The Saddle Stitch

Preparation

Effective handstitching begins with thoughtful preparation. Precision is key as the holes are punched in a straight line with help of a wing divider. One crucial step involves measuring the thread length, cut to about 3-4 times the length of your stitching, or more to avoid running short, this can sometimes be up to 6 or more. After that you can thread the needles like mentioned in another blog post. When stitching, you stitch toward you, with on the right side the punched side, with the slots facing towards you downwards.

 Step 1: Pierce the left needle through the hole you want to start with.

Step 2: Put the right needle under the left needle, forming a T and hold where the needles cross between thumb and indexfinger

Step 3: Pull the left needle through. And in one movement turn your right wrist so that you can easily put in the right needle, ensuring to pull down the thread with the remaining of the fingers on both sides to make sure there is an opening at the top of the hole, which does not get disturbed by thread. 

Step 4: Put the right needle through at the top of the slit

Step 5: The next step is optional, yet highly adviced if you want to make the back side of the stitching look like the front. If you don't do this step and just pull the needle through, the back side will not get the wave like the front. The next step is casting the thread, where you lay the thread that entered the hole on the left side over the right needle and pull the needle out.

Step 6: Pull the thread tight. Ensure that you do this with equal amounts of stress on both sides and try to do it at the same time. Consistency is key in this. Make sure to always apply the same amount of stress throughout your project as being inconsistent will have effect on the end result.