It is one of the oldest known stitches that has been found to be used widely among varoius cultures from asia to europe. The stitches follows a pattern of looping the thread to create chains in different ways. Its widespread use can be seen in Kashmiri numdahs, Iranian Resht work, Central Asian suzani, Hungarian Kalotaszeg “written embroidery”, Jacobean embroidery, and crewelwork.
handembroidery sample : chain stitch family
The pattern of chain stitch is also used in making other orders of handwork like crochet, macarmè and needle lace works.
The chain stitch family has probably the most number of members in it. I, myself, was surprised at the number of different chain stitch varieties we had! Beginning from the most basic, I will be moving on to the more complicated ones.
Tags: chain stitch, chain stitch family, chain stitch variations, chain stitch variety, embroidery tutorials, hand embroidery tutorials
Do you have patterns using only chain stitches?
Hey Victoria,
As of now, I don’t have a collection of patterns that uses only chain stitches. But, I could be posting a few in the future.
Since, almost all stitches in the chain stitch family are straight stitches, they can be used for any sort of outlining or filling of any kind of pattern.
The ethnic Kashmiri embroidery from the state of Kashmir, India is a form of embroidery that uses chain stitch exclusively. Their patterns are depictions of flora and fauna and use chain stitch for outlining and filling.
I personally feel chain stitches can be used for any kind of floral depictions easily. The beauty of it could depend on the color choice and the intricacy of the design.