The Mattress Stitch

One of the hardest things about making sewed items look handmade rather than homemade is all in the finishing. Finishing sounds easy, right? It means you're done! Except that the last steps, at least for me, are the ones that you can't rely on a machine to do. I've been doing a lot of stuffing and turning things inside out lately, which means that I've been practicing the mattress stitch a lot.

Here is a perfect example of the mattress stitch - right in the center of the seam. You can see that I still have a ways to go, but I am getting more patient and starting to understand that hand finishing (and patience), rather than machine finishing, is really going to be the key in making things look more professional.