Wednesday, March 31, 2010

100 stitches - split stitch

This little flower is being outlined with the split stitch:

The split stitch is the featured stitch in my latest installment of the 100 stitches project. In the process pictures that follow, I am using six strands of dmc floss, color 907 and a #24 chenille needle. This is stitched on 100% cotton quilting weight fabric.

Here are the steps. First, come up through your fabric on your stitching line:

Push the needle back down through the fabric at your preferred stitch length:
Pull all the way through to form a simple stitch:

Come up through the stitch you just formed. Just split it right in the middle with your needle!
Pull the needle and thread all the way through:
Now go back down through the fabric - again, at your preferred stitch length:


Pull all the way through to form the next simple stitch:

And then, again, come up right in the middle of this stitch:

Just keep on stitching in this fashion:
and keep going:

Until you have a line of split stitches!
This is such a simple, easy to learn stitch! It is also a good stitch to use for quick outlines. According to 100 Stitches, the split stitch resembles a fine chain stitch and can even be used as a filling stitch. I think it is funny that this "split" stitch is #50 of 100 stitches!

This stitch is in the linked stitches section of 100 Stitches.

4 comments:

April said...

This is my favorite stitch! Being new to this, I found it very easy to learn and I just love the look of it!

Kim said...

Hi The Momma - I love this stitch too! - it gives such a nice fine yet detailed line - now that I know how to do it and how easy it is, I am going to use it a lot more.

Anonymous said...

I found your blog through Miss Paula's blog. I have to say this is one of the best sites I have found on embroidery!! I have recently went back to embroidery an I love it!! Very inspring!I am follwing and adding you to my blog list on my blog!
Tomorrow I am visitng with a hoop, thread and needle! I am gonna practice some of those stitches!

Kim said...

Hi Julie :) Welcome to the big B blog! Thank you for your sweet comment. I am so happy that you are enjoying the 100 Stitches - so far I have done 17 different stitches. There are many more to go and I can see towards the end of the book some of them look very complicated!