The second little creative-play video is how to handsew a little book – a very useful skill for whisking together a little book and another creatively soothing thing to do. I'm inviting students on the Creative Play workshop on 2 August to make a little blank book as optional prep for the workshop, and it's a lovely thing for any writer to be able to do. For the workshop, we'll be using just two sheets of paper folded over. You can use as many as you like, up to about 8 sheets of paper. (More than that gets tricky to fold and to cut through.) The video shows you how and instructions are beneath, for those who prefer that.
How to sew a little book
You will need... paper; a needle; thread; scissors.- Fold your paper in half, and pierce five holes along the spine, evenly spaced. (If you have a thicker stack of paper, you can push your needle's eye into a cork, to create a makeshift awl.)
- Measure the thread twice the length of the spine plus a bit extra for tying.
- Thread your needle and push through the middle hole, leaving a small length of thread sticking out for tying with later.
- On the outside of the spine, go up to the next hole and back through, then on the inside up to the top hole and back through.
- Repeat in the reverse order to go back down the booklet, to the middle, and repeat on the bottom half.
- Finally, tie the two pieces of thread together, either with a knot or a bow. The tied bit of the book can go on the outside or the inside.
