French Knot Stitch

FRENCH KNOT STITCH

              

 The French Knot stitch is often used to depict flowers, blossoms, and berries on embroidery designs or just as a raised stitch to give texture. It can be used to add flower heads to a design or as in the design on the right by Nikki Franklin of The Stitchery, https://www.nickifranklin.com/ as a whole tree!

 Whilst it seems a little tricky at first, when practiced it becomes very fast and easy. The stitch is made by bringing the thread through the ground material at the spot where the knot is required. The thread is then held down firmly with the left thumb and first finger.

Wrap the thread no more than twice around the needle, use a thicker thread if you want a thicker knot. There are links below to help you learn how to tie the stitch.

 You can stitch French knots with one, two, three or more threads. The greater the number of threads, the larger and chunkier the knot will appear. Use the smallest needle head you can, probably something like a milliner’s needle where the eye is roughly the same size as the needle. Using a ‘too big’ needle may cause the knot to pull through.

 For any stitch the first ‘port of call’ is The Royal School of Needlework Stitch Bank, this is an excellent site with almost every stitch you can think of:  https://rsnstitchbank.org/wall

 Or try the Gathered site at: https://www.gathered.how/needlework/embroidery/how-to-do-french-knots/

 Tips if you have problems with this stitch: https://www.needlenthread.com/2018/01/5-tips-for-successful-french-knots-every-time.html