100 Stitches - Open Chain Stitch

Time to share the latest stitch I have learned from 100 Stitches. As I have learned the hard way, some stitches require precise guidelines to help with stitch width and stitch size consistency. This is definitely one of those stitches!
Using a ruler and a pencil with a light colored lead, I drew two parallel lines. I made my two lines 1/4" apart. The first step is to come up through your fabric at the start of the line on the left side.

Pull your floss all the way through and then hold it down against the fabric, right where it came out, so that it stays in place. Now push the needle down into the fabric on the start of the line on the right side. Bring the needle tip out on the left side line, making sure the floss stays under the needle tip:

Pull the floss all the way through. This will form a loop - make sure you don't pull tightly:

Now your floss is back on the left side, just like when you started out. Just make the same stitch as before - push your needle in on the right side, bring the needle tip out on the left side:

Pull through forming the loose loop:

And then back in on the right, out on the left side:
Just keep stitching in that same way until you have a beautiful stitched line. To finish, make a small stitch at each side of the final loop.
Like a lot of these stitches, the underside of the stitching is almost as interesting as the topside!

This stitch is much easier to understand by looking at the pictures than it is by reading the explanation. It took me a bit of practice, but now I really like stitching with it. That beautiful floss I used is dmc #4240 color variations perle cotton floss. This stitch is #42 and is in the linked stitches section of 100 Stitches.