I was lucky recently to find a beautiful box of vintage notepaper on a market stall. Nestled under the notelets was a stack of small envelopes, and I immediately decided that some of them should become book pages.
I made the cover last week before I left home, sandwiching two pieces of board between two layers of papers. The printed one is handmade in India, the blue silk paper is handmade in Moyston by my friend Karen. There is a gap between the boards for the spine.
I used a very simple stitch pattern, and sewed straight onto the spine, one envelope at a time, starting at the back. I didn’t quite line up the stitches, as a row of holes would probably tear really easily. One of the envelopes tore from one hole to the next as I stitched anyway, because the old paper is quite brittle.
If I’d been home (or thought to pack more supplies!) I would have sewn the book with a heavier thread – as it was, I used doubled ordinary sewing cotton, which wouldn’t be satisfactory for a book that was to be used a lot. I don’t think it will be an issue for this one.
Now I just need to find interesting bits and pieces to place inside all those tiny envelopes!
sukies original 