33 Useful Embroidery Stitches

The straight stitch is a fundamental straight line stitch that is used as a building block for various other stitches, such as the running stitch and back stitch. This tutorial has a written step-by-step guide in addition to a video tutorial.

The running stitch is one of the simplest and most fundamental embroidery stitches.

The stem stitch embroidery makes a beautiful line stitch. It makes a rope-like line that varies in thickness depending on the thread you use.

A back stitch is a simple hand stitch that involves sewing the thread back and forth. The stitch appears to be made up of small touching stitches at the top, while the back overlaps.

Split stitch is another simple embroidery stitch. It can be used for outlining as well as embroidering closely-packed lines of it for fill-stitching.

The seed stitch is essentially random small stitches that look like seeds.

The embroidery chain stitch is a great way of sewing embroidery outline stitches and lettering. It is simple and easy, definitely an essential stitch for beginners to pick up.

The detached chain stitch is sometimes referred to as the single chain stitch. It looks like a teardrop or flower petal shape that can be used to build into other motifs.

This lazy daisy chain stitch is also known as a detached chain stitch. It is used for filling in decorated borders or creating tiny flowers. This tutorial guides you on this stitch and it also introduces you to variations of this stitch.

The blanket stitch can be used as a surface stitch as well as an edge stitch for appliqué projects. It is commonly used to finish the raw edges of blankets and other fabrics, as well as to tack down folded hems.

Buttonhole stitch embroidery is similar to blanket stitch embroidery. It is used for edging or for creating lovely flower wheels.

The feather stitch is a delicate form of chain stitch commonly used in plant embroidery. It's a great stitch to create the shape of branches, twigs, vines and water plants.

The fly stitch is a basic embroidery stitch that is incredibly versatile. Sew them vertically and horizontally to produce decorative borders, or scatter them to create textured tree trunks or branches, detailed leaves, flocks of birds, and more.

Fern stitches are beautiful delicate stitches for, you guessed it, fern leaves! They also make lovely borders for monograms and smaller designs.

The Chevron stitch is an easy zig-zag with a cap or small line on each peak. It makes a great decorative border.

Unlike most embroidery stitches, cross-stitch is a type of counted thread embroidery done on fabric with an even and open weave, such as Aida. Cross stitches are timeless and versatile stitches that allow you to start many projects with simple X-shaped stitches. Get the beginner cross-stitch patterns while you're there!

The crossed threads in a herringbone stitch form a V-shaped stitch that resembles a continuous twill weave. This stitch can be used to hem a garment, decorate a crazy quilt, fill in blank spaces with a continuous line, or create a lovely border.

The French knot is a great stitch for making small flowers or filling the centers of larger flowers. This tutorial gives tips on how to make learning a French knot much easier.

The Colonial Knot is very similar to the French Knot. The main difference is that the Colonial knots have a raised textured appearance and stand more upright. They can be sewn individually or in groups to create floral motifs.

Although Bullion knots can be a little tricky and challenging on your first few attempts, they are amazing at creating texture and beautiful flowers.

The pistil stitch is an elongated French knot that is commonly used to embroider flowers. This is because this stitch is a combination of a straight stitch and a French knot that looks like the pistil of a flower.

Danish knots are great ways to add a little flair and texture to your embroidery. They are tiny triangular knots that can be used to make eyes, fill up spaces, and basically anything that you may need a triangle for.

The satin stitch embroidery forms a smooth surface akin to that of satin, hence its name, Its commonly used as a fill stitch. This tutorial shows you two ways to embroider a satin stitch.

The fishbone stitch can be used as a filling stitch or as an embroidery stitch that outlines the beautiful structures of feathers, leaves, and plants.

The woven wheel stitch may look like a complicated stitch compared to the rest of the stitches on this list, but its really a beginner stitch! It's usually used as a canvas to fill with beautiful florals.

The darning stitch is incredibly useful for repairing holes and rips. However, it can also be used as a decorative stitch in embroidery sewing.

Similar to darning stitch, needle weaving is a crossover between the art of embroidery and weaving. It offers variations on how threads can be woven in creating popular embroidery patterns such as the woven rose.

Couching is a technique where a surface material is attached to the surface of a textile with small stitches. The surface material can be anything ranging from dried flowers to yarn or strips of fabric.

It may sound complicated, but whipped backstitch embroidery is simply the combination of the plain backstitch and the technique of whipping. It's neat and helps with the outline in embroidery.

Confused between whipped and woven embroidery stitches? Check out this tutorial that clearly explains them both.

Faggoting is the act of joining 2 pieces of fabric with embroidery stitches. It is often used for skirt borders and napkins.

This lovely, easy stitch is also known as the Roman Chain Stitch, Square Chain Stitch, and Simple Ladder Stitch. This stitch is often used as a decorative border.

The ladder stitch is an embroidery technique that creates a tight braid on a pair of parallel lines with crossbars that resemble a ladder. It's a technique for making a fancy decorative border.