Had to pick between a sewing frame and a book press on a $200 budget

I finally saved up $200 to get some real gear for my bookbinding hobby. I was stuck between a good sewing frame from Hollanders and a decent book press from a guy on Etsy. I went with the sewing frame since I was tired of trying to sew signatures on a stack of scrap paper. It arrived last Tuesday and it's totally changed how steady my stitching is. But now I'm pressing books under a stack of textbooks lol. Anyone else have to choose between two essential tools? What did you pick?

3 comments

3 Comments

kelly_nelson9512d ago

... and honestly I feel like a sewing frame is the right call for now. I went through something similar a few years back with a used bone folder haul vs a proper finishing press. Ended up getting like six bone folders from an antique shop for cheap instead and told myself I'd get a press later. Still don't have one. I just stack heavy books on top of everything like some kind of medieval peasant. Works fine though, just gotta make sure the stack is level so your spine doesn't end up wonky.

caleb_thomas9312d ago

Dude yeah I hear you. A buddy of mine tried the heavy book stack trick for a while too. He thought he had it all figured out with a bunch of old encyclopedias. Then he went to sew a five signature book and the whole thing warped halfway through because the pressure wasn't even. He had to take it all apart and start fresh. Took him like two weekends to fix the mess. He ended up caving and buying a cheap used sewing frame off craigslist and said it was the best $40 he ever spent. I think some stuff you can hack but tension based work is just asking for trouble without the real tool.

miles_sanchez12d ago

Whoa, I gotta respectfully disagree here. A sewing frame does a very specific job that heavy books or a pile of bone folders can't really match, especially if you're doing any kind of multi-signature binding where you need the cords or tapes under even tension. I've tried the "just stack stuff on it" method and ended up with a crooked text block that made me start over from scratch. Your mileage may vary, but for me that was a hard lesson learned.