Homemade cahiers with dot grid paper

Recently, I made available dot grid paper to download and print. I keep some in my Filofax and have found it very useful.

Moleskine's cahier books are another very useful thing, but ludicrously expensive.

I decided to have a go at combining the two ideas and making my own dot grid cahier books. I used the following:

• Used file folders for the covers
• A hammer, to hit the awl
• An awl
• An embroidery needle and some strong thread
• Some grid paper, printed double-sided in A4 and A5 sizes to cut down
• A round-corner punch

I made single-signature notebooks in regular Moleskine cahier size and in A5. These books will nestle happily in the inside pockets of most Filofax binders. I love the end result. What do you think?

Click to zoom and see the dots!