Flip Through Of My Handmade Writing Journal – Link & Long Stitch Binding + Free Printables

I’ve been writing in plain A5 notebooks for years — the kind you pick up on Amazon with blank white pages. But recently, I had a thought.

What if the journal I write in felt more me? More soulful. More beautiful. Something I actually created with my hands?

So I finally sat down to make one.

This handmade book is stitched using a binding style called Link and Long Stitch. I learned it from the lovely Jeanne Oliver inside her course Poets and Misfits, and I’ve been wanting to try it ever since.

▶️ Watch the Flip Through

If you’re curious to see how it looks inside, I’ve also shared a flip-through video where you can see all the pages and stitching in detail.

A Book for Writing, Not Just Art

I usually reach for simple A5 notebooks for journaling, but I thought — why not make one myself?
So here’s what I did:

11 signatures
3 pages in each signature
No hard cover — just pages bound directly with thread
A touch of fabric woven into the stitching for texture and charm

This will be my writing journal — a place for thoughts, stories, maybe even poetry.
It’s A5 size (half of A4), and I love how soft and substantial it feels in the hands.

What I Love About This Binding Style

The stitching itself felt meditative — there’s something deeply grounding about working slowly with paper and thread. You don’t need fancy tools. Just patience, some strong thread, and a bit of rhythm in your fingers.

I stitched together 11 signatures, and each signature has three pages. There’s no hard cover — just layered pages, stitched directly into the spine. I even added a little bit of fabric through the cross-stitching for that cozy, scrappy, handmade feel.

And the result?
A chunky, soft A5-sized book that I can’t wait to start writing in.

Mixed Media Artist Resource Library

Free printables, collage papers, creative prompts & how-to guides

I’ve put together a free resource library designed just for you, packed with everything you need to fuel your creativity. It’s my way of giving back to the mixed media community with resources to inspire your next project. Click here to join.

What’s Inside This Journal?

I used two types of papers in this journal:

1. My own digital printables – These are layered, painterly designs I created digitally, and they look absolutely gorgeous when printed. They add color and texture throughout the journal, breaking up the monotony of plain writing pages.

2. Coffee-dyed pages – These came from a huge batch of hand-dyed papers I made over the last few days. The crinkly texture and subtle brown stains make them feel ancient, like pages from an old book.

Some edges are torn. Some pages are perfectly imperfect.
It feels like a book that already holds stories — even before I’ve written a single word.

Want to Make One Too?

I’ve created a six-page printable set using the same designs I used in this book. You can download them for free from my website resource library. These are great for adding to your own handmade journals or even art journals.

And for those of you who don’t want to do the coffee-dyeing process at home — I get it, it’s messy and time-consuming — I’m also working on a printable version of the coffee-dyed pages. That’ll be added to the resource library very soon too!

If you want to be notified when that’s up, just make sure you’re subscribed.