My conclusion is that it’s up to you! Cross stitch basics: materials needed. Again, the choice is yours for the effect you want to achieve. To secure the last cross stitch, thread the needle through the back of 4 – 6 stitches and cut off with scissors (H, reverse view). 2 To begin, tie a knot in the end of the floss. - Sometimes you'll stitch only a few stitches in an area, than jump to another area with that same colour thread. In that case outline the flower fully. Thank u for any help you can give me. I like that comment, it reminds me that we should not necessarily always do what we’ve been taught, it’s OK to break away and try something new! To make a cross stitch, bring the needle up at the lower left hole of one square of the fabric (1) and down at the upper right hole of the same square (2). Bring your needle up one space to the right, and then push your needle back through the hole on the left. (If you don’t know about three-quarter stitches, they allow you to have a diagonally sloping edge, as they are triangular; they can be tricky for a beginner, though.) I hope you’ve found my thoughts on using backstitch in your work interesting and useful. You can see the difference this stitch makes in this cross stitch bookmark. Here, each element of the picture is outlined in a darker shade of the colour of the element itself. There is no backstitch at all. To start, thread your needle with two strands of embroidery thread. Bring the needle up through the fabric to the front, at your starting point, with the knot at the back. Take your needle down through the aida, short distance from where you want to start stitching then back up where you first stitch will start, leaving the knot on the surface. A back stitch is used to make lines around the cross stitch and to stitch letters and wording. I would say this is just as easy as doing a simple cross stitch. I’d love to see your final design! - Keep your tension and the stitches even while cross stitching the design. When you do this stitch a herringbone stitch is automatically created on the back side of the design. Let’s never mention her again. The last three letters are smoother and more defined. 1. FRENCH KNOTS The French Knot is used in many counted cross stitch designs to add extra detail or dimension. 1. Bring the needle down through your fabric, perhaps at the end of a word to be stitched, leaving the knot on the topside of the fabric. The stitches are made in a backward motion rather than a forward motion when typically cross stitching. The needle should come out the front one stitch space ahead of the end of your first straight stitch. Tutorial Tuesday – how to do back stitch : First secure your thread at the back of your fabric and come up at point A. Most often, back stitching forms lines and details. (Country Living's free patterns use 16-count aida fabric.)2. I finally decided he does need the outline, so the kits I’ve made include black thread, but the final choice is down to the individual. Bring the needle up to the front of the fabric at the starting point of your first cross stitch. For a cluster of balloons in primary colors, you could just use red, blue, and yellow. Work this in horizontal rows from left to right. I wasn’t sure whether to do the outlining, but I did it and found it quite difficult but I think it looks better with it. Some designs that are composed entirely of back stitch. Between the branch and the flower do u use the backstitching color of the branch or the back stitching color of the flower? The exceptions are the face, because the hair and jumper are already outlined, and the eyes. To create your first back stitch, push the needle through the back side of the fabric and out the front. DMC Threads This picture has no outlining at all. Obviously there are times when a design just isn’t clear without it, but you can decide on your own style, and sometimes you might decide to use none at all. Count over two squares from the center of the fabric and bring the threaded needle up from the back. This is super helpful in trying to decide how to outline. I asked in a Facebook post which one people preferred. Having said that, it’s clearly not meant to be a realistic depiction of a dog, so I can live with the blocky edges happily. However this will depend on the size of your individual motif and is completely up to you. In this tutorial, you will not only learn the steps on how to cross-stitch a waste knot but also discover the benefits of this type of stitch. I didn’t feel it was necessary, and it would accentuate the edges, which I feel would be detrimental. This saved the pinks from running into each other. Push the needle through one stitch ahead. Start stitching towards the knot, being sure to cross over the thread on the back with each stitch to secure it. - Make sure all your stitches are crossed in the same direction. Start by threading one of your cross stitch needles with two strands of cross stitch thread and knot the opposite end. You can buy this flower as a kit in pink here, and in orangey tones here. You can see that Penny’s arms are behind her top, and she stands out well from the background. Adding backstitch outlines and details. Thread the needle and draw the floss through the top of the fabric near the edge. Embroidery floss is made up of six strands. I have used the same colour for the eyes and the outline of the eyes. Cross stitch - stitch guide, Subscribe to our newsletter for updates and special offers, For more information on our privacy policy, please read our T&Cs.here, Designed with love by , Dedi agency solution e-commerce et création site Internet. I have used the darkest of the three pinks just to define the edges of the petals within the flower. Cross Stitch patterns or ... Catch the thread end on the back under your first few stitches to secure it. Remember - each square on the chart represents the space required for one full cross stitch on the fabric. You could say this gives a cartoony look to the work. You can even use nearby cross stitches to help hold down your backstitch tails, if you have nearby stitches. This video tutorial is on how to outline a cross stitch design using the backstitch. These will usually be posted the following day. Make a single stitch backward to the point where the stitching should begin (point 2) by inserting the needle front to back. So grab your fabric and floss, click on the stitches you'd like to learn. Free shipping on orders $30+ | Orders subject to delay click for details. as shown at left. Say outlining a branch which is up against a flower. - Work the design area first and any plain background last. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. There are no three-quarter stitches. A line on your design chart indicates a back stitch is needed. Like the person in the comment above, this is what I was taught to do. Step 5 Anchor the ends of your embroidery floss by working it under other stitches on the back of the fabric when you start and finish each set of strands. Center aida fabric in embroidery hoop. In the pictures below, the line of stitches is being formed going towards the right, but the part of the stitch visible from the front of the fabric is made “backwards”, from right to left. Gather the colored pencils or markers that you will need to complete your cross stitch pattern. For those who have never seen it, backstitch is the black outline you see often in certain cross stitch patterns. If you don’t, just run it under your backstitch lines (on the BACK of your project) a few times before snipping. Finish with a half cross stitch. Hi Jane, it’s a good question. Thanks for the different examples of the same design! Blackwork embroidery uses variations of the back stitch to create intricate designs, typically using black or a single color. No one picked this picture in my Facebook poll. Apart from the arms, these three pictures of her are identical, but with different outlining styles. I think I would say it can depends on a couple of things. In the video below, I go into more detail about the materials that you need to start stitching. Thread the strands onto a sharp embroidery needle (a size 9 is ideal) and knot the opposite end of the thread. Bring the needle up a short distance from the first stitch on the line to the right. Want to learn how to cross stitch? Only carry thread to another area if the jump is short and the thread is a light colour. Step 1. Do you want someone looking at the piece to pay more attention to the flower or the branch? 2. The outlining changes her appearance quite dramatically. Start one stitch down from the top end ( on any side of the design) . To create a solid border around your cross stitched figures, use a single strand of embroidery floss (black is usually used) and back stitch around the outline of your pattern. Bring the needle up at 1, down at 2, up at 3 and down at 1 again following the diagram. This style of outlining gives subtle definition to the work. For example, if you want to fill in a rainbow design, then you would need red, orange, yellow, blue, green, and purple. At the moment, post is taking longer than normal due to problems caused by COVID 19. If they are side by side and have equal prominence, it’s a trickier decision. Push the needle into the fabric where you want to start the seam. Complete the back stitch as explained previous, we stitched 1/16″ (1-2mm) away from the edge of the motif. To finish take the thread to the WRONG side of the fabric, tie a knot to secure the stitching. Alternatively, you can leave a small tail of thread behind your work and catch it down behind your first few stitches as you go. From the basic cross stitch and backstitch, to French Knots and Daisy Stitches, I know you'll learn them all just as easily. The fractional stitches used in our cross stitch designs can be vertical, horizontal and diagonal. In this picture all the elements are outlined in black. 4 Poke your needle up through both pieces, then back down at your first stitch. You will need to use this second method if you are starting your backstitches away from any convenient blocks of stitching. Instead, you can run your needle under the back of a few nearby stitches  a couple of times in order to secure your thread in a similar way to how you would finish off. Making the Next Stitch If a symbol takes up only half the square then the stitch it represents will take up half the area of the full cross stitch. Our clear and detailed diagrams and carefully worded directions with have you stitching every pattern with confidence. This video is about how to do backstitch in an embroidery or cross stitch project to create definition and pattern outlines.