Faith Hale 
I’ve been making books for nearly twenty years and have favorite bindings and structures for every occasion. The side sewn book is one of my favorites: it’s a little fiddly at the outset but once the hole-poking is through, it becomes an intriguing puzzle that is excellent for a variety of media. And while I love shopping for school supplies, I also love a moment of calm creating in the midst of the chaos that is this particular season.
My daughter is excited to work on her letters so I found “practice lettering sheets” online, printed them out on 13 sheets of regular strength copy paper, then cut the sheets in half. Find some card stock and trim to the same size as your sheets, one each for the front and back cover. You’ll also need a sharp needle, an awl or pin tool, and about 20” waxed thread or crewel wool for the binding. A piece of scrap paper the height of your pages and 1” wide is also helpful.
I prefer to decorate my cover before binding so I can get it how I want to look before attaching it to my sheets, and I really love the look of acrylic brush markers outlined with a thin sharpie. See 30 Days of Brush Lettering with Michaela Lee for lettering ideas to personalize your book.
Making a punching template by folding the scrap paper in half lengthwise. Then, mark dots 1/2” from the top and bottom and fold down those 1/2” ends. Fold the remaining paper into thirds – when unfolded, you should have four evenly-spaced holes. Poke through these four intersections, then place carefully on top of your cover and use your needle tool or awl to transfer the marks.
For precise advice on punching holes, see Jody Alexander’s wonderful Japanese Side Sewn Sketchbook class. My preferred method is taking 2-3 sheets of paper at a time and placing it on top of a cutting mat or a piece of board or cardboard, pushing my awl through as much as I can, then re-piercing the paper one sheet at a time, one hole at a time.
When all your holes are punched, line up your back cover, your text sheets, and your front cover. I find it helpful to pick one hole to push my needle all the way through each of the sheets, then clipping my pages together top and bottom, before sewing.
This is the most rudimentary side-sewn technique but the results are still exciting and intriguing. For video instructions, I recommend another Jody Alexander class – Kids Japanese Side Sewn Book (she really is wonderful!). Begin at the bottom hole (hole 1), sewing front to back, leaving a 6” tail. Insert needle into next hole (hole 2) and sew back to front. Sew front to back into hole 3, then back to front into hole 4.
Loop your thread over the top of the cover and re-insert your needle into hole 4 back to front, making a loop on the top. Loop your thread around the left hand side of the cover and insert into hole 4 back to front one more time.
Sew into hole 3 front to back, then loop around spine edge and insert needle front to back. Sew into hole 2 back to front, then loop around again, sew into hole 1 front to back and trim yarn or cord, leaving yourself a 6” tail.
Flip your book to the back, then tie an overhand knot as close to the punched hole as possible. You’ll then thread both yarn ends onto your needle and go through the cover hole , trimming your tails to 1/2”. If it’s too tricky to sew with both tails at once, sew them one at a time.
The instant my daughter saw this her eyes lit up. “For me?!” she asked with hearts in her eyes like a Disney princess, and immediately got to work. Admittedly she hasn’t gotten past this page of A’s but she’s already insisting on more books for different purposes. We’re both hooked! Side-sewn books are weirdly thrilling like that. Get stitching, get personalizing, and don’t be surprised if you suddenly need to make one for every project you dream up.