Binding a notebook using the saddle stitch

Objective

One of my big hobbies is writing with fountain pens. The thing with fountain pens is that if you use lower-quality paper, you get terrible feathering and ghosting. Higher-quality paper isn't that more expensive. For some reason, though, the price shoots way up when they're in a notebook form.

The moment I heard about the clearance sale on Rhodia dotPads at Michaels, I immediately rushed over and bought up the stock. Here's what I got (not a bad haul to say the least).

With all of these pads, I decided it was a great time to try and bind my own notebook. Sea Lemon's tutorial proved to be a great resource.

Steps

The notepads were A4 size, but my cardstock paper was a 12 inch square, so I had to cut everything to size. I also ripped out 20 sheets to make an A5 notebook with 40 pages.

I made sure everything was aligned, and secured the sheets together with binder clips.

Next, I needed to mark the holes for the thread. Since I didn't have an awl, I used a hammer and nail. Next time, if I don't have an awl, I'll definitely use a drill instead as the holes didn't come out too clean.

Now for the fun part. I used a dark-brown waxed thread (also bought from Michaels) to bind the notebook. It's easier to sew with a waxed thread as there's less chance the thread will split apart.

I carefully folded the notebook and placed it under a heavy object (making a bookpress might be a fun project in the future). Lastly (not pictured), I used a utility knife to trim the edges and a simple nail file to smoothen the edges.

Time to write!