This tutorial will teach you how to do blanket stitch, a very useful and lovely stitch. Although the finished stitch looks complicated, it really is simple to do. You can use this stitch around the edge of anything, knitted or sewn, but I particularly love to use it on felt.
Here are all the things that you need to get started. Felt, embroidery thread, scissors and a needle (embroidery needles are easier to use as they have a larger eye).
To begin you will need two pieces of felt and a length of embroidery thread. I use four strands to get a nice thick stitch. I am making a little envelope from red felt to show you this stitch. Hold your two pieces of felt together and attach your thread as you normally would when beginning to hand stitch, with a small knot. Then insert your needle into the felt vertically down from the raw edge that you want your stitch to lie along.
Then take hold of the embroidery thread at the end that is nearest to the felt. Pull this taught and take it underneath the needle, which is still in the felt and has not yet been pulled through. The thread should now be held on the right side of the needle. Have a look at the next four photos to see this action clearly.
Now that your embroidery thread is tucked under and around your needle you can complete the stitch by simply pulling the needle through the felt.
When you have pulled the needle all the way through the stitch will look like this.
Then all that is left to do is to gently tighten the stitch by pulling the thread up and slightly to the right so that it is ready to begin your next stitch.
To begin your next stitch just repeat this process again and before long you will have a beautifully blanket stitched piece of felt!
The trick to keeping it looking super neat is when you insert your needle on the first step to keep it evenly spaced from all of your other stitches. You can also stitch around corners and curved edges.
Thank you Mum for teaching me this stitch many years ago, one winter afternoon so that I could finish off my knitting project.
All about Sprout 
It looks lovely! Just reading the instructions is confusing me lol… I would need to try & do it along with you!
Grab some felt and give it a go! If you have any problems ask me and I’ll try to help 🙂
This is a fantastic tutorial. I decided last weekend I would also learn how to hand sew as I can then pick it up and take it with me. I love this stitch and this had explained clearly how to do it!
Thanks so much and please keep them coming 😉
Lisa x
Thank you for such a lovely comment 🙂
Another brilliant tutorial. Your instructions are very clear & the photos help as well. Your mum did a good job keeping you occupied & te\ching you a nre skill.
Another brilliant tutorial. Your instructions are very clear & the photos help as well. Your mum did a good job keeping you occupied & teaching you a new skill.
I might have to make a little envelope of my own – or rather for my son – he would be delighted to see that this has landed on the doormat!
Thanks 🙂
Great tutorial, lovely clear piccy’s as always! xxx
Thank you very much – this has been on my list of things to learn for ages, as I would love to finish off the edges of my camp blanket!
My pleasure! I hope you enjoy stitching away on your blanket 🙂
This tutorial brings me back to my childhood too, such a pretty stitch. As ever you have made your tutorial beautifully clear. Kath x
It reminds me of my childhood too! Thank you Kath 🙂
Easy tutorial to follow thank you..
My pleasure, thank you for reading and commenting Joyce. Enjoy blanket stitching!
Please can you help me, I need to make a flower shape out of cotton material or maybe felt because I want to use it as catch in front of a double sided bag I am making. It needs to be attached to a safety pin or brooch back. I have no idea how to make one and I will need several. Thank you.
I would make a template out of card and draw around that so your flower is the same each time. If you use fabric you may need to iron it onto some interfacing to stiffen it.
Thank you I will let you know how I get on.
[…] along the very edge of each sleeve. If you are hand sewing this, blanket stitch would look […]