Stem stitch
BeginnerLine stitches
The classic rope-like outline stitch: each stitch overlaps the last by half, always keeping the working thread on the same side. Perfect for stems, curves and lettering.
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What it is
Stem stitch is a line built out of overlapping slanted stitches rather than end-to-end dashes. Each new stitch comes up alongside the middle of the one before it, always on the same side, and that half-stitch overlap is what gives the line its twisted, rope-like weight — and what lets it go round a curve without flattening it.
How to work it
- Bring the needle up at the start of your line.
- Take a stitch forward along the line, about 3–4 mm, and pull through.
- Come back up halfway along that stitch and just beside it — the same side every time.
- Take the next stitch forward, the same length, and repeat.
- Keep the working thread below the line (or above it) for the whole run. Swapping sides part-way reverses the twist and the line visibly kinks.
- On a tight curve, shorten the stitches. A curve is worked with more small slants, never by bending one long one.
What it is good for
- Stems, stalks and vines — the stitch is named for the job.
- Outlining a shape you are going to fill afterwards.
- Script lettering from roughly 10 mm cap height upwards.
- Any line that wants a bit of weight rather than a fine drawn edge.
What goes wrong
- Letting the working thread flip to the other side of the line mid-run — the rope reverses and the join shows.
- Long stitches round a curve: a 6 mm stitch chords across the curve instead of following it.
- Uneven overlap. Covering a third of the previous stitch reads as sloppy; covering half reads as rope.
By the numbers
- Stitch length
- 3.5 mm
- Advance per stitch
- 1.9 mm
- Overlap
- 46%each stitch covers this much of the one before it
- Stitches in this example
- 17counted from the drawing above, not estimated
- Floss it would take
- 17 cmworking thread to cut, at 2 strands
Stem is stitched at 3.5 mm per stitch advancing 1.9 mm, so each stitch covers a little over half the one before it — the same overlap you would work by hand. Lengthening the line adds stitches; it never stretches them.
Watch it worked
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