How to Stitch a Corner with a Coverstitch

Sewing a corner or V point using a sewing machine is pretty straight forward- when you hit the corner/V point you pause, drop the needle and lift the presser foot, and rotate the fabric. Then you continue on. Easy-peasy! But how to stitch a corner with a coverstitch or twin needle?

With two needles you cannot drop the needle and pivot because there are two points instead of a single pivot point. Luckily, hemming/topstitching a corner or a V point (like on a v neck shirt) is actually pretty easy with a coverstitch once you know how. You’ll be getting perfect corners and points on your knit fabric hems and topstitching in no time with this simple tutorial.

It is a good idea to practice this on a scrap piece of fabric first. Cut a small square of fabric to practice the corners. Then, you can cut a “v” shape into it and practice like you are sewing a V neck.

In this example I am using two different thread colors for the two needles to make it easier to see where we will make the turn. You might find it helpful to mark the stitch line with a pen on your scrap so that you know where to make the turn. With practice, you won’t need to do this anymore.

Let’s Sew!

Begin by sewing as you normally would down one side of the fabric.

When you get to the corner/turning point, sew a single stitch with the handwheel, ending with the needles in the UP position. Be very careful to only sew FORWARD with the handwheel, as sewing backwards will undo the stitches.

Lift the presser foot. Remember, the needles are in the UP position.

Loosen the tension of the needle threads a little, by sliding a small tool between the needles and thread and holding your tension levers to loosen. Pull until you have just a little bit of excess thread.

Gently pull the fabric enough to maneuver it- rotate around the corner. Don’t pull any more than you need to, to minimize the loose threads.

Carefully realign your needles onto one stitch line. Note: I have done this both ways, with the needles on the back row and on the front row. They give a very slightly different look, and to me it is personal preference. I would experiment on scraps to see your preferred method.

Continue sewing your project.

That’s it!

You can use this method on corners, V necks, and more. With matching thread the extra stitch line isn’t visible. and just looks like a nice clean corner.