Bind your own book - Tips & Templates

What's the best way to do bookbinding with children?

It should be kept as simple as possible:

Bookbinding is an ancient craft and a fine art. Making a proper book with a firm, sewn or glued cover requires a lot of patience, experience and skill. It's no wonder bookbinders must train for three years. But even with children you can bind simple books yourselves, for example stapled photo albums made from craft cardboard or pretty folders where children can collect their own painted pictures.

Assistance is needed here:

Depending on your child's age you should assist with some steps, for example when pages are sewn with needle and thread or when handling the cutter. Still let your child do as much as possible themselves. That will later give the self-bound book its special charm.

It starts with the cover – tips for bookbinding

There are different ways to bind a book yourself. But you can't do it without a cover. Therefore every self-bound book begins with making or designing the book covers. These should generally be slightly larger than the inner pages to protect the book pages.

You'll need:

Grayboard or heavy cardboard for the book covers (double book format)
Cover paper for the outside of the book covers, hand-inked, painted or creatively decorated (double book format)
Endpaper for the inside of the book covers, preferably plain
Paper for the pages (For stapled books the pages must be twice as large as the book covers, as they are folded crosswise for stitching
White glue
Optional brown paper tape (from craft stores)
Scissors, optionally a craft knife
Ruler for straight edges
Brush for the glue
Hole punch
Thick darning needle

Here's how:

First, brush a large sheet of grayboard (double book format) completely with white glue. Place the cover paper on the board and smooth it gently from the middle toward the edges with your hands so that no wrinkles remain in the paper.
When the cover paper has dried, cut two equally sized book covers from the board. The best way is to use a cardboard template in the right format.
Tape the edges of the book covers with paper tape, then cut two sheets of endpaper the same size as the book covers.
Brush white glue onto the inside of the book covers, then place the endpaper as precisely as possible and smooth it carefully from the middle outward.
Depending on the bookbinding technique, the book covers are then punched, glued together, or sewn with needle and thread.

Make beautiful autumn books yourself – here's how

Buch selber binden | Kind sammelt Blätter auf Wiese

Dried and pressed summer flowers, broad grasses or the first colorful autumn leaves can be wonderfully used to create an autumnal book cover. Best to press them for a few days between two heavy books so that the leaves can be glued well. Then glue them whole or in cut pieces onto nice paper and, if desired, brush over with clear varnish. The finished cover paper is then glued onto the board covers and trimmed. For younger children you can also give ready-bound covers for them to decorate in an autumnal style as they wish.

Two simple bookbinding techniques for at home

Bound folder:

The two self-designed book covers are each punched along one long side, as are the loose inserts. Then the pages are placed between the two covers and bound together with pretty cords or leather ties threaded through the holes. The cords can be further decorated with wooden beads or charms.

Album with folding cover (with loose inner pages):

For a folder laced with ribbons, the two covers (still without endpaper) are laid side by side with the inner sides facing up and brushed with glue. Two wide satin ribbons or woven cotton ribbons are laid across the pages so that they protrude a good way. Then the cut endpapers are glued onto the two inner sides so that the ribbons are "enclosed" in the cover. The album covers can now be fastened with the ribbons.

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