Seed stitch is made up from lots of small straight stitches worked close together, in different directions. It can be used fill shapes and add texture to your embroidery designs. You can also add shading by varying the density of stitches.
Seed stitch tutorial
Materials:
· Fabric – cotton or linen fabric works well. I used osnaburg fabric which is 100% seeded cotton, but you can use any spare fabric you already have.
· Stranded embroidery thread
· Needle
· Scissors
Optional:
· Embroidery hoop
Just for your reference, during this tutorial I am using osnaburg 100% cotton seeded fabric, black DMC stranded cotton embroidery thread, a hand embroidery needle and a 5” DMC beechwood embroidery hoop.
1. Thread your needle using stranded embroidery thread. For this tutorial I start by using four strands of DMC stranded embroidery thread. You can choose how many strands of embroidery thread you would like to work with. The number of threads will determine the size of your French knot.
2. Bring your needle through from the back of the fabric to the front at point 1.
3. Pull the needle and thread all the way through so the knot is secure on the back of the fabric.
4. Work a small straight stitch, roughly 2-3mm long, by inserting your needle into point 2.
5. Continue working small straight stitches, keeping them of equal length and changing the direction each time.
6. Continue this process until your desired area or shape is complete with seed stitch.
Seed stitch top tips:
To help with the spacing of your stitches, draw rough lines of these with a heat-erasable or water-erasable pen. Remove the lines once you have finished stitching
To create a more intense look to your seed stitch, try working the stitches closer together
To create a lighter look, work your stitches further apart
Alternate your thread colour to create a multi-coloured seed stitch
Seed Stitch Video Tutorial
Happy stitching!
Hannah x
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