Stitch Workshop Pistil Stitch

GIVE THE TRADITIONAL FRENCH KNOT A WHOLE NEW LOOK WITH OUR EASY FOUR-STEP GUIDE – THIS CLEVER VARIATION IS A SIMPLE WAY TO EXTEND THE STITCH

T

he humble French Knot is perhaps one of the most-used stitches in our embroidery arsenal – but did

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your needle down in a different place to

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the technique and for how to incorporate

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MATERIALS

Cotton fabric: 35x35cm, batik indigo blue

Stranded cotton: 1 skein each of coral, green, light green, orange, light pink, purple, turquoise, white, yellow and light yellow

Embroidery hoop: 23cm diameter Medium-weight fusible interfacing: 35x35cm, black

Felt circle: 22cm diameter, dark blue (optional, for backing)

Basic embroidery kit

STITCHES USED

French Knot, Pistil Stitch, Straight Stitch

NOTES

Find the template on p66.

Begin by backing your cotton fabric 01 with medium-weight fusible interfacing. Backing your fabric with interfacing in this way not only helps to add structure to the material, but also prevents any light-coloured trailing threads from showing through the fabric when

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fabric using your preferred method. We used white carbon paper, which is a great method for transferring a design onto darker fabric. Then, mount the design in your hoop, ensuring it’s positioned centrally and the fabric is taut.

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three strands of coral to work over one of the lines of the shape using Pistil Stitch. Work

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position the knot at the opposite end. Skip one or two lines, then use Pistil Stitch to work the next one, again working out from the middle of the shape. Continue in this way, stitching every second or third line, until you’ve worked your

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Use three strands of purple to work Pistil 03 Stitch over the next series of lines, again skipping one or two each time as you did in

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until you reach the beginning again. Finally, use three strands of light pink to work the remaining lines of Pistil Stitch and complete

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Repeat steps 2 and 3 for the other two 04

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each of light yellow, yellow, and orange for the

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light green, and turquoise for the third.

Work French Knots in the centre of each 05

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colours each one is made of. Try to place each shade sporadically so the colours end up nicely mixed. Also, don’t work the stitches too densely as you want to see the fabric – like

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Finally, use Straight Stitch in two strands 06 of white to work over each of the stars and sparkles that are dotted around the rest

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the hoop by trimming your fabric so that it’s 5cm bigger than the hoop. Work a continuous running stitch around the edge of the fabric and pull it tightly to gather it at the back.

Then, secure in place with a few stitches. For

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stitches, lay a circle of dark blue felt over the back of your hoop and then tack in place around the edge using whipstitch.