Open and background stitches · Intermediate
Alicia's lace
Small slanted stitches that lean right and left alternately, worked in diagonal lines of backstitch. Every diamond of four stitches keeps an open hole.
How to work it
The first line: two stitches
At the top left corner of the area, come up at 1, one hole in from each edge, and go down at 2, one hole up and one to the right. Come up at 3, one hole down and one to the left of 1, and go down at 4, in the hole of 1: a backstitch.
Turn at the edge
Come up at 5, two holes straight down from 4, the hole both stitches share. Go down at 6, one hole down and one to the left. A diagonal row of empty holes lies between the two lines.
The second line, back up
Work this line up to the top edge. Each stitch comes up at its upper right end and goes down where the stitch before came up: up at 7, down at 8.
The third line, down again
Come up two holes to the right of where the needle last went down and go down one hole up and one to the right. Backstitch down to the left edge, as in the first line.
The longest line
Come up two holes straight down from where the needle last went down and go down in the bottom left corner of the area. Work back up to the top right corner.
Finish the first set
Come up two holes straight down from where the needle last went down and go down one hole up and one to the right, on the right edge. Backstitch down to the bottom edge. Turn twice more, counting from where the needle last went down: two holes to the right for a line back up, then two holes down for the last line, two stitches across the bottom right corner.
Start the lines that cross
End the thread and start a new length at the top right corner: come up one hole in from each edge and go down one hole up and one to the left. Backstitch down to the right edge, come up two holes straight down from where the needle last went down, and work the next line back up to the top edge.
Complete the trellis
Continue back and forth to the bottom left corner, turning two holes to the left at the top and bottom edges and two holes down at the side edges; after the longest line, turn down the left edge. These stitches share holes with the first set, four to a hole inside the area.
At a glance
- Also called
- Alisha's lace, four-way continental
- Used for
- clothing; animals; backgrounds; glass
- Coverage
- Lacy, with a stitch on every intersection
- Direction
- Slanted both ways
- Stitch length
- Over 1 intersection
The pattern repeats every two canvas threads, so it fits small areas as well as large: clothing, animals and backgrounds. As an open stitch in a metallic thread, it is a favorite for glass: windows, vases and jars.
Tips
- Start and end every thread outside the lace: under the back of a neighboring area already stitched, or with a few tiny stitches in the margin.
When it goes wrong
- The lace looks solid.
- Thread is lying behind the open holes. Keep to the diagonal lines, where the thread on the back follows the stitches and crosses an open hole only at each turn. Never carry it behind open holes to another part of the area.
Variations
- The larger lattice. The same trellis at twice the size and under the same names, so check how many intersections each stitch on a chart crosses. Each stitch is over two intersections. Work a row of stitches that lean left and right alternately, a zigzag, then a second zigzag under it that mirrors the first, so that the two rows close into diamonds.
- Filled diamonds. A diamond of the larger lattice can stay open or take a bead, a French knot or a small cross stitch; beads go on last. A thin braid gives the lattice a delicate look.
Questions
- Does Alicia's lace need compensating stitches?
- No. Each line stops at the last intersection inside the shape. To reach where the pattern continues, turn the canvas over and weave the needle under stitches already worked.