Stitches and Folds: Failed Cover

Oh my. I can't believe it's January already, and my Stitches and Folds journal from the Sketchbook Project needs to be completed and postmarked by January 31st.

I haven't really thought much about this project. I have a vague idea of at least a few things I want to include, but haven't worked out the details. The one idea I actually started on was a cross stitched QR code for the cover. I wanted to do some stitching on paper, because I like the look of it, so I decided to stitch it directly on the cover. Current state:

One thing I've learned about stitching on paper is that it's good to puncture the holes first. As you can see on the left, it was a bit of a challenge keeping them in a grid... the first attempt failed. The second grid, on the left, was also not ideal. The cover is made out of a really soft recycled cardboard which is incredibly flexible, especially in the horizontal direction (that's the grain line of the paper). Each hole was very messy because the cardboard was so soft - making holes so close together almost ripped the cover in a few places.

To top it all off, the QR code doesn't reliably scan, which is a necessity. Not sure exactly why, and it's probably multiple things, including the thread not being thick enough and the cover being floppy and messy.

The Sketchbook Project allows you to re-bind and totally re-make your book as long as it falls within certain dimensions. I think that's the route I'll have to take. I really would love to stitch on paper, but I might have to stick with cloth or maybe a combination of the two.