Hidden Slip Stitch for Bindings and Applique
Heather ThomasDescription
When sewing a binding by hand or doing any other kind of hand sewing, like hand applique- it is important to use the correct stitch. Heather Thomas shows you how to do a stitch called the hidden slip stitch, which is her preferred stitch for these techniques.
Hidden Slip Stitch Tools
Heather begins by explaining what type of needle and thread she likes to use when doing a hidden slip stitch on either a binding or hand applique. She explains that the size of the needle you choose to use can vary, but that in general she likes to use regular piecing thread. Heather also explains what a good thread length is to use in order to minimize thread tangles and knots.
Hidden Slip Stitch Technique
Once you have a length of thread ready you can begin the hidden slip stitch. To start, Heather explains where the quilt and binding should be in relation to your body to make it easier. She also explains how the set up would be similar when doing hand applique as well. Heather then shows how to begin the stitch by inserting the needle into the fabric and pulling it through to hide the knot. She then shows how to form the hidden slip stitch by taking very small ‘bites’ of the background fabric and binding.
Heather demonstrates the approximate stitch length when doing this hand stitch, which is similar to other basic hand quilting techniques. The stitch length may seem long, however Heather explains that it is nice and secure because the thread is under the backing fabric embedded in the batting. She continues to demonstrate the hidden slip stitch, explaining how each stitch should be consistently spaced along the binding or shape being appliqued in place. Once you have learned this hand stitching technique- move on to learning other hand quilting techniques and ideas.
I'm gonna be showing you a stitch that a lot of people will call a hidden slip stitch. Other people just call that stitch I used to saw on my bindings. Other people might call it my hand applique stitch, but its traditional name is a hidden slip stitch. And this is the stitch that I use for hand applique, and for putting on bindings. I generally use a sharps needle and that's what I've got here. It's a size nine. I used to use a size 11 or even a 12 which are smaller even then the numbers are bigger, but my eyesight is even with glasses these days isn't really good enough to thread those puppies anymore. I'm actually gonna put this on with my regular piecing thread, which is a 50 weight cotton, and I've tied a knot at the end of my thread. So I'm going to be turning this facing, which is acting as a binding at the same time that I'm stitching it. So a lot of times you're already gonna have your edge turned and other times you won't. And so I'm kind of showing you how to turn it and stitch it at the same time. So I'm gonna turn a segment and hold it. Now, the first thing I want you to notice is the direction of the quilt. The quilt is over here and the binding is in front of me. Instead of the quilt being over here and the binding being away from me. Okay? So the quilt is away from me. The binding is right next to me this would be the same if I was appliqueing down an edge. So if I was appliqueing down an edge the applique portion would be down here and the background that I'm appliqueing it on would be away from me. I'm gonna bring the needle up underneath the binding and pull that knot all the way through. And I'm gonna hold that turned edge down with my non-dominant thumb. And that's important that you hold it down with that thumb. And I'm gonna take a stitch into the backing background or the backing of the quilt, angle it towards my thumb and take the tiniest little bite. So you can see right here that I've taken a tiny little bite out of the edge of that binding. I'm gonna push it all the way through and pull. Take another tiny little bite out of the backing of the quilt only, push towards my thumb and take a tiny little bite out of the edge. Backing only, tiny little bite out of the edge and pull all the way through. When you do this, what's happening is you're slipping that thread down into the batting and you're really securing that thread well down underneath. You've got a long stitch length but that long stitch length is under the backing. So again, down in the backing, angled towards my holding thumb, take a little bite out of the edge and pull. So I'm gonna take a few more stitches and then I'm gonna show you this. I could probably stitch this in bright red thread and you wouldn't be able to see it. I happen to be stitching it in a gray, even though my fabric that I'm stitching through is a kind of a violet but I didn't really have that color thread, so the gray was the closest thing. Gray will kind of meld into almost anything. And once you get your rhythm down this'll start to go really, really fast and you'd be amazed at how fast you can whip stitch down, a piece of applique or a binding and how kind of meditative it is. I generally work with a piece of thread that's about 18 inches not longer because I don't like it getting tangled up. So I've stitched from about here to here and when I turn that up here you can't even see the thread on the edge. All you can see is where I took the little bite out of the edge and that's what we're looking for. We can't see our thread at all. It looks like the binding was kind of magically applied and that's what a judge looks for, and that's what anybody who's looking at the quality of your workmanship is going to look for. But most importantly 'cause I really don't care what other people think, I've got a really secure binding put on there. And if I'm hand appliqueing, I've got a really secure edge to my hand applique and it can handle laundering and being touched and pulled on and yanked on and all that stuff. And so that's how you do a hidden stitch, a hidden slip stitch for your bindings or for hand applique.
So glad I watched this! I have been doing it backward all my life! Can't wait to put the binding on the quilt I'm currently working on correctly. Thank you Heather!