tara's stitch*illo project 2017

  One of the earliest decisions I made about this project was how I was going to actually bind it. The best way to construct a case incorporating the knitting on the spine is with a binding I learned from Todd Pattison - organizer of this project. This is an easy leather spine binding. Above are two of the books I made in class. The structure is brilliant and hides a lot of problems.  The cover is constructed so that the boards allow you tuck the spine covering underneath them.  Voila! When I took the workshop I made a sample of the structure for reference as well as note taking. Because the knitting will be so much thicker than pared leather I have to put a filler board under the covering board to keep things even.  For my teensy little knitting    I made a weensy little text block. Rounded it, and constructed the case. My idea of putting a filler board in place worked very well. I used thin mat board instead...

A good friend of mine has a mantra, Practice makes Practice. To me that means that the more I do something, the easier it becomes, the more I can do something easily, the quicker I am, the more I can get done, the more I can polish the skill and so on.  The text block is sewn together.  But wouldn't you know I had to do that twice. I decided after the first go around I didn't like the thread thickness. Now it is pasted up and waiting for rounding and backing.  Thread has also been ordered from Colophon Book Arts Supply and has arrived!  In hindsight I should have finished my design first so that I would know what colors to order, but having chosen the rainbow, I think I'm covered.  I am enjoying the process of designing the spines even if it is slow going.  I managed to recreate Elizabeth Drinker's poppy and now need to see if I can scale it down enough to fit on the spine. Possibly the poppy will go sideways, not up and ...