Banner Sponsors
For artists and collectors sponsored by Intercal...your mohair supplier and Johnna's Mohair Store
Dolls N DreamsWhat stitch do you use? Do you need to go over it twice? I have always sewn my bears with the machine but was going to work on something much smaller..........
BeauT BearsHi Tami,
All my bears are handsewn except the really big ones 
on which I machinestitch body, arms and legs, but even then I sew the head parts, ears and feet by hand. I use a lockstitch for hand-sewing (hope I'm using the correct word). Absolutely no need to go over it twice provided you need strong good-quality thread (if less strong: use double thread). Hope this helps 
Hugs,
Marianne
The Littlest ThistleOn my minis I use stabbing backstitch. Used to use running backstitch till someone on here taught me there was a difference 
I only go over it once, and it seems to hold perfectly
Plum Cottage BearsI use a tight running backstitch, especially on heads, paw pads and footpads. I feel that I have more control over the shape of the head and the curve of the pads when I sew by hand. The larger body, arm and leg pieces, and the ears, are usually sewn by machine. I use ladder stitch to attach the ears to the stuffed head.
I make tinies Tami...under 4" and use single Gutermann thread and with backstitch, triple-stitch the heads (as I stuff them tightly) and double stitch the rest. I don't stitch in the same hole more than once though...(double thread can leave too big a hole in fine fabric like cashmere or sassy)....hope this makes sense...and hope it's helpful! 
Dolls N DreamsOn my minis I use stabbing backstitch. Used to use running backstitch till someone on here taught me there was a difference
what do you mean by a stabbing backstitch?
Tickled Pink Bears Double thread, with a tight backstitch. :dance:
Nova Scotia,CanadaA stabbing backstitch uses double thread??? Is that the difference?
I use a back stitch, I think that's what its called! I sew from a to b and then c to d. a c b d
Does that make sense.
Parker BearsI only make minis and sew them all by hand. I use a single thread of Guttermann and a firm small running backstitch. I fill firmly but only double stitch the nose to chin seam for security. The more times you stitch a seam especially in the Sassy and Cashmere the more likely you are to create holes. I also use a very fine needle to make a nice smooth seam.
Bear Hugs Lyn
Little Bear GuyI use a back stitch Tami, C A B I would start at A and take a stitch to B then bring my needle up at C and back down at A and so on and so on. I use a strong thread but only single stitch. I will double sew along the gusset and the chin area as I also stuff very firmly .
I found this diagram not sure if it helps or not 
Benson BearsStabbing back stitch is the same as back stitch only you stab from front to back. You can get much smaller stitches this way, I generally use it on tight curves in mini bears and where I really need to have an accurate meeting of seams in all bears (say at the nose end of the head gusset). Otherwise I use running backstitch, which has a much more fluid action. On really small minis I use stabbing backstitch and invisible thread in a size 12 needle, tie a single knot behind the eye of the needle to stop the thread slipping out of the eye.
BeauT BearsStabbing back stitch is the same as back stitch only you stab from front to back. You can get much smaller stitches this way, I generally use it on tight curves in mini bears and where I really need to have an accurate meeting of seams in all bears (say at the nose end of the head gusset). Otherwise I use running backstitch, which has a much more fluid action. On really small minis I use stabbing backstitch and invisible thread in a size 12 needle, tie a single knot behind the eye of the needle to stop the thread slipping out of the eye.
Thanks Linda So I'm not using a lockstitch but a stabbing back stitch because I'm sewing all my seams with this stitch. I agree with Linda that using this stitch improves the accuracy of the seams 
It is more timeconsuming than a running backstitch though 
Following all your comments and never had any bear-course I realized that I did it all the time in the "right way" - however anyone could ever do something a "wrong way", I don't think so.
I use to do the back-stitch with a double-thread (I have a certain transparent - invisible thread). A good bear-friend who helped me from the very beginning told me not to use the invisible thread, because people don't like it. But I'm happy with this thread and I guess my bears and other critters too - so I continue using this thread.
Although I'm not creating only Mini's I do all my bears just by hand, as my sewing-machine is the worst thing in the world ..... hope some day I will have the one, that is waiting at my mom's home (she can't work anymore with this Bernina, but won't give it to me )
i make a pointof ambroidery as a chain and its very strong as i stuff with a screwdriver and wood wool!!!
The Littlest Thistlerowarrior wrote:On my minis I use stabbing backstitch. Used to use running backstitch till someone on here taught me there was a difference
what do you mean by a stabbing backstitch?
Linda explained it perfectly above. It means that in the C A B diagram others have shown above I come up at A, down at B, up at C, down at A. In running backstitch, I'd come up at A, then go in at B and out at C in one movement. I found, especially in the heads, there was more slippage potential in the running backstitch, but that's probably just my sewing skills!
Dolls N DreamsThanks everyone!!! :hug: :hug: :hug: :hug:
Sarian Miniature BearsThis is an interesting thread and something that I've not considered before as I've just got on with the sewing.
As it turns out I've been using the stabbing backstitch method all the time without realising that that's what it is. I also overstitch those areas which can be quite vulnerable to firm stuffing (mainly nose area and chin) and around the footpads too as I tend to really push the stuffing in to the feet to make them nice and firm.
Like others I have found that with minis especially, some fabrics don't take too well to being stitched too many times, particularly if the seam allowance is only 2-3mm. I use a good strong invisible thread, a very fine tiny needle and keep the stitches really, really tiny; that way I don't have to go back over with more stitches. I also use tiny crocodile clips to hold the pieces together while I sew, which stops the pieces from slipping out of line.
Everyone has their own way I guess and there's no right or wrong answer, just what's right and works for you.
Bear Paws by RoxanneOkay......... Now splain' for a lefty! Just kiddin. I got it. I am use to having to do everything backwards 
Plum Cottage BearsAfter reading the discussions and explanations of the various kinds of backstitching, I conclude that what I do is a stabbing backstitch, not a running backstitch. Thanks for the clarification.
Posts: 43I use a back stitch Tami, C A B I would start at A and take a stitch to B then bring my needle up at C and back down at A and so on and so on. I use a strong thread but only single stitch. I will double sew along the gusset and the chin area as I also stuff very firmly .
I found this diagram not sure if it helps or not
Okay....so you are working going in the LEFT direction. When you "start at A" do you mean that you push the needle through towards you, from behind, and then go down at B then push through and towards again coming up at C????
Creative Design Studio (RKR4CDS)When I worked at our LYS shop in the 80s I had bosses who treated any employees they thought worthy of it, to courses that gained us teaching credentials with the APNR - Amer. Prof. Needlework Assn.
I think our bosses wanted it for their own glory actually! One of the courses I took included all styles of needlework: embroidery/needlepoint/white work/pulled thread/etc. All of it required very careful counting - and young eyes!
So when I began stitching on the Malden Mills white grid-backed fabric, that felt almost like Gros Point cloth. It was huge by contrast and was no problem finding the rhythm in stitching, compared to combining stitching petit point on linen at 24 per inch warp/weft count thread fabric.
Here are few of the terms defined:
tight running backstitch- If the Back Stitch is done well, the word tight wouldn't be needed, as it is—by nature—tight.
Jane's and Shane's lettering examples are both correct, in that they advance one step forward and go back half a step, the only difference is that Jane worked Left-to-Right and Shane's going Right-to-Left.
It's a matter of personal preference and to some degree, whether you're right-handed or a lefty. And whether you like to hold the fabric with the seam fanning out around the edge away from you as you sew (with the work in your lap) or you like to hold onto the seam and have the work away from you: the fabric off-your-lap if you follow my meaning.
As to the running use, the stabbing method gives a better result. As this stitch is meant to be done in very short widths—next to each other—with one exit hole being used as the entry hole for the next st, this necessitates keeping the sts quite close to each other. We miniaturists have the advantage in learning to pace ourselves, by placing the sts into the grid system on the backing of the white mesh. And needlepointers and other needleworkers learn this pacing from repetition: the problems arise from working too-long stitches because it leads to puckering when the sts are pulled tight.
When the sts are placed immediately next to each other, one step forward & a half step back, (repeat.. repeat..) it's 'almost' impossible to pucker the fabric because the sts are placed more closely than the warp & weft of the fabric threads are. Figuring out this balance between the weave of the cloth and the stitching is what it takes to work out a nice smooth-yet-tight Back Stitch sewing.
Stabbing is always the best way to employ this stitch. Used in either direction, it means that the needle enters the fabric at a 90° angle to the surface of the fabric and the thread is pulled completely through in that direction and straightened and snugged up in place, before the needle is placed back into the fabric back again from the opposite side at a 90° angle to the surface, repeating the process.
This is the best method for keeping napped fabrics from shifting.
Running stitching will have the needle enter and exit the fabric in one movement before the needle is released at the eye end and picked up again at the tip, to be pulled through the cloth. No matter how much it's basted or clipped, some amount of shifting always occurs along the seamline, especially with napped fabrics.
The diagram you have, Shane, is a needlework stitch but not the Back Stitch. It would really be difficult to keep any tension on the thread and not have it pull the fabric into furrows or creases because it's pulling the thread over 2 to 4 warp threads - impossible to tighten. Thx for looking it up though, your first example of C A B which you use is best!
I would be right in guessing that your sequence to follow would look something like this?-
H G F E D C A B
and you'd stitch A back to B (half step back), B forward to C (full step forward), C back to A, A forward to D, D back to C, C forward to E, E back to D, D forward to F, F back to E, E forward to G, G back to F, F forward to H , H back to G, etc..
A 'running backstitch' can be a good temporary basting stitch substitute, done with larger than actual finishing sts, near the real stitching line and not be in the way like the ends of pins and clips can be later in stitching. It'll also help follow smooth and tight curves better than any other means of affixing 2 fabrics together while stitching.
The Doubled Thread for stitching isn't what leaves the larger hole in the fabric but the size of the needle pushed through it, along with the size of the eye, if that's wider than the needle. The threads are much finer gauged than the backings of all mohair/alpaca/fur/etc and miniature ted fabrics, unless you're using doubled upholstery thread on thin cotton fabrics. The fabric usually closes back around the thread; sometimes the sizing in the fabric keeps the holes largish, but you can flex the seam lines in your hands back & forth to break up the sizing's stiffness and that should cause the warp & weft fibers to close around the sewing thread.
I have large hands and needed a large needle—I always used a John James Embroidery #8 & #10 for stitching noses. They're about 1⅜" long and not especially thin but have a large enough eye that I could thread the relatively firm Mettler's Metrosene Plus Polyester thread through easily, as well as just barely accommodating a single strand of Conso and Mastex upholstery thread in the #8 so I could double it over for jointing. If you're finding wide holes, try using a thinner needle (larger needle number) but try to not use a needle which has an eye that flares wider at the eye than the needle, like some of the Gold Eye needle have. (sentence structure! - the grammar police can cart me off now!!)
Dolls N Dreamswonderful instructions...............
I use a stabbing back stitch as well. When I first started out I didn't think to use that and as soon as I started stuffing more firmly I could see the thread as the seam started to stretch. The back stitch made all the difference!
