Reversed Fly Stitch

Time for another 100 Stitches Plus post.  I have just learned to do the Reversed Fly Stitch.

Isn't this a beautiful stitch?  This is used as either a line or a filling stitch.

For my demonstration, I am using perle cotton floss - this is DMC Color Variations no. 4022.

The first step is to form a regular Fly Stitch.  Come up through the fabric:

pull all the way through:

go back into the fabric a little to the right of where your needle first emerged:

Start pulling the floss through and you can see a loop forming:

Now before pulling all the way through, come back up through the fabric - notice the needle is coming up  between and a bit below the spots where the floss first emerged and first went back into the fabric.  Also, the needle will pass over the floss loop as you pull:

When you have pulled all the way through, go back into the fabric and this will complete the Fly Stitch:

Now for the reversed part of the Reversed Fly Stitch!  Start by coming up through the fabric below your first Fly Stitch:

Pull all the way through and go back into the fabric a little to the right of where the floss just emerged:

 Start pulling through to form the loop:

and just like before, bring your needle up through the fabric as the loop is forming.  Notice that the needle is coming up above the first Fly Stitch:

Pull all the way through:

and go back into the fabric to complete the stitch:

Done!  This stitch looks really beautiful when done in columns or rows:

I did a column of three - I am going to practice with different spacing and trying this in rows.  

Here is a view of the underside of this stitch:

I learned this stitch from the book Embroidery Stitches by Mary Webb.