An easy pamphlet stitched book to get your creative juices flowing — get creative with your materials and then fill your book with sketches, ideas, a story, a comic — anything!
SUPPLY LIST
– 8.5 x 11 inch copy paper (inside pages)
– Cover material (cereal box, other recyclable paper board material, fabric, wrapping paper — even draw your own cover illustration on plain paper)
– thread (embroidery thread, string, yarn, ribbon, etc.) in a length that is a little longer than twice the height of your book
– Scissors or sharp knife (like a box cutter, with a cutting mat)
– Sewing needle, paper awl or a nail — an unbent paper clip can work in a pinch to create thread holes.
– Pencil
– Ruler
PREPARE THE PAGES AND BOOK COVER
For this example, I am using 8.5 x 11 inch copy paper. You can use whatever size paper you want. I think thinner text paper is good for the inside pages.
I start by folding an 8.5 x 11 inch sheet of copy paper in half.
Cut or carefully tear the paper along this fold. Then, fold the paper in half again. If using copy paper, you can make up to 6 folded pages. Fold your paper neatly, matching edges before creasing.
Nest the folded pages together so the tops are all matching (you want them all to be the same size).
With all the pages together, measure or find the center and mark it lightly in pencil in the center fold. Do you see where I am holding a needle at the center mark? See how it is in the center fold of the nested pages? I have made two more marks — one to the right and one to the left that are 1/2″ to 1″ from each paper edge also along the center fold.
Next, pierce all your pages at once with your needle in the places you marked. You want three holes along the center fold.
Select and prepare your cover material. I’m using recyclable paper board. The cover material should be the same size — So for mine, my open pages are 5.5 inches tall, by 8.5 inches wide, so my cover is the exact same size.
If I wanted to use a part of the paper board that didn’t already have a fold, I could *lightly* score/cut the outside “spine” of the cover with a box cutter or knife to help it bend more easily. If you are using thinner material for your cover, like paper, it will be easy to fold without scoring/cutting.
Put your punctured pages inside the cover you have created. With all the edges matching hold the group of pages and cover together without letting them move and using the holes you have in the pages, push a needle, awl or nail through the cover as well. All the holes should line up so that when we sew the book together, the edges of the pages are neatly contained within the cover — no page edges or corners peeking out.
1. With your threaded needle, go through the cover and pages’ center hole from the outside and leave a “tail” of about 3 inches sticking out.
2. Now go through one of the open holes with the thread and needle. Again, leave that 3 inch tail sticking out still.
3. Take the needle and thread from the outside of the cover going inside through the last remaining open hole.
4. Take the needle and thread back through the middle hole (inside to outside) — be careful not to pierce the thread on your way through the hole.
5. Knot your thread — I use a square knot to secure the thread. The remaining thread can be either trimmed to within a 1/4 inch of the book or kept long and decorated — you can put beads or charms on the extra thread or make it into a bow. If it’s extra long, it can be a clever, built-in bookmark.
A finished pamphlet stitch book using a recycled cereal box for a cover: This is a very easy binding technique to apply to zines, short stories, blank journals or sketch books.
Post your creative versions of this simple book structure and follow me on social media — tag “Joanne Price Starpointe Studio” on Facebook and @starpointestudio on IG and Twitter.
