DIY Midori style insert
Soon as Dani showed me the papers for February's kit I knew I needed some Midori style inserts made from them. I love My traveler's notebook so much and carry it everywhere and go through a lot of inserts. So today I have show you in a few basic steps how to make your own notebook.
Starting out I chose the paper I'd like to work with and so inside paper. I want to make a sketchbook of sorts for doodling PFP ideas when I'm out and about so I just grabbed one of my sketchbooks, a ruler, my paper trimmer and some sewing supplies as I prefer thread bound notebooks over staple bound.
Next I cut both the donut paper and the sketch book paper to 22cm x 21cm. 21cm is the height of the notebook. Midori notebooks are not quite square but close, I think if I were to do this again I would just make the notebook 22cm square and have the notebook a bit wider.
Making sure the papers are in the right orientation I simply folded them in half, and was ready for the next part of the binding.
This is where it gets tricky, time to make a binding template. A binding template ensures that you are punching the holes in the same place everytime. So you need a thin strip of paper the height of your notebook and fold it in half like you did the pages so it's still tall but thinner, then unfold it and fold it in half the other way and then in half again. In the end you should have a piece of paper that has three intersecting points evenly placed, mark those intersections with a dot.
Using a awl or a sewing pin you want to pre punch all of your papers and your cover. The easiest way to do this is going 2 or three papers at a time and putting their fold in the spine of an old book (phone books work great for this). putting your template in the fold just punch each of those three marked spots on all your papers and cover.
Next I used a basic pamphlet stitch which can be found in countless youtube videos, making sure to end with my threads on the outside and tied them very tightly. Now you could leave it like that OR I like to make it a bit more secure and run some washi down the spine. I added some simple decorations and then this note book was done!
I hope you enjoyed this sort of tutorial, and let us know what you did with your papers from the February kit!
Comments
Ryan
February 03 2016
I love those donuts! This looks easy and would be a great gift.
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