Technique Spotlight with Paige Evans: Coptic Bookbinding

When I was in college I took a bookbinding class – I fell in love with the process and haven’t stopped making them since!

There are countless styles and ways to create handmade books, but my favorite binding technique is called Coptic.

With coptic bound books you can see the exposed sewing on the spine, the books lays flat when you open them, you can use lots of materials for the cover (such as wood, plexiglass, bookboard, even cassettes – if you can drill a hole through it, you can use it for the cover!), the pages can be made from an eclectic mix of papers, and lots, lots more!

I’m often asked what do I use these books for? I’ve made them for baby showers, wedding sign-in books, art journals, writing journals, recipe books, gratitude books, baby books, scrapbooks, Christmas gifts… the possibilities are endless! But mostly, I just like to make them and put them on my shelf to be pretty 🙂

I often make books and then give them away on instagram – be sure to follow me there @paigetaylorevans!

I also have an online class in my etsy shop with a video that shows how to make these books from start-to-finish along with kits that include some of the harder materials to find!

Recently I’ve been making books with painted covers – I love how each book is a little piece of art and is so unique!

This is my newest book made with my very first scrapbooking collection called Fancy Free with Pink Paislee! I sewed the buttons into the binding, embellished the cover with pieces from the line, and painted the cover with stripes using colors pulled from Fancy Free!

I love sewing bits and baubles and charms and doo-dads into the spine!

I hope you’re inspired to try this fun hobby and learn how to make coptic books – it’s addicting! 🙂