No Knots!
I have a few pet peeves about sewing but my biggest one is tying knots. I have that little bitty sense of dread everytime I have to do it - partly because I can't see up close as well as I used to and partly that I like to make several knots and I hate the angst I have over trying to match them up so they're on top of each other. Anyway, here's a nice little technique for handsewing to do away with knots :)
#1 double your length of thread/floss and thread the *tails* through the eye of the needle; this leaves a loop at the other end of your thread
#2 starting from the back of your fabric, bring the needle up through the fabric to the front side but do not pull all the way through - leave the loop of your thread on the backside
#3 push the needle through to the backside, leaving a small space between your original stitch and this new one
#4 *this is a picture of the backside* after pulling the thread through from the front put your needle through the loop on the back
#5 *this is a picture of the backside* now pull your thread firmly and you are ready to begin stitching!
No Tails!
One of my other pet peeves? Little thread tails poking up through your work ;) I use this technique on my softies/stuffies/stuffed toys.
#1 okay, you've finished sewing up your seams and you've created a knot on the outside of your work
#2 with the tail still attached, reinsert your needle as close as possible to your last stitch and then bring your needle up as far as possible from that stitch (basically the length of the needle but you can scrunch your fabric up on the needle so it will go further)
#3 it should look something like this
#4 now pulling the thread taut, scrunch the fabric up against your last stitch, then snip the thread close to the fabric and let go
#5 voila! no peek-a-boo tails!
I hope this helps some of you and my directions are clear enough. I'll permalink it in a side column for future reference.
