One bookbinding method I’ve been wanting to try is long stitch. This involves stitching the pages directly to the cover, and most of the examples I’ve seen use something flexible for the cover, like leather or cloth. Now, I don’t really want to try it out on expensive leather, and you know how much I like sewing, so I was on the lookout for something else. When the fused plastic bags experiment worked, I had just the right thing.

The paper was from a cheap old pad of leftover printer stock. I added some bright orange office paper I’ve had for ages, to match some orange embroidery thread binding from my stash of leftovers.

I was concerned that if the holes for the binding were too close together the plastic between might split, so I spaced them out a bit more than the depth of the signatures. This means the spine curves a little.

There was plenty of ‘fabric’ to make it a wrap around cover, so I used two plastic orange buttons to form a closure. The embroidery thread is waxed, which gives it enough grippyness to hold the book closed.

I really enjoyed making this book. It’s a fast binding method that didn’t involve any glue. There are lots of decorative variations to the spine stitching that I can explore. And I’m pleasantly surprised at how well the fused plastic works, and I’ve started cutting up more plastic bags, ready to make more.