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THE LATEST

Floral Garden Bunting Project: a Wrap-Up on the 2023 Stitch-Along

Fall Floral Embroidery Pattern: Calendula Wreath

“Embroideries From an English Garden” by Carol Andrews – Book Review

5 Easy Embroidery Stitches Tutorial

March 24, 2021      Anne      4 Comments

 

Welcome to my very first embroidery tutorial, where I will share with you 5 different stitches to help you get started with hand embroidery! The straight stitch, the running stitch, the backstitch, the split stitch, and the stem stitch. They are basic embroidery stitches, and the best ones to learn first as a beginner. Used in nearly all surface embroidery techniques, they also form the bases of more advanced stitches and are frequently used in hand-sewing.

 

5 embroidery stitches to learn as a beginner

 

Without further ado, let’s dive in to the tutorial! You will need basic embroidery supplies, and you can find more information on that here.

 

Getting Started

Cut a piece of embroidery floss about the length of your forearm and thread your needle. You can use as many strands of the floss as you want for practicing these stitches – I used three. Leave a tail of about 3-4” hanging. Knot the end of the longer length or secure your thread with one of these methods. Often, knots are not always the best way to start and finish embroidery, but for the purpose of practicing these stitches, they’re perfectly fine.  Place your fabric in the embroidery hoop, tightening the screw until the fabric is nice and taut. I suggest adding a few pencil guidelines to practice lines of stitching. 

 

piece of fabric with pencil guidelines in embroidery hoop

 

1. The Straight Stitch

Bring your needle up from the back of the hooped fabric to form point A.

 

thread coming up at point A

 

Decide on the length of your stitch and direction of your stitch, and bring your needle down in point B, forming a straight line. 

 

straight stitch from point A to B

 

And voilà, you’ve done the straight stitch! It’s pretty straightforward and might seem overly basic, but it’s a very useful stitch for making short, continuous lines to add details. Creating small motifs with the straight stitch also works really well too (like blades of grass or a leaf, for example). 

 

straight stitches forming a grass motif

 

2. The Running Stitch

If you sew, you’ve no doubt had to baste something by hand at some point. In which case, you already know how to do a running stitch! They’re pretty much the same thing.

Bring your needle up from the back, pulling all the way, to form point A. Then bring your needle down in B, and back up in C, down in D and back up in E, without pulling the thread yet. You’re essentially “loading” your needle with stitches before pulling through to stitch faster. 

 

 

needle threaded through fabric starting at point A and ending at point E

 

two running stitches pulled through the fabric

 

When you pull through, you will have nice straight stitches from A-B and C-D. If you use a longer needle you can take even more stitches before pulling! Repeat as many times as needed to get a continuous line. 

 

 

straight line of running stitch completed on the sample hoop, below the straight stitch examples

 

 

3. The Backstitch

One of the most common outline stitches, the backstitch can be used to embroider just about anything. Frequently used in cross-stitch as well, to add outlines and details, it’s one of the most useful stitches out there!

Bring your threaded needle up from the back at point A and back down again in B, forming a small straight stitch.

 

a small straight stitch going from A to B

 

Bring your needle up from the back again in C, at a distance that equals the size of the first stitch. Go back down again in B, through the same hole (this will make the stitches look neater and better connected). 

 

needle going down point B to form a backstitch

 

two stitches lain down to form backstitch

 

 

Repeat to get a nice continuous line, always going down into the previous hole. 

 

line of continuous backstitch

 

 

4. The Stem Stitch

The stem stitch is a variation of the backstitch. The needle also comes back up at the end of the previous stitch, but you do so while holding the working thread to form a loop.

 

Bring your needle up at point A and back down at point B, but before you pull all the way through to make a straight stitch, bring your needle back up at point C. That should be right between points A and B. 

 

 

needle coming up at point C between A and B

 

Once you’ve pulled that stitch flat, your working thread will be coming up right beside the stitch. To work the next stitch, bring the needle down at point D, and back up again at point B, coming up through the same hole. 

 

needle coming up through point B to form stem stitch

 

two stitches lain to form stem stitch

 

Keep the working thread below the stitching line. If you keep it above, the stitching line, it will have a slightly different look and becomes an outline stitch.

Repeat the previous steps to create a continuous line, always going back down at the end of the previous stitch, in the same hole. 

 

needle going back to the previous' stitch's hole to form stem stitch

 

line of finished stem stitch

 

 

5. The Split Stitch

The split stitch is probably my all-time favourite stitch, and I use it everywhere. If I have to outline something, I often chose it over the backstitch, because I find it looks neater and more textured. Also a derivative of the backstitch, it starts off the same way.

Come up from the back in A and down through B to form a small straight stitch.

 

a small straight stitch going from A to B

 

Bring your needle back up in C, right through the middle of the previous stitch, thus splitting it.

 

needle coming up through straight stitch at point C to split the stitch

 

Bring your needle down again in D to form the next stitch.

 

needle going down at point D to form split stitch

 

two stitches lain to form split stitch

 

Repeat the process to get a nice continuous line!

Note: This stitch is easier to work with an even number of strands to create a better “split”. 

 

finished line of splitstitch

 

 

Don’t you love its braided effect? It’s so pretty. 

 

Now you know how to do the 5 most basic embroidery stitches! I hope you found this tutorial helpful and that you have fun practicing these stitches. Thank you so much for reading, and don’t hesitate to let me know if you have any comments or questions. I also have tutorials for the following basic stitches: the chain stitch and lazy-daisy, the French knot, and the satin stitch. 

 

Fondly,

 

5 basic embroidery stitches to learn as a beginner

 

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Sara Dalcher says

    January 11, 2025 at 10:35 am

    Excellent, clear photos; MOST helpful!

    Reply
    • Anne says

      February 9, 2025 at 7:10 pm

      Thank you, glad you found it helpful!

      Reply
  2. Andrea says

    March 19, 2025 at 8:34 pm

    Great pictures, great explanation. Thank you!

    Reply
    • Anne says

      April 13, 2025 at 6:10 pm

      You’re most welcome!

      Reply

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Recent Posts

  • Floral Garden Bunting Project: a Wrap-Up on the 2023 Stitch-Along
  • Fall Floral Embroidery Pattern: Calendula Wreath
  • “Embroideries From an English Garden” by Carol Andrews – Book Review
  • Botanical Wreath Project: A Pattern for Each Month
  • 2023 Free Yearly Stitch-Along + Mini Needle-Painting Tutorial

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Hello I'm Anne! Welcome to my little corner of the Internet where I share my passion for hand embroidery with you through tutorials and patterns. I hope that you enjoy browsing and leave with some new inspiration!

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~ Diary of a Northern Belle

Northern Belle Atelier is taking a break 🌸💖 Northern Belle Atelier is taking a break 🌸💖

Today (Feb. 09th) is the last day to place your order for any physical items in my shop (kits, needle minders, or finished works). I will be removing the listings over the weekend. PDF patterns will remain available for now, but they may be taken down at any time (so if you've had your eye on one, I suggest grabbing it before they're gone! 🥰).

I will also be tuning off Instagram in the coming days, but you can still reach me via my business emails if you need. My blog will remain up for the time being. 💕

Thank you ever so much for all the support you've shown my little business since I began sharing my embroidery here! It has meant so much to me to be able to do this, even if just in a small way. 💖🪡 Wishing you all some beautiful stitches ahead!

Anne
Xoxo
February Wreath aka "Victorian Valentine" pattern February Wreath aka "Victorian Valentine" pattern from last year 💖🌸🎀 I love this one so much and it's perfect for Valentine's Day coming up!

Find it in my Etsy shop 💜

(Sorry for the shaky video!!)
Needle minders will be leaving my shop soon!! 🍒 Needle minders will be leaving my shop soon!! 🍒 Snag a cute little fruity needle minder for your next embroidery project before February 9th! All remaining needle minders in my shop are 10% off until then 💕🍓🍒💛
✨️ IMPORTANT UPDATE ✨️ I will be disconti ✨️ IMPORTANT UPDATE ✨️

I will be discontinuing embroidery kits from my shop very soon, but I still have 2 left of this pretty summer wreath up for grabs!! 🌼🍓

I love this design and the kit comes with everything you need to make the project: two pieces of cotton fabric, thread card loaded with DMC floss, two needles, a good quality 6" hoop, and the PDF pattern! All presented in a handy folder to make it easy to keep everything together 🤍💛❤️

Visit my Etsy shop (linked in bio) if you're interested!! They won't be around for long!
Thank you so much for all the love on the Floral G Thank you so much for all the love on the Floral Garden bunting!! 💖🌷🌻 Following several inquiries from some of you who were missing some or all of the patterns from this project, I've decided to link them in a handy-dandy blog post for easier access! 💕 I've linked it via my bio if you want to have a look and get the patterns! I like to give my subscribers a bit of exclusivity, but since this project has now come to a close, I've decided to make it available to everyone. 🥰

I may also have taken that opportunity to write a bit about each flower, the inspiration behind the designs, and of course their meanings according to the Language of Flowers 😊🌿🌻 If that sounds of interest to you, read  the post to find out more! I've also linked some stitch tutorials that may be helpful. 

Happy stitching! 🎀🪡🌼

Anne
The Floral Garden stitch-along has come to a close The Floral Garden stitch-along has come to a close and the bunting has been sewn and hung! 🌻🌷🌿 what a joy it was to work on throughout the year, and I hope you've enjoyed it too! I'm thrilled with the final result 😍

Thank you so much for all the lovely comments and enthusiasm for this project. I've just sent the final instructions + bunting template to my email subscribers 💌 it isn't too late if you'd like to give this project a try - you can sign-up via the link in my bio and receive the links to all 12 floral motifs from last year + the instructions for the bunting!! 💕

The embroideries are beginner-friendly and perfect if you want to try a bit of needle-painting, and the bunting part is quite easy and quick to put together (compared to last year's mini-quilt haha!) 🌷💕🌿

Happy stitching!!
Winter Fox 🦊🤍🌲 I think this makes the fir Winter Fox 🦊🤍🌲 I think this makes the first completed embroidery for 2024! Absolutely loved working on this and love the mix of watercolor with embroidery! Can't get enough of the little pinecones 🤎
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