A binder in my local guild pointed out my headbands were way too tight

I was showing off a quarter leather binding at our meetup in Tacoma last month, feeling pretty good about it. An older guy, who's been doing this for like 40 years, picked it up and said, 'You're choking the spine.' He showed me how my headband stitching was pulling the text block too much, making the book hard to open fully. I went home and re-did it, leaving just a millimeter more slack in the linen thread. The difference was huge, the book lays flat now. Anyone else have a simple fix they learned that solved a bigger problem?

2 comments

2 Comments

sagey692d ago

Oh man, that's so real. I had the exact same thing happen with my first few case bindings, my boards were way too stiff. Letting up on the glue just a tiny bit made them open like a dream lol.

palmer.henry2d ago

Tell me about it, the glue amount is everything.