Went to a bookbinding workshop in Portland last spring and got told my sewing was 'too tight'

That lady insisted loose stitches make for a better spine flex, but my books have been holding up fine for 5 years with tight sewing. Has anyone else found that loose sewing actually causes more hinge issues down the road?

2 comments

2 Comments

blairj5511d ago

Yeah, I had almost the EXACT same thing happen at a workshop in Berkeley a few years back. The instructor said my stitches were strangling the spine, but I've got a couple of books I bound in 2018 with really tight sewing and they open flat just fine, no cracking or anything. Meanwhile, a friend followed that loose stitch advice on a journal and now the hinges are all wobbly and the spine sags. I think it really depends on the paper weight and how you're using the book. Tight sewing has never failed me, so I just stuck with it.

the_jessica11d ago

@blairj55 nailed it. Tight sewing gets a bad rap but it really comes down to your materials. If you're using heavier text paper then tight stitches help everything stay snug without sagging over time. I've had the same experience where loose sewing created this weird hinge wobble that got worse the more the book got used. Five years is solid proof that your method works, so why fix what isn't broken. Just pay attention to your thread tension and make sure you're not crushing the spine by pulling too hard on the kettle stitches. Different workshops push their own preferences but real results speak louder than a weekend class.