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Open and background stitches · Easy

Algerian eye stitch

Eight stitches worked from the edge of a small square into its center hole, making a star with an eyelet in the middle.

Algerian eye stitch: the finished stitch on canvas, eight stitches, lying several ways, in two colors
The finished stitch on canvas. Every stitch runs from one hole to another; the two colors are only there to tell the stitches apart. In the steps, new stitches are red, and the numbers give the order: up at each number in turn, down in the hole they all share.

How to work it

  1. Stitch from a corner to the center

    Algerian eye stitch, step 1: the first stitch on the canvas. Numeral 1 marks where it starts.

    Count a square four canvas threads each way. Bring the needle up at one corner and go down in the center hole.

  2. The other three corners

    Algerian eye stitch, step 2: four stitches on the canvas, the three this step adds in red. Numerals 2 to 4 mark where the new stitches start, in working order.

    Work the other three corners the same way, always going down into the center.

  3. Fill in the four sides

    Algerian eye stitch, step 3: eight stitches on the canvas, the four this step adds in red. Numerals 5 to 8 mark where the new stitches start, in working order.

    Then work the four stitches in between, from the middle of each side into the center: eight stitches in all.

At a glance

Also called
star eyelet, star stitch
Used for
stars; borders; lacy clothing and curtains
Coverage
Lacy, with an open center
Direction
Slanted, upright and level
Stitch length
Over 2 canvas threads

Every stitch goes down into the center, working from the outside in. A single Algerian eye makes a star; rows of them make a lacy texture for borders, clothing and curtains. In a row each eye takes the next four threads, so neighbors share the holes along the side where they meet.

An Algerian eye is an eyelet stitch, which means every stitch in the unit goes down into the same hole. It is a small stitch, so it suits almost any mesh, and one teacher rates it very hard-wearing even though the points of the star are long.

It is also an old stitch. One stitch reference points to two sixteenth-century pieces in the Victoria and Albert Museum that use it, an Italian linen cover and an English pillow cover, and to a seventeenth-century sampler in which it forms the letters of the stitcher's name. Besides stars, borders and lacy clothing, teachers suggest it for angel wings, flowers and a quilt on a bed.

Tips

  • Use a thinner thread than for tent stitch, since eight stitches share the center hole.
  • Ease the center hole open with a laying tool or a large needle before you start, so the last stitches go through easily.

When it goes wrong

The center hole fills up and the last stitches will not go through.
Open the hole first with a laying tool, an awl or a large needle, use a lighter thread than usual, and change to a needle one size larger, which has a lower number. One teacher suggests a size 18 or 20 needle on 13 or 14 mesh and a size 20 or 22 on 18 mesh.

Variations

  • Algerian eye variation. One stitch reference records a fuller version with sixteen stitches on the same four-thread square. It begins with eight small stitches, each over a single intersection, that do not go into the center: two on each side of the square, slanting in from the edge to meet in the hole one thread short of the center. The four corner stitches and the four between them are then worked into the center, as in the plain stitch.

Questions

Why do the steps number only one end of each stitch?
Because every stitch ends in the center hole. The numbers mark where each stitch starts; the other ends would all sit on top of one another in the center, so the pictures leave them out.

Where to go next

Stitches

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