I’ve taken to sorting wire baskets full of vintage scraps that I cannot throw away — more than 15 years of it! — into little bundles to accompany our Bookbinding Adventure videos.

I’ve used these scraps for years in my work. My first discovery was upon entering an abandoned house attic — closed since the 1950’s — that revealed so many treasures including old dresses, some included in our Scrap Bundles, and small, tied bundles of the smallest pattern leftovers for future mending — for many projects over the last few decades.

These old treasures are at the heart of our Of a Kind collections, but they also find their way into bookbinding projects. They can be used as linens for coverless books, trimming the edge of soft leather-bound, to make headbands, cover up stitching knots, a little colour behind holes in old materials…