Tutorial: The Backstitch

Just three years ago I was admiring a friend's hand embroidery work.  The tiny stitches looked so perfect.  I commented that I could never embroider.  I've tried before and it always ends up looking like a mess.

Enter the backstitch.

I'd love to share with you this free little tutorial on how to embroider using the backstitch.  If you don't know this stitch already, be prepared for your life to change.

Backstitch:  It's exactly what it sounds like...an embroidery stitch that moves backward.  A backstitch is quite simple and has helped me improve my embroidery a ton!

Here are the steps:

1. Thread your embroidery floss through your needle and tie a knot at the end of the long tail of the thread.

2. Poke your needle through the back side of the fabric you are about to embroider.  If you have a pattern transferred onto your fabric, start your needle right on the pattern line and gently pull the thread through until it is stopped by the knot at the end of the long tail of your thread. Poke your needle back down through the fabric one stitch length away on the pattern line.  Pull the thread through and make one regular stitch.

This picture shows about three completed stitches.

3. Here’s where the term backstitch starts to make sense. To make your next stitch, poke your needle through the fabric one stitch length ahead of your last finished stitch. Gently pull the thread all the way through the top side of your fabric.

4. To finish the stitch, poke your needle back down through the fabric at the end of your last finished stitch and pull the thread through. You are stitching back, one stitch at a time.

Keep it going all the way around your pattern line until you finish.  You got it!

And what I mean by "be prepared for your life to change," is that after this tutorial, you might know how to do a backstitch. Enjoy.