Open Wave Stitch

Time for another 100 Stitches post!  This the Open Wave Stitch.  

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

This is a filling stitch but since you can see the fabric under the stitch, it give a delicate, lacy effect.

I did four rows for my stitching and for each row I a different color of perle cotton floss.  From lightest to darkest, the DMC color numbers are 4160, 962, 3832 and 814. 

The first step is to make a series of evenly spaced vertical Straight Stitches:

That completes the first row.  For the second row, I started with a slightly darker colored floss.  I came up through the fabric below the first row: 

I pulled the floss all the way through and then slid the needle under the Straight Stitch directly above.  Notice the needle is not going back into the fabric, just sliding under the Straight Stitch:

I pulled the floss all the way through and then went back into the fabric:

This completed the first stitch on the second row. 

I just repeated the same steps to finish the second row.

For the third row, I used a darker colored floss.  I did the exact same steps as the second row:

But this time, I went under two of the "legs" of the looped Straight Stitches above:

I repeated that to complete the row:

For the fourth row, I used the darkest colored floss and just repeated the steps used in row three:

Done!