Also known as: double knot stitch, tied coral stitch, old english knot stitch, smyrna stitch, twilling stitch

Palestrina stitch has its origin in Italy. Many embrodiery styles from Italy has palestrina stitch and there is even an embrodiery style called the Palestrina. This stitch is usually used for outlining or bordering purposes. Any type of fabric and thread can be used to do this stitch, but the perle cotton thread will give the best knotted effect.

There are two variations of palestrina stitch: The long armed palestrina stitch and the long legged palestrina stitch, both of which I have shown below.

palestrina_stitch_1      palestrina_stitch_2
Fig 1: Bring the needle out through the point A, which lies on the stitch line. Then, take the needle in through B, which lies on the stitch line too. Bring out the needle through C, a point straight above and not too far from B.    Fig 2: Now, take the needle below the stitch A-B, without plucking the fabric underneath, as shown. The needle will be angled above or towards the left of the point C. 
     
palestrina_stitch_13   palestrina_stitch_4
 Fig 3: Again, take the needle under the stitch A-B. Only, this time, the needle is angled below or towards teh right side of the point C. Then, loop the thread around the needle as shown in the illustration.      Fig 4: When you pull out the needle, the first palestrina knot is formed. Start for the nest knot by putting in the needle through D on the stitch line and bringing it out from E, just above the point D. Continue with the procedure as we did for the first knot.
     
palestrina_stitch_5   Fig 5: The finished portion of palestrina knot would look like this.
     
palestrina_stitch_6   Fig 6: This is a variation of the palestrina stitch. The technique followed is the same. The only difference is that the stitch B-C (Fig 1) is taken a bit longer to give it a long ‘arm’. And so, this variation is called the ‘long armed palestrina’.
     
palestrina_stitch_7   Fig 7: Another variation is when the stitch A-B (Fig 1) is extended giving the stitch a long ‘leg’. Such variation is called a ‘long legged palestrina’. It would look like coral stitch with bolder knots. This illustration shows a long legged and long armed palestrina. :D    

     
  


Tags: ancient embroidery, double knot stitch, italian embroidery, italy, old english knot stitch, palestrina embroidery, palestrina stitch, smyrna stitch, tied coral stitch, twilling stitch

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