Pekinese Stitch


Pekinese Stitch is also known as

Chinese Stitch [EN], Punto de pequinés [ES], Point de Pékin / Point arrière entrelacé bouclé [FR], Pekingstich [DE],  punto Pechinese [IT], Ponto Pequinês [PT].


How to do the Pekinese Stitch

The Pekinese Stitch is commonly found in Chinese embroideries and used to make linear elements rather than fillings. One or two rows are placed to make outlines in the pattern. Using contrasting threads will throw up the beauty of the design well. It could be confused with the Chinese knot Stitch which is used to make fillings, though both the stitches follow absolutely different techniques. That being said, it can resemble the ‘ring’ variation of the Chinese Knot placed close to each other.

Back stitch: Lay the foundation by doing a Back Stitch.
Fig 1: Take another thread and needle and bring it out through A. Pass the needle under the stitch B-C, from above, as shown. Do not pluck the fabric underneath.Fig 2: Now, pass the needle under the stitch A-B, from below, as shown.
Fig 3: You will see that a loop is formed at the stitch point B. Our aim would be to make such similar loops at each stitch point.
As the next action, take the needle under C-D from above.
Fig 4: Now pass the needle under B-C from below. Continue this action of looping each stitch point by taking the needle under the stitches.
Fig 5: Continue this process of taking the needle under each Back Stitch foundation to give it a twining effect.

Related Projects

Do you want to know where and how to use this stitch? Check out the projects below and learn more. Make something beautiful!


Learn the Straight Stitch along with 305 other stitches from our 600-page eBook. 


Related Stitches from the Back Stitch Family

28 Responses

  1. A
    Al says:

    I love this website so much! I generally make my own designs and I get in such a rut, especially with outlines, trying to make them more visually interesting. Like, theres only so many outline stitches one can use before things start to look real boring. I really appreciate the resource and the variety of techniques you have on here. Thank you.

  2. l
    lord masaba says:

    hey sarah…i love your work, clear tutorial steps .really helped me…thank you

  3. Namaste Sarah

    What beautiful work, so neat and stiches are so even.

    So very tempted to start embroidery projects after having visited you tuts.

    Well done. A true work of art, your love for this art form shows in your

    beautiful pieces.

  4. G
    Giselle Molhem says:

    Thanks so much for your tutorials. You explain it so clear & easy. I made my 1st hand embroidery. I love your website! Thank you!

  5. Valerie says:

    Hello I am thrilled with your embroidery tutorials. I am doing a Textile City and Guilds course at College and I have never done hand embroidery only at school and that was yonks ago. Its so easy to follow your instructions and the images are beautifully clear. Thanks so much.

  6. A
    Ansho Anto says:

    Hey thanks for the list of stitches etc… I was really looking for it to refresh my knowledge… Thanks a lot… Here is a glimpse of a work done by me for the summer Kurta for men!!! This image would motivate all the viewers to be really passionate about embroidery!!!

  7. F
    Farook Ameen says:

    Sarah!
    First I visit your site. Really so very useful techniques for those who learning by internet. We always welcome your site.

  8. A
    Adhit says:

    hey sarah

    I`m doing home economics in my college.So could you recommend me what type of stitch can i make so a bird

  9. S
    Sangeetha says:

    Hi Sarah,

    All your works are really good. Do you have your collections as a book??? If so how can I get it???

  10. M
    Manju Shree says:

    Dear Sarah

    Im so impressed with this tutorial. so excited to learn it. me and my mom was surfing through net to learn the embroidery stitches. this is very clear. i learnt basics of embroidery way back some 7 yrs ago. now im happy that i can learn it back sitting at home.

    thank you so much sarah. please continue updating this.

  11. M
    Manju Shree says:

    Dear Sarah

    Im so impressed with this tutorial. so excited to learn it. me and my mom was surfing through net to learn the embroidery stitches. this is very clear. i learnt basics of embroidery way back some 7 yrs ago. now im happy that i can lear it back sitting at home.

    thank you so much sarah. please continue updating this.

  12. i
    izabella says:

    lovely….I have to thanks to much your website..

    I love broderies…..

  13. K
    Kelly says:

    Do you know of any websites that sell the kits having a hard time locating any?

  14. s
    shami immanuel says:

    Dear sarah
    Got inspired to learn embroidery
    after seeing your pages.
    Learned so many stitches and have done
    a simple embroidery in my blouse.
    Please do visit my post in my blog
    shamiatcraft.blogspot.com
    Do pozt your comments.
    Thank you.

    • sarah says:

      Dear Shami,

      Thanks for referring our pages. I am glad to know that you are indspired and have tried something nice on your blouse project. I have dropped a comment on your blog too. 🙂

  15. G
    Gwen Gapuz says:

    OH IM WRONG!@ IM SORRY…THAT IS OUR EMBROIDERY@

  16. G
    Gwen Gapuz says:

    I CANT UNDERSTAND THIS! THIS IS NOT OUR EMBROIDERY PEKINESE STITCH!

  17. A
    Asfiya Nadeem says:

    i love the way u give instruction…it makes easy for me to stich..this is kind of that site that mostly people search,and i’m luck to find this site…great work!!

  18. M
    Mansa Jai says:

    dear sarah,

    i had been searching for this kinda site.
    it is wonderful. u r doing great work. thanks

  19. A
    AnnMaria says:

    Hey Sarah, do u know how to do crochet stitching? If yes plz do post that also… thanku.. all ur wrks r nice..

    • sarah says:

      Dear AnnMaria,

      Thanks for visiting. I am yet to learn crochet..it certainly is one of my interests too. Once I am good enough with it, I will be putting up tutorials for it too. But that might take some time. For now, I am concentrating more on the embroidery section.

  20. L
    LJ says:

    Thanks Sarah for the clear and precise instructions provided… looking forward to the instructions that are to follow.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Upload your Stitches and Embroideries

You can include embroidery images in your comment by selecting them below. Select the file, and post your comment!