My favourite stitch; the backstitch

 

Example of a backstitch on the main donut body

When working with felt, the choice of hand stitch you use to finish a piece as well as add details is important for making it look at good as possible. It needs to be neat and tidy, but also look great too. 

The go to choice for many crafters in the world of felt is the blanket stitch. It looks lovely and uniform, as well as being a excellent way to keep your pieces secure. It adds a lovely handmade charm, which immediately draws you in with cozy vibes as well as the knowledge that a piece is made with love and time.

Example of a blanket stitch. Credit; Beth Colletti (bethcolletti.com)

So, with all that in regard, why don't I use that stitch on my own pieces?

Well, there's actually a couple of reasons.

First off; I'm terrible at it.

I have practiced the art of the blanket stitch many a time over the years. As someone who works with felt, and who has spent hours researching, learning and developing my skill, the blanket stitch was something I figured I needed to know, so I used scrap felt as well as smaller projects to see if I could pull it off. Yes, I could do it, but eventually I would find myself getting fed up with it; I just couldn't keep a rhythm going, and despite using helpful tips to keep the stitches the same width apart, it just never looked good.

Secondly, I just didn't think it looked good on my designs.

I found that I didn't actually like the look of the blanket stitch on my own work. Despite seeing it being used on countless felt pieces, for some reason, when I looked at my own work, I just could not see it as something that suited my personal vision for my donuts.

So I needed to find another stitch that not only was easy for me to keep up with, even after putting it down, but also needed something that looked good to me, on my designs.

And so I looked into the back stitch.

Something about it just harmonises with me. It looks nice and tidy, just like the blanket stitch, and it also remains super secure, maybe even more so with the way that the thread wraps around the felt tightly, forming a nice neat row on the top of your piece, and a tight chain of stitches on the bottom.

Close up example of backstitch details (edge of icing on donut)

I also found it easier to work with; being able to keep up with the rhythm of the stitches, to the point where I can do it without really thinking about it. I can also put down my project and pick it back up knowing which direction to place the needle.

The easiest way to describe a backstitch is that it loops around using two steps; one where the needle goes through the best side of the felt (the part that you are showing) from the botttom, and then you do one stitch length backwards, and put the needle through the best side from the top. You then come back up one stitch length apart from the last stitch, and once again go backwards to the last stitch you made, so the two stitches are touching, as picture above, forming a looping motion. To simplfy this, I have made a quick diagram;

(Blue is the needle, red is the thread, green for felt)

The needle goes through the underside of the felt (the side you want hidden)

It then goes one stitchlength backwards, and back through the felt

The needle then comes up through the bottom of the felt, one stitchlength away from the previous stitch

Once again, you go back to the end of the previous stitch, then repeat the steps above until you have finished the length

It is a very straight forward stitch to get the hang of, and not only does it look professional, it also keeps everything nice and secure; if you want to take the stitches apart, you would need a stitch ripper and a lot of patience, so use this stitch method if you are looking to make something that you don't want to take apart/have ripped apart accidently.

So that more or less wraps up todays blog post, I hope that this post was informative and gave a little more insight into my making process. I will be doing an full indepth run down of how I make my pieces in a future post, so stay tuned for that. Until then, enjoy your day!