Leaving You in Stitches: Simple Sewing Stitches You Should Know

This is the first blog of 2018! This year we are going to be picking up with another C from David Canterbury's 10 C's of Survivability. In the last blog we ended on candle, and this year we will be picking up with canvas needles. To start this off, I have purchased Dritz Homecraft Needles, European Quality with 7 needles included. This kit cost me about $1.75 at Walmart. Included in this kit are sail, sack, canvas, carpet, leather, and two upholstery needles. A total of 7 needles.

The sail needles can be identified by having a slight bend at the tip of the needle. The sack needle has a large eye and a blunt tip. The upholstery needles are both C-shaped, I have a large one and a small one. I can identify the canvas needle by its triangular shaped tip. With the two that are left I know that the smaller needle with the larger eye is the carpet needle and the one that is slightly bigger is the leather needle.

Let me begin by saying that if you are going to sew anything for your survival needs, I highly recommend that you use upholstery thread. It is thick, stiff, and very durable. It's thick enough that when I begin to thread it through the eye I do not need to lick it to make it straighten out. All I am going to do is feed the thread through the eye about an inch or so, fold it over onto the tail and pull. If the thread doesn't separate from the needle, I know that it has been successfully threaded. Now I am going to draw out the tail about 18" and tie an overhand not near the end of the thread I will be sewing with. Now we are ready to sew.

The first stitch we are going to talk about today is called the running stitch. To begin I am going to insert my needle through both pieces of fabric and pull it all the way through to the knot. I am then going to go back through the fabric in the opposite direction leaving a bit of a loop. I am then going to go from the underside of the fabric on top of the stitch and through the loop and pull it tight. I have now locked my thread in place. After going through the fabric I am going to lay my needle flat, judge an adequate distance (about a half inch or so) and push it through the other side of the fabric again, repeating the process. Once I have gotten all the way to the end, I am going to stretch the fabric taught  and make sure there is no slack in and then I am going to lock the thread like I did in the beginning.

The second stitch is called the whip stitch or the loop stitch. This stitch is not going to weave in and out of the fabric like I did before. This time I am going to be going in one direction in one continuous motion. First I am going to lock into the fabric, then letting the thread rest on top, I am going to go behind the fabric and pull it through. Then I am going to repeat by bringing the thread around to the same side I just went through and pulling it through again in the same direction.

The third stitch is called the blanket stitch. After locking it in you will go through the back starting off much like we did with the whip stitch. Only this time instead of the loop being in our way, we are going to incorporate it by pulling our needle through the loop and repeating the process. Again this is very similar to the whip stitch, but we are going through the loop instead of pulling it down. I like the blanket stitch because it is a very strong stitch and is good for rounding corners.

The last stitch is called the hidden or ladder stitch. This stitch is good for mending tears in your clothes. I am going to lock in below the tear on the inside of the fabric and as the name suggests this stitch is going to resemble a ladder. I am going to go through one side of the rip and leave a loop then pull through the loop. I am then going to go through the other side of the rip and repeat. I am going to go back and forth like this down the length of the rip until I get past it. At this point I am going to go through the fabric and pull until the tear cinches shut. This just leaves a fold on the outside of the fabric so no stitching shows through.

If this got a little confusing to read, I do have a corresponding video on my YouTube channel Backpack Bushcraft. If you take nothing else away from this video just remember if I can sew, anyone can sew and probably do a better job than I did. Next week we are going to look at different materials to sew or mend in a survival situation as well as different thread materials that you may have to sew with. You won't want to miss it! As always feel free to comment by clicking the comment link at the end of the blog, hit the follow button in the top right corner, share this blog, and check back next week for a new one on Sunday 10pm (est) or Wednesday 12pm for our new Comic Bumbling Bushcraft. If you want to keep up with me and what I’m doing, Follow me on Facebook: @BPackBushcraft and on Twitter @BPackBushCraft. Lastly if video is more your style check out my YouTube Channel backpack bushcraft where there is a video version of this with the same title. Until next time, keep those fires burning and put another log on for me.