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.

Feather Stitch

One of my favorite hand stitches is the Feather Stitch. I think it's beautiful, unusual and fun to do....but many people don't like it, or they are very hesitant to try it.

Feather Stitch adds an elegant touch to baby clothes, on borders (above or right on the border) and even in smocking. In the photo at right the bottom smocking row is Single Feather Stitch worked horizontally in variegated thread. There are also a multitude of variations found in Crazy Quilts. 

This photo (right) shows a Triple Feather Stitch in the peach colored floss with added lazy daisy stitches. This is part of a Dresden Plate crazy quilt that I made years ago.


Here is another example of Triple Feather Stitch going around two sides of the blue patch. Isn't the variegated thread gorgeous? Feather Stitch is just the perfect stitch and it's particularly beautiful in variegated thread that has short colorways to show off the changes in color. Look at the Silk Ribbon Roll-Up below to see the variegated thread I used that's from Treenway Silks...it's the Montano "St Thomas" color silk cord. Absolutely gorgeous stuff to work with!

The terms for different Feather Stitches can get a little confusing: Single Feather Stitch, Double Feather Stitch, Triple... The Single Feather stitch looks like two rows of Feather Stitch because it's alternating "U's", one on the left and one on the right as the stitch is worked down a line. So why wouldn't it be called a Double Feather Stitch? Well, if one did a single row of "U's" down a line it would be an open chain stitch. Historically it was called a Coral Stitch...yup, that's right. If you look at page 19 of the Encyclopedia of Needlework by Therese De Dillmont, it states that figure 46 (what we know as a feather stitch) "illustrates single coral stitch, worked vertically". To make it even more interesting, Carole Samples, in her incredible tome entitled Treasury of Crazy Quilt Stitches, has done an amazing study on it. Chapter Two of her book starts off with "Demystifying the feather stitches, or, a blanket stitch by any other name....". Indeed, the feather stitch is just a morphed version of the blanket stitch.
Enough history for now! So where do I use Feather Stitch? Right now I'm working on a boy's christening gown and am using the Single Feather Stitch in the main motif of the Infinity symbol. It circles the skirt and is on the bodice and sleeves, along with a very unusual treatment using "trailing" bullions (a technique I saw on an antique christening gown) that completes the infinity motif. I'm using DMC Cotton Floche and working "in-hand" (not using a hoop). Love the floche! So soft, thicker than floss, and works up beautifully in feather stitch and bullions (to name a few stitches).So here's how to do a Single feather Stitch.....