A revisit to my 100 Day Project from 2023 resulted in a two-volume set of stitched and collaged textile books. I learned the slot-and-tab binding technique through this year’s 100 Day Stitch Book project, and decided to use it to compile the individual stitched and collaged compositions from 2023 into a finished piece—a book. Learning from the experience with the 100 Day Stitch Book, the assembly for these two books was smooth and I couldn’t be more pleased with the outcome.
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100 Day Project 2023.
Volume I (left) and Volume II of stitch and fabric collaged compositions. |
The new books required covers
With 18 compositions to work into a textile book (a lot of pages that would make a very thick book!), I decided to divide the compositions into two volumes. This made the assembly more manageable and allowed the compositions to relax and expand on the pages.
Making two books/volumes required making two [new] book covers. With these newly stitched covers, I was able to document the name of the project. This is the cover for Volume I (a 12-page book + cover) …
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| Cover for Volume I. Measurements: 9.75” x 9” |
… and this cover is for Volume II (an 8-page book + cover).
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| Cover for Volume II. Measurements: 9.75” x 9” |
In my group of stitched compositions, I had one partially finished page. I decided to finish it so there would be less blank pages. This made a total of 19 compositions divided into two books.
- Volume I: 12-page book with 11 stitched compositions.
- Volume II: 8-page book with 8 stitched compositions.
- Front and back covers are in addition to the inside pages.
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| A partially completed page from 2023 was finished in 2025 and added to the book. |
The inside compositions/pages were all 9” square. The front and back covers, as well as the inside front and inside back covers, were cut slightly wider, at 9.75” x 9”, to accommodate the spines.
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| View of the book spines. |
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| View of the front and back covers that wrap around to create the spine. |
Discoveries, notes, and tips
To make note of a few things for future slot-and-tab books:
- All the pages are yarn-dyed fabrics [from Diamond Textiles] which are a dream for hand stitching.
- The surged edges of the book’s pages helped when turning the signature right-side-out.
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| Sewing past the corners on each side. |
- When sewing the signatures, I sewed off the edges at the corners (rather than pivoting and turning). The stitch line was used as the guide for turning the corners right-side-out.
- I love the stitching on the backs (wrong sides) as much as the stitching on the fronts! So, I took photos of the compositions (fronts and backs) before assembling the signatures.
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| Back sides of two of the stitched compositions. |
- The paper folding dummies were extremely necessary as the slot-and-tab assembly does not follow the conventional pagination scheme for book signatures.
- I’m thinking about adding a pocket in one of the books to hold the paper dummies.
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| Paper folding dummies for pagination. |
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| Four-page signatures. |
Here are a few of my favorite page spreads.
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| Page spread. 100 Days of Stitch and Fabric Collage, 2023. |
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| Page spread. 100 Days of Stitch and Fabric Collage, 2023. |
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| Page spread. 100 Days of Stitch and Fabric Collage, 2023. |
The left page on the spread (below) was the newest composition that was started in 2023 but completed this year.
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| The additional, new composition is on the left. |
A Make Nine 2025 Finish
These textile books are fulfilling one of the UFO prompts for Make Nine 2025.
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| Make Nine 2025 “UFO” prompt. |
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| Make Nine 2025 tracker. June 1, 2025. |
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| The last page of Volume II. |
I’m happy to have these stitched compositions from my 100 Day Project from 2023 in book form. And I do see more slot-and-tab textile books in my future.
