I'm Stitching Books!

I've been waiting for a class like this...I'm so excited!

A few weeks ago I mentioned that I started a new class....stitched book binding through the Lexington Community Programs.  Last night was the 3rd class....I missed the 2nd one while I was in Minneapolis.  But with a little time before and after class I got caught up last night. The instructor, Annie Zeybekoglua, is a retired Lexington High School art teacher and talented artist. Her handmade books are amazing...you can check some of them out here on her website.

Some of Annie's handmade art books.

I learned some basics of book binding a couple years ago from my friend Muffy and that gave me just enough confidence to make planners for Connie. I'm looking forward to refining my skills and learning new stitch techniques.

Annie made these beautiful long narrow books complete with their own handmade box. I love how the cover papers flow into one another.  Annie uses a lot of handmade papers with wonderful patterns and textures.

In the first class we started with a simple stitched pamphlet fold with one signature...the chunk of folded sheets of paper.

I had done this before with Muffy but learned a few new tips and tricks. It's good for me to relearn the basics.

Then we moved to a double pamphlet fold....with two signatures stitched into a pleat. The cover of this book wraps around to create an envelope of sorts.  I will come up with some sort of a fun closure.

This is going to be fun! I couldn't be more excited about what I learned last night...but this post is already getting too long so lesson 2 and 3 will have to wait.