Snowy Mountain Book w/Cloth Spine / Making Bookcloth

Something I've been wanting to do for a while is use bookcloth in a book.  I enjoy the look and feel of a quarter-bound book--cloth really gives a book a feeling of permanence, to me.  I've also thought for a while that by using my long-stitch sewing technique to bind the pages to heavy paper or card, and gluing the card to a cover, I can create a sturdier book than many traditionally-bound books, and one that would be easier to re-bind if necessary, since there's no paste or glue on the signatures.

Bookcloth, however, is quite expensive!  $8 for an 18x19" sheet at my local art store.  I might get two full-bound books out of that, or perhaps a dozen quarter-bound, but even if price weren't an issue, I'd still be limited to the 4 colors that they have on hand.  For some reason I never thought to myself, "self, why don't you make your own bookcloth?" until recently... it's pretty simple to do too (sorry no pictures!):

1. Select a cloth.  It should be woven fairly tight; muslin is excellent.  Wash if necessary and iron it as flat as you can.
2. Using a foam brush, get a sheet of paper (I used copy paper for this book, but it was a little heavier than would be ideal) covered in a thin, even layer of PVA glue.  Don't skimp on the glue!  If the paper warps a little bit from it, you're doing fine.  Allow the glue to set slightly--a couple of minutes is great for PVA--but not to dry.
3. Lay the cloth on top of the paper, turn over so the front side of the cloth is down, lay it on a piece of wax paper, and roll with a rubber roller or even a rolling pin.  Turn it over to make sure the bubbles are pressed out and the cloth is nice and flat.  If not, roll it some more.
4. Dry flat between two boards.  Cut to size with a rotary cutter and enjoy!

The first book I made with this bookcloth was not to sell, but actually a functional book for myself, to track what bills I have and haven't paid each month.  I went with plain paper, and a cover made from the picture in an Oregon-themed calendar.

You can see I did goof slightly and made the cloth part of the spine too narrow, thus having to glue the cover on a little far out.  I'll have to remember to add a half inch or so of extra space for the spine in the future.

I dig how the top of the long-stitch sewing looks just a little bit like a headband!  A few more decorative stitches and it would look great... perhaps on my next one.