Picked up a tip from a lady at the Portland Book Festival that saved my endbands

I was at the Portland Book Festival last month checking out the vendor tables, and this older woman who restores antique books saw me struggling with a wobbly endband on a rebind I brought to show. She told me to try using a darning needle instead of a regular sewing needle for the thread path. It sounds stupid simple but it actually kept the tension even and I didn't lose the shape. Has anyone else gotten a random trick like that from a stranger at a show?

3 comments

3 Comments

faith68415d ago

That's a good point about the snagging issue, Jana. I actually had a similar problem when I tried a darning needle on a leather spine last spring. The blunt tip kept catching on the grain and I ended up with a bunch of frayed threads around the headband that looked awful. I switched back to a thin sharp needle for that project and it went way smoother. But for cloth bindings with a tight weave, I still find the darning needle helps me keep my tension even without stabbing into the spine folds. I guess it really depends on the material you're working with more than the trick itself.

jamesfox15d agoMost Upvoted

Wait, a darning needle? For real?

jana_fox5015d agoTop Commenter

I'm gonna push back on this one, okay? I tried the darning needle trick about two years ago at a bindery workshop in Chicago, and it was a total mess for me. The thicker, blunter tip kept snagging on the bookcloth and pulling threads out of alignment, especially on tight curves around the headband. Regular embroidery needles give me way more control and a cleaner pass through the spine folds. I think the real lesson here is that what works for one person's hands and materials might totally fail for another's, no matter how experienced the tip-giver is. Your mileage may vary hard on this one, and I'd say test it on scrap first before you risk a finished piece.