Back stitch

What it is

Back stitch makes an unbroken line by working backwards: the needle travels forward under the fabric and then comes back to meet the end of the previous stitch, so there is no gap between one stitch and the next. It is the flattest and finest of the outline stitches, and it is the foundation several others are built on top of.

How to work it

1. Come up one stitch length ahead of where the line begins.
2. Go down at the start of the line — backwards, which is where the name comes from.
3. Come up one stitch length ahead of where you last came up.
4. Go down into the hole at the end of the previous stitch, not beside it.
5. Repeat to the end. Stitches of the same length are most of what makes it look neat.

What it is good for

• Outlines and any line meant to read as a drawn line.
• Small lettering, where a rope-like line would close up the letterforms.
• Detail a heavier stitch would swamp — a face, a signature, a thin stem.
• A foundation for whipped or laced back stitch, worked over it afterwards.

What goes wrong

• Long stitches on a curve. Back stitch cannot bend, so a curve worked in 6 mm stitches comes out as a polygon — shorten them instead.
• Piercing the previous stitch rather than going into its hole: the thread frays and the line thickens where it should not.
• Using it under a satin fill without insetting it. Sitting on the drawn line, half the underlay ends up outside the shape and shows at the edge.

By the numbers

Stitch length

3 mm

Gap between stitches

0.15 mmink, not fabric

Stitches in this example

10counted from the drawing above, not estimated

Floss it would take

18 cmworking thread to cut, at 2 strands

Back stitch is laid as 3 mm stitches butted up with a 0.15 mm gap — the gap is ink, not thread. Choose it over stem stitch when the line should stay fine and flat; choose stem when it should have weight or has to turn a real curve.

Watch it worked

Hand-picked from YouTube. Nothing loads from YouTube until you press play.