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. My tip when working Raised Close Herringbone Stitch is to use a blunt tapestry needle to avoid splitting the stitches.
Before you start mark a leaf shape on your fabric. Use a pen that easily removed such as a quilters pen. The stitch will cover the outline.
How to hand embroider 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 on the left of of the tip of the leaf.
Slide the needle under the straight stitch as illustrated.
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 shape of a leaf.
As you can see in my sample of Raised Close Herringbone Stitch I used a hand dyed variegated thread that is autumn toned!
Have you seen my Stitchers Templates?
As someone who loves crazy quilting and embroidery, I designed these templates with other stitchers in mind. With my templates, you can create hundreds of different patterns to apply to your stitching and crazy quilting projects. They are easy to use, totally clear so you can position them easily and they are compact in your sewing box.
To see what they look like, find out about the free ebook of patterns that come with 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.
My sample is here http://thendralscraft.blogspot.com/2010/10/tast-2010-raised-closed-herringbone.html
I love this stitch and all its possibilities.
Blogged: http://mindblogglings.blogspot.com/2010_10_01_archive.html#4032544168373925554
I have posted my samples on my blog & flickr
http://linsartyblobs.blogspot.com/2010/10/tast-31.html
Here are my leaves: http://textileexplorations.blogspot.com/2010/10/tast2-raised-close-herringbone-stitch.html
I've added two versions of this lovely stitch in the Pool andt
http://www.flickr.com/photos/crazyqstitcher/
http://crazyqstitcher.wordpress.com/
I wanted to make a few more borders, but I couldn’t resist this stitch. My sampler is here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/28957501@N04/5036943824/
And I wrote about some of the details on my blog:
http://fat-quarter.blogspot.com/2010/09/raised-close-herringbone-stitch.html
I'm posting the new stitch on my blog. What a cool one! Thanks.
Wendy use anything to hand – I usually use linen but most of the surface stitches can be worked on anything from denim to silk
This is wonderrful! I already have a needlepoint background stitched and waiting for surface embellishment – I'll get right on it. Thanks! Leaves – my favorite thing.
I'd like to join in at this very late stage (I'm happy to work at my own pace!), but I'm not sure what material to use to start with. Any suggestions?
Very interesting stitch, thanks a lot