I think French knots are my all time favourite embroidery stitch. I know that some people can’t stand them but a little practice goes a long way with this one if this is one you haven’t tried before or don’t like I would recommend practicing on a scrap piece of fabric until you are comfortable with the motion of this stitch.

• Push the needle up through the fabric in the place you want your knot to approximately sit (A)

• Wrap the thread around the needle (the number of wraps affects the size of the knot) I tend to use three wraps

• Take the tip of the needle back through the fabric as close to the original hole as possible (B). If the same hole is used then the knot can be pulled all the way through to the back of the fabric

• Use your thumb over the thread wraps and gently pull the thread through, being careful of tangles.

Commonly French knots are used in isolation or in groups as in the blossom embroidery in the header picture, but can also be used to fill areas, such as in this negative space word art. (You need to REALLY love French knots if you are going to attempt a piece like this.)

They can also be used effectively as a counter point to more linear stitches such as in this blue piece of intuitive embroidery (where they also fill small gaps between the linear stitches.)

Want to try this stitch? It’s one I suggest using in my heart stitch sampler kit, flamingo flower plant kit, floral sampler kit and spring blossom kit.

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