If you’re frustrated with the diagrams and photos that came with your embroidery pattern, you’re not alone. My hand embroidery stitch tutorials have been viewed millions of times by people from all over the world, and they frequently comment that they couldn’t do these stitches until watching one of my videos. These stitch tutorials have EASY photos, diagrams, and videos so you’re sure to learn the stitch, no matter what your learning style may be.
Types of Embroidery Stitches
There are all kinds of embroidery stitches that have different uses. The sky’s the limit with embroidery stitches, and there are so many you can learn.
- Stitches like the backstitch and split stitch are used for making lines.
- Stitches like the satin stitch and long & short stitch are used for filling in areas.
- There are also several types of knots that can make dots, lines, or even triangles.
- Then you have all kinds of stitches that create different patterns, shapes, and textures. They can be used to make flowers, decorative borders, hair, you name it!
Basic Embroidery Stitches
Running Stitch
Steps:
- Bring your needle up at 1and down at 2.
- Repeat at even intervals.
Watch the video: How to do a Running Stitch
Backstitch
Steps:
- Bring needle up at 1 and down at 2.
- Bring needle up at 3 and back down at 1.
Watch the video: How to Backstitch
Split Stitch
Steps:
- Bring needle up at 1 and down at 2.
- Bring needle up at 3, splitting the thread from the previous stitch in half.
- Bring needle down at 4.
Watch the video: How to do a Split Stitch
Stem Stitch
Steps:
- For the first stitch only, bring needle up at 1 and down at 2.
- Bring needle up at 3 (between 1 and 2).
- For all following stitches, bring needle down at 4, and back up at 2. Make sure needle comes up on the same side of stitch every time.
Watch the video: How to Stem Stitch
Satin Stitch
Steps:
- Bring needle up at 1 and down at 2.
- Bring needle back up at 3. Keep stitches close together and stitch across the entire shape to fill it.
Watch the video: How to do a Satin Stitch
French Knot
Steps:
- Bring your needle up through the fabric at 1.
- Twist the thread around the end of the needle twice, while holding the excess thread taut with your non-dominant hand.
- Turn the needle toward the spot you came up at, and bring it down at 2 (slightly away from 1.)
Watch the Video: How to do a French Knot
Other Embroidery Stitches for Beginners
Straight Stitch – Watch the video: How to do a Straight Stitch
Chain Stitch – Watch the video: How to do a Chain Stitch
Lazy Daisy Stitch – Watch the video: How to do a Lazy Daisy Stitch
Fishbone Stitch – Watch the video: Embroider Leaves with the Fishbone Stitch
Blanket Stitch – Watch the video: How to do a Blanket Stitch
Woven Wheel Stitch – Watch the video: How to do a Woven Wheel Stitch
Fly Stitch – Watch the Video: How to do the Fly Stitch
Seed Stitch – Watch the video: How to do the Seed Stitch
Colonial Knot – Watch the video: How to Make a Colonial Knot
Buttonhole Wheel – Watch the video: How to Make a Buttonhole Wheel
Feather Stitch – Watch the video: How to do the Feather Stitch
Long and Short Stitch – Watch the video: How to Long and Short Stitch
Different Embroidery Stitches that are Uncommon
Bullion Knot – Watch the video: How to do a Bullion Knot
Threaded Running Stitch – Watch the video: How to do a Threaded Running Stitch
Whipped Back Stitch – Watch the video: How to do a Whipped Back Stitch
Double Threaded Back Stitch – Watch the video: How to do a Double Threaded Back Stitch
Couching Stitch – Watch the video: How to do the Couching Stitch
Danish Knot – Watch the video: How to do a Danish Knot
Bullion Knot Rose – Watch the video: How to Embroider a Rose with Bullion Knots
Looped Blanket Stitch – Watch the video: How to Make a Looped Blanket Stitch Flower
Turkey Stitch – Watch the video: How to do the Turkey Stitch
Herringbone Stitch – Watch the video: How to do the Herringbone Stitch
Chevron Stitch – Watch the video: How to do the Chevron Stitch
FAQ for Hand Embroidery Stitches
The easiest embroidery stitch is a running stitch. It’s just a series of small straight stitches done in a line and can be used for hand embroidery or hand sewing. The second easiest is a backstitch.
There are 6 basic embroidery stitches: running stitch, backstitch, split stitch, stem stitch, satin stitch, and French knots.
The most popular embroidery stitch is the satin stitch. It is commonly used to fill areas with color and is frequently used in machine and hand embroidery.
There are at least 300 embroidery stitches in existence. Every culture and time period seems to create its own style of hand stitching, so it’s almost impossible to know exactly how many there are.
Free Sampler Patterns!
Learn all of these other embroidery stitches by stitching these free embroidery sampler patterns with me. It’s a great way to practice and a nice reference to have while you are reading other embroidery patterns. Click the links to get the Free Embroidery Sampler Pattern 1 or the Embroidery Stitch Sampler 2 Pattern.
Which of these embroidery stitches is your favorite? I’ve got to say, I love the look of woven wheel flowers! They are just so pretty! If you find this information useful, make sure to take a look at my How to Embroider for Beginners series.
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