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Crossed stitches · Easy

Rice stitch

A large cross stitch with a small stitch tying down each of its four arms.

Rice stitch: the finished stitch on canvas, twelve stitches, some slanting up to the right and some slanting up to the left, 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 an odd number, down at the next even one.

How to work it

  1. Start with a large cross

    Rice stitch, step 1: the first two stitches on the canvas. Numerals 1 and 2 mark the ends of the first new stitch, in working order.

    Work a large cross stitch over four canvas threads each way, beginning with the stitch from lower left to upper right.

  2. Tie down each arm

    Rice stitch, step 2: six stitches on the canvas, the four this step adds in red.

    Cross each arm with a short diagonal stitch over two intersections, running from the middle of one side of the square to the middle of the next.

  3. Work every square the same way

    Rice stitch, step 3: twelve stitches on the canvas, the six this step adds in red.

    Work the next square beside it on the next four threads, so that the two share the holes along the edge between them. Make the two stitches of the large cross in the same order on every square, so that the same one lies on top.

At a glance

Also called
crossed corners, William and Mary stitch
Used for
borders; large textured areas; two-thread effects
Coverage
Full, textured
Direction
Slanted both ways
Stitch length
Over 2 or 4 intersections

The four corner stitches turn each arm of the big cross into a small cross of its own. Rice stitch is often worked in two threads, one for the large crosses and a contrasting one, perhaps with some sparkle, for the corners. A row of it makes a handsome border.

Rice stitch was a core stitch of Java canvas embroidery and was popular in Scotland in the second half of the eighteenth century, when it was worked in graded shades for geometric designs. A sampler of 1797 uses single rice stitches along its zigzag edges.

One stitch reference describes it as a medium-sized stitch, a little raised, with an even texture, used as a single motif or in a pattern. Beyond borders, teachers suggest it for clothing and architectural details and for snow-covered shrubs, with the corner stitches in a metallic thread for the snow.

Tips

  • It can be worked smaller or larger, over any even number of threads.

When it goes wrong

The stitch looks bulky.
It is a layered stitch. Use a lighter thread, or fewer strands, than you would normally choose for the canvas.
The canvas pulls out of shape.
One teacher works the corner stitches in diagonal rows across the area, which she says helps prevent distortion.

Variations

  • Triple rice. Extra tie-down stitches added on top of the basic rice stitch, often in another color.
  • Two-color diamonds. Work the large crosses alternately in two colors, then give each cross corner stitches in the other color.

Questions

Do I finish each rice stitch before starting the next?
Sources go both ways. A nineteenth-century encyclopedia fills the whole area with large crosses first, in a coarser thread, and then adds the corner stitches in a finer one. With a multicolored thread, one teacher completes each unit in turn so the flow of color stays intact.
Why is it called rice stitch?
One stitch list says that after several rows the stitches start to look like grains of rice.

Where to go next

Stitches

Guides