Q&A
Faye Perriam-Reed explains how to embroider bullion stitches
Q I’ve come across a pattern that calls for bullion stitch embroidery - how do I do that?
A
Bullion stitch - also known as bullion knots - can add texture to your knitted fabric, and Jennie Atkinson has used the technique on her ‘Cicely’ cardigan on page 58. The base for a bullion knot is a simple back stitch, and the width of this back stitch determines the width of your finished knot.
1 To work the stitch, choose a hole (between two knitted stitches) and bring your embroidery needle through the fabric from the back to the front. Create a back stitch by inserting your needle back through the fabric to the right of where you originally came out, and then bringing the needle back through the original hole - but don’t bring it all the way through, just part way. Now twist the working yarn around the needle enough times to equal the width of the back stitch. Gently hold the coiled yarn with your left thumb while you pull the needle through the coil, turn it back on itself and insert it into the hole on the right.
2 For very small bullion knots, work a back stitch across two knitted stitches; try working across three or four knitted stitches for larger bullion knots.