3 basic stitches for learning embroidery

Hi everyone! As promised, today I’m sharing 3 basic stitches that are great for beginners. These stitches are great for straight or curved lines, and are used in many embroidery pieces. They’re also pretty easy to learn! I've uploaded some videos of these stitches on Instagram as well (@through.rain.or.shine).

If you have questions or are confused by anything, send me an email at laura@throughrainorshine.ca. I'm happy to help!

Back Stitch:

This is an easy, repetitive pattern to learn. Poke the needle up through the fabric at your starting point, and back down a few millimetres along your line. Pull the thread snug (but not tight) and poke up again about the same length as your first stitch. This time, when you poke the needle back through, put it into the end of your first stitch. You are basically doing a pattern of two steps forward (only shown on the back) and one step backward (on the front).

Split Stitch:

This one is called split stitch because you literally split each stitch with the needle as you go along. It's very similar to Back Stitch, but the stitches overlap instead of meeting each other.

Start the same way that you start Back Stitch, with a single short stitch. When you go to make your next stitch, poke the needle up about half of the length away from the first stitch. Complete the stitch by poking the needle back halfway into your first stitch, "splitting" it. Keep going with this pattern and you've got it!

Stem Stitch:

Stem stitch is great for curved lines and you guessed it: stems. It is also similar to Split Stitch, but the thread is pulled around itself to be held in place instead of being split.

Start with a single stitch just like with the others, but BEFORE you've pulled it snug, poke the needle up right in the middle of the stitch you're making. Now you can pull it snug - but be careful to keep the loop that you're pulling through above the needle. You can see in the fourth photo that the stitch sort of lays on top of where the thread is now coming out. As you add more of these stitches, they will keep pulling each other into line as they wrap around each other. This becomes a pattern of two steps forward (on the front) and one step backwards (seen on the back).

Pro tip:

Overall, these stitches will be smoother the closer they are to each other, especially when going around corners. Sometimes when I'm embroidering lettering, my stitches are only millimeters apart!

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