Debate: Sewn vs glued bindings for a personal journal - which side wins?

I had to choose between sewn signatures and a glued spine for my last journal project, and I went with sewn (kettle stitch on linen thread). The lay-flat pages are amazing, but it took me 6 hours to finish this 192-page book and my hands are still sore 3 days later. Meanwhile, my buddy glued his project in 45 minutes with PVA and it's holding up fine so far. What's your take - does sewn really last longer for personal use, or is glue good enough?

2 comments

2 Comments

fiona_murray8d ago

I did a 128-page journal with sewn signatures too, using a coptic stitch, and that lay-flat feel is totally worth the hand cramps for me. Took me about 4 hours and my thumb was killing me for a week, but after a year of daily use, the spine is still tight and all the pages are secure. My sister glued hers and it's starting to crack after 8 months, so I'm sticking with sewn for anything I want to last. Have you tried any shortcuts to speed up the stitching process?

jade6188d ago

Oh man, "hand cramps" is right lol. I had a friend who tried doing a coptic stitch journal last year and she literally texted me a picture of her thumb wrapped in ice with the caption "send help." She spent like 5 hours on it and her hand was wrecked for days. But yeah, @fiona_murray is spot on about the durability thing. My friend's journal is holding up perfect after a year of her carrying it everywhere, while my glued one from the craft store is already falling apart at the spine. She didn't find any real shortcuts though, she just started doing two signatures a night instead of trying to blast through the whole thing in one sitting. That seemed to save her hands a bit without making the stitching worse.