Mattress Stitch/Graft Combo

This method is used to join the side of a piece to the bound-off or cast-on edge of another piece such as when sewing a sleeve cap into an armhole.

1. Arrange the pieces flat, with the right sides facing up and the edges to be joined next to one another.

2. Starting with the piece to be joined at the side edge, bring a threaded tapestry needle up in the first row, between the edge stitch and its neighbor.

3. Cross to the opposite piece; bring the needle down beside the first stitch, under both legs of that stitch and up the other side.

4. Cross to the other piece, go into the same hole you came out of, and come up two rows above.

Repeat Steps 3 and 4 until the seam is complete. Take care to compensate for differences between stitch gauge and row gauge; typically, you’ll need to join two stitches to every three rows, or three stitches to every four rows to make a smooth seam.

(right side)

Seaming How Tos:

Three-Needle Bind-Off	Shoulder Seam Graft	Mattress Stitch	Mattress Stitch on Reverse Stockinette Stitch

Mattress Stitch/Graft Combo	Slip-Stitch Crochet Seam	Inside-out Seam

Download a handy pdf with In Praise of Seams
and instructions for all of the seaming techniques.