Adult Summer Workshop

Long-stitch Bookbinding

Name: Hereford College of Arts
Price range: $

Cost

£65
Tutor

Aoife Higgins
Duration

1 Day
Dates

29th July

A practical introduction to making your own soft‑cover book using the long-stitch binding method.

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Overview

Spend a day learning the practical, satisfying craft of long-stitch bookbinding, a technique known for its visible stitching and sturdy, flexible structure. In this workshop, you’ll fold your pages, prepare a cover, and sew everything together using the long-stitch method, creating a soft‑cover book that opens flat and feels great to use.

We’ll look at a few simple variations, choose materials that suit your project, and talk through how artists use long-stitch bindings in journals, sketchbooks, and artist books. You’ll leave with a finished handmade book and the skills to make more at home.

This workshop is suitable for beginners as well as anyone looking to expand their bookbinding or creative practice.

A close-up of a hand-stitched bound book, with decorative stitching on the side. The papers are different colours and look marbled.

A birds-eye view of two books stood up on a table. You can see the multi-coloured pages fanned out.

A hand is holding a small grey, cloth-bound book with a small picture on the front of it.

A page spread of a small hand-made zine. The colourful yellow page contains small, unreadable hand-written text and a painting of a black and white bird.

A flat lay of various bookbinding tools, including threads, awls, brushes, bone-folds and rulers.

A portrait of Aoife Higgins. She is in a bookbinding studio, and is holding some colourful patterned paper.

About the Tutor

Aoife Higgins is a bookbinder and book artist from Dublin, Ireland. She makes zines and one-off artists books and boxes focused on themes of the natural world, the subconscious, and the esoteric. In 2020, she completed an M.A. in book arts from UAL: Camberwell and then moved to Ludlow, Shropshire where she has been working in an edition bindery for five years.

See more of Aoife's work

FAQs

All materials will be provided including inks, paints, paper, pencils and more. You will also have the opportunity to buy your own materials in our on-campus shop if you want to.

Make sure to bring some water, and wear clothes that you can get messy.

This course will be held at our College Road campus.

This course will be on 29th July.

The workshop will start at 10am and finish at 4pm. You may need to arrive up to 30 minutes early for registration.

This course is suitable for anyone over the age of 16.

We recommend that attendees between the ages of 16 and 18 are accompanied by a parent or guardian who is also a paying participant.

This workshop is suitable for beginners as well as anyone looking to expand their bookbinding or creative practice.

We keep our class sizes small so that you benefit from a lot of contact time with the tutor. There will be a maximum of 15 people attending this course.

Yes, there will be a 45 minute break for lunch. Unfortunately, our on-campus cafe won't be open during this time, but there is a corner shop just down the road from the campus where you can buy lunch, or you can bring your own.

Light refreshments such as tea and coffee will be provided.