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The Basic Binding of Books: A Tutorial
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Draw a length of thread, 20 or 30 inches in length, across a beeswax block two or three times to coat. This helps your thread to stay tangle-free and helps prevent tears in your paper while sewing. Thread can be rough on paper, so coat it good. (Fabric stores often sell little kits for waxing your thread.)
To begin sewing, start with your last signature and work forward. This is where a sewing frame would come in handy, but I don't find it to be necessary for smaller books. Your tapes will be held into place as you sew over them. Knot your thread and push the needle into the end hole at the right to start.
From inside the signature push the needle back out the second hole, cross over the tape and down into the third hole. Continue in this fashion until you've completed the first signature and your needle is out the end hole. For the first signature simply sew back down into the end hole on the next signature. Continue sewing back across the second signature until you come out the end hole on the right. Tug to make sure everything is snug, but don't pull hard enough to tear the paper. Then tie your thread around and below the original knot. Continue adding signatures (taking care to keep them in order!) and sewing them together in the same fashion. At the end of each row loop your thread under the thread of the previous signature, and then again through the loop that you just made. Pull snug. This keeps everything secure.
When you've sewn together all signatures, loop and tie off your thread.
Tug tapes to remove any wrinkles that may have built up during sewing and adjust so that there is the same amount of excess on either side of the spine. Good.
You will notice first thing that between your signatures there is a pretty obvious gap, even if you sewed snugly. This is normal.
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