I just thought I'd pop in and share a fairly good sewing article I stumbled across with some excellent well-illustrated handstitches and some other useful sewing related stuff. I see a lot of hand-sewing questions pop up here and there, and I always find myself wanting to help by looking to find just the right illustration to show to try to describe whatever it is. Since these illustrations are so clear, its worth sharing! :3 Additionally it covers tension and needles a little bit.
The article:
http://www.readymade.com/magazine/article/sew_far_sew_good
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Handstitches
A. Running stitch: A line of evenly spaced stitches used for all manner of sewing.
B. Backstitch: A super strong stitch similar to the running stitch, except that you insert the needle into the end of the first stitch and bring it through a stitch length ahead, continuing this to the end.
C. Overcast stitch: A row of evenly spaced diagonal stitches that go up and over a raw edge to keep it from unraveling.
D. Hem stitch: To keep a hem in place, make a tiny stitch in the garment and bring the needle up diagonally through edge of hem, continuing all the way around.
E. Blind-hem stitch: For a line of nearly invisible stitches on a hem, fold back the edge of the garment ¼", then make a tiny diagonal stitch in the main part of the garment and another in the hem. Keep the stitches moving diagonally so you get a zig-zag between the two layers.
F. Prickstitch: Just like the backstitch but instead of returning the needle back to the end of the previous stitch, take it back only a tiny bit.
The article:
http://www.readymade.com/magazine/article/sew_far_sew_good
Handstitches
A. Running stitch: A line of evenly spaced stitches used for all manner of sewing.
B. Backstitch: A super strong stitch similar to the running stitch, except that you insert the needle into the end of the first stitch and bring it through a stitch length ahead, continuing this to the end.
C. Overcast stitch: A row of evenly spaced diagonal stitches that go up and over a raw edge to keep it from unraveling.
D. Hem stitch: To keep a hem in place, make a tiny stitch in the garment and bring the needle up diagonally through edge of hem, continuing all the way around.
E. Blind-hem stitch: For a line of nearly invisible stitches on a hem, fold back the edge of the garment ¼", then make a tiny diagonal stitch in the main part of the garment and another in the hem. Keep the stitches moving diagonally so you get a zig-zag between the two layers.
F. Prickstitch: Just like the backstitch but instead of returning the needle back to the end of the previous stitch, take it back only a tiny bit.