PSA: A client's complaint about my endbands changed how I bind everything now

I was at a craft fair in Des Moines last fall and a retired librarian picked up one of my journals. She ran her thumb over the endbands and said they felt loose and cheap. I had been using machine made endbands for years and never thought twice about them. After that I started hand sewing my own endbands and it added about 45 minutes per book. The difference in how tight and clean they look is huge. Has anyone else had a customer point out something that made you switch your whole method?

2 comments

2 Comments

elliotc101mo ago

Close but not quite on the timeline there. Hand sewing endbands actually adds closer to an hour once you factor in cutting and setting up the threads. Still worth it for how much cleaner they sit against the spine though.

coleman.jade1mo ago

Oh come on, an hour? I've been hand sewing endbands for years and it's never taken me that long from start to finish. Maybe if you're doing some crazy intricate silk setup with multiple colors and beading, sure. But a basic cloth endband with linen thread? That's a 20 minute job tops once you've done it a few times. I think people overcomplicate it by pre-cutting everything and obsessing over thread tension before they even start. Just run the needle through the spine folds, wrap around the endband core, and repeat. The setup time you're describing sounds like you're doing more planning than sewing.