I made a chibi maruko chan journal and notepad as gifts 😀 I used coptic stitch bookbinding for making the journal. Here’s steps I took to make the coptic stitch bookbinding journal.
MATERIALS
- 20 sheets 8.5×11″ paper (folded into half)
- Awl, needle, thread
- Chipboard
- Padding compound adhesive
- Paper design for front / back cover
Making the Inside Pages / Signatures
I took 20 sheets of blank paper and print out the lines on the paper so the paper has lines. Here’s a template with grey lines that you can use:
PDF: Grey lines
Once it’s printed, I fold each page in half and put 10 sheets on top of another, so there would be 4 signatures total.
Making the Front / Back Cover
I measure out the size of the signature and took 2 pieces of 8.5×11″ chipboard and cut it just slightly bigger than the signatures.
Then I took the chibi maruko chan and the fruits illustration and printed them into 8.5×11″ sticker sheets. You can also just print it on regular paper and use glue to stick it to the chipboard.
I covered the chipboard with the front cover sticker paper, and doing the same for the back cover. On the inside of the covers, the center still shows the chipboard so I took a thicker piece of white paper and cut it big enough to cover out the chipboard part.
Putting It Together – Coptic Stitch Binding
I used coptic stitch binding to make the journal. Here’s a great video tutorial on how to coptic stitch a book: DIY Coptic Stitch Bookbinding Tutorial by Sea Lemon.
