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Swore hand sewing headbands was the only way until I clocked my own time on a 300 page rebind
I used to turn my nose up at machine sewn headbands and did every single one by hand, even on cheap paperbacks I was just fixing up for myself. Two weeks ago I timed myself on a 300 page rebind of a beat up copy of Moby Dick and the hand sewn headband alone ate 3 hours and 40 minutes, plus I poked my thumb twice. A binder over in Portland told me she switched to a $60 headband machine and nobody at her shop could tell the difference once the spine was lined. I still do hand sewn on anything going to a customer who asks for it, but for my own shelf it is machine now and I am not sorry. Anyone here actually had a buyer notice or complain about a machine sewn band?
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walker.rowan14d ago
I've sold maybe 60 rebinds in the last two years and not one buyer has ever asked how the headbands were sewn. They look at the spine, the boards, the endpapers. Machines do fine work if you set them right and practice on scrap first. I save the hand sewing for leather and special editions.
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