Mattress Stitch Between Working Edges

The mattress stitch is one of the most invisible, durable seams for crochet. In fact, it is my favorite! This stitch can handle the heavy weight of a large layered motif or thermal blanket and never show for the wear. The only down side is that, unfortunately, the mattress stitch does require some time and patience during the assembly process. Once you get the hang of it, it will speed up but it will never be as fast as the whip stitch.

Hold pieces with right sides together, lining up stitches that will be sewn together.

Insert needle from right to left into both loops of the stitches on each side. For a less bulky seam, you can insert into only one loop of each stitch, but keep it consistent!

Working on the left, insert needle in to the next stitch.

Going back across, insert the needle into the stitch that was last used on the right.

On the right, insert into the next stitch. Continue back to the left side, inserting into the stitch you previously used.

Keep repeating these steps across the seam, pulling snug (but not tight!) as you go.

This is what your mattress stitch seam should look like before it is pulled snug.

Finish up your seam, continuing the mattress stitch all the way across. You can see the seam pulled snug in the image above, with the last few stitches to be tightened.

The completed mattress stitch from the wrong side (WS) of the piece. This could be pulled tighter, but you don’t want to bunch the stitches too much.

Above is the finished right side (RS) of the piece. Using the same color as both pieces would disguise the seam well, along with pulling it slightly tighter. Do you see the mistake I made? About 3 stitches down, you’ll see the yarn reaching further over to the left. This is because I grabbed too many loops when I was inserting my needle. For a consistent theme, be sure you are grabbing the same number of loops in the same place with every mattress stitch.