Stitching Experiments and Six Pointed Stars: The Running Stitch

Hello Friends and Welcome!

After many weeks and many stars, we are finally approaching the end of my current bout of stitching experiments!

I've been having a lot of fun stretching my perceptions of some of my lesser used stitches and uncovering the reasoning behind my biases. I've learned a lot about each of those stitches and about myself along the way, and I'm excited for one more opportunity to do so with this week's experiment!

For this final week, I'll be exploring the running stitch; one of the easiest and most common hand sewing stitches. Unlike the other stitches I've explored, the running stitch is actually one that I use fairly often, it just wasn't one I initially thought of for the type of piecing involved in making these Six Pointed Star blocks.

So let's get started!

An Introduction to the Running Stitch

A running stitch is one of the fastest and most common hand sewing stitches. It is used in all types of sewing from structural seams in garments or other projects, to decorative embroidery, to hand quilting. Anything that could be sewn by machine using a standard straight stitch can be sewn by hand using the running stitch.

Generally, this stitch is worked by inserting just the tip of the needle through all layers of fabric and bringing it back up a short distance away. This process can be repeated several times, picking up several stitches along the way, before drawing the needle fully through the fabric and pulling the stitches taught. This makes the running stitch quite a fast stitch to sew since multiple stitches can be picked up at a time.

However fast it may be, the running stitch is known to be a relatively weak stitch. With only a single straight thread, it is fairly easy to snag the seam, causing puckering or even breaking the thread. To help prevent this, it is common to add a back stitch at regular intervals along the seam to strengthen it and lock the thread at those places. This technique is known as the running back stitch.

With the running stitch being such a common hand sewing technique, there are many different tutorials available online. Kristin Esser has a great video on running stitch piecing for quilts, and although she calls it a running stitch, the stitch she demonstrates is actually a running back stitch. She also shows off a few knotting techniques if you’re interested in learning those as well!

Preconceptions of the Running Stitch

The running stitch was quite possibly the very first hand sewing stitch I ever learned. I would use it to make dresses for my dolls, sewing with long and uneven stitches, and little regard for how it looked as long as it held their clothes together.

At that time, although I did make some projects by hand, I very much believed that machine sewing was the superior method, so I never considered that I should put time into becoming a better hand sewist.

Last year changed that.

I decided I really wanted to improve my skills in hand sewing and challenged myself to make a quilt entirely by hand. The quilt I made was of my own design, which I called Changing Pace, and the stitch I used to piece it was the running back stitch.

It took nearly a year to complete the piecing, but in that time I feel that my handwork improved dramatically and I became very comfortable using the running stitch and running back stitch!

You can check out the completed quilt top in my 01 July Project Update or my hand piecing progress in earlier updates throughout the spring.

After that experience, I now think of the running stitch as a really quick and easy stitch and genuinely look forward to hand sewing! That experiment with Changing Pace and the challenge of sewing a quilt entirely by hand has had such a dramatic effect on my perceptions of sewing that I now think of the running stitch as a default stitch, sometimes even more so than machine sewing.

A Change of Perspective

With that said, why did I default to piecing my Generations Quilt blocks using the invisible feather stitch rather than the running stitch?

Initially, I looked at the Dresden Plate and Six Pointed Star blocks from an English paper piecing perspective; I saw them as blocks that could be easily assembled using a prepared edge method, as demonstrated in my past few weeks of stitching experiments.

But the running stitch is used for raw edge piecing, which is a whole different technique.

It was actually some of my collaborators in this project that brought the raw edge method to my attention. My Mom wanted to piece her applique shapes by machine and, upon inspection, we learned that the original blocks made by my Great Grandmother had been pieced using a hand running stitch.

It's much easier to see before the block has been appliqued, but in the image above you can see the shape of a seam allowance being pressed to one side. We do have a few of her Dresden Plates that didn't get appliqued, but I don't have any with me to photograph.

The method she used involves first seaming together the pieces, then folding under the remaining raw edges in preparation for applique, the opposite of what I have been doing.

I wanted to give this technique a try, but with a few changes to suit my own sewing preferences!

While I will be using the running stitch to sew along construction seams for the applique shapes, I decided to baste the outer edges of the applique in advance to avoid the difficulties of doing so on a completed shape and sew the running stitch right over them.

My prepared shapes look like the picture above; with the two side edges left raw and the seam lines marked, then the remaining sides folded and basted in place.

Sewing the Running Stitch

With my slightly altered preparations out of the way, I could finally begin the stitching experiment!

For the running stitch, I chose to use the three tone star in purple, brown, and green:

My experience with the running stitch is that it’s basically invisible, so I simply used the last remaining star for this experiment rather than being selective as I have with my other three.

Even so, I did my best to match the fabric colours by using my medium grey thread for the piecing.

Of all of my experiments over the past few weeks, this one was probably the most successful!

Since I’m very familiar with using the running stitch, I found the process to be quite relaxing. I didn’t have to worry about the speed or spacing of my stitches since I already know the pattern of the running stitch and my positive preconceptions of the stitch kept me excited and motivated while I worked.

On top of that, the running stitch has been, by far, the fastest stitching method of all those explored in this experiment. Being able to pick up multiple stitches at once really contributed to the fast pace of my stitching, allowing me to completely piece the applique in less than two hours!

The combined ease and speed of this stitch are what make it such a staple of hand sewing, and were things I was already aware of when starting this experiment. Now what remains is the question of aesthetics.

A major complaint of mine with some of the other stitches I explored was that I didn’t like the way the stitches looked from the inside of the project while it was in progress. In the past, this has resulted in me feeling badly about a project that was otherwise progressing well. But with the running stitch this wasn’t a problem!

I’ve had a lot of practice working with the running stitch over the past year, resulting in very small and even stitching that I’m very proud of!

I’ve had so much more experience with this stitch that it feels unfair to compare it to my other stitching experiments, which all featured stitches I haven’t used much. So perhaps it’s fortunate that I’ve already appliqued the other stars onto their respective backgrounds and won’t be able to do that.

I suppose my next step will be to sew the running stitched star onto its background to complete the set!

I came into this particular experiment with an already overwhelmingly positive impression of the stitch and a lot of practice using it, a very different experience than the others. The result was that this experiment was the fastest, neatest, and most relaxing of the four stitches used.

Even though I really enjoyed working with the running stitch, I can’t claim that it replaced the invisible feather stitch as my favourite prepared edge piecing stitch. This is mostly on a technicality though, since the running stitch is a raw edge piecing stitch, not a prepared edge one.

Either way, this marks the end of my stitching experiments!

Friends, I had such a great time incorporating some lesser used stitches into my projects! I think the biggest lesson I’ve learned over the past few weeks is that I really enjoy variety in my stitching; even if I have a favourite stitch or two that I keep coming back to, it’s exciting to try a different approach every once in a while!

As such, I may continue piecing my Generations Quilt blocks using multiple methods, alternating between the invisible feather stitch, running stitch, and some of the others that I still need more practice with. And who knows how many other stitches there are that I could try next!

If you have a suggestion for a new stitching method that I haven't already explored, I would love to hear about it in the comments below! You could also let me know by reaching out to me on Instagram @vafibrearts!

If you're interested to read more about the stitching experiments that preceded this one, check out my ladder stitch, whip stitch, and flat back stitch posts!

To read more about the Generations Quilt project, for which I am piecing these blocks in the first place, check out my post from October introducing it!

With so much progress already completed on this quilt and many others throughout the year, I think it's time for a little break. Next week, I won't be sharing a post, but I'll be back again in the new year with more fibre arts exploration!

Until Next Time Friends, Happy New Year!

VA

Citations:

• Esser, Kristin. "Hand Piecing Basics: The Running Stitch and Quilter's Knot." YouTube, uploaded by Kristin Esser, 2018, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txsTU2XRHiA.