I'm excited to introduce you to these brand new Japanese Stab Stitch books that feature 4 traditional designs, hand stitched with linen thread in a variety of colours. At A5 landscape size, they'd make a good travel sketchbook and can easily be fitted into a day bag. You can buy them here or keep reading for more information.
These Stab Stitch Sketchbooks are part of my new Eco-Friendly Collection. They are made from just two natural materials: linen thread (linen, from the flax plant, is one of the most sustainable fibers available), and recycled paper.
The luxurious paper is 100% cotton rag, made from offcuts of t-shirt material that would otherwise have gone to landfill as waste. The internal pages are 210gsm medium-rough and are sized with gelatine, which makes them ideal for watercolours and ink (such as brush calligraphy). The covers are simply a thicker, heavier version of the paper inside the books.
This paper has wonderful tactile qualities; it's soft and warm, has a wonderful texture and will give the person using it a great deal of pleasure and satisfaction in a way that a mass-produced sketchbook could not. You can read more about the paper here.
I deliberately kept these sketchbooks simple and unadorned, letting the traditional stitch patterns and beautiful natural materials speak for themselves.
I bound one set of Sketchbooks in a 'natural' colourway with Oilve, Grey, Tan and Coral waxed linen thread, and another 'blues' set with Turquoise, Teal, Light and Mid Blue stitching.
You might be wondering about the stitch patterns. They're traditional Japanese Stab Stitch designs that have been in use for several centuries, from the simplest '4-hole' pattern, to the Noble with the addition of detailed corner stitching.
And then two patterns which evoke the natural world; the Hemp Leaf with an intricate pattern that evokes (you guessed it) the leaves of the Hemp plant, and the Tortoiseshell binding, too.
Stab Stitch books don't lay flat (you can find lay-flat Wabi Sabi Sketchbooks here), but the cover and pages can be held or folded back with one hand.
I hope you get as much pleasure from using these Japanese Stab Stitch Sketchbooks with their beautifully tactile, earth-friendly handmade paper as much as I did when I made them.
If you love cotton rag paper as much as I do, you might also like my Wabi Sabi Sketchbooks.
Susan Green
+44 (0)7748 759 371
info@boundbyhand.co.uk
P.S. Visit this blog post for more information about Japanese Stab Stitch books.
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