On Sunday my friend, Beky, and I attended a basic bookbinding course at the CAE. It was run by the witty, informative and inspiring Geraldine Pomeroy.

We had a great time folding, sewing and gluing away all day. I got from the class exactly what I was hoping for: those little tips and bits of advice you just don’t get from a book – like to not make great big holes with the awl, or that you don’t have to use waxed thread, and to avoid synthetic tapes because pva glue may not work on them.

At the end of the day (and after a night with it squished under some heavy books) I had this:

The spine is red book cloth and the cover is card covered in an interesing paper with silver flecks in it.

The paper is a good weight and quality for writing or sketching on.

We made our own headband, which has given me ideas for making interesting headbands out of ribbon or embroidery thread.

I’m even more hooked on this than I was before, which is why today I went to the local craft shop, Zart Art, and then braved the scrapbooking and quilting sections at Lincraft.

Okay, not all of this is for bookbinding. I bought a roller for print making, some clear plastic for a little sewing project and a marbling kit (though I’m hoping the marbled paper I make will be good enough to use in a book). The cutting mat and scissors are more general purpose, too – I only had small versions of both.

But for someone who dislikes sewing, buying a bundle of quilting fabrics was a bit strange and unsettling. You see, I found tutorials on how to make my own book cloth, which means I’m not limited to plain colours, but can turn any fabric flexible and robust enough into covers or spines – or both.

So there’s plenty to play with here. I just need to find some white linen thread. I have some in natural which I got from a weaving supplier… which makes me wonder if they’d have it in white, too…