More 3-section sewings

I'm still working on my list of 3-section sewings from the Smith books. These vary greatly in complexity. The first photo here shows the staggered dashes and it looks simple and it is simple to sew. The other two shown below, were more complex to sew but Smith's instructions and diagrams are really quite clear so long as you are able to stay focused and don't loose your spot.






I like all of these, the braided spine was fun, but none are new favorites. I am trying a bunch of these because I am curious about them but as with most of these sewings, they probably should only be used when the book design calls for them...if that makes sense.

Another list of bindings to try

After making that 3-section book with the braided spine last week, I got myself all enthused about some of the other 3-section bindings that Keith Smith has devised. So now I am going to work through a bunch of them. There are many, and lots of them are similar to each other so I'm not planning to do every single kind that he describes...I've made a list of the ones I like. So starting with the braided spine, I have now done three different stitch patterns.


I did the woven chain with some thick white linen thread. I think I had done this before but not recently. Using this thick white thread...it actually reminds me of cake decorating...


The thrid one is what Smith calls "tire tracks" and is a very simple pattern so i made this rather simple book with it.


It was v-e-r-y cold when I took these books outside for photos this afternoon - musta been about minus 15 Celsius (which is about 5 degrees Fahrenheit). It was a quick photo-shoot and the first done while wearing mittens. I'm rarely satisfied with my photos taken inside under artificial light so I go outdoors for photos at any cost!

There are about 10 more 3-section bindings on my list and most I have never done before so it'll be fun to try them....stay tuned.

Under Wraps

I decided to try a Braided Spine binding for this book. So it has a wrap-around leather cover with a wrap-around strap. Then it is bound with three separate threads (and six needles) which wrap the head and tail of the book, then all the threads wrap around each other as they are braided on the spine.


I really like the look of this and many of the other 3-section bindings that Smith has devised, although I don't like restricting my books to 3 sections since they are usually journals and people like having lots of pages.... I suppose it could be doubled to have six sections so there would be two sets of braids... can't quite imagine doing them simultaneously with 12 needles on the go... now THAT would be a challenge for sure! Thanks Jackie (tjbookarts.com) for making me do something new again this week!