Stem Stitch



Stem stitch is also known as crewel stitch, stalk stitch and South Kensington stitch. Stem stitch is often worked to outline a shape






Work from left to right taking small regular stitches with a forwards and backwards motion along the line of the design. The thread is kept to the right of the needle after picking up a small piece of material. This means that it always emerges from the left side of the previous stitch.
If the thread is worked to the left of the needle, the stitch produced is slightly different, and is known as outline stitch.