Needlepoint guide
Which needlepoint stitch to use for sky, water, snow and backgrounds
Tent stitch will always do. But a well-chosen decorative stitch can suggest water, wool or brick without a single extra color. Here is where to start.
Three questions before you choose
- How big is the area? A stitch with a large repeat needs room. Measure the narrowest part of the space: if two or three repeats will not fit there, the stitch is too big for it. In a space only a few threads wide, use tent stitch.
- Should it sit back or join in? A small, quiet stitch recedes and lets the subject do the talking. A larger, more geometric stitch becomes part of the design, which suits a simple subject and can overwhelm a detailed one.
- Is the canvas painted with shading? An open stitch lets the painted ground show through, and on a painted canvas that reads as depth. On bare white canvas the same stitch can look stark.
By what you are stitching
| Area | Stitches to try | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Large backgrounds | Basketweave, Nobuko, brick, mosaic, Scotch | Basketweave is the tent stitch for large areas. The others are small repeating patterns that make good backgrounds |
| Tight or broken-up backgrounds | T stitch, skip tent | Small stitches that are forgiving in narrow and curved spaces |
| Sky | Nobuko, encroaching Gobelin, darning; brick or bargello for clouds | Nobuko is a standby for sky. Encroaching Gobelin is smooth and suits shaded areas. Darning lies very flat and suits sunsets |
| Water | Nobuko, darning | Both are used for water. Darning is smooth and shiny |
| Snow | Nobuko | Reads as smooth, new-fallen snow |
| Fields, hills and mountains | Brick, bargello | Upright stitches in rows and waves |
| Trees and bushes | French knots, Rhodes, Scotch | Knots and blocks with texture, all used for foliage |
| Buildings, walls and paving | Scotch, cashmere, brick turned sideways, darning | Squares, rectangles and offset rows that look built. Darning is flat enough for walls and sidewalks |
| Windows and floors | Framed Scotch, checkerboard | Squares set in a grid of tent stitch, and squares that alternate smooth and textured |
| Clothing and fabric | Brick, Scotch, bargello | Small repeating textures, all used for clothes |
| Borders | Scotch, Rhodes, rice | Square stitches that line up in neat rows |
| Single accents | Rhodes, French knots | A slightly raised square and a raised dot, each of which can stand alone |
| Hair, fur and beards | French knots, turkey work, brick, Nobuko | See below |
| Faces, hands, lettering, fine detail | Continental or basketweave | Tent stitch is the smallest stitch there is on canvas |
More textures to try
These are worth knowing by their shape. Use them wherever that shape helps.
- Parisian: flat upright stitches, alternately long and short.
- Hungarian: small diamond-shaped blocks.
- Diagonal Scotch and diagonal mosaic: Scotch and mosaic blocks run together into diagonal stripes.
- Upright Gobelin and slanted Gobelin: rows of short upright or slanted stitches.
- Upright cross: small crosses that interlock from row to row.
- Smyrna cross: a diagonal cross with an upright cross on top.
- Algerian eye: eight stitches that meet in one central hole.
Fur, hair and beards
For hair, fur and beards, texture does the work. French knots suit a beard or a sheep's fleece. Turkey work makes loops that stand up from the canvas: leave them as loops, or cut them into a pile and trim it to shape. Some soft, fuzzy threads can be brushed after stitching to raise a nap. Nobuko is a standby for fur, and brick stitch is used for hair.
Good habits
- Try it first. Work a small square of any new stitch on a scrap or in the margin, on the same mesh and in the thread you plan to use.
- Thicken the thread for upright stitches. They do not cover as well as slanted ones, so they may need more strands or a thicker thread.
- Compensate at the edges. Where a whole stitch will not fit against the outline of a shape, work a partial one rather than leaving a gap. Simple stitches shorten cleanly. If a shape has a lot of curved edge, choose a smaller, simpler stitch.
- One or two decorative stitches are plenty for a small piece. Too many compete.
All of these except French knots and turkey work are diagrammed in the stitch library. Those two are drawn step by step in the hand embroidery stitch library, where they are shown on fabric: the French knot and turkey work.