Sewn Bindings Workshop: Pocket Notebooks With Lydia Shearsmith

Lydia Shearsmith is running a sewn bindings workshop at the Ferens Art Gallery on Saturday 14 November, from 10.30am to 4pm. It's an introduction to sewn paperback bookbinding, and you'll spend the day making a series of A6 pocket notebooks. It's pitched at beginners, so you don't need to have ever touched a needle or a bone folder to get stuck in.

The morning starts with the basics: the tools and materials of the craft. Shearsmith goes over paper weight, grain direction and thread choice, so you'll understand not just how to bind a book, but why certain materials and techniques are used. Once you've got your bearings, you'll make a single-section pamphlet-style notebook to cover the fundamentals of folding, piercing, sewing and trimming. From there, the group moves on to a multi-section book, where you'll explore different cover-attachment methods, including a wrap-around cover and an open-spine structure. You can choose between notebook and sketchbook papers to tailor the final piece to how you'll actually use it.

The setting adds its own weight. The workshop takes place in Create Gallery, a dedicated studio space within the Ferens, which is one of the most important regional galleries in England. It holds more than a dozen galleries plus the Centre Court, drawing from a permanent collection that spans the medieval period to the present day.

It runs from 10.30am to 4pm on Saturday 14 November, and costs £79, which includes a £4 booking and facility fee.