The Crisscross/Secret Belgian Binding Tutorial with Brinn of the Ernie Studio
Instructions
Book Dimensions: Covers 5 1/8" x 6 1/4", Spine 3/4" x 6 1/4", and Signatures are 5" x 6" after the folding has taken place.
Fold 6 signatures with 3 sheets each, use your bone folder to smooth the edges.
Open your signature and place the inside down.
Place a ruler along the edge of the spine and use your awl to punch holes at 0.5 inch, 1.5 inch, 2.5 inch, 3.5 inch, 4.5 inch and 5.5 inch.
Place your spine board flush with the long edge of your front cover and put one of your signatures in front of the spine, leaving a small gap between the spine and the signature.
The signature should be centered with the cover and about 1/8 inch of your cover should be showing on the sides.
Use your awl to punch holes in the cover where the holes in your signature are.
Push your awl all the way through the holes in the cover to make sure you are able to sew through.
Align your front and back cover and punch holes in the back cover through the holes in the front cover.
Place your covers down with the spine in the middle, the holes on the covers should be on the side closest to the spine.
Leave a gap of about 2mm or 1/16 inch between the covers and the spine.
Take 2 pieces of tape and stick them against your clothing to make them a little less tacky.
Tape the covers and spine together at the top and bottom edges, make sure you still have a 2mm or 1/6 inch gap.
Measure your thread for the covers, you need about 60 inches for this cover. I measure the horizontal distance between the top hole on each cover and then multiply it by 3 for the amount of times you need to weave. Then multiply that number by 6 for the number of holes you have and always add extra thread so you don’t run out.
Thread your needle and pull one end until the thread is almost folded in half, one end should be a couple inches longer than the other. You will slide your needle as you sew.
The back cover should be to your left so that your knots are at the back of the book, sew through the top hole on the back cover from the inside, pull through until you have a 1-2 inch tail.
Pull your needle through the gap between the back cover and the spine from the outside to the inside.
Wrap your thread over the spine and sew through the other gap from the inside to the outside.
Sew through the hole on the front cover from the outside pulling to the inside.
Weave back through in the other direction. Sew through the gap from inside to out, wrap the thread around the spine on the outside this time, sew through the other gap from outside to inside.
Tie a knot with the tail and tuck the tail under the thread against the cover.
Sew back through the first hole on the back cover and weave back through to the other cover.
When you get back to the front cover, sew down through the hole below and weave the thread back to the back cover, then weave back to the front cover and finally weave back to the back cover then sew down through the hole below.
For each hole you will weave through 3 times. Repeat until you get to the end. Tie a knot to finish, trim your thread and tuck under.
Carefully remove the tape from the covers.
For sewing the signatures, measure 6 times the length of the spine and add about 1-2 spine lengths of extra thread, approximately 50 inches of thread. Thread your needle as you did before.
Sew through the first hole of the first signature from the inside to the outside, leave a 1–2-inch tail on the inside.
Loop your needle under the thread on the spine of the covers and sew back through the first hole, tie a knot with the tail on the inside.
Sew through the next hole in the signature from the inside to the outside and loop the needle under the thread on the spine as you did for the first hole, sew back through the second hole of the signature.
Do this all the way to the end, but when you get to the last hole, loop the needle under the thread on the spine and sew through the first hole of the second signature.
Sew out the second hole of the second signature and loop the needle under the thread on the spine and back through the second hole. Do this until you get to the end and again, instead of sewing back through the last hole, sew through the first hole of the third signature.
Repeat for all of the signatures, when you get to the last hole of the last signature, loop the needle under the thread on the spine and sew back through the last hole. Tuck the needle under the stitch inside the signature and sew through the loop to create a knot, tuck the thread back under and trim. You’re finished!