Finally Friday...

Spring is near.

And this festive little booklet is a cinch to make. 
It's so easy that you might have a pile of them
before you can turn your clock ahead tomorrow night!

Rummage through your paper scraps, magazines,
bits of wrapping paper, old note cards,
anything you have on hand.

Find a ruler, sewing needle, pencil, scissors, (awl, optional),

and embroidery floss or thread, twine, ribbon, etc.

Cover a work surface with a few layers of

newsprint or an old magazine.

I chose an old calendar as my booklet cover. 

Once you select your cover, use a ruler to mark the

length and width of the finished size of your booklet.

Cut (photo above.)

Next, select the papers for the interior of the booklet,

and using the cover as a guide, mark the length and width

of the papers. For this simple booklet, I cut a total of

4 interior pages.

Fold your cover in half. Using a bone folder or your finger tip, 

press a nice crease. This is the spine.

Fold each of your 4 pages in half, then nest them

one inside the other. With a bone folder or your finger tip,

press along the fold making a nice crease.

Lay the interior pages flat, stack them on your work

surface and keep the pages aligned. Lay the cover on top

of the pages, still keeping every thing aligned.

With your ruler and a pencil, mark the center

of the spine, then mark about 1/2" in from

the top edge and from the bottom edge

of the booklet (photo above.)

Using your awl or a needle, carfeully and firmly press

straight down through all the layers.

Gingerly check to see that you did.

If you did not, just repeat the step until you do.

Choose a coordinating color of floss, thread, ribbon, etc..

This will be seen on the inside and the outside of

the book. Cut approximately 18" of floss

and thread your needle.

Time to stitch the binding. I started from the outside,

but you can certainly start inside the book.

Personal preference.

Either way, the stitch pattern is identical.

This was tough to photograph in action, so here goes:

Starting at the middle hole, the needle goes down

through all layers, then move your needle to the lower hole

and bring it up through all layers. The needle should

be back on the outside of the booklet. Next, move your needle

to the top hole and send it down through all the layers,

then bring the needle back to the center hole and

push it up through all the layers.

The outside (or inside) of your booklet should look like this.

Place one thread tail to the left of the center stitch,

and the other tail to the right of it.

Using the tails, tie a knot so that you're essentially

keeping that center thread in place. Trim tail ends.

Give me a shout if this becomes confusing to you.

 I'll do my best to get you back on track.

It's a good binding to know!

 

And here is my sweet, simple booklet

to welcome Spring.

I probably spend more time choosing

papers than I do actually constructing the booklet.

  Make some. They'll put a smile on your face & will

definitely come in handy.