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Hand-sewing Stitches are in here, keep paging down
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Prologue: Hiding Short Ends:
Sometimes, particularly when mending, you'll
work a thread down until it pops out of the
needle. It also may happen that you decided to
hide the end of machine stitching with a needle
after cutting off from the machine, and it's only
an inch or two long.
Sometimes such an end can be hidden by pushing
the needle in eye first.
If it must go in point first, put the needle
into the cloth first, *then* thread it. Sometimes
you want to push the needle in partway, thread it,
and then continue to wiggle through the darn or
between the layers, sometimes you take the full
stitch and then thread the needle.
Threading after stitching also works when you
are just an inch short of enough thread to finish.
And when you finish a row that way, there may
not be enough yarn left to thread the needle even
after you've pushed it into the fabric. In this
case, thread a finer needle with sewing thread,
and work it eye-first through the darn, starting a
little beyond the farthest reach of the short end,
and coming up just where the short end comes up.
Catch hold of the loop of thread and hold it while
you pull the needle out and off the thread. Then
put the short end of yarn into the loop of thread
and pull the thread out, dragging the yarn with
it.
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Second Prologue: Snarly thread
Thread tends to get twisted as you sew. Some
of this happens because twist resists being drawn
through the fabric, but I've had it happen with
thread that wasn't twisted at all, and sometimes
thread un-twists while you are working and will,
if not allowed to recover, fall apart.
I've never caught myself rolling the needle as
I sew, but it must happen, and happen consistently
in the same direction, because thread always tries
to snarl.
Whenever the thread becomes recalcitrant, let
go of it and let it do its own thing for a moment.
(I think there's a general philosophical point in
there somewhere.)
The usual trick is simply to drop the needle,
and let it spin at the end of the thread until it
comes to rest, but sometimes there isn't enough
room to let the thread dangle freely. In this
case, push the needle all the way to the fabric,
and draw a light pinch from the root of the thread
to the free end, allowing as much of the thread to
dangle freely as you can. This usually pushes the
kinks off the free end of the thread, but if you
have unusual trouble, stroke the thread with a
piece of wax.
With some threads, any attempt to dangle the
needle ends in a faint "tink" as the needle hits
the floor -- or it may silently vanish into the
carpet. Pushing the needle all the way to the
fabric works here, too, but you don't have to push
it -- just straighten the thread and it drops.
Then you can let the thread dangle on its own.
(Keep a thumb on the needle, to make sure it
doesn't slide down the thread and escape.)
===============================================
Third prologue: there ought to be an odd number
of prolouges, but two are all I've got -- move on
to the main event:
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Hand-Sewing stitches
====================
.. insert lots of pictures
.. -- beginnings of illustrations at
..
.. Hand Sewing Stitches:
However good your machine is, there will be times
when it's quicker to sew by hand than to set it
up, there will be tasks that are easier to do by
hand than by machine, and you won't always have
your machine with you. Here are a few hand-sewing
stitches:
V U T S R Q P O N M L K J I H G F E D C B A
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
_Running Stitch_ is the basic stitch: go down at
point A, come up at point B, down at point C, up
at point D, and so on along a line or curve --
from right to left, if you are right-handed.
This is usually accomplished by weaving the
needle several times before pulling through; you
can wiggle the cloth back and forth to pile up
pleats on the needle and save on the number of
times you have to pull through. It goes a little
faster if you use a sewing bird to clamp the
favored-hand end of the seam, to make it easier to
keep the fabric under tension while you sew.
In quilting, the needle is stabbed straight
down, pulled through, then stabbed straight up.
In sewing thick fabrics, it is necessary to
take one stitch at a time, but it is usually
possible, and sometimes desirable, to dip down and
up in one motion -- this makes the thread diagonal
through the thickness, so that it shows less on
both sides. In very thick fabrics, it is
necessary to resort to quilting, but it is often
convenient to go down and up before pulling all
the way through -- if so, do, as it reduces the
probability of tangles on the side that you can't
see.
Running stitch is used when you want the
least-possible thickness of thread in a seam, and
for basting, darning, marking, and embroidery.
Running stitch is also used to draw up gathers
when you want the pleats lined up perfectly --
except in emergencies, repair, embroidery, and
fine sewing, settle for the irregular pleats made
by drawing up machine stitches.
If you find running stitch making gathers when
you don't want it to, pause every six inches or so
to stroke and stretch the stitches until the
tension is just right, then take a back stitch to
keep it that way.
"Pattern Darning" in embroidery is multiple
rows of running stitch side-by-side, with the
stitches and gaps arranged to form patterns.
Darning to strengthen a worn spot with
matching thread is done the same way, but try to
have the stitches of each row correspond to the
gaps in the adjacent rows, or at least avoid
having them line up to form conspicuous patterns -
- unless you do it deliberately, as camouflage.
Running-stitch darn should always strengthen
the weak fabric around a woven darn, sometimes
crossing only at the actual hole, sometimes over a
wider area. Rows that cross only fabric are
usually farther apart than those that cross the
hole.
_Back Stitch_ is the strongest and most-elastic
way to sew a seam -- stronger than machine
stitching, and less likely to tear the fabric.
(Machine stitching wins the strong-seam contest,
though, because it is so easy to make teeny-tiny
stitches by machine.)
Back stitching doesn't come undone easily, so
one or more back stitches are used to secure the
ends of threads when working other stitches.
When machine top stitching has broken, you can
repair it invisibly by working back stitch through
the original holes.
Like running stitch, back stitch is worked
from right to left: stick the needle in at point
A, come up at point C, go down at point B, come up
at point D, go down at point C, and so on. The
thread on the side you can see is always moving
backward, hence "back stitch". The stitches
underneath are twice as long as those on the side
you can see, and overlap so that there is twice as
much thread on the back as on the front. Back
stitch uses three times as much thread as running
stitch.
The back stitch described above is sometimes
called "closed back stitch" because the stitches
touch one another. There is also "spaced back
stitch": down at A, up at D, down at C, up at F,
down at E, up at H, down at G, and so on. In
spaced back stitch, each hole is used only once.
In closed back stitch, each hole is used twice.
Spaced back stitch looks like running stitch
on the front; the stitches on the back are three
times as long as the stitches on the front, and
overlap by only one third of their length.
Because the stitches are one third the length
of the dips of the needle, spaced back stitch is
good for heavy fabrics, where the shortest dip
possible is too long. In such fabric, the
stitching may actually be less conspicuous on the
far side, where the thread does not rise above the
fuzz before angling back into the fabric. Spaced
back stitch is also a good way to sew to only the
top few layers of a pile-up -- it's a very secure
way, for example, to sew down the facing of a
waistband.
_Running Back Stich_: when making a running-
stitch seam, weave the needle as many times as you
can, then begin the next set of running stitches
by putting the needle in just behind the place
where it came out, making a single back stitch.
Running back stitch is more secure than running
stitch, and almost as fast. Jessup (see HTML
files) calls this "Combination Stitch".
_Slip Stitch_: running stitch worked from the
outside. Slip stitch is used to close gaps left
for turning things inside out, to attach appliqu‚,
for mending, and any other time you can't get at
the inside.
Slip stitch is usually easiest to work when
the two folds are held together as if you had
folded exactly along the seam. Slip the needle
through one fold, then insert it into the other
fold exactly opposite to where it comes out of the
first fold. In some fabrics, you can wiggle the
needle so that it goes into one fold and comes out
of the other, making two stitches at a time.
If you can't hold the two folds together,
leave the thread loose while you are working, then
pull on it to draw the two edges together.
This is sometimes called "ladder stitch" because
the stitches spanning the gap look like the rungs
of a ladder. Best worked in short sections. You
can work an inch or two, pull tight, let the last
half spring open, then make as many more stitches
as you can tighten without fear of breaking the
thread.
_Slip Basting_: Plaids and other patterns are
sometimes very difficult to match at the seams --
they are never quite where you think they are, or
they slip a bit while you are sewing them. When
this happens, you can baste the seam from the
right side.
Fold one piece on the stitching line, and lay
that fold along the other stitching line. Pin it
with the pattern lined up exactly the way you want
it. Slip stitch the seam, taking long stitches,
but not so long that things can slip out of line
again. Take out the pins, unfold, and sew exactly
on the slip-stitched basting.
You won't be able to remove the basting, so be
careful that it doesn't show. Extra-fine silk
thread is good for basting that you can't take
out.
_Buttonhole Stitch_: make a series of straight
stitches at right angles to the line being
followed, letting each stitch catch a loop of the
thread.
Buttonhole stitch is used to finish raw edges
-- as in buttonholes -- and to cover bar tacks to
make buttonholed bars. Interlocking rows of
buttonhole stitch are good for darning knit
fabrics.
Buttonhole stitches are really half hitches,
so buttonholing over threads on the back is a good
way to secure the end of a thread without going
back into the fabric. It takes two half hitches to
form a knot.
Another name for buttonhole stitch is "blanket
stitch". Some workers call it "blanket stitch"
when spaced and "buttonhole stitch" when worked
closely. A few embroiderers are trying to
persuade everyone to use "blanket stitch" for all
forms of buttonhole so they can reserve the
word "buttonhole" for tailor's buttonhole, but
buttonholing is integral to so many arts that I
don't think they can succeed.
..pictures really, really needed here
_Bar Tack_: Secure the end of the thread with a
back stitch or two someplace where it won't show,
then come up at point A, go down at point B, come
up at point A, go down at point B, etc. until
there are enough threads in the bar. Tie off by
taking two or three buttonhole stitches over the
bar on the back. If you make more than one bar
tack, count the number of times you come up and go
down, so that you can make them match.
If the bar tack is to serve as an eye for a
hook, after coming up at A for the last time, work
buttonhole stitch as closely as possible over the
bar, then go down at B and tie off. This keeps
the hook from separating the threads and breaking
them one at a time. If there is to be a great
deal of strain on the loop, covering the back of
the bar with buttonholing will help to prevent it
from being pulled through to the right side. (And
Really Thoroughly tie off your thread!)
If you are working a series of bar tacks,
instead of tying off between tacks, backstitch to
the place where you will make the next one. The
backstitching secures the end of this bar tack and
the beginning of the next one at the same time,
and it won't show if you make the surface stitches
very short, and slide the long stitches between
layers.
Bar tacks are worked at the top of slits, to
keep them from breaking the stitches or tearing
the fabric, and at other points of strain.
If you fear that the strain on a bar tack will
pull a hole in the fabric, use the tack to sew on
a two-hole button. There are small, flat
transparent buttons made just for this purpose.
Sometimes a short piece of tape will serve
better than a bar tack. Various sorts of
embroidery and appliqu‚ will also work.
Sometimes buttonholed bars serve as belt
loops, hanging loops, button loops, etc. Such
long tacks are usually worked by taking a short
stitch at this end, a short stitch at that end,
another short stitch at this end, etc.
Buttonholed bars can be worked between two
pieces to connect them loosely -- to anchor a
lining without letting it pull on the outer shell,
for example. Linings of this sort are found in
tailored garments more often than in rough sewing.
Woven bars are also used for the purpose; a free-
floating bar will naturally divide into two parts;
weave them together the way you work baseball
stitch. Or the threads of the bar can simply be
left loose, if it will face little strain or wear.
_Overcasting_ keeps a raw edge from ravelling.
Put the needle through about a quarter inch from
the edge, move over a quarter inch, and do it
again.
And again, and again, and again. Thank
goodness for zig-zag machines!
You can, of course, vary the size and
proportions of overcasting, but if the stitches
nearly touch, it's "whipping", and if they catch
only one thread, it's "overhanding". Overhanding
was used to join two selvages when cloth was hand-
woven and narrow, and is still sometimes used to
join two folds, as when mitering the corner of a
handkerchief hem.
Nowadays, long stretches of hand overcasting
are found mostly in tailoring and fine sewing, but
hand overcasting comes in handy in tight spots,
mending, and covering up mistakes.
_Baseball Stitch_ can be thought of as a kind of
double overcasting, used to draw two edges
together without letting them overlap. Go down on
one side of the slit, come up in the slit, go down
on the other side of the slit, come up in the
slit, and continue alternating sides. Or go down
through the slit and come up in the fabric if it
is more convenient. Used for leather, felt, very
thick fabrics, and mending. Also known as
"antique seam".
_Catch Stitch_ is called "double backstitch",
"herringbone stitch", "shadow stitch", and other
names when used in embroidery. It is useful for
hemming down a raw edge. Since there is a great
deal of exposed thread, it wears away easily --
but if worked closely, it protects the raw edge
underneath from wear and ravelling.
Work from left to right, with the needle
pointing left. Take a small horizontal stitch in
the hem, move slightly to the right and take a
small horizontal stitch in the fabric, move the
same distance to the right again and take another
stitch in the hem. You can work it closely, with
each stitch coming up where its predecessor went
down, to cover a raw edge, or space it widely to
tack down an edge that will later be covered by
another fabric.
Catch stitch is used in tailoring more often
than in rough sewing.
_Basic Embroidery Stitches_
All of the above sewing stitches can be used
for embroidery, and I discuss fly stitch and cross
stitch in the section on marking. With a little
ingenuity, these and the few stitches described
below can be combined and elaborated to create any
desired effect. There are, of course, hundreds
more stitches to be found in any dictionary of
embroidery. (Many of the hundreds will prove to
be stitches that you unvented while noodling
around.)
*Double Running Stitch, also called Holbein
*Stitch*: work two rows of running stitch in the
same set of holes, with the second pass filling in
the gaps left by the first. This looks like the
right side of back stitch on both sides, and is
good when the back of the work will show.
If you want a continuous line, take care, on
the second pass, that you always come up on one
side of the previous thread, and always go down on
the other, so that the two threads are twisted
together and form one solid line. If the two
threads lie side-by-side, you will have two dotted
lines side-by-side.
Since it is the same on both sides, double
running is sometimes useful in mending.
*Chain stitch* is often used to depict plain
cursive writing and other bold, simple lines. The
back looks like back-stitch or double running, and
can be quite presentable if you are careful with
the beginnings and ends. A single link of chain -
- "detached chain" or "lazy daisy" -- is used for
small ovals such as flower petals. When very
short, and therefore round, detached chain is good
for dotting "i" and "j".
To make a chain stitch, you come up at A, make
a circle with the thread, go back down at A, and
come up at B, with the entire stitch inside the
loop of thread lying on your cloth. When you pull
through, the loop tightens to make a little oval
beginning and ending at A, and anchored by the
thread emerging at B. Don't pull too tight; the B
end of the loop should be nicely round, not pulled
into a point. Swirl the thread around again --
holding it down with your left thumb helps -- go
back down at B, and come up at C. End off by
going down close to where you came up, but outside
the loop.
If the straight stitch that anchors a detached
chain stitch is long enough to notice, you call it
"long-tailed daisy stitch".
Shaded handwriting can be depicted by a smooth
progression of back stitch for the finest lines,
outline stitch, stem stitch, and satin stitch.
*Outline stitch* is the wrong side of back
stitch. If your needle points to the left, you
work from left to right. Take successive small
nips of the fabric, letting each nip come up where
the previous nip went down. If you always keep
the thread on the same side of the stitching, you
will produce a twisted-cord effect. If you have
the thread above the line for one stitch and below
the line for the next, you are working
"alternating outline stitch", which looks like two
rows of straight stitches.
*Stem stitch* is the same as outline stitch,
on a wider line. Your go downs are on one side of
the line, and your come-ups are on the other.
Always keep the loop of thread on the go-down
side, so that the stitches don't cross. (If you
keep the loop on the come-up side, so that the
threads do cross, you will make Single Feather
Stitch, a slanted blanket stitch.)
*Satin stitch*: go down on one side of a
shape and come up on the other, then put the
needle down right beside the previous place you
went down, and bring it up right beside the
previous place you came up, so that the stitches
lie smoothly side by side. This is both the
simplest and the most difficult of the embroidery
stitches -- when initials and the like are worked
entirely in satin stitch, there is no room for
error. But un-padded satin stitch that forms a
minor part of a line worked primarily in stem
stitch and outline stitch should pose no problems.
Satin stitch can be padded by working rows of
chain stitch in the area to be covered, by working
over shapes cut from felt, by working over a cord,
and in many other ways. Padded satin stitch may
be easier to work than unpadded stitch, because
the padding provides a guide for the stitching and
a definite edge for the shape. It is also much
less likely to come out looking like machine
embroidery -- embroidery machines are *superb* at
imitating satin stitch, as long as you don't look
at the back.
_Blind Hemming Stitches_
_Blind Stitching_ is any stitching that isn't
supposed to show on the right side. Sometimes,
as the name implies, the stitches don't come all
the way through to the right side, being hidden
under fuzz or between layers. Usually, you will
match the thread to the fabric as well as possible
and make the stitches that come through as small
as possible.
But not *smaller* than possible! It is often
recommended that one make the hem truly invisible
by catching a single thread of the fabric, but
unless you mean to hang the finished object on the
wall, and use it only by looking at it from a
distance, catching only one thread will make the
hem *more* visible, because that one thread is
going to break and leave a hole.
If the fabric is coarse enough, or if your
eyes are keen enough, you can catch two threads:
one warp, one weft, so that you are catching an
intersection. Use a thread finer than the weaving
threads, so that it will break first in case of
stress.
In thick or fuzzy fabrics, back stitch and
running stitch can be blind -- but watch out for a
quilted effect when tight stitches pull the fabric
down in little dimples.
_Overcast Hemming Stitch_ was the first I learned,
and for many years I didn't know there were other
ways to do it. Take small diagonal nips through
the fabric of the skirt and the folded edge of the
hem about a quarter inch apart. It's quick to do,
easy to learn, and shows very little. But all
that exposed thread wears away very quickly --
when this was the only stitch I knew, re-stitching
hems was a constant occupation.
_Knotted Slipstitch Hem_ was my home-ec teacher's
One True Way. You take a short nip precisely
perpendicular to the fold, through both skirt and
fold, then take a second nip around the thread and
through the fold, then slip the needle through the
fold for half an inch -- no less, no more -- to
get into position to make the next stitch. This
leaves no long floats to wear away and -- the
trait that endeared it to my teacher -- if one
stitch breaks, the extra little nips keep the
other stitches from unravelling. This stitch is a
pain to work, and I don't like the half-inch gaps
that seem to beg to be caught and torn.
_Double-blind hem_ for springy non-fraying double
fabrics -- polyester double-knit, that is. Fold
the hem just once, then fold about a quarter inch
of the edge toward you and hold it down with your
thumb while you slip-stitch the fold to the main
fabric, slipping the needle between layers so that
the thread doesn't show on either side after you
take your thumb off and the quarter-inch fold
springs back. It may be convenient to fold both
sides and slip-stitch the folds together.
Basting right where you want the temporary
fold to form is a big help.
This hem is truly blind, and since the thread
doesn't show on either side, it can't wear away.
It's a pity that doubleknit went out of style.
_Slip-stitch hem_ -- fold under or bind the edge
of the hem. Take a wee nip through the main
fabric, then slip the needle through the fold to
the next place you want to take a wee nip. It is
possible to make the nip and the slip-stitch in
one operation, so this stitch works up
comparatively fast. It is sometimes easier if you
fold the main fabric down so that you are sewing
the fold to another fold.
This isn't as blind as the doubleknit hem, but
if the stitches are short, it's as durable.
_Alternating Running Stitch_ -- it's possible to
work running stitch in two parallel rows like
Double Back Stitch, but where that stitch has a
plethora of names, this stitch -- or set of
stitches -- hasn't any. Double Running Stitch is
taken. So I grabbed "Alternating" in order to
have a header.
(This group of stitches isn't particularly
useful, but I find them amusing, so I've expended
a plethora of words on them. If you jump down to
the bottom of the entry, you'll find a hem
suitable for the neckline of a very fancy T-
shirt.)
"Sans serif Chevron Stitch" can be useful for
replacing machine zig-zag stitches through the
original holes, if only one side needs to look
like the original.
I once needed a name for the alternating
running stitch that looks like double backstitch
on the back, with the stitches offset brickwise to
make the stitches on the front a neat zig-zag, so
that I could say that the "duplicate stitch" used
to embroider or repair hand knits is the same.
After searching all my embroidery books, I posted
a query on a worldwide mailing list, and they also
came up blank, but agreed that I had a right to
give it a name. Since it looks like Chevron
Stitch (Mary Thomas, fig. 71) except for lacking
the little bars at top and bottom, I called it
"Sans Serif Chevron Stitch". But this did not
help me with my essay about knitting -- I wanted
those who weren't familiar with it to be able to
look it up.
|| On 9 November 2008, when I was looking
for something else, I discovered that on page 147
of _Stitches of Creative Embroidery_, Jacqueline
Enthoven lists Sans Serif Chevron Stitch as "Wave
Stitch Filling". I suspect that under that name,
it's a drawn-fabric stitch -- in this beginner's
book, Enthoven adapts drawn-fabric stitches to
flat embroidery without comment. ||
Another way to arrange stitches that meet
nose-to-tail, so as to look like double backstitch
on the back, is lined up so that one stitch on the
front is vertical and the next one slanted:
|\|\|\|\|\|\|\| . Looks a bit like a fence, and
Thomas doesn't list a "fence stitch" -- if I have
occasion to refer to it, I'll call it that.
|| Also, on page 147, Enthoven presents
"Bosnia Stitch", which looks like Fence Stitch,
but is worked in two passes so that it's the same
on back and front. ||
Fence stitch looked a bit like Italian Hem
Stitch to me. Even though it would be poor at
drawing threads into bunches, I looked at Thomas's
hem stitches -- and found Sans Serif Chevron
Stitch as the first step in Sham Hem Stitch (fig.
171). So I guess Sans Serif Chevron Stitch could
also be called "Sham Hem Stitch Sans Interlacing".
Both the above variations could be used to
secure a hem, but it wouldn't be a blind hem.
Indeed, I can't imagine using either unless I'd
turned the hem to the right side and wanted to do
some really fussy embroidery. (Because both
stitches are very simple, they must be perfect to
look halfway decent.)
But when you space the stitches, so that they
look like two rows of running stitch on the back,
you get into something that can be used for a
blind hem.
Just for the sake of completeness, I'll first
dispose of the variant in which the "running"
stitches on the back are exactly above one
another, so that you have a row of slanting
stitches on the front. This stitch isn't useful
for anything except embroidery -- you know I'm
expecting you to contradict me, don't you? My e-
dress is my full name, without a space, at
centurylink dot net. -- and it's a very poor
embroidery stitch: the odd stitches don't match
the even stitches, but the difference isn't enough
to look as though you did it on purpose. No
wonder this stitch hasn't got a name!
And now (FINALLY getting to the point!)
consider jumping back and forth between the two
lines in such fashion that the stitches in one of
the rows of "running stitch" on the back are
matched to the spaces in the other. Now the
stitches on the front are a row of verticals that
look like a ladder: ||||||||||| .
Unfortunately, "ladder stitch" is taken three
times in Mary Thomas alone. There's no telling
what I'd find if I had more than one stitch
dictionary.
Now here at last, we have a stitch suitable
for hemming down a raw edge, specifically for
holding down the curling edge of cotton jersey.
It's just as well that I can't call it "ladder
stitch", because if it's going to be a blind hem,
you need to make the stitches in the fabric as
short as possible, and to make it a firm hem, the
stitches in the edge must be at least an eighth of
an inch long -- || || || || would be a
funny-looking ladder -- not to mention that it
works better if each go-down is a little to the
left of each come-up, rather than exactly above or
below, so it looks more like \ / \ / \ / \ /
I hasten to add that I hem jersey by hand only
when the garment is intended to be quite dressy
*and* the hem is front, center, and close to eye
level.
It is surprisingly difficult to keep the
stitches in this hem long; having made a tiny
little pick in the fabric, one wants to make a
small nip in the hem. Aim to make the specks on
the right side a quarter inch apart, and keep the
nips into the hem at least an eighth of an inch
from the raw edge.
EOF