My French link stitch fell apart mid-shelf display at a local craft fair

I was at the Maplewood Arts Festival last October, set up with 12 handbound journals, and the third person to pick one up caused the entire spine to separate from the text block. Turns out I had been pulling my stitches too tight on the kettle stitch, which cut through the thread over time. Has anyone else had a binding fail publicly like that and found a reliable way to test the strength before packing up?

3 comments

3 Comments

iris92721d ago

Oh, linen thread is great and all, but even good thread can snap if the tension is too tight on those kettle stitches. I had a similar fail with a nice waxed linen where I was pulling like I was tying a tourniquet, and it just gave out after a few weeks. Easing up on that pull has helped me way more than swapping thread brands ever did.

tessa_murray21d ago

lol you're blaming the wrong thing here. That thread didn't cut itself because of tight stitching, it snapped because you used cheap thread. I've been binding for six years and never had a spine separate like that from tension alone. The real test is just giving the finished book a solid tug on the spine before you slap that cover on. If it pops, your thread is trash or your sewing holes are too close to the edge. Try linen thread next time, not that polyester junk.

nancyj1121d ago

Six years and never had a spine separate? That's like saying you've driven for six years and never hit a pothole (congrats on the smooth roads, I guess). I'd love to see that "solid tug" test work on the 4th book in if the thread is already ghosting out of the sewing holes.