Stem stitch in hand embroidery: technique

2024 Author: Sierra Becker | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-26 03:46

In traditional folk needlework, two groups of seams are used, free and counted. Satin stitch embroidery, performed along a drawn outline, belongs to free embroideries and is made with satin stitch (white and colored satin stitch, Vladimir stitch) and the simplest stitches. Contour, or auxiliary stitches for embroidery, are easy to perform, but can form independent floral patterns.

Which of the loose seams are used most often? These are the well-known tambour, looped, goat, lace and, of course, stalk. To master the techniques for making simple stitches, you need to develop certain skills in embroidery and work extremely carefully.

What is a stem stitch? This is a series of diagonal stitches adjacent to each other, performed from left to right and away from you. First, we make the first stitch on the fabric, draw the needle from the wrong side towards ourselves and pull it out at the middle of the previous stitch on the left side. We pull the thread and pierce the fabric above the first stitch, pull out the needle at the middle of the second stitch on the left. You can see that we perform the seam with a movement towards ourselves, and we lay the stitches away from ourselves. Each next stitch protrudes half of the previous one.

The stem stitch is made so that the working thread is always on the same side - left or right. If you change the direction of the thread during operation, the structure of the seam will be disturbed.

The stalk stitch is used when designing pattern motifs in the Oryol list embroidery, as well as for embroidering stems and twigs in satin stitch embroidery and independent patterns. If it is necessary to make a line along an arc, we bring the needle to the front side of the work from the side of the center of the circle. To thicken the branch in the flower pattern, gradually increase the length of the stitch, while bringing the needle to the front side a little lower than the middle of the previous stitch.

When embroidering a floral ornament, we combine the stem stitch with other simplest stitches. To make small leaves and flower centers, a goat stitch is suitable, the stitches of which are placed from left to right, pulling the needle through the fabric alternately along different edges of the strip of the desired width. In the center of the strip, the stitches are crossed, the new stitch is laid on top of the previous one.

The contour of flowers embroidered with satin stitch can be decorated with chain stitch. It looks like a series of loops coming out of one another, and is performed by moving the needle towards itself. We bring the working thread to the front side, lay it in a loop, insert the needle at the point where the thread came from and pull it out of the fabric higher to the height of the loop so that the loop remains under the needle. Repeat the stitches as many times as necessary. We can make this seam straight or zigzag, depending ondrawing.

Decorative stitch lace looks especially beautiful if you use threads of two colors for it. First, along the contour of the pattern, we sew stitches with a seam forward with a needle, and then we thread a thread of a contrasting color under each of the stitches from top to bottom, wrapping the main seam around. You can thread the thread alternately from bottom to top and top to bottom to get a wave pattern.

Learning how to sew the above simple stitches is not difficult, the work will be much easier with a hoop and a special needle for embroidery with a blunt tip.

I wish you good luck with your creative decisions!