Threads Contributing Editor Susan Khalje is known for her couture sewing expertise. In this video tutorial, she covers the fundamentals of the basting stitch and basting by hand, a practice that is useful for any sewer, even when not making a couture-level garment.

Susan discusses the best thread to use, a breakable cotton basting thread that’s easy to remove once the permanent stitching has replaced the basting. She prefers to use a long, sturdy needle: With a longer needle, you can take several stitches in a row before pulling the needle and thread through. This increases your efficiency.

Other tips include pinning perpendicular to the seamline you will be basting, and keeping the work flat as you baste. These techniques make basting nearly as fast as pinning, so you can enjoy the improved accuracy basting offers without feeling that you are spending too much time in preparatory work.

You can learn more couture hand stitches in Susan’s other videos, including Couture Hand Stitches: The Hand Overcasting Stitch.