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hand embroidery stem stitch continuing

I mentioned that I enjoyed hand embroidery workshop I held some weeks ago, as I love embroidery and love to share the craft. I also said that I was going to post tutorials on basic stitches from the workshop, and today I am starting with stem stitch, very simple stitch, most often used for outlines.

Stem stitch

hand embroidery tutorial stem stitch first stitch and pulling thread

Bring the thread to the front of fabric. Keeping the thread below the needle, take the needle to the right to the distance that will be a length of a single stitch. For the starting stitch, insert the needle into fabric and bring it up at approximately half the stitch length.

Gently pull the thread through.

hand embroidery tutorial stem stitch second stitch and consecutive stitches

For the second stitch and consecutive stitches take the needle to the right again, insert it and bring it up a little to the right of the previous stitch and pull the thread through.

Repeat continuing along the line. Make sure to always keep the tread at one side of the line, as here it is kept below.

And here is your stem stitch!

 

What can you do with stem stitch? Here are some examples.

hand embroidery stem stitch jug

Little beauty my mother made when she was learning hand embroidery, the jug and glasses are made using stem stitch.

hand embroidery stem stitch bats

X-ray eyed bats I made on a clutch bag, bat contours are made with stem stitch.

hand embroidery stem stitch birds

Love birds, almost entirely made using stem stitch.

hand embroidery stem stitch sea shells

Detail of linen clutch bag with stem stitch sea shells, my work.

Happy stitching!

Mare