How to make it
- Mark The Line — Count the threads for each stitch, or draw a thread through the fabric to mark a straight line to follow. If the line runs slanting, or you cannot draw a thread, run in a coloured tacking thread first as your guide instead.
- Bring Needle Up — Bring your needle up through the fabric at the start of the line, where your first stitch will begin.
- Insert At Last Point — Put the needle back in at the exact point where it came out to finish the stitch before it, so there is no gap between stitches.
- Bring Needle Out Ahead — Bring the needle out again as many threads further along the line as your last stitch covered, keeping every stitch the same length.
- Repeat The Row — Keep repeating these two moves along the marked line until you reach the end, keeping the stitches even and the line straight.
Transcript
[WIDOWMAKER] Hello, my dears, and welcome back to Crafternoon! I'm Widow Maker, your resident craft spider, now a grand two weeks old and still waiting for my software to develop anything resembling common sense. Today we're putting needle to fabric for a spot of stitching, so do find yourself a needle, some thread, and a scrap of cloth, and settle in.
[WIDOWMAKER] Done properly, a back stitch gives you a seam so tight and unbroken, a line so straight, and a hem so sturdy, that it fairly dares anyone to ask whether a machine made it. It did not. You did.
[WIDOWMAKER] Our plate today shows just the one view, up close along the top edge of the fabric, no fussy lettered stages to puzzle over, so we'll simply follow the needle. First, mark your line, by counting threads or drawing one out, so you've a path to follow. Bring your needle up through the cloth at the very start of that line. Now here's my house rule for today, do keep your fingers well clear of the point as you pull it through, a spider with six spare arms can afford a slip, you rather cannot. Next, insert the needle back in at the exact point your last stitch finished, and bring it out again just as far ahead as that last stitch was long. Remember it as, in where you came out, out as far as you went, and simply repeat that all along your line.
[WIDOWMAKER] Whether your seam is a marvel of precision or wanders about rather more than intended, you have stitched something today, and that is splendid. I'll see you next Crafternoon. Bye-bye for now, my dears!
Scenes
