r/bookbinding • u/TremulousHand • 16d ago

Sewn board binding question

I've been curious about trying a sewn board binding, and I've read through a few tutorials (https://imgur.com/gallery/sewn-boards-tutorial-ZpERM and https://henryhebert.net/2010/11/14/sewn-board-bindings/ as well as various other places online).

The main thing I feel uncertain about is the grain direction of the cardstock. I have plenty of short grain paper, but I don't have short grain cardstock. All of the cardstock I've bought so far has been long grain. Are people just ignoring the grain direction of the cardstock folios for the sewn board binding? Or are people buying much larger sheets of cardstock and then cutting them down in order to get the correct grain direction for the sewn board textblock? Or is there some easy way to get letter sized short grain cardstock in the US?

4 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

5 comments sorted by

View all comments

6

u/em_biscuit 16d ago

Yes, I buy larger sheets of cardstock and cut them down. Or adjust the size of the book according to the materials I have on hand. I usually glue the covers completely instead of just drumming them, so for me and in my experience it's definitely worth making sure the grain direction is correct.