Stitched Sunday – herringbone and chevron stitch

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Today we are working on two related stitches - the Herringbone and the Chevron. Both stitches are widely used in crazy patchwork type works and in combinations with many other stitches.

Herringbone – is a cross like stitch which is great for even bands or in combination with many other stitches and variations. It is traditionally stitched from left to right on two parallel lines but of course all of these rules are there to be broken. There seem to be many names for it including:

Mossoul stitch, Plaited stitch, Catch stitch, Witch stitch, Russian Stitch and Russian Cross Stitch and Persian stitch

Variations can included couched, threaded, laced and double – just google to see some variation ideas.

So, how to do it? You will get the hang of this quite quickly but it may help to have lines to begin to get an even stitch, particularly for straight rows.

bring your needle up at A on the bottom line. Take it down at point B on the top line – (the angle you begin with does not really matter as long as you continue with the same angle.) and bring it back up at point C – this could be about 1/8” /2-3mm away from point B but again as long as it is always the same each time it doesn't really matter.

So in a nutshell – up at A, down at B and up at C (in one scoop stitch) – the thread remains under the needle.

pull through until firm

now we move back to the bottom line once again. Keeping your angle the direct opposite of the first stitch it will cross over to pick up the small stitch at the bottom – points D and E

Continue along your lines making an uneven cross stitched band.

The example above is quite widely spread, the one below is taller and more closely spaced – both are correct, both have the same angles and sizes along the row so both look great.

Now you can also stitch a closed herringbone stitch – this looks like, on the wrong side – two rows of backstitch, and is used for shadow embroidery when worked from the other side.

closed herringbone -

see, from the back it looks like two rows of backstitch.

Chevron stitch: a close relative of the Herringbone and again stitched traditionally from left to right on two parallel lines.

bring the needle up at A and down at point B – now picture three evenly spaced points at the bottom with point B being in the middle– the idea is that we want a little shoe on the bottom of our two diagonal stitches and a little hat at the top.

So take it down at B and up at C and pull through until firm. (the thread is above the needle)

Now go back down at Point D and up at point B once again, pull through to form the shoe.

now we head back up to the top and repeat the process – keep the angle of your upward stitch equal (well opposite equal) to your down stitch- take the needle down and to the left with the thread below the needle, pull the thread through and then go down 2 steps to  the right and back up in the same middle hole your ‘up’ stitch went down in. There you have a hat! –sorry if that is confusing – all those ups and downs…

continue along your line in the same manner to make a band.So there you have it, play play and play, try first to get this traditional even and symmetrical stitch and then break the rules, try curves, changing the size of each part of the stitch and combining with many of the other stitches you have learnt.

Some samples in my studio

herringbone with a fly stitch and lazy daisy at the top and bottom and small straight stitch over each cross.

two rows of herringbone in combination with lazy daisy’s, french knots, straight stitches and cross stitches.

Chevron stitch with fly stitch, lazy daisy, cross stitches

a double chevron stitch with some adornment stitches on the hats and shoes.  

you can see many more samples and combinations on my pinboards here.

So, our page this week – its a little different to our previous pages – you are just going to trace or draw circles as guides to play with your stitch combinations rather than trace every little stitch.

Download Herringbone&Chevron

I stitched all of the pink bands first.

I started in the centre circle and stitch chevron stitch from this circle to the next – for chevron stitch on a curve you will have your outer hats wider apart than your inner shoes.in between the next two circles I stitched a closed herringbone stitch to give a solid tight band.

Leave a space and using the next two rows stitch an open herringbone stitch – again its curved so like the chevron your inner points are going to be closer together than the outer points.

finally on the outer two circles stitch a chevron stitch once again.

Then we go back and stitch all the embellishment and filler stitches. 

in the centre I stitched a lazy daisy in green inside every ‘shoe’ with a purple fly stitch at the top. I then placed a purple colonial knot on each hat.

in between my next two rounds of pink I stitch a purple fly stitch with a long tail which filled up the complete space. The tops of my ‘y’s sat at the feet of the herringbone stitch.

With the purple i stitched a small straight stitch across the outer crosspoint of each stitch. With  green I added colonial knots in between each inner stitch and a lazy daisy at the outer edge of each stitch.

finally on the outer band I placed a colonial knot on the inner side of each stitch and a lazy daisy sitting on each hat. Then with purple I stitched a fly stitch over each show and a pistil stitch either side of every lazy daisy.

But of course you can embellish and play as much as you like using everything you have learnt so far!

You have come so far and I know some of your are keeping up, others are not- that's fine, there are no rules… BUT I am having a little break with my family to find some sunshine so next week we won’t be having a new stitch! you will have time to do some catchup stitching.

So I hope you all have a great week and we’ll meet here again in two weeks time to learn the bullion stitch!

hugs and happy stitching

Helen

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