Mattress Stitch Tutorial

Mattress Stitch is a commonly used technique for vertically seaming two edges together; it's a great method to easily and invisibly seam fabrics knitted in a variety of stitch patterns.

1.

Position the two edges you wish to seam together so that the right sides are facing you. The edge where you wish to start seaming should be closest to you, so that you'll be working upwards to join the two edges.

2.

Thread the yarn you left attached to your project for seaming onto a tapestry needle. If you don't already have yarn attached to your project you can use a new strand of yarn, and weave the end of it into the back of the fabric at the edge where you're beginning Mattress Stitch.

3.

To initially join your two edges together bring your tapestry needle to the edge that your yarn isn't already attached to. In the space between the stitch at the edge of your fabric and its neighbouring (horizontally) stitch, bring your tapestry needle from the back of the fabric through to the front.

4.

For Mattress Stitch you're going to be working with the bars that connect the stitches at the very edge of your fabric to the neighbouring stitches, if you pull on the stitches at the edge it can make these bars easier to see. You'll be going back and forth between the two edges to join them together. Bring your tapestry needle to the other edge, and where you see this bar between the first edge stitch and it's neighbour, bring your tapestry needle under this bar and thread it through in an upwards direction (the bar should be sitting on your needle as you thread it through).

5.

Return your tapestry needle to the other edge, finding where you've previously threaded the yarn. Above this you should be able to see the bar between the edge stitch and its neighbour. Like in the previous step, bring your tapestry needle under this bar and thread it through in an upwards direction (the bar should be sitting on your needle as you thread it through).

6.

Repeat step 5, moving from one edge to the other until you've finished seaming the two edges together. Periodically pull on the yarn to close up the seam. As you work on seaming, ensure you keep an eye on the edge of your project to ensure the two ends stay level, if one begins to stick out more than the other you may need to skip some bars on one side to even the edge back up.