Here’s another method of binding your book with an open spine…a chain stitch or also called coptic stitch binding. This is a great method for when you have book covers that are individual boards instead of completely wrapped around the entire journal. You are basically binding all the signatures and covers together with a connected stitch that holds everything together tightly, but with super flexibility. The pages will open up completely flat and that’s a big reason why this method is so popular. I’m sure you might have seen lots of books on Etsy bound in this way. There are variations to the chain stitch (as with everything) but this is how I go about binding with this technique…
From a materials standpoint, you’ll need your cover boards and paper signatures to go inside. I’m also using a roll of self-adhesive paper to cover my boards. That’s actually the stuff you stick in your kitchen drawers and such…very handy! You’ll need some string to bind it all and a needle – here I’m using a curved needle. I also have my awl and holepuncher to make holes.
The first thing I do is to cover my cover boards with the decorative paper. You can use fabric or other decorative papers as well, just finish up your cover boards exactly how you want them to look bound into the book. You can see that I cut my decorative paper to size…
Then I stuck them on the boards, cutting the corners at a diagonal so that it’ll fold over nicely without too much bulk on the corners.
You just smooth down one corner and make sure everything is flat without bubbles and continuing securing the other sides.
Then to cover up the empty side, I put in some dark brown liner paper…that will be the inside of my journal cover.
Once my cover boards and paper signatures are ready, I start to punch my holes for the binding. You don’t really have to space them evenly, just make sure they are spread throughout the spine to be secure. I’ve marked up my holes on the cover then punched them out with a holepuncher.
Then I use the cover as my guide to punch holes in all my signatures. It’s nice to use an awl just because the hole doesn’t need to be huge…it just needs to fit your string or thread type.
Once your materials are prepped, you are basically ready to sew. Pretty easy process at this point and not much different from other binding methods…it’s the stitching pattern that is special in this case. Note that you can have as many signatures you would like, however once it gets really fat, the sheer flexibility will allow your signatures to be more movable and not as “together” in my mind. They sort of “snake” around… but that’s just my experience.
To start stitching, you go with one board and one signature inside. You can see I’m starting at the bottom hole inside the first signature.
You bring the thread out and under the cover board to attach it to the signature…
I like to wrap my thread around the cover board one more time, so it’s a double loop before putting my needle back into the signature bottom hole where I came from.
I make sure everything is tight and aligned, then tie a knot. The important part of this method of binding is keeping the cover and signatures on top all aligned…because that’s exactly how it’s going to end up in the end. You want a perfectly aligned stack of signatures on the covers, nice and tight.
From this point, I just move up one hole and repeat the process of looping around the cover and coming back up. Only difference is that there is no knot to tie, you just keep looping through to attach the signature to the cover.
When you get to the last hole, after looping onto the cover, instead of going back into the same signature you stack on another signature and go into that hole.
See how I’ve come up from the top hole in my second signature here…then I immediately go to the next hole…
…and on the outside I want to attach this signature to something, but there are no holes to go through like with the cover. Instead I loop my thread in between the signatures below it, in this case the first signature and cover. Just stick your needle into the left side of the stitch already there and exit to the right of it. This is a kettle stitch that connects the stitches together and creates the cool pattern on the binding. It is for this stitch that I use the curved needle, because it’s so much easier to stitch it in between the signatures.
Here’s a close-up of the needle pulling the thread behind the existing stitch of previous signatures, from the left side to the right side. You are making a little loop to basically connect the new signature to the rest of the book.
Once you’ve made this loop, the kettle stitch and tigtened it all, you stick the needle back into the hole you came from and repeat going down the line of holes.
Again, once I get to the last hole of that signature, after doing the kettle stitch instead of going into the same signature again, I add a new signature and go into that hole.
Repeat…repeat…repeat. Once you get the idea, you’ll be able to continue for as many signatures as you have, no problem! You’ll see here I’ve added all 5 of my signatures. There are ways of binding the last signature with the cover together…but I find it all confusing. So I bind all my signatures in the same fashion until there are none left.
Then when I just have the cover left to bind, I sort of do the same thing, but weaving through the last signature again. This means the signature will have a double thread inside, but I don’t mind that for the easy of understanding the process.
With my kettle stitch done on the last signature, to add the cover I go through the same process… I do my double loop around the cover, kettle stitch to attach it securely to the book and then go back into the signature of paper. I move up one hole and repeat the steps…
When I get to the last hole, instead of going back into the paper signature, I actually go in between the cover and paper signature. I loop it around that stitch and tie a knot here to finish binding the book. Pretty easy! One of these days I might learn another method, but this works really nicely for me anyway!
You’ll end up with a book that has a snazzy binding stitch showing, very neat and secure. You’ll notice that the kettle stitches create a column of “v” or “u” looking pattern in the binding. The very left and right holes will look like half of that design, since it’s the edge.
See how the book lies completely open when flat on a table? That’s one of the big benefits of binding this way, you see the entire page and most people find it great to write and work in. Of course, if you add lots of signatures things may get imbalanced. I blogged about another chain stitched journal here and even though it looks cool, I’ve found it to be too fat!
I like this kind of binding and find it very useful, but it’s not the easiest and does require a lot precision in the tightening and lining up…otherwise things will be oddly hanging around or crooked. I often end up tightening a bit too much, so that the book doesn’t even close completely from the tightness. In this case, I put some paper weights on top for a day and it all evens out…thread always seems to stretch a bit!
There are many other coptic and chain stitching tutorials, so don’t hesitate to find a youtube video that shows the process, etc. It’s not complicated to understand, just a bit tedious depending how many signatures you have. The results are fabulous though, so it wouldn’t be bad to make this every once in a while. Have fun and let me know what you think!
Did you find this tutorial helpful? Please support this blog by visiting my Etsy shop full of handmade leather journals, zines and lovely art. Also feel free to make requests in the comments below. Is there something you want to see as a tutorial, let me know!
66 Comments
Nei hou ma?
Beautiful books!
:0)I speak cantonese but dont write!
hou hou! me too, i speak (well enough) but don’t write…hehe… Thanks for stopping by!
Have you tried a coptic binding with only 2 signatures?
I have with 3 signatures… so it’s totally possible with 2 as well… it probably just doesn’t look as cool. when you have less signatures, less with show up of the cool design on the spine. But technically it should all work the same!
I notice you’re using a curved needle. Can you recommend a specific brand and size that’s large enough for wax thread? I’ve been having trouble and am only able to find them online, so I wanna make sure it’ll work! Thanks in advance! I live in the US and was wondering if you happen to know if any of these will work…
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=sr_nr_p_76_0?rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Acurved+needle%2Cp_76%3A1-&keywords=curved+needle&ie=UTF8&qid=1345319455
Both needles and waxed thread comes in various thicknesses… so you have to find the combo that works for you. I bought a set of tapestry/upholstery needles, so there were straight and curved to experiment with. The needles definitely had large enough holes, but sometimes it might be too big if you are using thinner thread. You’ll have a giant hole in your paper. I think it’s best to match up the thread to the needle you are using, or perhaps go with a set, so you are certain!
Nice! I found that once I got the idea, it was really pretty easy and quick to do. I did find a good explanation of how to add the second cover without the double strand in the last signature, but now I can’t find where it was. It just involves skipping the last signature to wrap the cover, and *then* going into the signature hole, and doing it that way across. Easier to do than to explain.
Hi Gretchen! Thanks…yes, there are some tutorials out there, but I never seem to like the result when I wrap both together…I think I have tension issues…hah…will have to try it again sometime!
Love it! Beautiful!
Thanks so much, Natalie!
thanks for the detailed tutorial! great photos and explaining!
Glad you liked it! You are very welcome!
Wow-what an amazing tutorial, thanks for sharing. I just stumbled across your blog, it’s wonderful!
Hi Tina! Thanks so much, hope you enjoy my blog
This is great, thanks for sharing!
Thanks for checking out my tutorial!
thanks for sharing your how-to, it must have take a lot of work to write all thing out so clear.
Thanks so much, Dymphie… it certain takes longer to do the tutorial than to make the book itself!
What an effort to make this tutorial…thank you so much for all the time and fotos to make it comprehendable…love your end product book too!!! Like your blog….
Thanks, Cynthia. You are very welcome and hope you enjoy my blog!
Thanks!!
I was looking to make my own sketchbooks and this tutorial has been of great help
Glad my tutorial could help you out – enjoy bookbinding!
Hi. Looks good. I was wondering if you can do this without the two covers? So just the folded papers. What would change in the steps?
I’ve never tried it before, but I suppose it’s possible to connect a bunch of signatures together. You will probably just see the binding differently and have to tie in certain spots to secure it…give it a try!
Thank you so much!
I love to make books, everything that looks like it.
I like making everything myself, stories, illustrations, then print it and cut it and then turn it into books! this helped me a lot c:
Charlotte
you are very welcome!
How glad I am to come upon your site.. I’m a watercolorist, but art journals , paper creations are my second passion.
Thank you so much for this tutorial.I’ll be looking at the rest of your site., so much to see.
If you do visit my website, click on mixed media tab, I make themed art journals, but also love making blank books for my sketches. BJ
Hi Barbra! Thanks for visiting my site and for your comment
Lovely! I just made one with only two signatures to carry in my purse for watercolor sketches. I want to put a book on it to make it close like you said, but I can’t stop looking at it just yet. It’s too pretty. Thanks for your wonderful tutorial!
Hi Cindy! You are very welcome and thanks for leaving a comment. I’m glad you were able to make something useful… I just love creating things from scratch!
I have really enjoyed the simplicity and accessibility of the coptic binding instructions. I have gotten a lot from this, and will let my students know about it. Thank you.
glad to be able to share – have fun bookbinding!
ah what a relief!! this is the first site to show this technique in a way that is understandable to my right brain. Lots of clear pics and descriptions that make sense. Thank you so much!!
so glad I could help out – yay!
I’ve been trying for weeks to sew a good, tight coptic binding. All of my spines were wimpy and floppy, and it was so frustrating. Last night, following this tutorial’s example, I finally nailed it. The book I bound is -rock solid-.
Thanks for the excellent tutorial!
fabulous adam! I’m sure the credit goes all to you for practicing…but I appreciate your comment
Well lit and photographed sequence, thanks. I can say that honestly after having made hundreds of similar pictures for a master book binder who taught me the coptic stitch when I attended her classes.
Wow, thanks so much! I really appreciate it!
Thanks for the GREAT tutorial! I just used it to make a journal for my mom for christmas.
very welcome – so happy you created a gift from the tutorial- nice!
hi Linda
thanks, great instructions on here! hope youre having a lovely peaceful christmas there. Happy art making and holidays.
thanks rosie! happy to share my process – enjoy!
Thank you so much for sharing! Great tutorial!
very welcome!
wow! fantastic tutorial! found another website with a tut. on how to do coptic binding and i had a horrible time following it but this was so much easier to understand, thank you thank you thank you! many many journals and mini scrapbooks to come!
very welcome, kristine! hope you have fun bookbinding!
Hi. Great tutorial! I have a question–where did you get your holepuncher? It looks intense.
=]
Thanks, Van!
The holepuncher is for belts I believe – got it at the hardware store!
Such a great site, thanks so much for writing this awesome article.
Yes, yes, yes! I finally got a perfect Coptic stitch! Thanks for the great tutorial! I never thought if it as a chain stitch; it always seemed so mysterious before. Thanks again.
@grekland @Jody
Thanks for stopping by my blog and happy to have shared a bit of fun in bookbinding!
Great tutorial, thank you!
Thank you very very much for a well executed tutorial … I found it to be so easy, informative and fun… and the stitching looks realy neat …cant wait until I start to bind my own books ;D
Your blog was so helpful! I am the kind of person who should just never touch a needle because I am absolutely terrible at sewing. However, your blog was so easy to understand that I was actually able to figure out how to make this! Now I have a super awesome sketchbook that I made myself!
Thank you so much!
So happy to hear – yay! Thanks you for checking out my blog!
A very lovely DIY book! May i ask that do you have any idea for making a book by using papers that are already cut in a size of a quarter of an A4 size paper? I want to make a book of that size.. that you can still see the entire page and it has a nice cover.. Is it possible… ><?
Great tutorial! thanks for sharing.
I have a Q regarding the chain stitch. I try to using the coptic technique but when i finish the book i notice that the chain stitch does not show well in the first and end last holes of the book, however it shows very nice in all the middle holes. in the beginning and and of the book it looks different like if there is not chain stitch. is that normal or the chain stitch should appear nice in all the holes?
Thank you!!!
The stitching looks different since you are going over the covers on either end of the binding, a different effect from the rest of the signatures… but sometimes it’s hard to tell … perhaps if you compare with photos online of the coptic stitch? https://www.google.it/search?hl=en&q=coptic+stitch&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_cp.r_qf.&bpcl=35466521&biw=1361&bih=950&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&ei=RjqBUNDyIYna4QSyqYCgCQ
Thank you for the response and for the links. i will check them out.
all the best
S
Thank you. Your tutorial is just what I needed. Judy
Thanks for this great tutorial. I just finished my first attempt at making a book. I didn’t have a fancy hole punch, but I just used a drill instead, and it seemed to work out fine. The holes just aren’t as clean cut.
http://afinebowlofcherries.weebly.com/1/post/2012/10/october-13th-2012.html
definitely use what you have! great job on your journal!
I love this tutorial! I’ve watched videos on Youtube that show this technique but I found these photos more helpful and easier to understand. Thank you! <3
So I just stumbled across your blog and just love all of the projects you’ve done and posted for us to see! I know you put this up a few years ago but i really love this tutorial on coptic stitch bindings for journals, they’re really beautiful and I definitely think I’m going to try my hand at making a few since I’ve been looking for a new creative project to get into
A question about the journals functioning… Once they’re being used, can you fold the front cover and pages completely over so they are under the back of the journal when you’re writing inside? Or does that put too much strain on the binding of the journal?
Hi Amy,
No, you would fold the cover all the way to the back like you would with spiral binding. Rather, coptic stitch gives you a book that opens out flat, but both sides are still on the table, so to speak. You would really be stretching the binding if you folded it all the way back and it wouldn’t lie flat anymore… if you want something to flip all the way, you would use spiral binding, in my opinion.
MUITO LEGAL MESMO, ADOREI APRENDER OBRIGADA. SEUS TRABALHOS SÃO INCRIVEIS.PARABENS
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