Joining and seams · Easy
Mattress stitch
Mattress stitch sews two pieces of crochet together so that the seam hardly shows. Lay the pieces side by side with their right sides up, sew from one edge to the other and back like the rungs of a ladder, then pull the yarn until the edges meet.
How to work it
Sew from side to side
Pass the needle under one strand at the edge of the other piece and pull the yarn through. Then pass it under the matching strand of the first piece, a little further up. Go on from side to side, always picking up the same strand on each edge. Leave the yarn slack for now: it crosses the gap like the rungs of a ladder.
Pull it closed
After a few stitches, pull the yarn gently. The rungs close up and the two edges meet. Sew a few more stitches and pull again, and so on to the end of the seam. Then fasten the yarn and weave in the ends.
At a glance
- Used for
- sewing the pieces of a garment together; joining squares and strips where the seam should not show; any seam sewn from the right side
- Worked from
- The right side, so you see the seam as it will show while you sew it
- How it shows
- In yarn of the same color, almost not at all
- How it lies
- Flat: the two edges meet edge to edge
- Tool
- A blunt yarn needle, which slips under the strands of a stitch without splitting them
- Works on
- The top edges and the side edges of crochet, and on knitting too
Whatever the needle picks up on one edge, it picks up next on the other. On top edges, take the matching stitch of each piece in turn: the stitch tops are easy to tell apart. On side edges there are no tops to count. Choose one strand of the edge stitch, take that strand on both pieces, and keep the stitches of the seam evenly spaced.
Match the rows as you go, most of all on stripes. With tall stitches, some makers take two stitches of the seam in each row, and others make each stitch longer.
On a long seam, pin or clip the two pieces together at both ends and at several places between before you sew, so that one side does not end up shorter than the other.
Tips
- Pull the yarn only until the edges meet. Pulled harder, the seam gathers the fabric.
When it goes wrong
- I can see the sewing yarn.
- Pull the yarn a little more, until the two edges touch. If it still shows, the yarn is not the color of the pieces: sew the seam again in matching yarn.
- The rows do not line up across the seam.
- Undo the seam back to where the rows last matched. Pin the pieces together row to row, then sew again.
Variations
- Woven seam. Some books teach a flat sewn seam of the same kind, with the pieces laid side by side, under the name woven seam or weave seam.
Questions
- Do I work mattress stitch from the right side or the wrong side?
- From the right side, in the steps here: both pieces lie with their right sides up, and you watch the seam close as you sew. Some makers hold the pieces with their right sides together instead and sew from the inside. The seam closes the same way.
- Is mattress stitch the same in crochet and in knitting?
- It is the same seam: the needle goes from one edge to the other and back, and the yarn is pulled to close the gap. It is used on both.
- Mattress stitch or whip stitch?
- Mattress stitch where the seam should hide. Whip stitch where speed matters more, or where the seam is meant to show.