Hand sewing vs. machine sewing for headbands...

I learned bookbinding in the late 90s and always did my headbands by hand... took forever but felt right. A few years ago I got a job at a bindery in Cleveland and they used a machine for everything. Sure it's faster but those machine headbands just don't have the same shape or hold up as long in my experience. Anyone else find the hand sewn ones last longer on books that get read a lot?

2 comments

2 Comments

tyler_baker6d ago

Wait wait wait, "took forever but felt right"? Dude, hand sewing headbands for every single book? My hands hurt just reading that. I've got a buddy who tried hand sewing for fun once, said it took him like an hour per book. I can't even imagine doing that for a whole bindery job, that's insane. Mad respect for the grind though, for real. Those machines are fast but I totally believe hand sewn ones hold up better, especially on something like a family bible or a reference book that gets beat up.

jennifer_fisher6d ago

My grandpa once hand-stiched a whole encyclopedia set. Took him two years.