Straight stitch

Seed stitches (small, detached running stitches) are used on the center ribs of these flower petals.

Pattern darning

Straight or Flat stitch is a class of simple embroidery and sewing stitches in which individual stitches are made without crossing or looping the thread.^[1][2] These stitches are used to form broken or unbroken lines or starbursts, fill shapes and create geometric designs.

Running stitch, Holbein or double-running stitch, satin stitch and darning stitch are all classed as straight or flat stitches. Backstitch is also sometimes included in this category.^[1]

Applications

Pattern darning is an ancient technique in which parallel rows of straight stitches in varying lengths are arranged to form geometric patterns.^[3] Japanese Kogin embroidery is a pattern darning style from the island of Honshū, often worked in white cotton thread on rough, dark blue indigo-dyed linen.^[1]

Stitch gallery

• 
  Arrowhead stitch
• 
  Eye stitch
• 
  Algerian eye stitch
• 
  Fishbone stitch
• 
  Open fishbone stitch
• 
  Raised fishbone stitch
• 
  Flat stitch

See also

• Blackwork embroidery
• Darning
• Embroidery stitches

Notes

1. Enthoven, Jacqueline: The Creative Stitches of Embroidery, Van Norstrand Rheinhold, 1964, ISBN 0-442-22318-8, p. 29-46
2. Reader's Digest Complete Guide to Needlework. The Reader's Digest Association, Inc. (March 1992). ISBN 0-89577-059-8, p. 46-51
3. Christie, Grace: Embroidery and Tapestry Weaving, London, John Hogg, 1912

References

• Caulfield, S.F.A., and B.C. Saward, The Dictionary of Needlework, 1885.
• Christie, Grace (Mrs. Archibald Christie: Embroidery and Tapestry Weaving, London, John Hogg, 1912
• Eaton, Jan. Mary Thomas's Dictionary of Embroidery Stitches, Revised by Jan Eaton. London: Hodder&Stoughton, 1989. ISBN 0-340-51075-7
• Enthoven, Jacqueline: The Creative Stitches of Embroidery, Van Norstrand Rheinhold, 1964, ISBN 0-442-22318-8
• Reader's Digest, Complete Guide to Needlework. The Reader's Digest Association, Inc. (March 1992). ISBN 0-89577-059-8
• Levey, S. M. and D. King, The Victoria and Albert Museum's Textile Collection Vol. 3: Embroidery in Britain from 1200 to 1750, Victoria and Albert Museum, 1993, ISBN 1-85177-126-3

External links

• The Crimson Thread of Kinship is a 12-metre-long embroidery predominately using a straight stitch at the National Museum of Australia