preparations for the book construction

I prepared the signatures the way the whip-up tutorial recommends using light weight sketchbook paper. This time, though, in order to make room for the pocket in the back I bound 7 signatures (groups of pages) together rather than the customary 8. I did measure the spine and cut it to accommodate 8 signatures - this was to be sure that the book has enough room to hold the pocket and anything that our friend might want to put in it.

The thread for sewing the signatures is a lovely purple trilobal polyester, used double.


Making the pocket for the inside back cover was the next step. I wanted to make sure that the pocket had room to expand for anything that our friend might want to slip in there (notes, cards, anything). I started out by cutting two pieces of muslin 3" X pocket depth. I fan folded the muslin to create 4 layers (fold the fabric in half lengthwise, then bring the top raw edge to match the fold edge, turn the whole works over and bring the last raw edge to match the fold edge). You can see the folded muslin right and below.


In the last picture you can see the watercolour paper cut for the inside back cover. There are two pieces, one is 5 1/2" X 8 1/2", the other is 5 1/2" X 12". The second piece could have been longer, but it was all I had.

The smaller piece is folded in half (at the 4 1/4" point). The larger piece is folded so that the first fold matches that of the other paper (this is where the bottom of the pocket is, where things snuggle up against the spine). The second fold is at the 8 1/2" point. When folded up the two pieces should be the same size. Notice the directions of the folds in the pictures below and left. This is really important if you decide to try this for yourself.


The next post is about how to assemble the pocket pieces. It'll be VERY picture heavy.

Lisa