sheets of printer paper and a piece of my 250gsm cardstock. Plus, of course, my bookbinding tools.

I took the sheets of paper and folded them in half all together, the same way I did for my Coptic attempts. I used the handle of the knife to really crease the folds and keep paper creep at a minimum (I am terrible at trimming, as seen later). Note: I used the knife because it works just as well (IMO) as a bone folder and it is something I already have on hand.

I scored the cover separately and I am not sure why, so I will probably try everything together next time and hopefully not have to trim.

I decided to sew, then trim. Which wasn’t the best option, but hey, it was my first time.

So…first I marked where the holes should be for sewing. Then I used my awl to poke holes through. Pretty straightforward.

Here is the inside of the pamphlet after the first stitch:

I do have trouble with the waxed string I am using – it is hard to pull it tightly without ripping the paper, so in the future, I need to find something in between this and the regular sewing thread I have at home.

A few minutes later, I finished the stitching:

I think it looks cool! Simple, but cool and useful.

Okay, I promised to talk about trimming…as shown above, the paper was sticking out of the side of the cover quite noticeably. And if you’ve read my other posts, you know this is unacceptable.

So I got out the cutting mat and an x-acto knife. I had to set something heavy on the pamphlet so the pamphlet wouldn’t suddenly shift, the knife wouldn’t launch into my finger/hand, and give me yet another (!) X-Acto knife scar. Don’t ask how I got the first one because it was just me doing something too quickly and without thinking through the issue.

I was trying to be soooooo careful here. And then I sliced through the edges of the cover multiple times. Which caused a lot of not-so-nice words to flow out of my mouth.

Hence…I need a better trimming method. Trimming a finished pamphlet with an X-Acto knife and hoping I wouldn’t hit the cover was apparently not it.

Anyway, if you don’t look too closely, it turned out mostly fine. And once I practice a bit more, I feel confident I can resize future notebooks and use them in the traveler’s notebook-style cover I made a few months ago. Which means I could eventually make my own refills instead of ordering more.