How to Hand Sew: Straight Stitch

The Straight Stitch, or running stitch as many call it, is pretty self explanatory, just by looking at the picture above. Basically, you just weave the needle in and out, making a straight line.

More often that not, this stitch is used for basting, gathering, that sort of thing. But I like to use it a lot when sewing felt to felt, for example. It's sometimes aesthetic for appliques, when I'm not in the mood for looking at an applique stitch for whatever reason.

Sometimes it's hard to get the needle to weave through the fabric like the picture shows above. Here is another way I tend to do the stitch.

Step One:

Shove the needle in one side of the fabric, and pull it tight.

Step Two:

Then shove it back through the other way, and pull it tight again.

Easy as that! The thing with the needle weaving technique is that it gives a very straight line of thread. It's all about preference here, really.

Happy straight stitching!

Here is a link back to the hand sewing directory if you'd like to read more: How To Hand Sew