Thread tension nearly ruined a fine binding today

I was in my workshop this afternoon working on a leather-bound restoration of a 1920s novel. About halfway through sewing the signatures, I noticed the thread was pulling too tight and starting to pucker the paper. It made me stop and check my tension settings on the sewing frame. Turns out I had the thread wrapped around the peg twice by accident. Has anyone else had a similar issue with tension throwing off their spine alignment during long runs?

2 comments

2 Comments

wrenh7914d ago

What kind of thread were you using when that happened?

uma89614d ago

Honestly, I gotta side-eye this a little. @wrenh79, I'm not sure the thread type even matters here. You said yourself it was a double wrap on the peg - that's a simple fix, not some major tension crisis. Puckering from a thread being too tight? Yeah that happens, but it sounds like you caught it halfway through and fixed it. I've had way worse - like when I forgot to wax my linen and the whole spine wanted to fold in on itself. But even then, I just loosened up and kept going. Spine alignment issues from a little too much pull? That's more about how you're holding the book than the thread. Seems like you're overthinking a minor hiccup.