Finally got my sewing frame aligned after months of frustration

Used to just eyeball my sewing stations on a piece of scrap wood and hope for the best. About 3 weeks ago I picked up a small 6-inch carpenter's square from Home Depot for $8 and spent an afternoon marking everything out precise. Now my signatures line up perfectly every time and no more crooked spines. Has anyone else found a simple tool that changed their binding process?

3 comments

3 Comments

knight.felix2d ago

Honestly I gotta say the real game changer for me wasn't a square or a ruler but a cheap little dental mirror from the drugstore. You know how it's a pain trying to see if your thread is catching on the spine or if the stitching line is straight on the inside of the fold? That mirror lets me peek right in there without twisting the whole book block around or guessing by feel. Saved me from ripping out so many crooked sections it's not even funny. Plus it makes me feel like some kind of tiny bookbinding dentist, which is just a bonus.

the_wendy2d ago

Haha that's genius! I use a makeup mirror for the same thing.

miles_hall7h ago

Oh wait, I think @knight.felix might be onto something with that dental mirror though, a makeup mirror wouldn't fit inside the book block like a tiny one would!