Tie on with a Split Back Stitch....What?

I get a lot of quizzical looks when I say in class to tie on with a Split Back Stitch followed by..."What??". It's not something you would normally do when doing embroidery if you haven't had a teacher or friend tell you to do it.

And you ask why should I be doing that? Well....
It hides your knot (most importantly).
It makes the wrong side of your work look that much neater.
It's very efficient and it's a little bit sneaky.

I enjoy stitching them and hiding them underneath where I will stitch on the right side of the fabric. So how do you do one? It's really easy but you might need some really good lighting to see it, so I've come up with a handy, super-dooper teaching aid to show the steps. It's made out of burlap (hooped), a really large doll needle and a piece of wool yarn. Very easy to see and photograph.

Step 1: Thread your needle but do not knot it. Look at your embroidery design knowing which direction you will be stitching and take a tiny (a few fabric threads, three in this case) bite of fabric on the wrong side leaving a little tail sticking out of the fabric. Of course, position this little stitch on your stitching line of the front.

One exception of not starting on the wrong side of the fabric is the wonderful little stitch "granito" which looks like a lovely little pearl on top of the fabric  (they can be oval, too). I always start my granitos with the Split Back Stitch on the right side of the fabric because I can use the height of the knot as extra padding for the granito.

Step 2: Now complete a back stitch going back in where you first went into the fabric (the "tail" end) but come out in the bite of fabric. The needle has come out between burlap threads two and three. What this does is split the thread that's actually on the right side of the fabric, which creates a knot. But you're "knot" finished....couldn't resist the pun.

Step 3: Now actually pierce the working thread with your needle and pull the needle through. You can see the needle coming out between the thread on the left. This creates another knot and locks the needle and thread onto the fabric.

Here is a photo of the completed Split Back Stitch. If this was a regular project and not a teaching aid, I would then bring the needle to the right side of the fabric and complete the first embroidery stitch (whatever it might be) over the little bite of fabric that's the Split Back Stitch.

Now let's talk about that bite of fabric. The number of threads to pick up depends on your type of fabric. If I was working on Swiss Nelona, an extremely fine, sheer cotton batiste, I would probably pick up 4 threads. A really nice linen, maybe 3 threads. The idea is to pick up as little as possible but still accomplish a tiny, easily hidden Split Back Stitch.

Another question I had when I first learned to do this years ago: what to do about the tail. After the Split Back Stitch is completed you can clip off a tiny amount of the tail that is sticking up if it is bothering you. Just don't cut too close because the knot could undo itself. It's okay to leave a little poking out from the fabric.

I use this technique when changing threads doing Feather Stitch...great way to hide the change over because I can complete a Split Back Stitch right under one of the already completed Feather Stitches. Can you see any indication of a change of thread in this photo? This magnified photo shows that it's under a little bump, but in normal size it can't be detected. It's that sneaky!
Love that.