Thursday, November 3, 2011

100 Stitches - Leaf Stitch

It's time for another stitch from my 100 Stitches journey!  This beautiful stitch is appropriately named the leaf stitch:


How perfect for a couple of autumn leaves! You also might notice some french knots :


To stitch this, 100 Stitches did their demonstration using a leaf shape, so I used one from my Autumn embroidery pattern packet and transferred it to my fabric.  I didn't transfer the little accent "leaf vein" lines, just the main center line.  That center line is important for this stitch.


For my demonstration I am using this gorgeous green pearl cotton floss.  The DMC number is 988:


This stitch seems to be all about sloping stitches criss-crossing over a center area.  I just have a single center line, but 100 Stitches had double lines spaced a bit apart to indicate that you are not stitching on a center line, but to either side of it.  The first step is to bring the floss up through the fabric on the left hand side of your center line:


pull the foss all the way through and take a sloping stitch to the opposite side of your leaf. 


Pull the floss all the way through:


Next, come back up through the fabric on the right hand side of your center line:


Take a sloping stitch to the opposite side of the leaf.  Notice, the floss is going over the first stitch:


Pull all the way through and this will form an x:


Come back up through the fabric just like your first stitch,  on the left hand side of the center line :


and make a sloping stitch across to the opposite side of the leaf.  Notice, this stitch is going over the second sloping stitch:



Pull all the way through and then come back up through the fabric on the right hand side of the center line:


Make your sloping stitch and then come back up through the fabric on the left hand side of the center line.  You are just alternating stitches on each side:


stitch back and forth until you are at the leaf tip:


This is an easy stitch to do


and leaves ;) a  nice, neat underside:


Now to finish this stitch, 100 Stitches suggested that you outline your leaf with either the stem stitch or the chain stitch.  I chose the stem stitch:


I used the back stitch for the stem.  I think it gives this leaf a beautiful finish!


This stitch is #13 and is in the flat stitches category of 100 Stitches.

23 comments:

Silvia LGD (Little Green Doll) said...

This stitch is great! I love how it looks! :)

Digna said...

Fantastic tuto. I think I would try to make one for my "printer drawer".
Thanks for sharing it.

donna!ee said...

beautiful stitch...and just in time to add to my autumn hoop art! thank you much for sharing :)

Denise :) said...

I love this -- your blog is such a terrific resource for me! I checked out the link you had for the stem stitch (that one wasn't familiar to me) but I'm still not sure I get what you're doing there. I'll have to look for a tutorial! :)

Anonymous said...

Wow!! I like this stitch! Very nice!

Sparklyjools said...

Hi Kim ,
I have recently found your blog and I love it! Super tutorial.
Julesx

Kim said...

Silvia - Thank you! I love how it looks too, I love the autumn colors but it is pretty in green so it would be nice for some spring stitching!
Digna- Thanks! I think you should try this one. I want to do this again with the chain stitch as the outlining stitch. I think it would look beautiful!
Donna!ee- Thank you! This stitch will be beautiful in your autumn hoop art.
Denise - Thank you! The link to the stem stitch goes way back to a post I did when I first started learning stitches out of the 100 Stitches book. I would learn the stitch, stitch it and take a picture of my finished stitch and post about it. As I became more comfortable learning new stitches, I started to document my progress in pictures - I am starting to go back and update my earlier posts with demonstration pictures of how I do each stitch. So far I have updated the lazy daisy stitch post.
Miss Paula - Thank you!
Hi Jules - Welcome! So glad you found my blog!

Sparklyjools said...

Thanks so much for dropping by and following my blog Kim. I have added your button and put a link on my resources page, so my readers can share in my lucky 'find' of your blog.

Berit is just beautiful btw (as is Rogo, who reminds me of my beloved Bracken, sadly missed).x

Kim said...

Thank you Jules! Your blog is so lovely. I'm sorry to hear about Bracken - we just have them for way too short a time.

Angela Lee said...

As usual, just super! What are your plans with this one? I'm excited to find out.

Farah said...

Beautiful stitch like always and my mind is working for these beautiful single leaves to embroidered on a tray cover may be...
Happy if you come to see me at
http://craftaworld.blogspot.com/
with love from
Farah

Angela Lee said...

Hey, BTW, where did you get your pen? I've been using pencil, and it doesn't always show up on darker fabrics.

Kim said...

Thank you Angela! I bought this pen at Joann's and I know they also have them at Michaels. It is the Dritz brand "mark-b-gone" water soluble ink, this one is the medium tip.
Thank you Farah - I think these leaves would be gorgeous on a tray cover!

regina said...

Olá.
Não tem como receber newsletter do seu blog?
Eu o amei. Parabéns!!!
Beijos
Regina

A Creative Life said...

The stitch looks great. Looks perfect for the leaf in green and burnt orange.

http://rashisquiltblog.blogspot.com/

Kim said...

Ola Regina, Obrigada! I have added a subscription button on this blog - it is below the "followers" on the left side of the page :)
Hi Rashida - Thank you! and thank you for the link to your lovely blog!

Neidy Ruiz Correa said...

hola! Kimberly, mi nombre es Neidy tengo una hija de 12 años y su nombre también es Kimberly; me encanta haber encontrado tu blog ya que me gustan también los bordados aunque no tengo conocimiento de muchas puntadas ni como aplicarlas espero aprovechar al máximo tu blog hasta pronto DIOS te bendiga y saludos de kimberly.

Kim said...

Neidy Hola! Estoy tan contenta de que encontré a mi blog :)
El bordado es muy divertido. Incluso si usted sabe algunos puntos de sutura, se puede crear un hermoso proyecto.
Su hija y yo compartimos el mismo nombre! Eso es tan bonito!
Gracias por tu comentario. Por favor, disfrutar de este blog :)

beefi8 said...

These leaves are so beautiful!

Kim said...

beefi8 - Thank you!

Queeniepatch said...

Great and very clean instructions, far better than I have seen in books. Thanks for making it easy!

Kim said...

Hello Queeniepatch :) Thank you!! I am glad this is helpful!

Anonymous said...

Sarah