Making

your mark
An inspirational e-book exploring
simple and versatile hand stitch
techniques for textile art

A freebie by
TextileArtist.org
 Welcome to Making your mark, an inspirational e-book exploring
simple and versatile hand stitch techniques for textile art.
We want to give you a glimpse into how some of the world’s most
inventive textile artists are using simple hand stitch techniques in
innovative ways to create their breathtaking work.
Our aim is that you’ll feel inspired to:
• Experiment with new and exciting ways to use your favourite stitches
• Push the boundaries of embroidery as a means of creative expression
• Develop an open and playful approach to your personal process
Let’s dive in!
Joe & Sam Pitcher

Making your mark An freebie by www.TextileArtist.org

 Straight stitch
Straight stitch (also known as Running stitch) is often perceived as
the most basic of hand stitches.
But ‘basic’ doesn’t mean boring or easy. In fact, despite how simple
it is to execute, straight stitch is surprisingly versatile as a means of
creative expression.
Innovative contemporary artists are pushing the boundaries of this
traditional technique and achieving a multitude of amazing effects by:
• Varying the way the stitch is spaced
• Varying the length of the stitches
• Experimenting with different and unusual thread types
• Exploring changes in direction

Making your mark A freebie by www.TextileArtist.org

In Winter Solstice, 62 Group member and one half of the legendary teaching duo Double Trouble
Jean Littlejohn uses curved rows of running stitch spaced in a fairly conventional way (in that
more thread is seen on the topside than the underside) to convey a sense of movement and to
reflect the routines and rhythms of everyday life.

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Curator and artist Elisabeth Rutt uses much longer straight stitches in a more ordered way in
her piece In Case I Forget. Against the chaos of the painted background the stitch brings a sense
of unity and clarity to the piece.

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In the figurative piece Peter, Emily Jo Gibbs uses running stitch in several ways: traditional rows of
running stitch outline the defining features of the subject, short curved lines create movement in the
subject’s hair and longer stitches in various colours and at different angles represent the scuffing on
the bottom of the subject’s skateboard in graphic style.

Making your mark A freebie by www.TextileArtist.org

 Back stitch
Back stitch is the nearest hand stitch to machine stitch and is strong

enough to hold two pieces of fabric together.
It can be used to create unbroken lines in a way that the basic straight
stitch or running stitch can’t. This makes for great illustrative effects and
means back stitch is the go-to technique for what many textile artists
refer to as ‘drawing with the needle’.
However, it can also be used to create broken lines and, because back
stitch stands proud of the fabric in a way that straight stitch doesn’t,
it offers an excellent way of creating texture within a piece too.

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Anne Biss is a member of the Society of Designer Craftsmen and Prism Textiles and often uses back
stitch in the creation of her textile maps. When used in combination with heavier threads, back
stitch is used to bring certain elements ‘off the page’ (because it is a raised stitch). By varying the
weight and colour of threads, the lines of the map become more or less prominent.

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Louise Baldwin, who has exhibited work throughout Britain, America, Japan and Germany uses
back stitch to add texture and pattern to her work. In the piece You Can Never Have Too Many
Cardigans, she created a collection of small square shapes using a single back stitch for each
edge in various weights, types and colours of thread.

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And Chair of the 62 Group of Textile Artists Sue Stone relied heavily on back stitch in the creation
of her piece Portrait of a Lincolnshire Lad. She made a series of somewhat broken lines to create
the features on the faces of her subjects using a thin brown DMC thread, but also employed the
more common unbroken back stitch to create the pattern on the shirt of the older figure and to
add background interest in the form of text.
Making your mark A freebie by www.TextileArtist.org
 Layering stitches
Let’s take another look at straight stitch but explore how, even with
such a simple technique, it’s possible to create areas of intricate
detail and depth by layering the stitches.
A multitude of intriguing effects are possible by layering stitches and
experimenting with the direction and length of the stitches, the way
the stitches are spaced and the types of thread used.

Making your mark A freebie by www.TextileArtist.org

Award-winning fine art embroidery artist Susie Vickery is well known for her appliquéd figurative textiles
but is always looking to push her use of techniques. This sample was made during her time as a student on
Sue Stone’s online course Exploring Texture & Pattern and demonstrates the effectiveness of overlayering
a simple row of running stitches going in one direction with another row going in a different direction.
It also shows how various patterns can be achieved by carefully selecting thread combinations for layering.
Making your mark A freebie by www.TextileArtist.org
Melissa Zexter creates embroidered photography that has been exhibited across the US and often
builds juxtaposition and layers of complexity with thread. In the piece Woman in a Veil she has used
straight stitches in various bright colours to create shapes, on top of which she has criss-crossed
more stitches. She has left the ends of her thread hanging to create yet another layer of interest.

Making your mark A freebie by www.TextileArtist.org

And in Time and Tide by 62 Group member Jean Littlejohn, we see that layering is equally effective
in building texture with a single neutral thread. Once again Jean has used simple straight stitches but
has created a sense of movement, perhaps to represent the ebb and flow of the tide, by building up
several areas of density layering stitch upon stitch.

Making your mark A freebie by www.TextileArtist.org

 Appliqué
Appliqué is the attachment of smaller pieces of fabric to a larger piece,
often of contrasting colour or texture.
It was developed as a means of repairing clothing, but is being used by
contemporary textile artists in really inventive ways:
• To create a collage of fabrics similar to a paper collage
• To add depth and definition to an image
• To build up patterns
• To build layers of interest
It’s also a very effective way of creating a background of colour, pattern
and texture for a large piece of work quickly and painlessly. Many artists
enjoy making the base for their pieces in this way as it eliminates the
blank page instantly, giving a kickstart to the creative process.
Fabrics can be applied using various hand or machine stitches, including
the most basic of stitches: running stitch and back stitch.

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In her piece The Mysteries, South African artist Willemien De Villiers applied a bookbinder’s cloth
over a base cloth leaving nine circular motifs open. She then built up layers by applying knitted thread,
lace and printed fabric to certain areas in a loose unstructured way. Willemien told us, “This method
not only adds visual texture and depth, but also saves time when working on a large piece. It gives me a
way to create separate foundation areas a lot quicker than embellishing them by hand.”
Making your mark A freebie by www.TextileArtist.org
Member of the Society of Designer Craftsmen Debbie Lyddon created her piece Marshscape 1,
which is part of a series of work inspired by the saltmarshes in Norfolk UK, by applying several
pieces of fabric to create a collage of sorts. She has used hand stitch in both a functional way
(to  hold the pieces of fabric together) and a decorative way by adding embellishment to the broken
down fabrics with techniques like straight stitch and needle weaving.
Making your mark A freebie by www.TextileArtist.org
And Sue Stone, whose work has been featured in international publications like Embroidery Magazine
and Fiber Art Now, used several layers of applied fabrics to make the piece Bow.

The background fabric is a coarsely woven natural linen. A second layer was created by applying a beige
shape in a fabric that is more tightly woven, which was then decorated with a loosely spaced back stitch.
She then added a layer of flesh fabric for the face and stitched detail into it, again using back stitch, a layer
of grey fabric for the dress and a layer of red fabric for the jacket and the bow. Then, after the eyes were
stitched, she added the gold organza for the sun glasses and, finally, the small areas of darker fabric for the
earrings and the frame of the glasses.

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 Cross stitch
Cross stitch is often associated more with crafting than art, but graphic designer and author of CMYK
Embroidery Evelin Kasikov has taken this traditional technique and given it a truly contemporary
twist. The joy for this artist is combining mathematical precision with handmade craft.

Evelin told us, “I take great pleasure in working out the grid and the integral structure of the piece.
Nothing is random. For instance I recently did two wall installations for an ad agency, two different
designs but both based on 25mm square grid unit. For a 3m x 5m wall this is a high degree of accuracy.”

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 Seed stitch
Seed stitch is the go-to technique for Richard McVetis, who studied constructed textiles at The Royal
College of Art and is now best known for his meticulously embroidered drawings and objects.

This technique is achieved by creating a series of tiny straight stitches or back stitches taken at all
angles and in any direction, but more or less of an equal length. These small stitches are usually used
to fill in part of a design as is evident in Richard’s piece Light Abstraction, in which the stitches are
placed quite irregularly and without making a formal pattern.

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 Couching
Couching, which is sometimes called laid thread work, is a technique in which threads are laid across the
surface of a fabric and held in place with stitches either in the same or a different thread. A huge variety
of textural and patterned effects are achievable with couching depending on the holding stitch and the
thread combinations.

In the piece Unfollow, author and internationally renowned textile artist Tilleke Schwarz has used couching
to create a chaotic area of raised threads. Fairly thin threads are held in place using small straight stitches.

Making your mark A freebie by www.TextileArtist.org