How to Stab-Stitch a Cushion

Stab stitches serve to join parts together, create bold borders and provide decorative features as simple forms of embroidery. Mastering the stab stitch technique gives you a basic skill for more advanced embroidery stitches. Learn how to stab-stitch a cushion to create an attractive cushion for your home or to give as a gift.

Scrap fabric
Embroidery hoop
Needle
Embroidery thread
Thimble
Fabric and stretch canvas cut the desired size for the cushion
Thread
Sewing machine (optional)
Cushion pad

Instructions

- 1
  Put a piece of scrap fabric in an embroidery hoop to practice the stab stitch before you begin the cushion. This gives you a chance to learn to make the stitch even and control the tension of the thread before using the stitch on the cushion.
- 2
  Insert the needle through the front of the fabric, at a right angle to the fabric, and stab the needle all the way through the fabric, drawing the needle out of the fabric from the underside.
- 3
  Push the needle back through the fabric from the underside of the fabric back to the front of the fabric, close to the point where you pushed it through. Make a stitch 1/8 inch or 1/4 inch long on the front of the fabric by stabbing the needle back through the fabric the desired distance. Practice making stitches the same size in a straight line until your stitches turn out even.
- 4
  Center stretch canvas in an embroidery ring. Stab-stitch the desired pattern, working from the center outward. Alternatively, stab-stitch a border 1 inch from the edge of the fabric on the right side of one of the cushion panels.
- 5
  Continue making stab stitches in the desired pattern, such as a simple design or a border, around the cushion's edge. The stab stitch technique creates a bold stitch. Focus on making the stitches all the same length and keeping them straight.
- 6
  
  The stab stitch pushes through the fabric or joins layers.
  
  Sew the cushion together on three sides, 1/4 inch from the edges of the fabric, using a sewing machine; or sew it by hand with close stitches. Insert a cushion pad. Tuck the raw edges of the fabric inside the cushion on the fourth side. Use a slip stitch to close the fourth edge of your stab-stitched cushion, or use a stab stitch to complete a stab stitch border.

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