Today I’m going to talk with you about hand sewing. There are 3 hand sewing stitches that I find very useful when sewing garments. The running stitch, the blind stitch, and the hem stitch.
Let’s break these stitches down.
The Running Stitch
This is the easiest of the three stitches, and is useful for basting and gathering. Especially if you are gathering a long section, when a machine basted stitch might break.
To do it, you just run the needle back and forth through evenly sized folds of fabric – folded accordion style.
To gather, you pull the thread (I often even leave the needle attached).
The Blind Stitch (aka Ladder Stitch)
This is the hand sewing stitch I use most often – it gives a great finish on collars (and also works great to close up pillows, bean bags and the like). To do this, you need two pieces of fabric with their seam allowances folded in towards each other. Start by hiding your knot in a seam allowance. Then, take a stitch in the seam allowance parallel to the fold or the stitching line (as in the picture below).
Then take another stitch in the seam allowance on the other side, making sure your stitch doesn’t go through to the outside of the item. You’ll create a series of Vs like this
When you pull the thread, the two seam allowances will pull together, hiding the stitching in between them.
The Hem Stitch
Now, if you read my tutorial about blind hemming with your machine, you might not ever need this stitch. But sometimes I still use it, because if you’re hemming something tiny, it’s often easier than doing the setup for a blind machine hem.
To do this, first press your hem, then hide your knot in the seam allowance.
Stitch perpendicular to the hem fold, going through just a few threads on the outside of the item.
Move needle down and repeat. The inside will look like this
And the outside will look like this, though of course you would want to use matching thread so these stitches will be nearly invisible.
I hope those stitches help you finish your projects beautifully this year!
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Ann says
March 30, 2013 at 7:21 pmInteresting! This isn’t how I’ve done hems in the past, but I like the finish on this so much. (And I hate setting up to do a blind hem on the machine! I know I just need more practice, but I find it so stressful.)
Rachel says
April 2, 2013 at 6:38 pmThis is a great refresher. I know some of these I should be working on a bit more!
Reecea says
April 4, 2013 at 4:26 pmGot your email. Pinning and voting for you! Break a leg:)
Nicole Montgrain says
September 3, 2013 at 3:15 pmGreat info, thanks!!!!
Elizabeth says
July 31, 2014 at 4:18 pmThank you for this wonderfully detailed walkthrough! I have never sewn before and would love to make my own dresses by hand.
Lynn says
August 10, 2014 at 7:47 pmTo make your stitches more professional, skip the knot and do a few tiny back stitches. I find hand sewing very relaxing!
Shauna s. says
September 20, 2014 at 9:51 pmI’m excited by the hem stitch. I can now do my hubby’s work pants. I like how you hardly see the thread.
Roger says
November 14, 2015 at 2:53 pmJust what i needed after being handed an ambitious project!
Jenea Madonna says
May 10, 2017 at 11:40 pmWonder if you have access to how seams used to be hand-sewed before the sewing maching. Your photos are so clear it would be great to have this added to your collection too.