5 Embroidery Stitches for Filling a Space
Whether it’s flower petals or abstract squares, you’re going to need to fill areas of your fabric with stitch at some point! Here’s 5 stitches to give you a nice variety of effects and textures - all suitable for complete beginners! Click of the name of each stitch mentioned to see a video tutorial
This is one of the simplest ways to fill a space. Brick stitch is done by stitching staggered lines of back stitch side by side. So once you know your back stitch you're good to go! You want to make sure your stitches don’t line up with the previous line or it may start to look stripey. Imagine how bricks sit in a wall - not in line with the row above and below.
Similarly, many line stitches (stem, chain, split) can be placed side by side to fill a space.
Another simple but very effective way to fill a small area. Long straight stitches are laid side by side to give a cohesive block of colour. The fewer threads used here the better, as they lie flatter on the fabric - I usually use just 2 strands. Ideally you’ll end up with an area that looks like a piece of sating fabric - that’s how the stitch gets its name! It’s best kept to small areas though. If your stitches are too more than about an inch long, they won’t stay in place.
You can also layer your satin stitch for a padded effect if you want more depth
This gives a similar effect to satin stitch, but allows you to fill a larger space. You can use a single row of long and short to give an uneven edge ( like in first image below), or completely fill the space with overlapping stitches.
It can also be used to blend different shades and colours together (like the second example here). This blending effect is known as Silk Shading or Thread Painting.
This is a lovely way to fill a space and still have your background fabric showing through. Long stitches are laid over each other to form a grid, then small stitches secure them at their intersections. You also have the option to make those securing stitches more elaborate, or fill in those small squares created by the grid.
Variation: Battlement
This is another one that lets the background fabric show through. Small straight stitches are done in all different directions to give the look of seeds thrown on the ground. You can also layer up these stitches to cover up that background fabric and create a beautiful textured effect.
I often think it looks like sprinkles on a cake so it look great in variegated thread too!
