Turkey work is a great stitch to add some texture to a piece of embroidery. This stitch works well with multiple strands are used together, they can be the same colour or strands of different shades

• Bring the thread down through the fabric (B) from the top leaving a tail (A)

• Push the needle up through the fabric close to the first hole (C)

• Take the needle back down through the fabric but leaving a loop. A finger or a pen can be used to loop around to create loops of the same diameter

• For the next stitch, create this so that it lies across the end of one loop (D) and the beginning of the next (E). pull the thread tight to the fabric ie don’t make a loop

• Repeat creating a loop stitch followed by a standard stitch

• Each loop can be stitched in rows or randomly to fill an area

• It might be necessary to hold the loops already made out of the way so they don’t get caught

• Once all the loops have been made snip through them to give the ‘hairy’ texture

• The strands can be trimmed down to the same length or left uneven depending on the style of the finished piece.

Modern embroidery artists such as Salt Stitches and Katy Biele use this stitch frequently in their work. This picture is of a Salt Stitches DIY kit that I embroidered.

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