How to Do the Straight Stitch in Hand Embroidery

Hand embroidery is one of my first loves when it comes to creative sewing, and I'm so excited to start sharing hand embroidery videos to help other learn this awesome way to make beautiful things. Today's episode teaches the most basic of hand embroidery stitches, the straight stitch.

Example of Straight Stitch in Hand Embroidery

Uses for the Hand Embroidery Straight Stitch

In the embroidery tutorial video shared here, I used the straight stitch to create a border for a quilt square.

This stitch is also called the running stitch, and it is the same hand sewing stitch used for hand-basting in garment-making.

You can use this stitch with regular thread instead of embroidery floss to quickly mend ripped seams in garments, too.

The square shown in the video has a button I attached in an earlier episode of Sewing Lesson From Stitching it Right. The button is going to be the center of a flower, and if you like the way this freehand embroidered flower looks when I get to the final episide, how to make it yourself will be shown in videos, and you can follow them through one by one.

Each video is short, so you can do it a step at a time, and you, of course, have the choice to do a step a day or do the entire project in one session if you're excited to get started.

Here's the video, and the written directions are below:

What You Need to Do the Straight Stitch

Embroidery Floss in Storage Case

Embroidery floss: Embroidery floss, like regular thread, should be cut in sections no longer than 18 inches long.

• This reduces the chance of it tangling while you're working. Embroidery floss is crafted from three strands of fiber twisted together. 
• When you want a heavy effect, like I did for the border shown in the video, use a fairly large needle and expect it to pull fairly hard as you tug the floss through the fabric. 
• (You can actually hear it pop a few times in the video because I had to pull so hard.)  
• For most embroidery, you'll want to split the floss into either two or three strand sections because it still gives off a kind of luxe effect but it's easier to work with and does less damage to the fabric, and I'll put up a quick video to show you how to do that. 

Embroidery needle: You may be able to get by with 'just any hand sewing needle" - there is, however, a difference in embroidery needles tha tmakes them ideally suited to hand embroidery and worth the effort to seek out when shopping for hand embroidery supplies.

• Embroidery needles are designed with longer, narrower eyes than regular hand sewing needles. 
• The narrow design makes it easier to pull the needle through tightly woven fabric.
• The long, narrow eyes in embroidery needles make it easier to feed the embroidery floss through when you're threading them. 

Embroidery hoop: It's possible to work without an embroidery hoop, but using one reduces the soreness and stiffness you expereince in your fingers and hands.

• When the fabric is properly secured in an embroidery hoop, it's easier to see what you're doing. 
• It also gives you more control over the fabric and needle so you can make sure you stitches land right where you want them. 

Fabric: Not trying to be facetious here, but you have to have something to embellish or practice sewing on when you're learning to do the straight stitch.

• If it's your first time trying this stitch, you may want to grab a scrap of fabric or an old garment that's worn out so you can practice as long as you want. 
• If you're ready to add your straight stitches to a project as an embellishment, make sure the fabric is smooth, ideally in an embroidery hoop, but you can do it by working slowly and carefully even if you don't have one.

Thimble: Thimbles are optional, but can save your fingers some soreness, especially if you're working on a tightly woven fabric and using all six fibers of the embroidery floss.

Steps for Making the Straight Stitch

Prepare the needle: Thread the needle and tie one end of the embroidery floss.

• Adjust the floss so the loose end is about four inches higher than the knot. 

Start Embroidering: Poke the needle through from the back of the fabric and pull the thread through all the way.

• Move the tip of the needle between 1/8-inch and 1/4-inch, depending on the effect you're trying to create, and poke it down through the fabric. 
• Repeat the steps over and over until you reach the end of the area you're embellishing.

Anchor the stitches: With the needle on the back side of the fabric, make two or three tiny stitches that are hidden under the previous stitches, then cut off the thread ends.

Thanks for visiting Stitching it Right, be sure to visit our YouTube Channel, Sewing Lessons From Stitching it Right or hop over to our Facebook page for quick answer to any sewing-related questions you may have.

:) Simple Hand-Sewing Techniques for the Girl Who's All Thumbs

Author: Alison Wood

Hand-sewing is not a skill that's commonly taught anymore. To this day, my mom can't sew a stitch (not even a button!). I learned the basics in home economics, although these days they rely more heavily on machines to get a straight line and neat, even stitches. However, unless you want to become a very good customer at your local alterations shop (or toss your favorite shirt when it loses a button), you should at least learn the basics of sewing by hand. Here are a few simple techniques to get you on your way (who knows, you could become a quilting master!).

1. Running stitch. This is about as basic as it gets and it involves sewing in and out of the fabric in a straight line (to produce a sort of dotted line effect upon completion). Now, it may sound easy, but women of generations past prided themselves on their ability to sew these stitches so small and neat that they were practically invisible. If you're just starting, focus instead on keeping your line from wobbling. This stitch is good for seams.

2. Backstitch. This is just a more complicated running stitch. To accomplish it, you will start with one regular stitch (stitch up, then down) and when you come back up for the second stitch, instead of continuing forward, you'll go back through the previous down-stitch hole. Then you'll come up forward of the previous stitch, and go back again so that the effect (on the top side) is an unbroken line. It is like a reinforced version of the running stitch, but it's doubly important to get it straight.

3. Over-sewing. This stitch is really useful for fraying ends, but can also be used on a seam in a pinch. All you do is sew up (near the edge of the fabric) loop the thread over the top, and sew up again. The end result will be loop after loop of thread going around the outside edge of the fabric to hold everything in.

4. Whip stitch. If, like me, you constantly find yourself in need of a different hem length, you are going to love this stitch. It's sort of like a combination of the running stitch and over-sewing. To begin, you'll fold your hem to the length you desire (probably after you have torn out the previous stitching). Then sew into the edge of the hem and through the outside layer of fabric, and back in, making as small of a stitch on the outside as you can (the goal is to make it nearly invisible). Although the outside stitches will be very small, the ones on the inside of the hem will be fairly far apart (it might also be called tacking). This is sort of a quick and dirty stitch, but since it is unseen, you don't have to take too many labors to make it pretty.

5. Quilter's knot. You may be wondering, when you reach the end of a line of stitches, how to stop your thread from going right back the way it came. To this end, a quilter's knot is extremely useful as it is a sturdy, simple, nearly invisible finishing technique. You just wrap your thread around the shaft of the needle three times, pull it tight, and then push the needle through the fabric (and the loops of thread). Pull it tight, or if the fabric is loose, pop it through to the other side. I've never entirely understood how this works, but I swear it does (although it might take a little practice to accomplish). Just mentally thank whatever sewing genius came up with it and use it often!

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/education-articles/simple-hand-sewing-techniques-for-the-girl-whos-all-thumbs-2993395.html

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