This picture dictionary will help you to identify the stitches based on how they look. Hovering over the stitch picture will display the stitch name. Clicking over the picture will take you to the respective tutorial pages.
Tags: back stitch, chain stitch, cretan stitch, cross stitch, embroidery tutorials, feather stitch, fishbone stitch, fly stitch, hand embroidery, herringbone stitch, knots, palestrina stitch, picture dictionary, running stitch, satin stitch, stem stitch, stitch dictionary, stitch family, stitch variations, weaving stitch





















































































































































I love all these… and this dictionary is a great idea…. thanks for all the tutorials…
Hugz
Thank you Fiona.
I saw the lovely quilts at your website and it is quite an inspiration, more since we are expecting our second baby in January, and our first one is growing fond of quilts this winter.
hiii thiz is munira i was quite intrested to learn more designs as i knw bt i want to learn more designs so plsss send yr number and adress in my email id
i love your stitches fgiona lol love you by 5the way
wah… a great move sarah…..so v can select the stitch easily.
Raji.
thank you so much for the beautiful tutorials! you are the reason that I’m learning to embroider
are all the stitches over? could you please paste a a project (some scenery/theme) with maximum stitches covered in it
Dear Sharmishtha,
This is probably only half of the stitches to be yet seen. I am trying to post a new one every 3-4 days. I have some bigger projects with samples of the stitches too, but they will all be coming slowly.
looking forward to it
Sarah, you are amazing, I have looked and looked for a book teaching the embroidery stitches. I just found your website. Thank you very much for the beautiful stitching instructions.
the pic-dictionary is such a wonderful idea… thumps up
Dear Raji, Gina, Maxameliana, Soumya,
Thank you very much. I am happy that this page is helping you and you liked the idea.
I really like this link, your information has help me to design a sample piece. Please keep this site on going. Much thanks.
Glad that you liked this page, Begum.
Sarah,
Do u have lessons on buttonwheel stitches??
Dear Divya,
I do have lessons for buttonhole stitch family ready, including buttonhole wheel stitch. I hope to post them in the next segment…maybe in a week or so.
Thanks for your work on this website, it has helped many from around the world! I am embroidering ornaments for Christmas and this picture dictionary has been very helpful. Now I can see what the stitches look like! Thank you very much.
Hello Sarah! This picture dictionary is just fabulous! So pretty as well as easy to go through! Lovely, lovely. Thank you so much for sharing. It is so inspiring just to look at all of those stitches. Love it! Greetings from Germany
I love it!
I reaaallly love this!! You are really amazing, sarah! And I’m now learning how to do the these
Dear Caren, Claudia, Monica and Erica,
I am really happy that you all have loved the picture dictionary and that it has helped pump up your enthusiasm in hand embroidery.
Sarah, lovely dictionary and excellent tutorial. Thousand tons of Thanks to you!!!
Gnana
Thank you so much for posting this! This is great!
Great idea. Thanks
Dear Gnana, Daniella, Heidi,
Happy that you all are enjoying the picture dictionary.
Sarah,
Congratulations on your website!!! All of the tutorials are very clear and I think its great to have this information on the internet, so people all over the world can learn how to stich!
Well Done!
Hi Sarah !
This is the first time I came across your website. I can’t believe on my eyes ! I never knew there is soooo much to do in hand embroidery. I wish to have my own institute, wherein I can teach my students the best hand embroidery lessons. And your site is definitely very very useful. THANKS A LOT FOR SUCH A WONDERFUL SITE !! GOD BLESS YOU and your FAMILY !!
Great Work!!!!! Ur site is simply awesome!! Luved it <3 <3
I'm gonna start ryt away
Fernanda, Shahin, Hamdha,
Thank you very much.
I am glad that you all have liked this page.
Hi Sarah,
Recently I came across your site, I do not know how to express my thanks & love to
you. Your stitch dictionary & picture are wonderful. I am very much interested in
new stitches. it is really.. really ..helpful. I would be grateful if you could post the tutorial
of”Spiral trellis woven ” stitch. I can’t understand from pintangle.
Love and wishes
Hi Sarah,
Your stitch dictionary and picture dictionary are awesome. Keep it up. Its very useful.
can you please post “spiral trellis woven stitch” next time. Thank You. once again.
regards and wishes
Dear Tency,
. I will try to include the ‘spiral woven trellis stitch’ as soon as I get a chance.
Thanks
What a beautiful job you do with your stitches & demonstrating them. Thank you so much for your kindness of sharing.
Sarammme…
Superb Pictionary !!
If you could tweak your website so that we could see the order of your posts (for instance,previous 5 posts) that would be nice.
Happy New Year to you…
Regards,
Deepa
Done! Have added a “Recent Stitches” section to the sidebar.
Wishes for the New Year!
Dear Linda, Deepa,
Thank you very much for your appreciations.
Best wishes for the new year!
beautiful presentation….
Dear Sarah, wish u a happy new year….
i have started practicing the stiches…but if i have to patch a floral design on another….which stitch would be appropriate….??
god i m falling addicted to this site….
Dear Navneet,
Wish you a great new year too.
Thanks.
To patch your floral pattern to a fabric you can use stitches like, blanket stitch, satin stitch, or try the palestrina stitch for a different effect. But before you do any of these stitches, first attach the pattern using a running stitch. You can cover it using the before mentioned stitches. Hope this helped and gave you an idea.
Dear Sarah…
I just come across to your site and found it fabulous really…
Your lessons are such straight forward and useful.. indeed helpful.
have gone through all the segments in this site, i cant resist saying Wow….
i gotta appreciate the attitude of both of you… Happy souls…
I liked your tutorials very much and inspired to start learning embroidery.
I wish you both all the best.
Love,
Swathi…
Dear Swathi,
Thanks for all your appreciation.
It makes all the effort worthwhile. We are glad to know that these pages inspire you to begin embroidery. Hope you enjoy it.
DeaR SarAh…
Wow SupERb….! I like aLL thEse nd i Wil try Out…..thnq u very much for dis site……
Hi Sarah !
Thanks for your detailed blog. And the picture dictionary is the icing on the cake ! My grandmother used to be fabulous with hand embroidery. But, I never bothered to learn from her. I should have ! Lately, I have started having this inkling to hand embroider , and am planning to start learning.
Thanks to you and your blog ,at least, I have a place to start .
Regards,
Riti.
Hi Sarah,
I’ve just found your site through Pinterest – I’m in heaven!
I’ve longed to learn how to ‘stitch’ properly for years.
I run my own sewing business and wanted to be able to embroider monograms etc on to people’s garment etc but have never quite found the inspiration for it – well I know what I’m going to be doing tonight, trying out some of these lovely tutorials – your site is awesome, thank you so much for taking the time to make it all
Could I have your email address too so that I can chat some more to you?
Many thanks
Sarah
Dear Majna, Riti,and Sarah
We feel happy that you liked our pages and found it inspiring.
I just found this list of stitches and I love it! Thank you so much! Which do you prefer for letters? I’d love to try a few.
This is beautiful.
Hello Sarah,
I have embroidered one saree in kasuti and thought that kasuti is limited to that much only. but thanks to u . i just saw many beautiful stiches and their applications that there is a wish to embroider yet another saree/ something else .
Thanks a lot.
so beautiful
thanks.
Dear Lisa, Ruhan, Shubhangi,Marzie,
We are happy that you are enjoying our site and like the picture dictionary.
Hi Sarah,
The idea of picture dictionary is too good!!! It is easy to select the stitch.
Thanks so much for all the hard work doing all the tutorials and doing the pic-dictionary! This is just the perfect way to learn so many wonderful stitches. I had no idea that many existed! Thank you, thank you!
Hi Juby…. KUDOS!!! excellent work.. i have missed so much in these months… you have added so many wonderful lessons…
I remembered you again after my recent stint with a hand-embroidery group here… a small course and an effort to support women employment… but I am the most benefited person today as I am back to my stitching phase… this is also boosting me to rethink about my dream of opening up a boutique in India…
Attaching a few of my recent works, not very clear as it was clicked from my phone… will upload better pics soon…
Hi Marlin,
Indeed, been long. Your works are really impressive!!
Thanks for sharing them. Will wait for more, of course.
I hope your boutique to be set up soon… would like to visit it.
I stumbled upon your website through pinterest.com. As a beginner hand embroiderer I have to admit I love how you made your tutorials so easy to understand. Thank you for your detailed and beautiful work!
And congratulations on the birth of your beautiful daughter!
What a great page you have Sarah! I was searching for embroidery tutorials and I found it.
Great pictures! I’m a beginner and it helped me very much! Keep up the good work!
Thank you very much!
Dear Sarah,
It is really heartening to see this website. Hats off to your efforts put up. I am also good at hand work and interested in promoting the same. Will always seek guidance fromyou.
Thank you for making my with such beautiful website.
Warm regards
Sunanda, Mumbai
What a great website! Thank you so much! It’s beyond useful for beginners like me!
wow! i stumbled upon your blog and i’m sure i will be visiting often for reference and inspiration! … i never realized stitches could be so creative! thanks for the awesome dictionary!!!
Thanks for sharing with us. Very attractive. Easy to learn.
hi, i am a house wife. my 9 years old daughter like to learn embroidery from your site. is this correct age to start now itself. Shall i give her permission for learning. please reply soon. she is very eager to start nowitself.
i am also going to learn from ur site. its very impressive.
thankyou.
waiting for ur reply
arthi.s
Dear Arthi,
If your little daughter can hold a needle safely (with your intial help), she can start off with learning embroidery! What is required is interest, which she has. Only, make sure she takes up simple stitches and designs…something she can do in a day or two. This will keep her interest on. As she improves on her skills, technique, and patience, she can move to bigger designs and advanced stitches.
It will be nice to see her learn.
Do share with us what she works on.
Best wishes.
Found the site on Pinterest; love love love it! The dictionary by picture is genius and your stitch guides are so east to follow. Thanks for posting these!
Dear sarah,
thank you so much for your tutorials.
Actualy i dont have words say that how useful this stitches for me. & if you can do some ribbon tutorials same like this . It will be great. Thanks.
Im waiting to see those from you.
Dear Nuwandi,
. Yes, I would like to make some ribbon embroidery turorials. But honestly, it might take a long time though since I already have many projects to finish before even thinking of it.
thanks a lot for sharing all the wonderful you know.marvellous work.thanks a lot.
evi from Greece.
This is the most wonderful website for embroidery! Thank you so much for all your hard work, clear instructions, and willingness to share your knowledge. I have particularly enjoyed learning the history of Indian embroidery. You are a star! Thank you.
Thank you SO MUCH for having a picture dictionary of your stitches along with their directions. I have searched for years to find a strange looking stitch that my gr.grandmother used on potholders and “crazy quilts”. Needing to repair a few older pcs. I was lost in how to make these unusual stitches. Thanks to you, I could just look and see what matched!! How wonderful and what a relief!! Now these heirlooms can continue on to other family members with all the stitches in tact.
I used to embroider as a teenager – doodling on my jeans with all sorts of crazy designs. Looking over all this beautiful work makes me want to take it up again. I’d have to get rid of several trunks full of yarn before hubby would allow me to take up yet another craft, but I could possibly squeeze in a tiny corner for it somewhere if I try!
Thanks again, So Very Much, for having this site. It must have taken you ages to put it together and all for the sake of others, like me. What an angel you are and I think I can see a hint of a halo coming up from behind your left ear. Go check….see it? It’s there, keep looking!!
Dear Dianne,
Thanks!
It is really nice to read how this dictionary has helped you. Yes, it is quite a task to bring up one page of tutorial, especially when you are pressed on time and energy (with a 3 year old and a 6 month old at home…and what energy balls!). So, it feels good that you are able to learn from our pages and appreciate our efforts.
dear sarah,
great work. i was worried that there are no embroidery classes near my house in bangalore. thanks sarah for such good information.
after seeing your site, i have started learning as well as teaching embroidery to my 10 year old daughter. she too is enjoying doing embroidery.
mansa
Really nice to know Manasa.
Do post some of your and your daughter’s works here, when you feel like. It will help others to take inspiration.
Hi Sarah!
You’re site is just simply amazing!
Informative and well organize.
It really helps me a lot in my school work.
Thanks a lot! <3<3<3
That is very impressive!!!
Thank you for sharing it with us.
I‘m going to learn it from your website
Wait for more.
This is very I helpful! I can easily choose and compare which stitch looks more suitable for my works. Thanks!
Thank you so much sarah..i am thinking to set up my boutique..ur website have helped..
Sarah,
Thank you so much for all of your work and patient to put up this big tutorial!!
Cheers from Portugal!
Sónia
Dear sarah. . Thank you very Much for Your beautiful stiching instructions. . I love all these stiches. .
sarah, u’ve done an excellent work. Thanks to you and ur supporters.
wishing u success in ur thread way.
Thank you for the work you have put into all the stitch tutorials. Have you ever considered offering them all together in pdf format? You could even sell the booklet. I would love to have one! =)
Dear Christine,
We are working on an E-book…just that it is taking some time.
your work is so amazing and i like to study these all….
your works are so amazing
dear sarah,
yours embrodery ‘s tutorial is very helpful for the beginners like me.I’m very thankful to you nd my good wishes to you. confusion is how many threads we take for each embrodery. some says two some four nd some says six. I use anchor threads. just want to know that. and also I want to know the way how to fill the flowers and butterflies. thanks.
Dear Seema,
Thanks.
I am working on the ‘basics to follow’ page, which will tell about needles, threads and many of those things that need to be known while embroidering. I guess it should have been long ago posted, but other projects and daily chores delayed me.
Anyway, to help you out, usually the thread count depends on how fine/small, or prominent/big you want the stitches to look like. It can also depend on what fabric you are using. I think you can use two or three strands of thread. You can try experimenting with more number of threads to get a feel of how they show up. There is no rule as to how many strands you should use.
Check the satin stitch and fishbone stitch family to give ideas on how to fill objects.
Hope this helps.
Thanks sarah for your guidance. best wishes for you.
regards and thanks.
Hi Sarah,
Really a very good website!!! Worthful.. I am beginner in Hand Embroidery…. It helped to learn the basic stitches…. Really wiating for your E-Book…
Continue your best!!!
Dear Sarah,
I am sooooo impressed!!! I must say I have till date not seen a website giving tutorials in such a SIMPLE and CLEAR way!!!! Having the talent is one but teaching and teaching in the best and simplest manner is an amazing skill in itself!! You have BOTH!!
Thank you sooo much for all the tutorials! I look forward to more.
Also I would like to say urs is the most sort after and organised site I have ever seen. So easy to understand and find things!!! Even the picture dictionary is a GREAT idea!!!
Thank you !!
Sarah,
This website is just beautiful. It’s an amazing resource for me, but even more of a tribute to your skill and dedication. I have never seen so many stitches in one place! Many I’ve never heard of, and methods from around the world that I can’t wait to try. You have enabled me to continue my art and given me ideas I never would have had without you! I’ll echo many others by saying, you could publish a fabulous book. I would certainly love it.
Best to you.
Hi Sarah,
I must say you have taken a lots of efforts to put together all these things, its a wonderful work you have done.
I was searching for some book or website for learning embroidery since last few months… and your website is a treat for me
I loved the way systematically it is arranged and the details you have given to learn it.
Thanks a lot
Love N hugz
Komal
Pune, Maharashtra, India
Sarah,
I have to admit that I am rather impressed with your site you have put together here. I have taken the time to look at all the different areas and the different stitches and never knew just how many there were or what they all were supposed to look like. I love the pictures you have posted to date and would like to know if you know of a couple others that I am needing to finish a couple different projects that I am working on. The first one is called cording, and the project it is for does not give proper instructions as to how to do it. If you know how I am to do this, I would love some instructions explaining how.
Thank you so very much for all you have done so far.
Dear Tanya,
Thanks.
I do have a lot more stitches to upload, but cording does not look like in the list. I can try to research something about this stitch, and if I get some good information, will do a tutorial on it.
In the meanwhile, I hope you get some reliable source to help you with this stitch and your project.
hi Sarah,
I am from NepalGunj(Nepal).I am very impressed from urs designs n it has made me motif to do more stitches. Recently i have done training of stitches. Due to remote area in our locality there isnt any training institute like this. Thankyou Very much.
hi sarah,
i am from coimbatore. after i saw your embroidery i joined embriodery class. it is very interesting . thank u so much.
I found your instructions very detailed and clear. The picture dictionary of stitches is so helpful. I’ve made copies of some of the stitches, that Iwill be ableto reference often. Thank you
Heyyy Sarah,,,
I just love your work..its simply awesome….you have explained everything in details yet in an easy way,feel like doing every single stitch and soon will start on it…
Thank You so much…..
simple superb…
Thank you for this excellent website! I bookmarked your page.
Dear sarah. . Thank you very Much for Your beautiful stiching instructions.
Many thanks for this wonderful tutorial!
hey Sarah…..
thanks a lot for this picture dictionary….it helps a lot n ur doin a very gud job…
i hav made a hand bag and now our teacher has told to do atleast ten types of stitches on it……will u plss suggest me some ideas for it….m very confused.
I had no idea that there were so many stitches. Some I knew but have not done in ages. Thanks for the tutural.
Beautiful stitches and fantastic work on the tutorials and pictures. I am sure that your sharing of your work has inspired many around the world. Thanks so much.
Thank You for putting tutorials !:D i thought i might get a fail grade on my project slash periodic slash long quiz . Thank you!!:3 After my project, I”ll do some more stitches and embroidery. For past time , instead of facebooking all day. I wanna try them all!(: Thank you thank you thank youu!:)
Dear Pamela,
I am glad that our pages encourages you to tear yourself out of facebooking and involving in something more creative!!
Once you do some stitching that makes you happy, do share it with us by uploading a picture of your work…we would love to have a look.
Dear sarah,
I am so excited on your works……its so nice & very useful……i m a fashion designing student sarah……..often for all my doubts & references i used 2 check this website.its so good & i thank u 4 that…..
Dear Sarah…
Congrats for such a wonderful site. And thanks for all your efforts, both pictures and description is precise and clear.
I am a beginner and an aspirant to learn hand embroidery and searched on net over a plenty of sites. Your site turned really helpful.
Thank you
Thank you so much for your clear directions. This is an awesome site that I refer to often as I start embroidering again. You did a terrrific job of explaining the many stitches.
Terrific!!!! Barb
honestly it is an honest deed you have done. thank you
Hola Sara,te felicito por tu trabajo,hacía tiempo buscaba cómo aprender a bordar me encanta la puntada de cadeneta y ver que existen tantas variantes me hace muy feliz. Estoy muy agradecida con DIOS por tí, porque gracias a tus explicaciones las cuales son super podré bordar para mi madre unos lindos cojines, hasta pronto. Neidy, Venecia (ANT)
assalam ao alaikum sarah. i really loved your work. no doubt this is a great helping website for the beginers. i will try these stitches. thanks for this help.
Thanks for sharing your talent and tutorial
Hugs, Myrna
Ecxellent idea to create a dictionary! Thank you for sharing with all of us your knowledge and creativity.
AMAZING!!!!I’m now trying almost all of them!Thank you for offer these my friend~
(*  ̄)( ̄▽ ̄*)ゞ
I’m going to be a female otaku who is good at embroidery ……o((≧▽≦o) muhaha~~~LOL
hi sarah,
i am from bd.your blog is amizing.its vary helpfull.u know bangla?plzz give some new stitch pic.tnx for shereing
hi sarah
i am from bangla desh.ur blog is ammizing.
tnx for shareing
tnx
Un grand merci pour ces explications si bien faites.
Belle soirée
manon
hai sarah
ur site is very helpfuy to me.thank u very much and one thing also,if u know machine embroidary ,give me a little bit of it
Hello Sarah,
You have such an excellent site. I wanted to learn basic embroidery and your site is my teacher. Thank you so much for sharing ur knowledge , it helps beginners like me.
This site is insane! Oh my word I know that I am going to spend hours upon hours here! I didn’t even know there were so many stitches! This is incredible! Thank you so much for all the work you put into this!
Thanx a lot madam.am so happy for ur designs.i learn so many designs from ur website.may god bless you.best of luck for your future.mam plz be kind enough to send me some baby cotsheet designs
sarah…..I have no word to explain…how ur tutors are helps to me…before this I have only basic idea about embroidery ….ur blog give me confidence …now I can imagine more disigns….thanx a lot
Great,for my inspiration,thankyou
very nice!!!!!!!!!! looking for more veriation in spiderweawing
The is absolutely the BEST site I’ve ever seen for embroidering. Thank you so much for publishing this.
just found your blog. Lovely. God bless you for sharing!
This is a great site and so helpful. The instructions are so easy to folloe and the illustrations make me want to try them all! Congratulations and thank you.
i want to learn all these… please guide me from where i will take my start
Dear Madiha,
Take a needle, a piece of embroidery thread through it and a piece of cotton fabric. Start with the straight stitch family and then try other family of stitches.
Can u pls showcase tutorials on the following.
1) sequins work.
2) metal work.
3) applique work.
4) Murri stitch.
5) point de paris stitch.
6) jaal work.
7) katha stitch.
Dear Sarah,
Lovely work.
I am a beginner & want to know on a cotton fabric ( for kurti) should I use cotton thread or silk thread? Also, do you run any classes as I am very keen in learning this from you.
Many Thanks,
Shefali
I don’t do much embroidery but I do like to label my quilts with hand embroidery. What stitch should I use for lettering. I have been using stem stitch but after looking at your stitches, maybe I should use outline stitch or backstitch. I have trouble with the curves in the letters, sometimes it looks sloppy. And I never know if the thread should be above or below my needle.
Thank you!
Angela
Dear Angela,
You can try chain stitch as well for lettering. Back stitch is a good option, especially to avoid sloppiness. If you take the thread above the needle, it is outline stitch. When the thread is below the thread, it is called the stem stitch. For these stitches, you need to take shorter strides when working on curves, else, it might not take it very well. IF you are not, try using an embroidery hoop to help you.
it’s amazing, i’am beginner, i realy want to learn all this. thanks for sharing ^_*
Thanks to your blog….. Basic stitches i hd learnt at school but your blog has taught me more…..lovely blog its until d best one i cud find on website……
Sarah – you are truly amazing! Your website is phenomenal!
I haven’t embroidered since I was in grammar school (which was many years ago). I thought it would be like riding a bike, something that would come back to me naturally. But it wasn’t! I was all thumbs trying to make my french knots and finally figured them out thanks to your wonderful tutorials. The pictures are great and your insturctions are clear and concise which made me want to try different stitches
Thanks for all your hard work!
Diane
Dear Sarah
Indeed i am very thankful for all the efforts you have put in helping us. Can you please help me on with the border of the design? i can’t really tell which stitch was used. I tried using Cretan stitch, but that didn’t really work out. I will be looking forward for you reply.
Thank you for this site. It’s the best, by far, for someone who is learning to embroider on their own. Your work is amazing, as well!
thank u so much for this site, its very useful and easy to work with basic stitches, can u also upload
metal work
applique work
Have you uploaded the lessons for chevron stitches?
Dear Sarah,
Thank you for this picture dictionary. wonderful pictures….Amazing work.
pls,give aari embroidery
I have been having so much fun learning all these stitches! I’ve been steadily going through them for the last two weeks and I have only the weaving, herringbone, and blanket stitches left to try. I’m truly addicted! I’ve even made myself a little travel case to carry supplies around with me so I can embroider wherever I go!
I do have one question… I see on this page a Chevron family and noticed there are no tutorials yet. Are they coming?
Thank you so much for all the effort you’ve put into your page! You are my new favorite person!!!