Fig. 10. Back-stitching
Remember that the stitch you take backward is only half as long as the one you take forward. Stitching always looks very different on the wrong side, but on the right side it ought to look like machine stitching. This stitch might be called the lion stitch, because it is so strong. It is used to join two edges together, as for the seams in bean-bags or cushion covers.
In places where there will not be much strain we use a quicker stitch, which is called the half-back stitch ([Figure 11]). This is very much like the stitching of which I have been telling you. The wrong side will look about the same, but on the right side instead of the stitches touching there will be a space, then a stitch of equal length.
Fig. 11. The half-back stitch
The next stitch to learn is the combination-stitch, which is made up of both the running and the back-stitch ([Figure 12]). It is a stitch that is greatly used for sewing long seams, as on underwear. By this stitch we can cover the distance in about half the time that back-stitching would take.
