While I was working on this book, I talked to myself, trying to be clear about what I was doing and why. After I got the cover finished and the book glued together, I kept turning them over and over until I realized that the signatures were so skinny, I didn't want to try to make individual holes for each stitch. As soon as I saw that, I knew I'd cut slits, like I'd done in a Diane Trout on-line class for a long-stitch journal.
That simplified a lot of things. I had thoughts of trying to do a fancy pattern with different length stitches, but I let that go.
Because I wasn't working from a diagram or a lesson, it took me a couple tries to get the first row of stitches in correctly. It makes a difference sometimes if the stitch is started from inside the book or outside. In the end, it didn't matter for this, but it took me a pass or two to figure that out. I actually pullled out one length, and re stitched it. That doesn't bother me, although it might someone else. I like the puzzle part. I also stitched the first row pretty loosely.
I even did the second row loosely. Then I went back and tightened the stitches up. Because it's a simple running or long stitch, that's easy to do. Keeping it loose just made it easier to get the pattern down and feel confident in what I was doing.
If you hit a snag - do NOT just yank on your thread. This was the first of only three knots, but the stupidest because I tried to force the waxed thread through. WHY? It's waxed. It wants to stick together. Several minutes later after teasing the knot out, I took a deep breath, slowed down and made things simpler for myself.
The outside looks a bit sloppy. But it's a journal of recycled envelopes so ....
I'm not sure if it's clear from the picture below, but the thread is coming from the outside of the spine. To make it easier to pass the needle into the signature, I first go inside and make a clear path with the needle, pushing from inside out. Then it's easier to take the needle from the outside and go in.
After I'd run all the stitches up and down the signatures, I decided to go back and wrap the thread around the top of each of the signatures.
One end looked neat. The other not so much. I had to kind of improvise the directions to get each signature. But again... recycled... trying new things.
So this is what it looks like now.
I have a head cold blooming, so I didn't spend the day starting to fill it. Instead I did my house chores I'd set for myself (dragging things out of corners and cupboards and sorting) and then took a nap. I have the second small square journal I started to bind up next. I got everything out to start, and then the nap jumped me. Plus the cat who sat on my while I slept. And then again when I rolled over. Stubborn cat.
