Printing Explained – What is Saddle-stitching?

Have you ever heard the term saddle-stitching and wondered what it is?

Saddle-stitching is basically a method of collating and stitching a brochure that has 2 staples stitched into it to bind it together. The saddle-stitcher takes folded sections, collating them together on a saddle, before stitching and trimming them.

It is called stitching as the staples are stitched in, a bit like how a sowing machine would stitch.

Some people ask for their brochure to be ‘stitch, fold, trimmed’. This is another method of making a brochure that is stitched where flat sheets are firstly collated together, then stitched, then the whole brochure folded and finally trimmed.

Saddle-stitching generally gives a neater, tidier?finish and can accommodate short to long runs.

Stitch fold trim is generally better for shorter runs and for where quality is less of a concern.