Laced Herringbone stitch is a line of Herringbone that is laced with a thread. Most often I use a contrasting thread. Lacing any embroidery stitch with a contrasting thread or ribbon quickly creates an interesting variety. You can lace with novelty threads and yarns. Metallic threads can be very effective or you can use a fine ribbon. You can also build a very interesting filling stitch by working Laced herringbone row upon row and lace in the same thread.
How to work Laced Herringbone stitch
Herringbone is easily and quickly laced.
Work a line of herringbone stitch loosely — as the lacing in the second part of this stitch will tighten the stitches slightly. If you need a reminder on how to work Herringbone stitch here is a tutorial on how to do it.
Bring your thread up at the base of the first Herringbone stitch. Slide the needle under the herringbone crossbar in an upward direction. Pull your thread through under the bar.
TIP! When lacing, use a tapestry needle to avoid catching or splitting the Herringbone stitches. When you lace, take care to thread the needle behind the bar and not to pick up any of the fabric.
To start lacing the foundation stitches, bring the thread up from the back of the fabric on the lower line at the left side of the base of the first stitch.
Move across the crossed bar, turn the needle, and, pointing the needle downwards, pass it under the next bar of the herringbone stitch. Pull your thread through under the bar so that the first top cross of the herringbone stitch is laced.
Next, to lace the bottom cross of the herringbone stitch, move across the crossed bars, turn the needle and pass it under the next bar in an upward direction as illustrated. Pull your thread through under the bar.
Work along the herringbone foundation stitches in this manner. When you reach the end of the line, take your thread to the back of the fabric and tie it off.
Avoid distorting the fabric by keeping the lacing thread slightly loose.
Laced Herringbone stitch Samples
You can use this stitch in many ways. Here a line of Herringbone stitch is worked in perle #5 cotton thread and then laced with a fine metallic braid.
Laced Herringbone stitch can be worked over ribbon. You can do this two ways. The first is to secure the ribbon with minute stitches then work a line of Laced Herringbone over the ribbon. The second method is to work a line of Laced herringbone before threading the ribbon underneath the line of stitches. In the sample above, I worked herringbone in perle #5 cotton thread and then laced with a fine metallic braid then I threaded a soft rayon ribbon underneath it.
In the sample above I worked two lines of Herringbone stitch in a rayon thread over some pink ribbon. I next laced it with the grey thread. Between the two lines of Laced Herringbone, I added some beads.
If you take a look, the sample at the top of the post also has two lines of laced herringbone with beads running down the middle. The technique can look very different by simply changing the lacing thread, spacing, and beads. The detail comes from one of my hussifs which you can read about here.
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Floral themed Stitchers templates for hand embroiderers
With this set of stitchers templates, you can create your own floral-themed designs. You can easily combine petal and leaf shapes with the curved edges of the templates to create all sorts of floral and organic motifs. You will be able to create hundreds of different patterns to embroider. It is the ultimate mix-and-match fun for stitchers.
The set comes with an e-book with instructions, filled with patterns and designs that you can create and use as jumping-off spots for your own designs.
They are available now in the shop here
Enjoy your stitching!
Oh I cannot explain how much I love these combined stitches! Once I watched an artist yrs ago in Asia do “stacked(?) herringbone with 3 separate Herringbones w 3 needles and threads and did the stitch w all at once weaving the threads together as she went along! I did not understand a word of instruction, but it was exquisite. It was being used on a a hemline and the artist used the three threads, each a different weight and color done very packed together leaving what really looked like more of a braided trim at the hem of the clothing item- I couldn’t even get the exact idea of what that was, it was so exotic. But I have thought many times now I wished I’d saved it to share and try to cover the wear of a cuff on one of my favorite linen shirts!
These combinations have so many uses!, and they ALL turn out exciting & beautiful!
As far as I’m concerned, the linen you are using looks to be just the absolute perfect weight and evenness of weave as any I’ve seen or used if the scale is what I think. Would you share more about it and how to get my hands on some? All I am left with in our area are big box craft stores that usually do not offer nice linen or even the full DMC floss line, much less different types of threads!c. My only avenue is the internet. Any information would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you for all you do, Kim
Thanks Kim pleased you like the stitch. The fabric is Lugana. It is an even weave fabric that is a blend of cotton and Viscose. You can get in 25 cnt, 28 cnt and 32 cnt. Probably other counts too but they are the main ones I use. I am sure if you google it you will find suppliers near you.
I would love to learn your beautiful stitches. They are beautiful ❤️