If you are a beginner at hand embroidery, one of the first stitches you will probably learn is the chain stitch. The chain stitch has many variations, and one of them is the wheat stitch. This stitch, illustrated below, is simple to work and produces a line that resembles a shaft of wheat. The stitch can be used in all kinds of applications - it would make great background greenery in flowers and gardens, it can also serve as a seam embellishment in crazy quilting, and it can serve as a simple decorative line. Of course, it can also work as individual stalks of wheat.

Below, you can see a tiny example of wheat stitch used in church embroidery, worked in one strand of YLI silk on linen. This example is rather small, but you can see how the wheat motif is simple to execute using the wheat stitch. If you vary the types and weights of your threads, you will achieve a different look.



Experiment with this stitch! It has a lot of potential as a useful stitch in any embroiderer's repetoire.

The video below is not filmed using my new contraption - rather, it's one I've had in the works for a while. Still, it came out "ok" - you'll get the gist of the stitch.

Have fun with it!



For more hand embroidery video tutorials, please visit the Video Library of Stitches Index.

Labels: beginner embroidery, Hand embroidery stitches, pictures, video tutorials