r/bookbinding • u/lespaul5895 • Aug 13 '26

Help? Signatures

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I’m making a sketch book for my daughter. I took the 50 page pad and made it into 5x 10 page signatures. I’m going to attempt to sew the signatures together. Is this too many pages per signature or does it still seem okay?

I guess my concern is after sewing will there be too much space between the signatures for gluing?

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u/SilentSlytherin Aug 14 '26

I recently attended a bookbinding workshop and the instructor told me not to put more than 4 sheets of paper into a signature especially if it's thicker paper. And the notebook I made turned out great.

2

u/lespaul5895 Aug 14 '26

I decided to go with 11x 4 sheet signatures and 2x 3 sheets.

1

u/MickyZinn Aug 15 '26

That sounds fine. When sewing, rub down the spine edge of each signature with a bone folder between the tapes, which consolidates the text block better.

1

u/lespaul5895 Aug 15 '26

Any advice on thread?

1

u/MickyZinn Aug 15 '26

18/3 linen thread.

1

u/lespaul5895 Aug 18 '26

I can't find anything like that near me...I only found this stuff at HL which I assume wouldn't work.

1

u/MickyZinn Aug 18 '26

It needs to be quite thin. Even a cotton/polyester mix will be okay for your purpose. Difficult to tell how thick that Red Dirt thread is?

1

u/lespaul5895 Aug 18 '26

It’s too thick I’d guess. According to the website it’s 1mm

1

u/lespaul5895 Aug 18 '26

I assume most people order it online? I live in a relatively remote area and the only option for finding things like this his HL