Saturday Stitches - Feathered Chain

Welcome back to Saturday Stitches!  : ) 

Today I want to show you variation on the detached chain stitch, often referred to as 'Lazy Daisy'.  It's easiest for me to work right to left with this one though I am not sure if that's correct or not.  In truth, I'm turning my cloth around a lot to get this border-effect.  It's pretty confusing at first but it's really pretty once you make a whole row of it. 

You come up at A, then go down again at A.  Leave the working thread loose so you have a loop.  When you come up at B, you essentially hook that loop you made.  That is how it gets anchored.  Then you go down at C, working diagonally down.

It's best not to weave the needle through the Aida cloth like that as it's hard on the threads and can distort the cloth.  I chose to set up the photo like that so you could see where to go down, and where to go up in one image.

The next detached chain will go diagonally up.  See how point C from the diagram above becomes point B for the next set of stitching?  It makes a beautiful row of stitches, especially with variegated threads.  If you can break it up to see each chain & stem, then you can see how it's spaced.  Again - I love practicing on the grid of Aida cloth, especially with something so geometric.

So above, you will go back in at A (don't pull the thread all the way through - leave a loop), and then come up at B, with the needle inside the loop in order to anchor it and create that daisy petal shape.  Then the stitch is put back in at C to create the stem.  From here, I can play and 'get loose' with the stitches... making them look more natural and organic.  You can also play around with combinations and colors to see what becomes of it!  Enjoy.

Thanks for swinging by!  : )  I don't mind if you Pin the tutorial images.  To see all Saturday Stitches, simply click on the Tutorials tab at the top of my blog, or use the search box in the top left corner.

Have a great day - and Happy Year of the Horse : )