Random Flat Stitches in Saddle Stitch

[strathmoredesigns]

Hi all,

Working on my first large scale saddle stitching project (a tote bag) and I'm really trying to do a good job. It's going pretty well and looks nice and slanted on the front. I'm doing a decent job of carrying that slant on the backside too, but every once in a while I'm getting a random flat stitch in the middle of my slanted stitches. When I find these stitches, I'm unpicking my way back to them and redoing them (mostly successfully), but I can't figure out what I'm doing to create them in the first place. Does anybody have any ideas? I've circle one such stitch in the attached photo.

[YinTx]

If I were a guessing guy, I'd say your needle priority is getting altered as you go along.  You can see that some of the stitches go along with the slant of the hole, while others are fighting the slant of the hole.  In fact, it looks like all but one of the stitches fight the slant of the hole.

YinTx

[Tugadude]

Yes, it is probably needle priority.  And I agree with YinTx on the slant kind of going against the grain so to speak.  Suggest you carefully study Nigel Armitage and Ian Atkinson's videos on the saddle stitch.  It matters how you take the first needle by the opposite hand.  Do you take the needle in front of or behind the other needle?  This alone can have a huge impact.  Are you inserting the second needle in the same orientation to the first thread and the hole every time?  You must become almost robotic in your actions.  I find the routine motions very relaxing.  I just kind of get into a rhythm, the speed increases and it ends up very consistent.

Good luck!

[strathmoredesigns]

On 7/17/2017 at 11:46 PM, YinTx said:

If I were a guessing guy, I'd say your needle priority is getting altered as you go along.  You can see that some of the stitches go along with the slant of the hole, while others are fighting the slant of the hole.  In fact, it looks like all but one of the stitches fight the slant of the hole.

YinTx

This is entirely possible! I've started and stopped stitching a few times and then come back to it. I still haven't figured out a good way to remember which way I was going or where I left off. I particularly have trouble when I unpick a few stitches and have to start again midway through. Thanks for pointing out the slant. For some reason I think I interpreted something Ian or Nigel said as suggesting I wanted to stitch like in image A (may have had something to do with their hands being in front of the camera ), but are you saying I should be doing it like in image B? 

 

22 hours ago, Tugadude said:

Do you take the needle in front of or behind the other needle?  This alone can have a huge impact.  Are you inserting the second needle in the same orientation to the first thread and the hole every time?

I did gather from Nigel and Ian that doing the same exact movement each time was important so I've been following their lead and placing my second needle in a cross shape behind the first and then pulling the first thread backwards in the hole so that the second needle always goes in front of it as it passes through the hole and then casting my thread over the second needle. Hopefully I'm getting that right?

 

Thanks guys!

Edited July 19, 2017 by strathmoredesigns

[YinTx]

Yes, I think you want image B.  Give it a try, and work on keeping the tension even, you should get a nice slant on both sides this way as well. 

In image A, the slants of the holes are trying to pull the thread into a straight line, in image B, they allow the thread to fall in a nice angled pattern.

YinTx

[strathmoredesigns]

5 minutes ago, YinTx said:

Yes, I think you want image B.  Give it a try, and work on keeping the tension even, you should get a nice slant on both sides this way as well.

Thanks. Looks like I've got some more unpicking to do! 

[Tugadude]

Are you stitching towards yourself?  Are the holes slanting towards you or away from you?  YinTx is correct that you are aiming for the diagram "B".  In some instances you want to make the cross with the 2nd needle in front of the 1st.  So don't assume it always goes behind.  I suggest you practice on some scrap until you get it sorted out.

Good luck!

[gojosh]

On 7/18/2017 at 8:53 PM, strathmoredesigns said:

This is entirely possible! I've started and stopped stitching a few times and then come back to it. I still haven't figured out a good way to remember which way I was going or where I left off. I particularly have trouble when I unpick a few stitches and have to start again midway through. Thanks for pointing out the slant. For some reason I think I interpreted something Ian or Nigel said as suggesting I wanted to stitch like in image A (may have had something to do with their hands being in front of the camera ), but are you saying I should be doing it like in image B? 

 

I did gather from Nigel and Ian that doing the same exact movement each time was important so I've been following their lead and placing my second needle in a cross shape behind the first and then pulling the first thread backwards in the hole so that the second needle always goes in front of it as it passes through the hole and then casting my thread over the second needle. Hopefully I'm getting that right?

 

Thanks guys!

I found this post accidentally looking for something else and this simple illustration makes this as clear as I have ever seen.

I've watched Nigel's video more times than I can count and I've struggled with the exact issue and couldn't make sense of it. 

Thanks so much YinTx for your great advice and thanks to Strathmore for the excellent illustration!

 

This is why I keep coming back to this forum.