Directions for a Blind Stitch

Choose a thread matching your label when blind stitching.

Quilts and other sewing projects often benefit from labels and patches being appliqued onto their surfaces. Unless you are using a decorative thread, you will probably not want your stitches to show. Using a blind stitch is one of the easiest ways to add one piece of fabric directly onto the surface of another piece of fabric, all without showing the stitches. This stitch, also known as the blind hem stitch and the applique stitch, will rarely be seen at all.

Things You'll Need

• Label
• Pins
• Needle
• Thread
• Scissors

Instructions

1. Lay your quilt or garment flat on a table, with the area where you will attach the label directly in front of you. Make sure that the fabric is smooth and without any folds.

2. Lay the label on the table in front of you with the right side toward the table. Fold back each edge of the label 1/4 inch, so that the edges are folded toward the wrong side of the fabric. Finger press the folds in the label edges to hold them in place until stitched.

3. Position your label on the quilt, making sure that it is straight and even. Use straight pins to securely fasten the label to the quilt.

4. Thread the needle with thread that matches the label. Tie a knot in one end of the thread, and sew using only one strand.

5. Push the needle through the quilt fabric just to the right of the upper-right corner of the label. Bring the needle up directly under this corner. Continue pushing the needle so that it pierces through the label corner. Pull the thread through.

6. Push the needle into the quilt fabric right at the point where the upper-right label corner lays. Aim the needle point toward the left and take a small stitch down the length of the quilt. When the needle point comes up through the fabric, push it through the label edge. Pull the thread through.

7. Continue taking small stitches, with the traveling of the thread being accomplished inside the quilt. The outside stitches on the label will be very straight and small. When you pull the thread, the stitches should all but disappear.

Tips & Warnings

• Don't pull the thread too tight, or your label may pucker. Just pull the thread until the stitches disappear and the label is set flush against the quilt surface.

References

• Video: Blindstitching
• Quilter's Cache: Learn to Applique