Did you know that there is there such a thing as an alternative to backstitching? Sometimes backstitching is not always the best option when securing a seam. Maybe you know what I’m trying to get at here? Let me explain a bit better. There may come a time when you’re faced with the challenge of sewing a particularly thick fabric such as a nice hefty wool, or maybe you’re making jeans requiring you to sew multiple layers of fabric.  When it comes to backstitching in these circumstances, your machine doesn’t always want to cooperate. Or perhaps you’re sewing a vent and you don’t want to have visible backstitches on the back of your beautiful garment, well that’s exactly where this alternative to backstitching technique I’m about to show you comes in handy. Here’s how you do it!

Pulling thread through to reveal top stitch

Step 1: leave some nice long thread tails at the end of your seam. Turn your fabric bobbin stitch side up, and gently pull on the bobbin thread tail. You’ll see a little loop coming through to face you which is, you guessed it, your spool (top) thread!

Pulling thread through with unpicker - A quick and neat alternative to backstitching

Step 2: now grab your unpicker, and pull on that little loop until all of the top thread has come through to face you. Be careful though! To make sure this alternative to backstitching works, we need a nice long thread tail to work with. We don’t want that thread to snap so be sure to use the blunt end of your unpicker, not the sharp groove, to pull.

Separating threads before tying knot

Step 3: you should now have two lovely long tail threads looking up at you. The one from the bobbin which you used to pull, and the one from the spool which you pulled through. Unwind any twists that may be holding your long thread tails together, and gently pull them apart from one another, so that they look like the photo above.

Tying knot - A quick and neat alternative to backstitching

Step 4:hoorah! You have reached the final step. With your thread tails, you want to pull a nice tight knot. Not so tight that the fabric puckers, but tight enough that the thread isn’t hanging loose. I like to do 3 knots in total, just to be ultra safe in knowing that nothing is going to come undone.And there you have it! A lovely, quick and neat alternative to backstitching. Do you have any other alternatives to backstitching to share? If so, we’d love to hear about them, so please do leave a comment below!