Sewing Basic # 13 – Tailor’s Knot

This is another one of the plethora (OMG it’s only Monday and I’m using words like plethora!) of little tips and techniques that can contribute massively to the quality of your finish. I was shown this method for “burying” the thread end on a dart. I now use it with all my handsewing and where backstitching to secure thread ends just isn’t appropriate or desireable.
As always, begin by pressing the stitching line…

Then form a loop with your thread tail…

Put a pin through the centre of the loop with the tip in the end of the stitching line…

Pull the thread tail so the loop begins to tighten around the pin…

Keep pulling until the knot is formed tightly around the tip of the pin…

Carefully slide the knot off the tip of the pin with your thumbnail, tightening as you go and getting it as close to the base of the thread tail as possible…(you can probably do better than I have here!)

Then thread the tail onto a needle and insert into the base of the dart within the stitching line….

 Push the needle along the inside of the “tube” formed by the dart (or seam) and emerge about an inch along…

Pull the thread through, keep it taut and snip at the point at which it emerges..

The thread end is now enclosed within the dart and hidden from view. Neat!

Next Top Draftalong post to follow shortly. 🙂
Px