Long Stitch Link Stitch Book

During the recent Intermediate Handmade Books I taught the group how to make the medieval Long Stitch Link (Chain) Stitch book structure. We wrapped the 3 piece hard cover with book cloth that we made in the previous class and in my version I included a satin ribbon tie.

One of the things I love about this structures is that two signatures are sewn into one set of holes. You can see below the four row of stitching holes that contain 8 signatures. This makes it a nice, chunky book that you is very practical as a journal.

I chose to glue book cloth to the inside of the book, instead of paper, which allowed me to add the ribbon closure without the chance of it ripping the paper if it’s handled roughly.Here’s a closer look at the closure:

I made 2 of these books and packaged them in muslin bags to give as gifts to my mom and mom-in-law – I hope they like them!