Don't you hate it when the stitches start coming out of the hem on your favorite pants? The first one usually takes some time, then the rest fall like dominoes! You can avoid this situation in your own sewing by securing the ends of your seams. Read on to see how simple it is to make sure your stitches never start to come undone.

There are two ways to secure a machine sewn seam. One is the back tack and the other is the locking stitch. Any machine can perform the back tack, and certain machines contain a button that automatically knots a seam, called the locking stitch button.

Back Tack

First, let's review the back tack. The back tack secures the start and stop of a seam by stitching over stitches to lock them in place. To do this, you will need to locate the reverse function on your machine. This may be a button, like this:

Or it may be a lever, sort of like this:

Now, here are the steps for creating the back tack:

1. Place your fabric under the presser foot.
2. Begin by sewing a few stitches slowly.
3. Press the Reverse Button, and, holding it down, sew backward over the few stitches you just created.

4. Release the Reverse Button, and sew to the end of the seam.
5. At the end of the seam, press the Reverse Button once more, hold it down, and stitch a few stitches backward.
6. Release the Reverse Button and sew off the seam.

Locking Stitch

Some computerized machines contain a Locking Stitch Button. (On Janome machines, this button looks similar to a bull's eye.)

This button will knot off your stitches for you. When you use this stitch, the seam on the front of your sewing will look clean.

The back of the seam will show a knot.

This stitch is a good option for a project where the front seam will be very visible, but the back will not, such as topstitching.

The locking stitch should also used at the beginning and end of a row of decorative stitches -– since back tacking with these more elaborate stitches makes quite the messy jumble of thread!

To use the Locking Stitch button, follow these steps:

1. Place your fabric under the presser foot.
2. Press the Locking Stitch button before you begin sewing.
3. Then press the foot pedal as if you were sewing normally.
4. The needle will go up and down a few times in place while the machine creates the knot.
5. It will then stop working, even though you are still pressing on the foot pedal.
6. To begin stitching your seam, take pressure off the foot pedal, and then depress it again normally to sew the length of your seam.
7. Stop sewing just before the last stitch of your seam.
8. Press the Locking Stitch button.
9. Press the foot pedal to create a locking stitch as your last stitch.