Ever notice those dense little blocks of thread on the corners of your jeans pockets? That’s a bartack. Bartacking is one tiny, often-overlooked stitch that adds a lot of durability to clothing. It’s a series of closely spaced zigzag stitches used to reinforce areas of a garment that take on high stress or pulling. Adding this one little functional detail to your sewing repertoire will help make your handmade pieces stronger and even more professional looking.
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Above: Bumper Blouse made in lightweight denim
Where and When To Use Bartacking
If you're new to this detail, you’ve probably seen them everywhere without even realizing it. Common spots to add a bartack include the top corners of patch pockets, belt loops, the base of a zipper, and the ends of buttonholes. It’s also the perfect stitch for rugged projects that see heavy wear and tear, like canvas totes or backpacks. If an area of your garment needs to survive constant yanking or stretching, a bartack is your best defense against ripped seams.
How to Bartack on a Home Sewing Machine
In clothing factories, they use dedicated, heavy-duty bartack machines for mass production. Home sewists can easily replicate this functional stitch using a standard domestic machine, using the zig zag stitch.
Machine Settings
-Stitch: Standard Zigzag
-Presser Foot: Standard / All-purpose
-Stitch Length: 0.2 mm - 0.5 mm
-Stitch Width: 2.0 mm - 3.0 mm
You can mark your start and end points with your favorite marking tool or eyeball it. Drop your needle into the fabric where you want the bartack to begin, and start stitching. Simply stop where you intend for the line to end. Because there are so many dense stitches going back and forth, a traditional backstitch to lock the threads isn't even necessary.
For most garments, a single pass of this dense zigzag will absolutely suffice. However, if you want it to be extra durable for heavy-duty items, you can hit your reverse button and go back over it to add an additional layer of stitching.
Tips For Bartacking
No matter what you are making, always test your bartack on a scrap piece of your fabric first. This helps you verify your stitch length and width, and ensures your machine is happy with the setup before you sew on your actual garment. Depending on the weight of your project, here are two tricks to keep in mind:
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For Thin Fabrics: A dense zigzag stitch can easily chew up delicate materials. If you’re applying a bartack to a thinner fabric, always add some reinforcement first. Iron a small piece of interfacing or place an extra scrap of the same fabric on the wrong side of the garment directly under where the stitching will go.
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For Thick Fabrics: If your fabric is heavy (like denim or canvas) and you are finding it challenging to sew through multiple folded layers, your presser foot might tilt and get stuck. To fix this and keep the foot level, use a "hump jumper" (also known as a jean-a-ma-jig) right behind the needle. You can even make your own DIY jig by layering small scraps of thick leather or cardboard.
Take some time to practice on your scraps until you feel completely confident. If you want to see exactly how I navigate these bulky layers in real-time, be sure to watch the video tutorial—and if it helps you out, liking the video and subscribing to our channel means the world to us!
