Handout 5.7: Backstitch and Whipstitch Steps

Name: ______________________________ Date: ______________ Period: ______

Directions: Part 1 during the slides. Part 2 is the backstitch step card. Part 3 is the whipstitch step card. Each step has one action and a picture described in words, so you can work from the sheet alone. Part 4 is the self-check and the stitch selection.

Word bank in other languages

Part 1: Three stitches, three jobs

Draw the side view. What the thread does when you look at the cloth edge on.

Look at your two drawings. In the running stitch, how much of the seam has no thread across it? __________

Why does that make it weak? ____________________________________________

Name one job for each stitch.

Part 2: Step card, the backstitch

Say it with me while you sew: back into the last hole, forward one.

Step 1. Knot your thread and come up at point 1.
Bring the needle up from underneath, on the marked seam line, about half an inch in from the edge.
Picture: cloth seen from above with a marked line running across it, and a needle coming up through the line with a knot underneath.

Step 2. Go down one stitch length behind point 1.
Go backwards. Put the needle down about a quarter inch behind where you came up, on the line.
Picture: a needle going down into the line to the left of the first hole, with a short arrow pointing backwards.

Step 3. Come up one stitch length ahead of point 1.
Bring the needle up on the line, about a quarter inch in front of the first hole.
Picture: the needle emerging on the line to the right of the first hole, with a short arrow pointing forwards.

Step 4. Go down into the last hole.
Put the needle down into the hole you came up from in Step 1. That is the move that makes it a backstitch.
Picture: a needle pointing into an existing hole in the cloth, with the thread from the previous stitch lying in the line.

Step 5. Come up one stitch length ahead again.
Same distance every time. Keep the stitches on the line.
Picture: the needle coming up further along the line, the finished part behind it looking like one solid line of thread.

Step 6. Repeat Steps 4 and 5 to the end of the seam.
Back into the last hole, forward one. Every time.
Picture: a solid unbroken line of stitching two inches long on a marked line.

Step 7. Check the top.
Look at the top of your line. A backstitch has no gaps. If there are gaps, you skipped Step 4.
Picture: two lines of stitching side by side, one solid with no gaps, one dashed with gaps, and a check mark over the solid one.

Step 8. Finish off.
Three tiny stitches in one place on the back, then a knot, then trim close with the snips.
Picture: the back of the cloth with three small stitches on top of each other and snips cutting a tail.

Part 3: Step card, the whipstitch

Step 1. Line up the two edges.
Hold the two pieces of felt so their edges meet exactly, not overlapping.
Picture: two rectangles of felt side by side, their edges touching in a straight line.

Step 2. Pin them.
Two or three pins, going in across the edge, heads sticking out so they are easy to pull.
Picture: two felt pieces held edge to edge with three pins crossing the join.

Step 3. Knot the thread and come up through both layers.
Bring the needle up through both pieces near the edge, about an eighth of an inch in.
Picture: a needle coming up through the doubled edge with a knot hidden between the layers.

Step 4. Take the needle over the edge.
Go over the top of the joined edge, not through it.
Picture: an arrow looping over the top of the joined edge from one side to the other.

Step 5. Come back up through both layers, a quarter inch along.
Enter from the same side you started on, a quarter inch further down the edge, at a slight slant.
Picture: a slanted stitch crossing over the top of the edge, like a small bar laid at an angle.

Step 6. Repeat, keeping the same slant and the same spacing.
The finished stitching looks like a row of matching slanted bars over the edge.
Picture: five or six evenly spaced slanted stitches marching along a joined edge.

Step 7. Check for daylight.
Look at the join. If you can see between the two edges, your stitches are too far apart. Go closer together.
Picture: two joined edges, one closed tight, one with visible gaps, and a check mark over the closed one.

Step 8. Check both layers.
Open the pieces gently. If they come apart, your needle missed one layer. Restitch that part.
Picture: two hands pulling gently on either side of a stitched join that stays closed.

Step 9. Finish off.
Three tiny stitches in one place, between the layers where they will not show, then a knot, then trim.
Picture: snips trimming a thread at a stitched edge with the tail tucked between the two layers.

Part 4: Self-check and stitch selection

4a. Self-check. Circle one number in each row for each stitch.

4b. Pick the stitch. One sentence of reasoning each.

Exit card (tear off or write on an index card)

1. Why a running stitch is not strong enough for a seam, in your own words:

1. My self-check numbers: backstitch ______ ______ ______ ; whipstitch ______ ______ ______
2. Which of the three stitches would fix something in your own closet, and what is the something?