Alternate Name: Star Eyelet Stitch, Star Stitch Related: Eye Stitch, Star Stitch
Eight stitches, worked counter-clockwise into the same center hole. The stitches are pulled tightly to form a small eyelet in the center. Algerian Eye Stitches can be overlapped for an interesting effect.

A drawn fabric stitch used as a solid fill. Worked by taking three satin stitches over four threads of the fabric. The groups of three stitches are worked diagonally.

A compound stitch using both Stem and Outline Stitch techniques. It is worked left to right, but instead of bringing the needle above the thread with each stitch (Stem Stitch), every other stitch the needle is brought below (Outline Stitch).

Related: Hem Stitch, Italian Hem Stitch, Ladder Hem Stitch, Serpentine Hem Stitch, Woven Hem Stitch
A variation of Hem Stitch in which the needle is passed in between the hem at each stitch, rather than directly behind the it. Worked on the wrong side of the fabric with the stitches taken into the fabric being slightly longer and not as slanted as for ordinary Hem Stitch.

Common Name: Roumanian Stitch

Common Name: Knot Stitch Edging

Common Name: Blindstitch

Related: Knot Stitch Edging
An attractive knotted edging is worked left to right. Bring the thread through from behind the fabric edge. Move the needle to the right and insert the needle through the fabric from the back. Leave the thread loose and twist it into a a loop, placing the needle through the middle. Tug the knot to secure it before moving on to the next stitch. Most effective when worked with a heavy thread.

Common Name: Two-sided Italian Cross Stitch

Related: Yugoslav Border Stitch
Bring the needle through at the upper left of the area to be stitched. Insert the needle at a point below and to the right of where you started to create a diagonal stitch. Bring the needle though at a point to the right and horizontally level with the top of the first stitch. Reinsert the needle in the same hole to create a V. To ensure uniformity, Arrowhead Stitch is best worked on evenweave fabric.

Common Name: Rep Stitch

Alternate Name: Point de Sable, Stitching One of the most basic embroidery stitches. Worked from left to right. The needle is brought through from the back of the fabric a small distance from the starting point of the line to be covered. The needle is inserted at the beginning of the line, so the stitch is being created in the opposite direction of the actual line to be stitched. For the next stitch, the needle is brought through the fabric at a distance equal in length to the first stitch. The needle is then inserted in the same hole as the beginning of the stitch before it.

A hand-sewing knot used to end a stitched thread. When the last stitch has been completed, make a Back Stitch, approximately 1/8" behind the last stitch, bringing the needle back through the fabric to form a loop on top of the previous stitch. Pull the Back Stitch up so that the loop is on the top of the work. Put the needle through the loop and pull thread tightly. Trim the excess thread.

Related: Algerian Eye Stitch [1], Eyelet Stitch Filling, Oblique Filling
This stitch is actually a cluster of straight stitches. The foundation is similar to Star Stitch, but the rays are connected to form three triangles.

Used in Jacobean embroidery, a combination of Back Stitch and French Knots. Stitch all lines going in one direction, working back and forth from the end line to the beginning of the next. The lines going in the other direction will be stitched by the same method. May be worked diagonally to create diamonds, or horizontally to create squares. Small Cross Stitches may be used in place of the French Knots.

A composite stitch in which Back Stitch worked down the center of a line of Chain Stitch. Using contrasting threads is most striking. Good for borders.

Related: Buttonhole Stitch Wheel
A drawn fabric stitch. Buttonhole Stitch worked in a circular motif, but rather than each stitch entering the same center hole, the circle is worked in four segments with a circular center. The cross bars are created by leaving two perpendicular threads of the fabric free. The finished wheel is only about .25" across. Best suited for fabric with a somewhat open weave.

Alternate Name: Fence Stitch Related: Bosnian Stitch, Glove Stitch, Zigzag Stitch
Worked the same way as Bosnian Stitch, except the angled stitches are joined from bottom to top of each vertical stitch.

Related: Open Basket Filling Stitch
A close, flat fill made up of alternating groups of three or four vertical and four horizontal satin stitches. Found in Jacobean embroidery.

Related: Closed Herringbone
Similar in effect to Closed Herringbone. May be worked with more space between the stitches. Bring the needle up from the back of the fabric and insert it to the left and but slightly lower. Bring the needle up to the right and just below the beginning of the first stitch. Continue to end. Used to make a solid line or border.

Work along two parallel lines, right to left. Makes an attractive border.

Common Name: Rosette Chain Stitch

Common Name: Coral Stitch

Common Name: Cross Stitch

Alternate Name: Buttonhole Stitch, Spaced Buttonhole Stitch Related: Double Blanket Stitch, Blanket Stitch - Long & Short, Blanket Stitch Scallop
One of the most basic embroidery stitches, with many variations. Worked from left to right.

A Blanket Stitch variation in which the verticals alternate in length.

A variation of Blanket Stitch.

Related: Buttonhole Stitch Wheel

Alternate Name: Appliqué Stitch, Slipstitch A hand-sewing stitch used to attach the folded edge of an appliqué to the foundation fabric. Creates a nearly invisible stitch.

Common Name: Encroaching Satin Stitch

Related: Roumanian Couching
A self-couching (continuous thread) stitch. Bokhara couching requires the use of a hoop or frame for proper stitching.

Alternate Name: Bosnia Stitch Related: Barrier Stitch, Zigzag Stitch, Glove Stitch
Worked right to left along two parallel lines. When finished looks the same as Glove Stitch.

Related: Armenian Edging Stitch, Knot Stitch Edging
Worked right to left along a hem, with the edge of the fabric away from you.

Related: Plaited Braid Stitch, Rosette Chain Stitch, Sorbello Stitch

A drawn fabric stitch.

Common Name: Heavy Chain Stitch

Related: Twisted Straight Stitch
A stitch commonly found in the embroideries of Brittany. Similar in method to Closed Herringbone Stitch, with the stitches being twisted together. Best when worked in a hoop with heavy thread.

Common Name: Slanted Feather Stitch

Alternate Name: Cross Stitch and Satin Filling A composite fill method found in Jacobean embroidery.

Related: Burden Stitch
Worked in back and forth rows: left to right, right to left and so on. The beginning row is made up of Long and Short Stitch, with additional rows being worked with uniform length Satin Stitches to form a brick pattern.

Alternate Name: Reverse Chain Stitch Related: Heavy Chain Stitch

Alternate Name: Bullion Stitch, Caterpillar Stitch, Coil Stitch, Grub Knot, Knot Stitch, Porto Rico Rose, Post Stitch, Worm Stitch One of the most common knots in embroidery. Often found in Brazillian and other raised embroideries. The thread is wrapped several times around the needle.

A Bullion Knot stitched at the edge of the fabric, with the stitch starting and ending in the same needle hole. Used in Richelieu and Italian cutwork.

Common Name: Bullion Knot

Related: Brick Stitch, Darning Stitch
Filling composed of Darning Stitch.

Common Name: Buttonhole Stitch

Alternate Name: Buttonhole Stitch|77 Used in Cutwork, Richelieu and Renaissance Work, Italian Cutwork, Drawn Thread work, etc. The area to be cut away is outlined with Running Stitch and finished with Buttonhole Stitch. If the fabric frays easily, the shape is finished first and then the fabric cut away. Otherwise the area can be cut and the raw edge Buttonhole Stitched.

Alternate Name: Spaced Buttonhole Filling Related: Fancy Buttonhole Filling, Knotted Buttonhole Filling
Not a detached filling as is Fancy Buttonhole Filling.

A simple insertion method. Groups of four Buttonhole Stitches are worked alternately on the edges of the fabrics to be joined.

Alternate Name: Venetian Picot Related: Bullion Picot

Alternate Name: Button Stitch Related: Blanket Stitch, Buttonhole Picot, Buttonhole Edging Stitch, Tailor's Buttonhole Stitch
Common. Buttonhole Stitch, as the name implies, was meant to reinforce the slash made to create the buttonhole. The same method of stitching as for Blanket Stitch, but the vertical threads are stitched close together.

Related: Double Buttohonle Stitch Bar
Used in cutwork.

Alternate Name: Buttonhole Wheel, Wheel Stitch Related: Blanket Stitch Wheel

Common Name: Bullion Picot

Common Name: Buttonhole Stitch Wheel

Common Name: Buttonhole Stitch Bar

A canvas stitch that creates a woven effect. Satin Stitches are worked diagonally over four vertical and four horizontal threads in a zigzag path.

Alternate Name: Cable Stitch

Common Name: Chained-border Stitch Sometimes called Cable Stitch in drawn fabric work.

Common Name: Colonial Knot

Common Name: Castelguidi

A canvas stitch.

A common stitch in Brazilian embroidery.

Common Name: Herringbone Stitch

Common Name: Bullion Knot

Common Name: Loop Stitch

Related: Open Buttonhole Filling
A looped filling stitch.

Common Name: Portuguese Stem Stitch

Related: Detached Chain Stitch, Lazy Daisy

Common Name: Feathered Chain Stitch

Alternate Name: Cable Stitch A drawn fabric stitch.

Alternate Name: Chequer Filling Stitch A drawn fabric stitch.

Alternate Name: Chequer Stitch Canvas stitch used for covering large areas.

Related: Running Stitch
A simple Running Stitch variation that is formed with three or more lines of Running Stitch, each stitched under the spaces created of the previous line to form a checkered pattern. The example also shows a Checkerboard Running Stitch variation with Back Stitch above and below.

Alternate Name: Chequered Chain Band Related: Checkered Chain Stitch, Raised Chain Band
Checkered Chain Stitch is worked over a foundation of evenly spaced horizontal Straight Stitches.

Alternate Name: Alternating Chain Stitch, Chequered Chain Stitch, Magic Chain Stitch, Magic Stitch Related: Chain Stitch, Checkered Chain Band
A Chain Stitch variation that is worked with two different colored threads simultaneously.

A drawn fabric filling stitch.

A drawn fabric stitch.

A primary embroidery stitch worked from left to right along parallel lines. Rows of Chevron Stitch can be stacked to make an attractive border or filling.

Best worked in a frame or hoop. Horizontal foundation threads are spaced evenly within the are to be filled. The stitches are then looped around the horizontal threads without going through the fabric.

Alternate Name: Blind Knot, Forbidden Knot, Peking Knot

Common Name: Pekinese Stitch

Common Name: Spider's Web, Woven Spoke Stitch, Woven Spot, Woven Wheel

A needleweaving technique that creates a dimensional raised picot. The stitch is actually woven over a straight pin and the pin removed after the picot has been secured to the fabric.

Common Name: Closed Buttonhole Stitch

A Blanket Stitch variation in which the vertical stitches are alternately angled to create triangles.

Common Name: Cretan Stitch

Related: Double Chain Stitch

Related: Double Back Stitch
Used for shadow work. The reverse is Double Back Stitch.

Related: Hungarian Stitch

Alternate Name: Looped Shading Stitch Related: Open Wave Stitch

Alternate Name: Mexican Stitch Related: Open Wave Stitch
A filling stitch found in Jacobean embroidery.

Alternate Name: Straight Overcast Ground A drawn fabric stitch.

Common Name: Bullion Knot

Alternate Name: Candlewicking Knot

Common Name: Coral Stitch

Alternate Name: Beaded Stitch, Coral Knot, German Knot Stitch, Knotted Stitch, Snail Trail Related: Zigzag Coral Stitch

Used for joining together two edges of material, such as the sides of a pillow cover.

Common Name: Overcast Bar

Common Name: Whipped Running Stitch

Common Name: Trellis Couching

Related: Fancy Couching
A common method to create outlines and fill design areas. The most basic couching uses one thread to stitch another thread or group of threads, cording, etc to the background fabric. Commonly used in goldwork embroidery.

Alternate Name: Spanish Coral Stitch

Related: Open Cretan Stitch

Related: Woven Hem Stitch

Alternate Name: Long-armed Feather Stitch
Related: Feather Stitch, Open Cretan Stitch

Common Name: Stem Stitch

Related: Herringbone Stitch, Lattice or Trellis Couching, Tied Herringbone Stitch
Covers a large area quickly. Best with heavy thread and using a hoop. Herringbone Stitches may be tacked down at intersecting points with small Straight Stitches or Detached Chain Stitches.

Related: Diagonal Cross Stitch, Montenegrin Cross Stitch
Each Cross Stitch is completed separately, with a Straight Stitch between each.

Alternate Name: Berlin Stitch, Counted Cross Stitch, Point de Marque, Sampler Stitch Related: Long-armed Cross Stitch
A primary embroidery stitch.

Related: Cross Stitch
A Cross Stitch variation that weaves two Cross Stitches together to form a flower.

Alternate Name: Gros Point

Common Name: Double Back Stitch

Common Name: Crossed Buttonhole Stitch

More accurately called Crossed Blanket Stitch, as the vertical stitches, if uncrossed, would be spaced apart.

Common Name: Rice Stitch

A drawn fabric stitch. Single Faggot Stitch is worked over the entire area, over three threads instead of four. The second stage is worked into the large holes created.

Common Name: Fly Stitch Filling

Related: Sprat's Head
A tailoring technique, used to reinforce stress points on a garment, that can be used as an attractive embroidery motif.

A loose horizontal stitch, held down by three vertical Straight Stitch rays.

A drawn fabric stitch. It has been noted that Cushion Stitch is sometimes used as an alternate name for Florentine Stitch.

Common Name: Detached Chain Stitch

Common Name: Satin Stitch

Related: Basque Knot, Double Knot Stitch

Alternate Name: Surface Darning, Tacking Stitch Related: Burden Stitch, Double Darning Stitch, Running Stitch

Common Name: Detached Buttonhole Stitch

Alternate Name: Detached Blanket Stitch The foundation is two long stitches the length of the area to be covered. Work Buttonhole Stitch, as close together as possible, over the two threads, but not through the fabric. The next row is worked through the loop of the Buttonhole Stitches above, but not over the two foundation threads or through the fabric.

Alternate Name: Daisy Stitch, Tail Chain Stitch, Knotted Knot Stitch, Lazy-Daisy Stitch, Loop Stitch, Picot Stitch, Tied Loop Stitch Related: Chain Stitch, Lazy Daisy, Link Powdering Stitch

Alternate Name: Threaded Chain Stitch|141

A drawn fabric stitch that can be used as a single motif, filling, or border.

Related: Overcast Stitch, Trailing Stitch
Overcast Stitch worked over two rows of Stem Stitch. The Overcast Stitches wrap around the foundations stitches and don't actually go through the fabric. Found in Italian Cut Work.

A drawn fabric stitch.

Common Name: Detached Twisted Buttonhole Stitch

A variation of Detatched Buttonhole Stitch.

Related: Link Powdering Stitch, Tete de Boeuf Stitch, Wheatear Stitch

Alternate Name: Tailor's Padding Stitch Related: Zigzag Stitch
A hand-sewing stitch often used to baste together the layers of a quilt.

A drawn fabric technique in which an area is filled with spaced rows of Single Faggot Stitch.

Related: Cross & Straight Stitch

A drawn fabric technique created by working rows of Single Faggot Stitch with each row one thread down from the previous row.

Common Name: Single Faggot Stitch

Can be left plain or with the diamond areas having individual motifs, such as Detached Eyelets.

A drawn fabric techniqye which produces rows of raised ridges all across the work. An attractive variation includes two rows of Single Faggot Stitch between each row of Diagonal Raised Band.

Common Name: Single Faggot Stitch

A canvas, or needlepoint, stitch.

Related: Striped Woven Band

Related: Diamond Stitch

A drawn fabric stitch.

Related: Diamond Filling Stitch
Worked top to bottom.

Common Name: Seed Stitch

Alternate Name: Closed Herringbone Stitch, Crossed Back Stitch, Shadow Work Related: Closed Herringbone Stitch
Used for shadow work. When worked on the from the front of the fabric it is called Double Back Stitch. Closed Herringbone Stitch is created on the reverse side.

Alternate Name: Double Buttonhole Stitch A simple variation of Blanket Stitch with two rows of stitching mirrored and interlocked.

Common Name: Double Blanket Stitch

Alternate Name: Buttonholed Bar Double Buttonhole Stitch is worked over a foundation of three or more threads, or a narrow section of fabric for a broader bar. A pulled-thread technique used in Italian Cutwork and Richelieu Work.

Related: Closed Feather Stitch

Common Name: Double Feather Stitch

Alternate Name: Leviathan Stitch, Smyrna Cross Stitch Related: Cross Stitch
Particularly effective as a fill or worked in blocks.

Alternate Name: Pessante Related: Darning Stitch, Holbein Stitch
Similar to Holbein Stitch, but a filling rather than an outline stitch.

A drawn fabric stitch worked on loosely woven linen makes a close firm filling.

Alternate Name: Double Coral Stitch, Straight Double Feather Stitch Related: Feather Stitch, Single Feather Stitch

Related: Flat Stitch
A variation of flat stitch, worked along parallel horizontal lines.

Common Name: Italian Hem Stitch

Alternate Name: Indian Herringbone Stitch Related: Herringbone Stitch
The same technique can be worked with the stitches further apart, using three different threads, to make Triple Herringbone Stitch.

Alternate Name: Old English Knot Stitch, Palestrina Stitch, Smyrna Stitch, Tied Coral Stitch Related: Coral Stitch

Common Name: Holbein Stitch

A canvas fill created with alternating small and elongated cross stitches.

Related: Threaded Back Stitch, Whipped Back Stitch

Related: Guilloche Stitch
The second variation of Double Threaded Running Stitch looks something like the Satin Stitches that are laced together for Guilloche Stitch.

Common Name: Italian Hem Stitch

Related: Single Feather Stitch
A drawn fabric technique made up of Blanket Stitch worked in diagonal rows from the top left to the bottom right corners of the work. The rows are stitched in pairs, with the flat edges facing.

Related: Cast-on Stitch
Found in Brazilian embroidery. Can be worked in clusters to form flowers.