Hinges / spines in place. This I do recall clearly. I made my life harder by allowing two open edges, ready to receive stuffing, to be next to one another. Additionally, had I allowed my open edges to be at the perimeter, as opposed to the edges where they meet, my stuffing and closing task would have been a little easier. I was stuck hand stitching, and you will see why. For a nice machine close ? Leave an opening in the outer edges.