The herringbone stitch is a crossed stitch. It’s commonly used to fill areas with a low amount of waste yarn in the back.
Here is how it’s done
1 // Before making the stitch you can mark 2 parallel lines on the fabric to make it easier to keep the right spacing. Then imagine a triangle between the 2 lines with the point where the thread comes out as the left bottom corner. So now when you stick the needle in the upper line you do it just a little bit on the right of the upper corner of the triangle. Then come up just a little bit left of the upper corner of the triangle.
2 // Repeat the step above, but upside down. The triangle has it’s base now in the upper line and the pointy corner at the bottom.
// this stitch produces 2 dashed lines of stitches in the back
The herringbone stitch is ideal for filling long stretched areas. It works great for leaves, flowers or braided stuff. Don’t stretch the stitch too high because it tends to contract the fabric between the 2 lines if your tension of fabric is not right or simply the space between both lines is too big. Try not to pull the thread too much after each stitch or the fabric is more likely to contract in between.
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