Filling stitch guide

Satin stitch, long stitch, short stitch and more

If outline stitches are the fineliners to create the shape of your design, then filling stitches are the paints and felt- tipped pens to flood your projects with colour! The classic filling stitch is satin stitch. Imagine you are colouring in a shape with a felt- tipped pen, carefully using strokes of colour to fill the shape neatly. This is how to think of satin stitch, with each stitch like a colouring line that builds up to form a solid block of colour with no background left showing. It gets its name from the gentle sheen achieved when the stitches come together.

The napkin on page 70 and bee blouse on page 71 give a great taste of using satin stitch. Once you build up your confidence, you can create a larger project like the embellished T- shirt on page 86. It’s interesting how you can play with this stitch. If you use it in different directions in the same design, you’ll get different effects because of the way the light hits each area.

Satin stitch lets you colour in solid blocks but there will be times when you want to fill a larger shape or create some shading. This is where long and short stitch comes into its own. It works very much like satin stitch but you alternate the length of the stitches, as the name suggests. Change the shade of thread you use for each row to create a gradient or ombre look.

Maybe you’d like to colour an area of a design but not make a solid block? Seed stitch is perfect for this. Just dot individual stitches into an area for a lighter look – just like scattering seeds. And cross stitch is another good way to fill in an area with a less dense finish.

Give each of these stitches a try at your own pace and your skills will improve quickly!