stitch instructions almost done

Some time ago I set myself the deadline of having all the stitch instructions pages and their diagrams for my left-handed stitch dictionary, done by the end of May. My time is nearly up, and I have just 5 pages to go! There are about 130 pages of stitch instructions, generally with one stitch per page, though some pages have two.

This week I went through and reorganised the pages to fit in the stitches that I had added at the last minute. I have 144 pages in the book. Book production usually works in groups of 16 pages (due to the printing process), so I have 9 sections of 16 pages. If I want more pages than that, then the book really has to increase by another 16 pages, which I don’t want to do. Anyway, I have completely filled ALL the 144 pages. There is not a page to spare!

So I think I can declare my call for suggestions of stitches to include, officially closed! If its not in there now, its just not going to fit!

I wasn’t really wanting to get to 144 pages. That’s a fairly hefty book, and the heavier books are, the more they cost to transport. So I’m going to have to catch my printing rep on a very helpful day and discuss with him how I can keep the weight down. I don’t want to decrease the thickness of the cover, because a cover needs some weight in order to protect the pages. I may be able to reduce the thickness of the paper for the pages, but if I go too thin, you’ll see what’s on the other side of the page, through the page – its called “show-through”. (I certainly won’t be going as thin as the paper in my bible!) Hopefully my printing rep will have some good ideas for me.

So, things are progressing very nicely, and I’m really looking forward to starting sewing all the examples next week. My office, which is currently covered in stacks of paper, is about to be covered in a layer of thread and fabric!