Last month I told you how to work a BUTTONHOLE or BLANKET stitch... so this month I want to give you another handy trick for working with this stitch - how to add a new strand of fabric (or finish off the last stitch after working all the way around your stitched piece).

This technique actually works best with TWO needles, as it saves time moving the needle back and forth between two strands of floss.  Take a look at the stitching diagram from last month, to remind yourself how to begin.  Basically, you come up in the hole BEFORE the one you work the first stitch in, and to add a new strand, you do exactly the same thing!  Adding a floss strand is shown in three steps below.

1.   First, stitch until you're near the end of your first piece of floss.  Leave enough floss on the needle to work at least one more stitch and run the tail under - but don't do that yet, LOL.  Pull the floss out of the way, and park the needle so it holds the floss away from the area you're working in (#1 on the diagram below).  Don't pull it too tight, you don't want to distort the fabric or your stitches.

2.   Using a SECOND needle and a new length of floss, begin a new strand, the same way you did the previous one (so use a WASTE KNOT (see last month), and come up in the NEXT stitching space, then work the first stitch in the space after that.  Basically, you're leaving one stitch unworked (#2).  Work a few buttonhole stitches to anchor the new floss, then park this new floss/needle, and go back to the FIRST needle.

3.   Bring the FIRST needle through the starting loop made by the beginning of the new strand (#2).  This fills in the 'skipped' stitch (#3-#4). 

4.   Push the FIRST needle down through the fabric at the position marked by the black dot (#5), and end the floss strand by running it under the stitches on the back of the fabric, and clipping the excess floss close to the stitching..

Suddenly you can't tell where the first length ended, and the new one began!  Still using the FIRST needle, run the tail under on the back of the fabric, clip the old length close to the stitching.  Remember that WASTE KNOT?  Well, you can now use this needle to anchor the waste knot tail from the new stitching length as well.  

IMPORTANT:  DO NOT run the very first beginning tail under until you have worked all the way around the project. Why?  Look at the diagram above... see how the floss at the beginning of the second and third graphics has an extra 'over' thread at the beginning?  When the entire project edge is stitched, and the first stitch has been reached, slip the needle through that extra starting loop (the same way you did in steps 3-5), seamlessly completing the very first stitch.  Once again run the tail under the stitches on the back, and clip the floss close to the stitching.

 HAPPY STITCHING!