Raised Cross Stitch Flower Stitch

Raised Cross Stitch Flower Stitch

Hand embroidery stitches

Raised cross stitch flower sample 6I am always a little surprised when people are unaware of this stitch. Raised cross stitch flower is quick and easy to do and these little rose-like flowers are ideal to add to all sorts of hand embroidery projects.

Sample of Raised Cross Stitch Flower worked on crazy quiltingHere is a floral spray worked on my hussif  using Raised Cross Stitch Flower. I first worked a line of Alternating Up and Down stitch in perle cotton before adding the Raised cross stitch flowers in hand dyed cotton perle #5.

Raised cross stitch flower is also known as whipped cross stitch because a foundation of cross stitch is whipped around in a circle.  You can also use this as a silk ribbon stitch and many novelty threads come to life with this stitch.

How to work Raised cross stitch flower

Raised cross stitch flower 1First, make an upright cross. Bring your needle out at the centre of the cross, under the crossbar and on the right-hand side of the upright bar.

Raised cross stitch flower 2Commence whipping the bars of the cross by sliding your needle under the right hand spoke and passing the thread under the bar without picking up any fabric. This will whip the first spoke.

Raised cross stitch flower 3Turn your work 90 degrees in a clockwise direction to the next bar of the cross and repeat the action.

Raised cross stitch flowerContinue around the cross in a clockwise direction.

Raised cross stitch flower 5As you work, pack the crossbars fairly firmly by pushing them to the centre in order to create a neat little round disk.

Raised cross stitch flower 6When done, take the thread to the back as illustrated.

Using Different Threads

This sample was worked using perle # 5 cotton, however, experiment with different threads as this stitch looks good worked in thicker threads and fine ribbon.

Novelty threads often look interesting, so this is a stitch you can experiment with. You can also add a bead in the middle of the flower if you want to.

Raised cross stitch flower sample 1To demonstrate this, I have worked this stitch in a few different threads.

The first is a lightweight cotton knitting yarn that has a metallic blending thread through it.

This thread has the same thickness as a perle #3 cotton

Raised cross stitch flower sample 2
This next sample is 6 strands of cotton floss. Since this thread is readily available, most people have it but most people don’t think to use 6 strands of it!

Raised cross stitch flower sample 3
You can use silk ribbon and add a quick rose to silk ribbon embroidery. This sample is worked in 4 mm silk ribbon.

The last sample is a type of knitting ribbon. It is also about 4 mm wide and the ribbon is actually a tube. I call it tubular knitting yarn. It is very effective on this stitch too.

Raised cross stitch flower sample 4

 

In the crazy quilting sample below, the yarn was a crimped synthetic knitting yarn that looked like a type of Chainette. You can see some of it threaded through arrow stitch, along the edge of the lace.  The colour worked well on the block so I used it for roses too!

Experimentation leads to some interesting discoveries so have fun with it!

Raised cross stitch flower sample 5

 

Thread Twisties!

Close detail of thread twisties

Experimenting with different threads can be expensive, as you would normally have to buy a whole skein of each type of thread. So I have made up my thread twisties which are a combination of different threads to use in creative hand embroidery. These enable you to try out stitching with something other than stranded cotton. For the price of just a few skeins, you can experiment with a bundle of threads of luscious colours and many different textures.

These are creative embroiders threads. With them, I hope to encourage you to experiment. Each Twistie is a thread bundle containing silk, cotton, rayon and wool. Threads range from extra fine (the same thickness as 1 strand of embroidery floss) to chunky couchable textured yarns. All threads have a soft and manageable drape so that twisting them around a needle makes experimental hand embroidery an interesting journey rather than a battle.  Many are hand dyed by me. All are threads I use. You may find a similar thread twist but no two are identical.

You will find my thread twisties in the Pintangle shop here.

24 Comments

      1. HI Susan woven wheel you weave the thread under and over around – in this stitch you back stitch it. Have a look at woven wheel and you will see the difference. I have just realised I don’t have it in the stitch dictionary so I have added it to the list of stitches to add to the site next year.
        I just checked the page – perhaps the server dropped out for a second as I can see all the images

        sharonb
        Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *