The Dressco StitchNote Avocado is an odd notebook and it’s not going to appeal to all stationery addicts. It all depends on their tolerance for bleedthrough and show-through.

The notebook is 85mm x145mm x 5mm (3.34″ x 5.7″ x .2″ )which makes it slightly taller, slightly narrower and substantially thicker than a Field Notes notebook. It has an orange peel textured green card stock cover stamped with the Dressco peacock.

The cover of the book after five months or so of use. The stitching is only now beginning to fray.

Inside it has navy blue inner covers and 84, or 168 pages of SunValley OnionSkin, depending on your point of view.

The paper is what will separate the haters from the lovers (or the “love it but not in that way”ers). The paper is thin and reminds me of the pages in a Bible. I used it as my daily outliner/planner for over five months and found that it takes almost every kind of ink well, but fat nibs and wet inks will feather. The colors look good on the white paper. Only occasionally would ink bleed through to a page below.

Ink tests with different inks, nibs and pens. A pencil even makes an appearance.

The potential problems appear when the user turns the page. Even inks that don’t bleed show through. This will make it an 84 page notebook for many people. Even if you use only one side, the paper is thin enough that writing on a bottom page will show through the page above it.

The other side of the page.

The center stitching. You can see the show through from above and below on either side of the stitching.

I also found that odd nibs, like the calligraphy nib on a Pilot Prera didn’t like the paper, which does have some tooth. They tended to skip if they weren’t held exactly right against the paper.

That said, I like this notebook a lot. Because I embrace the bleedthrough, I like the extra pages that gives me. Even flipping the onion skin pages is kind of fun and relaxing. I don’t think it needs the navy inner covers but they do look sharp. Other stationery addicts may be more interested in the apricot version.

I’ve already purchased another one, but won’t get to use it for a while.