Backstitch

Detail of the Bayeux Tapestry showing text and outlines in stem stitch.

Basic backstitch

Backstitch or back stitch and its variants stem stitch, outline stitch and split stitch are a class of embroidery and sewing stitches in which individual stitches are made backward to the general direction of sewing. In embroidery, these stitches form lines and are most often used to outline shapes and to add fine detail to an embroidered picture. It is used as a hand-sewing utility stitch to attach definitively and strongly two pieces of fabric together. It is also used for writing.

Applications

Basic backstitch is used to outline shapes in modern cross-stitch, in Assisi embroidery and occasionally in blackwork.

A versatile and easy to work stitch, backstitch is ideal for following both smooth and complicated outlines and as a foundation row for more complex embroidery stitches such as herringbone ladder filling stitch. Although superficially similar to Holbein stitch, commonly used in blackwork embroidery, backstitch differs in the way it is worked, requiring a single journey only to complete a line of stitching.

Stem stitch is an ancient technique; surviving mantles embroidered with stem stitch by the Paracas people of Peru are dated to the first century BCE.^[1] Stem stitch is used in the Bayeux Tapestry, an embroidered cloth probably dating to the later 1070s, for lettering and to outline areas filled with couching or laid-work.^[2]

Split stitch in silk is characteristic of Opus Anglicanum, an embroidery style of Medieval England.^[2]

Description of the technique

Stitch diagram for working Back stitch

Backstitch is most easily worked on an even-weave fabric, where the threads can be counted to ensure regularity, and is generally executed from right to left. The stitches are worked in a 'two steps forward, one step back' fashion, along the line to be filled, as shown in the diagram.

Neatly worked in a straight line this stitch resembles chain stitching produced by a sewing machine.

The back stitch can also be used as a hand sewing utility stitch to attach two pieces of fabric together.

Variants

Variants of backstitch include:

• Basic backstitch or point de sable.
• Threaded backstitch
• Pekinese stitch, a looped interlaced backstitch
• Stem stitch, in which each stitch overlaps the previous stitch to one side, forming a twisted line of stitching, with the thread passing below the needle. It is generally used for outlining shapes and for stitching flower stems^[3] and tendrils.
• Whipped stem stitch
• Outline stitch, sometimes distinguished from stem stitch in that the thread passes above rather than below the needle.
• Split stitch, in which the needle pierces the thread rather than returning to one side.

Stitch gallery

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  Pekinese stitch

• 

  Stem stitch

• 

  Whipped stem stitch

• 

  Split stitch

See also

Look up stem stitch in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• Assisi embroidery
• Blackwork embroidery
• Cross-stitch
• Embroidery stitches

Notes

1. ↑ Enthoven, Jacqueline: The Creative Stitches of Embroidery, Van Norstrand Rheinhold, 1964, ISBN 0-442-22318-8, p. 65
2. 1 2 Levey, S. M. and D. King, The Victoria and Albert Museum's Textile Collection Vol. 3: Embroidery in Britain from 1200 to 1750, Victoria and Albert Museum, 1993, ISBN 1-85177-126-3
3. ↑ Reader's Digest Complete Guide to Needlework. The Reader's Digest Association, Inc. (March 1992). ISBN 0-89577-059-8, p. 48

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to embroidery stitches.

• Caulfield, S.F.A., and B.C. Saward, The Dictionary of Needlework, 1885.
• Eaton, Jan. Mary Thomas's Dictionary of Embroidery Stitches, Revised by Jan Eaton. London: Hodder&Stoughton, 1989. ISBN 0-340-51075-7
• Enthoven, Jacqueline: The Creative Stitches of Embroidery, Van Norstrand Rheinhold, 1964, ISBN 0-442-22318-8
• Reader's Digest, Complete Guide to Needlework. The Reader's Digest Association, Inc. (March 1992). ISBN 0-89577-059-8
• Levey, S. M. and D. King, The Victoria and Albert Museum's Textile Collection Vol. 3: Embroidery in Britain from 1200 to 1750, Victoria and Albert Museum, 1993, ISBN 1-85177-126-3

Embroidery
Styles	Assisi Bargello Berlin work Blackwork Broderie anglaise Broderie perse Candlewicking Canvas work Celtic cross stitch Counted-thread Crewel Cross-stitch Cutwork Darning Drawn thread work Free embroidery Goldwork Hardanger Machine Needlepoint Quillwork Smocking Stumpwork Surface Suzani Whitework
Stitches	Backstitch Blanket Buttonhole Chain stitch Couching and laid work Cross stitches Embroidery stitch Featherstitch Holbein Parisian Running Satin stitch Sashiko Shisha Straight stitch Tent stitch
Tools and materials	Aida cloth Embroidery hoop Embroidery thread Evenweave Perforated paper Plainweave Plastic canvas Sampler Slip Yarn
Regional and historical	Art needlework Bunka shishu Brazilian Chikan Chinese English Indian Islamic Jacobean Kaitag Kantha Kasuti Korean Mountmellick Nakshi kantha Persian Opus Anglicanum Rushnyk Ukrainian Vietnamese Vyshyvanka Zardozi
Embroideries	Butler-Bowden Cope Bayeux Tapestry Bradford carpet Hastings Embroidery Hestia tapestry Magna Carta (An Embroidery) Margaret Layton's jacket New World Tapestry Overlord embroidery Quaker Tapestry Fragments of a Cope with the Seven Sacraments
Designers and embroiderers	Emilie Bach Leon Conrad Kaffe Fassett Juanita Growing Thunder Fogarty Marilyn Leavitt-Imblum François Lesage Ann Macbeth May Morris Jessie Newbery Charles Germain de Saint Aubin Mary Elizabeth Turner Teresa Wentzler Kathleen Whyte Erica Wilson Lily Yeats
Organizations and museums	Embroiderers' Guild (UK) Embroiderer's Guild of America Embroidery Software Protection Coalition Needlework Development Scheme Royal School of Needlework Chung Young Yang Embroidery Museum Han Sang Soo Embroidery Museum
Related	Appliqué Crochet Knitting Lace Needlework Quilting