piperm38•1mo ago

Recently picked up bookbinding as a hobby. My signatures keep shifting during sewing. Any pointers?

3 comments

3 Comments

barbaraanderson1mo ago

Are you clamping your signatures down before you start sewing them?

tara_smith821mo ago

I always thought clamping was extra work, but @barbaraanderson is right, it makes a huge difference for keeping things lined up.

maxt951mo ago

So, when you say clamping makes a huge difference... what kind of clamps are you using? I found that without proper pressure, my signatures always shift around when I start sewing. It's frustrating because then the whole book ends up crooked. Do you clamp each signature individually or stack them all together? I used to skip clamping too, but now I see it's worth the extra minute. The alignment is just so much better when everything is held tight.