Why does nobody mention grain direction in bookcloth until after you've ruined a project?

I spent 3 years wondering why my handmade covers kept warping and it took a grumpy binder at a craft fair in Portland pointing at my cloth and saying 'you cut that against the grain, didn't you' for me to finally get it has anyone else wasted stacks of material because of this?.

3 comments

3 Comments

daniel_cooper3414d ago

Oh man, YES. I ruined a whole stack of expensive Japanese bookcloth before I figured this out. I was so proud of my first few covers, then they all started curling up like potato chips after a week. I felt so dumb when someone finally explained it to me at a library binding workshop... I was literally cutting everything the wrong way for months. The worst part is nobody tells you about this stuff upfront, it's like a secret handshake you have to learn the hard way. Now I check the grain direction like five times before I cut anything, even felt or paper.

carr.abby14d ago

Oh PLEASE, grain direction is bookbinding Voodoo.

the_oliver13d ago

Wait, is that just how bookbinding works or is this a universal thing nobody tells you about? lol Its wild to me how many everyday things have these hidden rules that you only learn after messing up. Like how you learn to always cut against the grain with fabric for some stuff, but with bookcloth its the opposite? I've noticed this with woodworking too, people talk about grain direction like its some ancient secret and you just gotta ruin a few projects to get it. Its honestly kinda freeing once you realize everyone starts out doing it wrong and just hides their mistakes until they figure it out lmao.