Today_s_Quilter_-_November_2019

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HOWTOl embroidery stitches

Fromeasy, familiar stitches to decorative,elegant needlework,

use this embroidery guide to bring your patchwork to life...

(PåRLGHU\

STITCHES

Runningstitch

Bringtheneedlethroughfrom

thebackandtakeit backdown

a shortwayawaytomakethe

firststitch.Comebackupthe

samedistanceasthelength of

your stitch and repeat.

Crossstitch

Crossstitchis verysimple,

comeupinonecorner,take

a stitchdiagonallydownthen

comeupanequaldistance

above.Makea secondstitch

diagonallydownintheopposite

directiontomake an ‘X’.

Starstitch/doublecrossstitch

Worka singlecrossstitch(as

shownbelow,left)andthenadd

anothercrosswithhorizontal

andverticallines(Aand

B).Theselinescanbeina

dierentcolour.Youcanalso

maketheseadditionalstitches

shorter,sothestitchbecomes

more star-like (C).

Blanketstitch

Thisstitchis a favouritetoedge

appliquémotifs.It’salsogreatfor

decoratingseams.Fora dierent

look,youcanvarythe height of the

vertical stitches.

1

(^23)
4
Backstitch
Backstitchis soversatileit canbe
usedto‘draw’partsofa stitched
motif,toaddsinglestitchesfor
emphasisandtooutlineareas.It
canalsobe‘whipped’withanother
thread,tostrengthenthelineoradd
a secondcolour,inthesame way as
whipped runningstitch.
5
6
A
B
7 8
B
C
1 2
5
3 4
5 6
A B
C D
1
2
3
A
B
Featherstitch
Thisstitchis madeupofa series
ofloops,eachanchoredbythe
followingstitch.Thepatternofloops
swingalternatelytotherightand
lefttocreatea staggeredpattern.
It’smuchmoreeasilystitchedif
youmarkremovablegridlineson
thefabric(showninblueonthe
diagrams). A marked centre line is