The Elegant Pamplet Stitch

Once there was a poet who sold his work as he rode the ferry. If you were lucky to be on the same crossing, he’d assemble the pages while you waited and, with a deft bit of stitching, turn them into a wee book of poetry. Magic! 

Many years later, interested in making my own books, I discovered the technique he used. The elegant pamphlet stitch is the most simple and basic of binding methods, yet takes minutes to learn and even less time to transform loose papers into a charming book. 

When I realized this method didn’t necessarily require uniform pages but that all types and sizes of papers could be bound into a single book, I was off and running with the idea of whittling some of my enormous stash of paper. I set myself the goal of making 30 artist books in 30 days. But I had so much fun I made all 30 in three days.

Heavier papers were great for covers and I pretty much used them as is. What ever size they were when folded in half -- that determined the size of the book. You can see the variety of papers -- wonderfully thick handmade paper, gorgeous commercial stock and a goodly amount of my own prints.

I did minimal cutting for the pages inside trying, instead, to go with the bits and pieces at hand.

Here's one where I had some cover stock already cut on an angle and I went with the shape.

I had the idea I would eventually write or sketch in these books and incorporated a number of blank papers. Below, though, are a quartet of books I made to celebrate the seasons. These were planned to be collections of "stuff" I'd made or experimented with over the years. Again, a bit of stash-busting!

Now let's give the pamphlet stitch a go. Believe me, it will take much longer to describe (or read about) the method than it will take to actually bind a little book for yourself. Pick something for a cover. I had this rust cardstock printed with a texture plate rolled up with white ink and a handful of papers for the inside pages. They included yellow ledger paper (that just happened to have ruled lines in rust!), an old envelope, security envelopes and two Japanese papers.

Here you can see the texture plate I used -- just some dollar store disks glued to a piece of panel board. But they made such a wonderful impression when printed I decided to use the cardstock plain side out.

I cut the rust cover in half (to 8.5 x 5.5 inches) and then squared up the papers a bit. I'm thinking it might have been more interesting to go with the crazy irregular shapes -- but too late now! A few more pages are layered in there as well -- you just can't see them. Now for the stitching. This is the most basic version -- the three-hole pamphlet stitch. Think of it as a figure eight.

We'll be poking three holes into the spine of the book. I'll demo on a piece of card to make it easier to see the progression. Thread up a needle with some cord. Again, it's an opportunity to use up what you have. I'm using embroidery thread. You start in the middle hole (number 2), bring your needle up through hole number 1, then over and down through hole number 3.

Now you bring the needle back through the middle hole (number 2). The only thing that is even the tiniest bit tricky is that you want to come up on the opposite side of the thread stretched between hole 1 and hole 2. This is to make tying the knot tidier.

Here you can see the thread has been snugged up. Do this gently -- it's easy to cut through the papers. Tie your knot and trim the thread.

If you start stitching from the inside of the book the tiny tails will end up inside. If you want the tails to show on the outside, then start stitching from the outside. 

Now on with the rust book. I wasn't really taken with the stark contrast of the white circles and I found two drawings I had done on some Asian novel pages to use as end papers to mute the busy-ness. I made a half-inch fold in each, just enough to bind them into the book.

I re-assembled the pages and decided not to use the gold patterned paper.

At this point you can simply eyeball and poke three holes in the fold of the spine. If you want to be more precise, take a piece of scrap paper the same length as the spine. Fold it half lengthways. Then fold it, the short way, in half, and then half again. Open it out and poke holes where the lines intersect. Like this:

Line up the guide with the spine and poke the needle through the three holes.

I'm just marking holes here. Since I want the tails on the outside of the book when I start stitching I'll begin on the outside of the book. And it will end up like this:

There are also five and seven hole pamphlet stitches, providing a more secure binding for taller books. To start, give the three-hole one a try -- it's so much easier than this lengthy explanation makes it out to be!

Here's a little flip-through with much appreciation for following along: