Stitch Guide

Chain Stitch

Chain Stitch works well as a decorative outline. Work from right to left bringing the needle up at 1, down at 2 and up at 3, making sure that the thread is under the needle. Pull the needle through slowly to form a neat loop – don’t pull too tightly or the ‘chain’ effect will be lost. Point 3 becomes point 1 of the next stitch.

Detached Woven Picot Stitch

This is the three-pronged variant. Insert a pin through the picot tip. Bring the needle up at 1, hook around the pin then go down at 2. Come up at 3, hook around the pin then go under the first thread, over the second and then under the third. Reverse the direction and go over, under, then over. Repeat to fill, then remove the pin.

Fishbone Stitch

Bring the needle out at the top of the shape and make a short vertical stitch. Bring the needle up at 1 slightly to the right following the shape outline. Take the needle diagonally down at 2 at the centre line below the first stitch. Bring it up at 3 on the left side and keep alternating these diagonal stitches from right to left.

Couching Stitch

Bring the laid thread up at the edge of the design line then the couching thread up just beyond this. Place the laid thread into position and work a small, vertical ‘Couching’ Stitch over it. Each of these stitches should be the same width as the laid thread and worked at equal intervals along it.

Figure of Eight Knot

Bring the needle up at 1 and loop a thread over it. Next, take the thread over and under the needle in a figure-of-eight. Push the needle back down into the fabric at 2, close to where it first emerged. Tighten the loops around the needle and hold them in place, then pull the needle through carefully to form a neat knot.

Fly Stitch

Bring the needle up at 1 then down at 2 without pulling the needle through the fabric. Bring the needle up again at 3, over the thread of the first stitch and pull it through. Make a short stitch to secure the ‘V’ shape at 4 and create one Fly Stitch. If you are working in lines, place the stitches side by side or below each other.