Railroading Stitches

I’ve heard a lot lately about people asking how to railroad
their stitches. Railroading is a common means of separating the
threads as you stitch so that they lay flat and create a much
smoother neater appearance for your finished piece.

I know for a long time I thought it was just a time consuming
and unneeded process, but after you get used to it it’s not time
consuming at all and in the long run will save you time and help
you create a beautiful piece. It also can get you more use out
of your threads since you’ll get more stitches with less twists
and tangles. If you plan on entering it into competition it is
very necessary though. Judges can tell the difference. 

It isn’t very difficult to do. First, bring the needle up
through the fabric like you normally do, but before you go back
down to create the leg of the stitch, you place the needle
between the two strands of floss. Then with the needle between
the threads you go back down through your fabric.

Railroading makes the surface of the work flatter, improves
floss coverage, and some say it maximizes light reflected by the
floss. 

A short cut is to railroad only the half of the stitch that lies
on top, as this is the one that is seen most clearly, although
some stitchers say that they can see the bottom leg of the
stitch clearly, too. 

If you are unsure whether or not to do it, try an experiment. Do
a row or two of "unrailroaded" and some of "full railroaded."
You'll see a definite difference. Now do a row of "half
railroaded." What do you think? Is there enough of a difference
to merit the extra time? 

If you are using blended floss (2 colors) I don’t think it
matters what side of the needle either of color is on, and it
doesn’t need to be consistent. It only matters that it’s flat. 

And if you're doing satin stitch or bargello or some other
stitch which has long stitches, your work will definiately be
better if you railroad.