Rhythmic Backstitching

Rhythmic backstitching

There’s nothing quite like hand sewing for a meditative and menial task on a winters day in isolation.
It's all about repetition, routine and rhythm. And it seems that sewing is a skill in high demand as the need for reusable face masks increases.

We’ve put together our own quick guide to help you whip up a reusable face mask according to the Victorian Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) guidelines using a simple hand sewing technique called backstitch.

Materials needed

Materials
Outer layer piece of cotton/polyester
Middle layer piece of cotton/polyester blend
Inner layer piece of cotton
Elastic, shoelaces or cloth strips
Sharp scissors- Measuring tape
Cotton thread
Needle
Thread picker (optional)

*Simple sewing kits are available for purchase from most major supermarkets.

autumn flora sculptures

Monet, The Galette

Step 1

Practice your backstitch hand sewing technique before preparing your mask. Thread the needle with a piece of thread no longer than 60cm - longer thread tends to tangle. Bring the two ends together and tie a knot.
Take your scrap piece of material and draw a straight line to keep your seam as straight as possible.

Step 2

At the edge of where you would like the seam to start, push the needle through the fabric from top to bottom. Before you thread the needle all the way through, push the needle back through the fabric from bottom to top about 3mm along your seam. Your needle should look like a threaded pin. Pull the needle and thread all the way through the fabric. You now have half of your first stitch.

Monet, The Galette

Step 3

Push the needle back through the fabric from top to bottom about 3mm where you went in for the first stitch. Again, before you thread the needle all the way through the fabric, push the needle back through the fabric from bottom to top, this time, about 6mm along your seam. Your needle should look like a threaded pin. Pull the need and thread all the way through the fabric. You now have the start of your backstitch.

Step 4

Continue your seam by threading the needle through the fabric from top to bottom on the previous stitch and bringing the needle back through the fabric from bottom to top about 6mm along your seam. Try to keep your stitches tight, but it doesn’t have to be perfect spaces or perfectly straight. The backstitch is a very strong stitch and should look like a continuous thread on the both sides of your fabric piece. Repeat until you reach the end of your seam and finish with a knot.

Your rhythm should go like this…

Needle in back one stitch, needle out forward two stitches, needle in back one stitch, needle out forward two stitches, needle in back one stitch, needle out forward two stitches, and so on….

Monet, The Galette

IMAGE > Rhythmic backstitching by Jasmin McNeill.

Step 5 (optional)

To use the backstitch method to sew your own cloth mask, follow the DHHS guidelines here.

DHHS recommend using old clothing, exercise clothing or reusable “green” shopping bags for each of the mask layers and shoe laces, elastic or cloth strip for the ear loops. For our project, we used an old shirt, reusable “green” shopping bag, an old pillow case and cloth strips.

Instead of cutting the cloth strips to 20cm, we cut the cloth strips to 50cm each and cut them once measured to size for the perfect individual fit. We also tied knots in the cloth stip to stop the mask slipping around once on the face.