Chicken Scratch is such a weird name for an embroidery technique! I can only imagine that it came about because this technique of embroidery on gingham involves sharp little stitches … like chicken’s feet maybe? Or maybe some of the stitches look like the hatch marks in the ground after chickens have been foraging for peckable foodstuffs? Whatever the case, for some reason, the name was used, and it stuck.

Gingham Embroidery, gingham lace, snowflaking, and gingham cross stitch are all interchangeable words for “chicken scratch,” and golly – I’d even venture to say they’re somewhat preferable! Chicken scratch makes me itchy.

Anyway – to get one with it – summer time is a perfect time to teach embroidery to kids, or to take up a quick project yourself, and gingham embroidery can fill the bill on both accounts. One of my plans this summer is to help keep my niece occupied by making a chicken scratch apron with her. I want to incorporate this drawn-thread-on-gingham technique with the chicken scratch, using a smaller checked gingham.

It just so happens that there’s a pretty good e-book available online that teaches step-by-step the methods and variations of gingham embroidery. The book is by Laurie Latour, and it’s called The Guide to Gingham Embroidery: Book One – Stitch & Learn Gingham Lace, Snowflaking, & Gingham Cross Stitch.