Gray and gold book

This is the April book from Vintage Page Design’s Handmade Book Club, the sewn-over-tapes binding. I decided to sew organza onto the tapes to fluff them out and add more dimension. There are gaps to allow the covers to lie flat and I didn’t want those gaps to be so obvious. Also I have these lovely strips of dyed organza sitting around begging to be used.

Here’s a photo of the sewn spine before the covers are put on. You can see how lively the organza is. There is a cloth tape under there to give the whole strip some strength.

And here are a few views of the completed book with the covers attached. The book is 6 inches high by 4 inches wide. The covers are made from book board and homemade book cloth. A cotton remnant jumped out of my stash and said “use me!” so I did. I ordered a roll of 3-ply waxed linen thread in the light color because all my thread is 4-ply or higher and I wanted this to have a finer thread. The pages are BFK Rives. Very soft and actually hard to turn because they cling to each other.

The book has a nice feel in the hand and the organza has a shine and loft that add to its appeal. Opening it is like opening a nicely wrapped present.