Raised Close Herringbone Stitch

Hand embroidery stitches / Stitch Dictionary

Raised Close Herringbone

The Raised Close Herringbone stitch is usually worked in the shape of leaves and incorporated in floral sprays. It is a self-padding stitch which adds texture and interest to a spray. I recommend using a blunt tapestry needle when working Raised Close Herringbone Stitch. This avoids splitting the stitches.

Before you start, mark a leaf shape on your fabric. And use a pen that is easily removed, such as a quilters pen. The stitch will cover the outline.

How to Work Raised Close Herringbone stitch

Make a straight stitch from the base of the leaf to the middle, on the centre line, bringing the needle out slightly to the left of of the tip of the leaf.

Slide the needle under the straight stitch, as illustrated.

Raised Close Herringbone Stitch step 3 Insert the needle back into the fabric at the tip of the leaf, to the right of where the thread emerged, so that when you pull the needle through the fabric the working thread is crossed.

Bring your needle out on the left of the leaf tip and a little down the side of the leaf, and pass the needle under the straight bar stitch.

Take the needle back into the fabric a little down the side of the leaf on the right side of the leaf as illustrated, so that when you pull the needle through, the working thread is crossed.

Continue in this manner, working down the leaf. Widen your stitches as you work to follow the shape. As you come towards the base of the leaf, make your stitches slightly narrower to follow the leaf shape.

As you can see in my sample of Raised Close Herringbone Stitch I used a hand-dyed variegated thread with an autumn tone!

Have you seen my Stitchers Templates?

As someone who loves crazy quilting and embroidery, I designed these templates with fellow stitchers in mind. You can use them to create hundreds of different patterns to apply to your stitching and crazy quilting projects. They are easy to use, totally clear to help you position them easily. And they are compact enough to fit easily in your sewing box. Also, we laser cut them in our own studio to ensure the highest quality.

To see what they look like, there’s also a free ebook of patterns that accompanies them — visit the information pages. You can find out more about set 1 on this page. To find out more about set 2 visit this page
Or go directly to the Pintangle shop to purchase them.