The back stitch is ideal for outlines, straight lines, and filler stitches (to cover blocks of color).

In the full download you’ll find seven stitches, but here we'll focus on the four foundations. When making a patch or transferable design, you need to focus on shorter, low-profile stitches, like the examples she shares here. If not, fasten it off at the outline and use a new length.In her full course, Cristin walks students through some basic embroidery stitches step by step. When you are reaching the end of your thread, do a quick mental check to see if you think it will reach the other side of the shape you are filling in.

If you already have stitches in place on your work, you can slip the needle under a few stitches on the back of the work to anchor a new piece of thread.Īlways try to fasten off under an outline if possible. Later you can snip off the knot and fasten off the thread as explained below. Tie a knot in the end of your thread (don't worry, we will cut it off later) and push the needle down through the fabric from the right side, up in a corner somewhere away from where you will start stitching.īring the needle back up in position for the first stitch and follow the pattern. When you start a project, it can be a good idea to use an away waste knot to start your thread. Try not to carry the thread across the back of the patterned area as it may show through on the right side. Run your working thread through the back of the outline stitches to bring you to where you need to be. However, if you only need to travel a short distance, you can use the outlines to do so. If you are moving to an area that is far away from your current stitching, I would recommend fastening off and restarting. How do I carry the thread from one place to another? Some of my patterns use shading techniques where you will occasionally use two strands for the darker areas of a design. Normally we use one strand for the filling patterns and maybe two for the outlines. You will find instructions in any kits or charts that you buy for how many strands to use. If you look closely at the photograph of the squares further up the page, you see that I split a stitch on the bottom row of my double running stitch square. Try to avoid splitting the existing stitches. Then when you take it back down at 8, keep the needle above the existing stitch. When you bring the needle up at 7, keep it below the stitch already in that hole. Can you see in the diagram how I slant alternate stitches in the double running stitch row?īelieve it or not, this makes the stitched line look straighter! Try it and see what I mean.

Running stitch pdf