Banner Sponsors
For artists and collectors sponsored by Intercal...your mohair supplier and Johnna's Mohair Store
Posts: 112Hello fellow bear lovers. I am having trouble keeping my stitching really tight when backstitching. Also can someone explain what a "stabbing" back stitch is ? Many thanks.
Baird'sBearsHi Janet,
I've had the same problem. It really helps to run your thread over some beeswax or other thread conditioner. You'll find that this improves the "grip" of your stitches.
Stabbing means inserting your needle straight down, at a 90 degree angle to the fabric, rather than inserting it on a slant, as most of us usually do. This makes a neater stitch and helps to keep the two pieces of fabric aligned--especially important when you're working on a small critter! Rather than rearrange my working hand, I bend the fabric a bit, which gives me the same 90 degree angle with less bother.
Creative Design Studio (RKR4CDS)Eileen nailed this one: a stabbing backstitch is especially important with slippery materials and in miniatures.
Instead of doing a 'running' back stitch, which you would enter and exit the fabric in one motion before you pull the needle and thread through the fabric, (which almost necessitates an angled slant to the needle) with a stabbing back stitch, you push it down through the fabric (one layer or multiple layers) at a 90° angle and pull it through then move over that tiny space/length and push the needle back up at 90°.
You'll notice the same application of stitch directions being given for Needlepoint: unless the needle is manipulated this way, the canvas becomes diagonally warped by the tension that the threads put on it and it's almost impossible to block it straight again.
Here're a few links that describe it in terms of other needlework:
http://www.vintagesewing.info/1920s/28-mhd/mhd-02.html - (LV this one!)
http://crossstitch.about.com/od/learnho … tabsew.htm
http://wiki.allpeoplequilt.com/page/Stab+stitch
Good ole Google -
http://www.google.com/search?client=saf … 8&oe=UTF-8
'Bear' Bottoms OriginalsI use the 'stabbing' backstitch (which I didn't know had a term until now... lol thanks!) and I have never had a problem with loosening stitches. Hope that helps!
The Littlest ThistleHeh, me too Kimberley! I just thought it was for those of us less adept at getting the 'running' backstitch working for small stitches (didn't know that had a name either :crackup: )
'Bear' Bottoms OriginalsLOL Katy, me too! Plus, the fur is so thick I don't know how I COULD do a running backstitch! I didn't even know there WAS such a thing! Some people are truly skilled! 
I thought I was doing THE backstitch! :crackup: I don't think I'll ever stop learning in the bear-making world.
Creative Design Studio (RKR4CDS)One last point—Kimberly, you mentioned thick fur. If you truly want to keep the fur out of the seams when you trim the pile in finishing your bear, especially in places where it will show, try this experiment.
You could create a practice muzzle/head if you feel you have the time or just make a 3-gored ball shape.
On one seam of the ball PUSH all of the nap back into the inside as you stitch the seam together and then st the sram in your normal manner.
On the second seam, PULL as much of the pile out of the seam from the area near the seamline - depending on the size of your bear, from 1/4" in on a mini up to an inch in for a full sized bear, (this is assuming that you're using a regular length of nap up to about 3/$" to practice and not a Mongolian Plate!) - then stitch over this fur with your regular stitching.
On the 3rd seam, if you have anything more than the fabric for a mini (like the usual upholstery fabrics that're used) trim the nap uoo most of the seam allowance and then PULL the rest up through the seam while stitching over them.
Turn the ball right side out. Partially stuff the ball.
Now with the finger tip brush and a dulled/ball-tip needle if that help, brush the fibers back up out of the seam and pull them to the right side of the fabric. Finish stuffing the ball very firmly as you brush and lift the fibers - mark the seams 1, 2 & 3 if needed.
The fibers that are ROOTED on the outside of your bear are now fluffed and in place on the bear's outside.
Any that're rooted in the seam allowance are down inside the bear where they belong!
There will never be any of that short stubble showing along the seam line, especially in the nose-to-eye line where it's most obvious and where there is No way to eliminate them, even with the sharpest scissors or pointiest tweezers.
Also, sewing over thick fur, no matter which way you are later going to pull the nap-towards the inside or the outside-is going to create looser stitches once the fibers have been pulled out of them.
Trimming most of them out of the way if they're thick or long and pulling them through the seam line, toward the inside (eventual stuffing area) to begin with, makes for clean seams and tight stitching.
Woodbury Park BearsI use the stabbing stitch too (I didn't know it had a name either 
) I like the neatness of the stitch and I find I don't need to pin as much I can also judge the length of the stitch better and keep it tight.
Raewyn
'Bear' Bottoms OriginalsThank you, Bobbie, for that suggestion! I use the seam trimming technique! 
Creative Design Studio (RKR4CDS)You're welcome Kimberly. It just made more sense to me than all of the teachers I had in bear-making classes who insisted that the pile be pushed down inside the seams... and their bears always showed stubble.. so I just kept my big mouth shut and followed my own path.
Don't even get me started on my own personal journey of teaching the correct Mattress St, as comes from the Sewing/Knitting/Other Textiles world!!!!
say - didn't you used to live in my neighboring IN?? When did this NC move happen? Am I ever behind the times!! Was it before or after that AMAZING custom Star Wars painting job you did!!??!!
And you'd just gotten the kids' rooms so nice, too. Now you've started all over again...LOL?!
hugzzz
B
'Bear' Bottoms OriginalsHey Bobbie, LOL we moved to NC fall of last year. Such is the life of an Army family! Yes, I had to leave behind the mural in the kids' room, and am not so inclined to paint another one here. We live in military housing and anything you do has to be undone upon moving out. No thank you! Yes, the Star Wars mural was done in IN but not in my home, so the homeowners are still enjoying it along with the 'sky' in their dome and the mouse hole in their library.
Creative Design Studio (RKR4CDS)Oh oh, how could I have forgotten the Mouse Hole, too!! You are SOOO talented that way, too! We all LOVED that!
I can hardly wait until we see what you'll do in your Forever Home - I know that you'll eventually have one.
hggzzz
PS - is yours the 'Bear Bottoms' large bear on eBay right now? I always think of you as a miniaturist. That's one VERY nice (baby/cub) polar bear!
