How to Do a Backstitch in Embroidery
Unlike the knitter or even the weaver, who creates a pattern in the body of her fabric, the embroiderer creates a pattern on her fabric's surface. She does this using assorted colors of embroidery thread, or floss, and a variety of decorative stitches. Among the most basic of these decorative stitches are line stitches, or those stitches used to create single lines of varying appearance on a fabric. The backstitch is a line stitch that's worth learning to do well.
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Things You'll Need
- Embroidery needle
- Embroidery floss, or thread
- Patterned or unpatterned piece of embroidery fabric such as Aida cloth, canvas or muslin
Instructions
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Thread one end of your embroidery floss through the eye of your needle.
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Hold your needle with your right hand (left hand if you're left-handed) behind a patterned piece of embroidery fabric you want to embroider. The front of a patterned embroidery fabric is the side on which the pattern is printed; the back is the opposite side. If you're using an unpatterned piece of fabric, either side will do.
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Pierce the back of your embroidery fabric with the point of your needle, bringing the needle up through the pattern line you want to backstitch on the front of the fabric. If you are practicing your stitches and not following a pattern, bring your needle through the fabric in any convenient place.
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Grasp the needle with your right hand (or left if you're left-handed) on the front side of the fabric and pull the needle the rest of the way through the fabric. Carry the needle to the right (to the left if you're left-handed). You are going back along the pattern line you are stitching and in the opposite direction in which the stitch will carry you. This is why the stitch is called a "backstitch."
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Push the point of your needle into the front of your fabric and on the pattern line if you're following a pattern. The distance between where you insert the needle and where you brought the needle through the back of your fabric at the beginning of your backstitch is the length of your stitch. Direct the needle to your left (or right if you're left-handed) behind the fabric and along the pattern line while guiding the needle with a finger of your opposite hand, which is also behind the fabric.
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Push the the needle up through the fabric from the back with your right (or left) hand, still using a finger of your opposite hand to guide the needle up so that its point pierces the line you're stitching. Grasp the needle with your right hand (or left if you're left-handed) on the front side of the fabric and pull the needle and thread the rest of the way through the fabric.
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Carry your needle to the right (or left, if you're left-handed) and insert the point of the needle immediately to the left (or right, if you're left-handed) of the point where you brought the needle through the back of the fabric at the start of the preceding backstitch. You are beginning your second backstitch.
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Tips & Warnings
Aida cloth has grouped cotton threads and a defined pattern of square holes. According to Needlework Tips & Techniques, it's a good cloth for beginning embroiderers.
References
- Photo Credit Jupiterimages/Comstock/Getty Images
