I tried two more insertion stitches today. The first one was simple and is called twisted insertion stitch. The second one, plaited insertion stitch was not so simple. It took some effort to figure the stitch out and then I had to keep looking at the instructions again and again. But it looks really neat when completed.

 This is the twisted insertion stitch. For all these stitches, you baste your two pieces of fabric to card stock to hold them in place. That way you will end up with an even space between the two pieces of fabric.

 Here is the little book folded.

 Here’s a closer view of the stitch.

 This is the plaited insertion stitch. I like how the stitch looks but I don’t like the ending and starting points. You can see in this photo how there is only one strand at the top left and then all the rest have three strands of thread? It just doesn’t look right. But that is how you are supposed to start the stitch.

 I decided to fix that after I finished the row of stitches. I put my needle back in just under the first thread.

 Then I “plaited” the thread. It’s just like weaving, over and under the threads with your needle. Make sure not to pierce the threads as you are weaving through them.

 Then take a stitch on the opposite side.

 “Plait” the thread back through with under, over under.

 And then take the stitch back through the other side and tie off. That is essentially how you do the entire stitch but it is really easy to get confused with this one.

You can see that the tension at the top is a bit loose. Next time, I will use a thinner thread, I used size 5 perle cotton here, put the two pieces of felt about 1/2″ apart instead of 3/4″ and try to get better tension.

I’m not sure that this makes a really functional book binding because of the way the stitch starts and ends. But perhaps I can work it out to make it sturdier at the ends. I have one more insertion stitch to try, it’s called  interlacing insertion stitch. It is made up of a double herringbone done between the two pieces of fabric which is then interlaced with another thread. I don’t have two types/colors of thread with me today so I’ll try that one tomorrow.