01 January 2010

coral stitch

Today we're talking about coral stitch. Also called beaded stitch, German knot stitch, or snail trail, this stitch can be used singly to outline shapes, or worked in rows spaced closely together as a filling stitch, in which case you'll want to position the knots between those in the previous row. Here's how you do it:

Bring your thread to the front on the righthand side of your line and lay it along the line for a short distance, holding it in place with your thumb.

coral_1
Keep holding the thread and take a small stitch from just above the thread to just below it. Your thread will form a loop and your needle should stay inside that loop.

coral_2

Keeping your thread taut, begin to pull it through until a knot forms.

coral_3

coral_4

Lay your thread along the line again and take another small stitch in the same way. You can space your knots at whatever distance you like, just keep them evenly spaced as you continue along the line. When you come to the end take your thread to the back and end off (weave threads into back). That's it.

coral_5

Here's a side view so you can see the knots better.

coral_6

For a filling stitch, complete another row parallel to the first, spacing your knots so they fall in the open spaces between the knots on the first row. Then continue to alternate the knots as you fill your shape. Use a second color if you want a striped effect.

1 comment:

New Leaf said...

Hi Janet,

I'm so glad to have found your blog.

I'm new to embroidery and have been scouring the internet and the library for books with explanations of stitches that I could understand. Most of them are like reading a foreign language. A lot of the time I find I'm better off looking at the finished product to figure it out than to try to understand the little diagrams.

You have a great way of explaining stitches and your step by step photos really help!

Thank you for the time and effort you put into this blog. I just love it. :)