Knots, loops and line stitches · Easy
Chain stitch
A line of linked loops, each held down by the next, which comes up inside it. It draws outlines, stems and curves.
How to work it
Make a loose loop
Bring the needle up at the top of the line and put it back into the same hole. Pull through slowly, stopping while a loop still lies loose on the front, and hold it flat along the line with the other hand.
Come up inside the loop
Bring the needle up two canvas threads straight down from the first hole, inside the loop and not beside it.
Draw the loop snug
Pull the thread through until the loop closes around it and lies flat, and no tighter. That is the first link.
Make the next links
Go down in the hole the thread comes out of, leaving another loose loop, and come up two canvas threads further down, inside it. Pull through. Make every link this way, all one length.
Hold the last loop down
Finish with a short straight stitch, the holding stitch: go down in the next hole along the line, just outside the last loop.
More rows for a filling
To fill hair, foliage or another small area, work more rows beside the first. Begin each separately at the top, one canvas thread across, with its links beside those of the row before. End each with its own holding stitch.
A line that curves
To follow a curve, slant the links. Here the first runs straight down. To close the second, the needle comes up one hole to the right and two down; to close the third, two to the right and one down. The holding stitch goes down in the next hole to the right.
At a glance
- Used for
- outlines and curved lines; stems and vines; borders; hair and foliage; seams and trims on clothes in a design
- Coverage
- A raised line; rows side by side fill a small area
- Direction
- Any direction; here, down the canvas
- Stitch length
- Over 2 canvas threads on a straight line
Chain stitch comes from embroidery and is worked the same way on canvas: straight onto bare canvas, or over finished needlepoint as surface embroidery. It stands above flat stitches such as tent stitch, so a line or a border worked in it shows, and on clothes in a design it reads as a seam or a trim. As an outline, it rounds a shape that the canvas grid would square off.
A link can also be one canvas thread long, or three: the shorter the link, the tighter the chain. A heavier thread makes a bolder line. Over finished stitches use a thinner one, and silk or metallic thread for a line meant to catch the eye.
For a smoother line use stem stitch; for a plainer one that stands out less, backstitch.
When it goes wrong
- A loop slips away when the thread is pulled.
- The needle came up beside the loop, not inside it. Take the needle back down, make the loop again and come up inside it.
- The links have closed up into thin lines.
- The thread was pulled too hard. Ease the pull until each link stays open, and keep it even down the line.
Variations
- Detached chain stitch. A single link held by its own holding stitch, also called lazy daisy stitch. Set around a center of French knots, the links make a flower.
Questions
- What if the thread runs out partway down a line?
- Fasten a new thread under the stitches on the back. Take the old thread down in the hole it comes out of, leaving a loose loop, and bring the new one up inside that loop, two canvas threads further on. Pull the old thread from the back until the loop closes, then run its tail under the same stitches and trim it.