Sewing machines speed up sewing, but sometimes you have to sew a thing by hand, for example, during repair. It takes a bit of practice to make stitches of the same length as they go in a straight line, so don’t be discouraged if you don’t like what your stitches look like at first. Keep practicing and you’ll understand. To begin with, here are three main stitches to keep in mind when sewing by hand.

Reverse stitch

The straight stitch has great power and holds up better than the current stitch. This is because your stitches will overlap one side of the fabric. The overlapping stitches make the reverse stitch differently on both sides of the fabric. On the one hand, the reverse stitch consists of many small homogeneous stitches so close to each other that they look like a solid line. On the other hand, you will see that the stitches overlap at the ends, because the stitches on this side are twice as long as on the other side.

Start with one piece of yarn and tie one end. Start working on the bottom or wrong side of the fabric and insert the needle. Pull it until the node touches the fabric (the node is at the bottom). Walk more than 1/4 inch and pull the needle up and down. Then you go back and insert the needle into the fabric in the middle of the node you started with – basically you go back 1/8 inch. Stretch the needle. From there, repeat these stitches: walk more than 1/4 inch and stretch the needle through the fabric. Retreat 1/8 of an inch and stretch out the needle. Repeat until the end.

Frame point

The winding seam is used as a temporary seam to bind several layers together or to hold the fabric together, instead of using pins or needles to hold the fabric in place. It is very similar to a running stitch, except that the stitches are much longer.

Start the winding stitch in the same way as the thread stitch, except that you don’t tie the knot at the end of the thread. First, insert the needle on the wrong side of the cloth and stretch it out. Leave a few inches of thread on the wrong side of the cloth and hold it with your fingers to keep the thread from coming out. This is called the thread tail. Then touch the needle on the front of the tissue half up. Tilt it so that you can lift the needle – it can expand by an inch. Stretch the needle, but be sure to keep the end of the thread in place so as not to pull it out. Repeat the point if necessary. When you no longer need a wet seam, just pull the thread to remove the seam.

Current point

The winding seam is used for stitching or darning clothes, compounding fabrics and embroidery. This is the easiest to master the stitch because it enters and exits the fabric. Unlike the reverse stitch, the current stitch does not double on all stitches.

Start with one piece of yarn and tie one end. Start working from the wrong side of the fabric. Insert the needle and stretch it out. Walk more than 1/4 inch and insert the needle by half. Then tilt the needle so that it passes through the fabric 1/4 inch from where you inserted the needle. Pull out the needle and fill it. If it is easier for you to keep the fabric smooth, you can put the fabric on the table and hold it with one hand and the other pull the needle. Your needle is now on the front of the tissue. Repeat this process by inserting and inserting the needle again and then stretching out the thread.