Hello and welcome to this letter and envelope themed bookbinding tutorial – I loved making this book and hope you do too, I can’t wait to see your creation!
Much like I do at my in-person workshops, I have broken down this bookbinding project into a series of easy to follow steps. You can watch and then make or make-along with me, set a day aside to do all the steps or dip in and out as works best for you. Remember you can log in and out and rewatch as many times as you like, so please use these video tutorials as works best for you.
WELCOME AND WHAT WE’RE MAKING
RUNNING ORDER OF THIS WORKSHOP
- Materials / what’s in your kit
- Preparing your templates
- Cutting and folding your envelopes
- Reinforcing your envelopes
- Creating a window envelope
- Adding signatures/pages
- Making a hole punch template
- Punching holes
- Stitching your book
- Sticking & decorating your envelopes
- Adding signatures & concertina file
- Decorating your book covers
- Sticking your covers in place
- Final touches and wrap up
MATERIALS
If you are providing your own materials for this workshop, download this Letters to the Future Kit List for information on what you need to follow the workshop…
You will also need to print this envelope template – I have included the correct measurements on the templates. If printing on a home printer, this can sometimes mess with the sizing so it may take a few goes at tweaking the scale and margins etc. to get it printed out to the correct size.
WHAT’S IN YOUR KIT
If you purchased a Letters to the Future materials kit, this video talks you through what’s included. It might also be useful to watch this if providing your own tools and materials to give you an idea of what you need to gather.
Please note: the Book Week Scotland book and stickers shown in the video below were included in the first edition of Letters to the Future kits which were issued as part of Book Week Scotland 2020, but not in kits that went out after this date. For more info on Book Week Scotland click here.
PREPARING YOUR TEMPLATES
CUTTING AND FOLDING YOUR ENVELOPES
REINFORCING YOUR ENVELOPES
CREATING A WINDOW ENVELOPE
ADDING SIGNATURES/PAGES
MAKING A HOLE PUNCH TEMPLATE
PUNCHING HOLES
STITCHING YOUR BOOK
STICKING & DECORATING YOUR ENVELOPES
ADDING SIGNATURES & CONCERTINA FILE
DECORATING YOUR BOOK COVERS
STICKING YOUR COVERS IN PLACE
FINAL TOUCHES AND WRAP UP
In the video below I mention a sharing session – this took place in 2020 when this course was first launched. To see examples of envelope books that people have made as part of this course, see the resources page.
MAKING A WAX SEAL
Fancy having a go at making your own wax seal? In this video, Julie shows you how, using everyday items you will likely already have to hand. A lovely finishing touch for your book!
ADDING NEW THREAD
As discussed in the intro video, if you want to continue adding envelopes to your book but are running out of thread, you can use a ‘Weavers Knot’ to attach a new piece of thread – a great knot to learn.
This lovely video from Rachel Hazel of The Travelling Bookbinder, shares some common bookbinding knots – skip to 3minutes 20 seconds for an introduction to the Weavers Knot.
>Click here to navigate back to the Letters to the Future homepage, if prompted enter the password – BookWeek
