Herringbone Stitch


Herringbone Stitch is also known as

Mossoul stitch, Plaited stitch, Catch stitch, Witch stitch [EN], Punto de escapulario [ES], Point de chausson [FR], Hexenstich [DE], Ponto espinha [PT], Flätsöm [SV].


How to do the Herringbone Stitch

This is the basic Herringbone Stitch made of crosses not cut exactly in the middle but in quarters. The Herringbone forms the base for many embroideries across the word. It can also be easily incorporated onto aida fabric. I will be working between two parallel stitch lines.

Fig 1: Bring the needle through the first stitch line at A. Take the needle in through B, which lies diagonally across A on the second stitch line. Then, take the needle back through C, which lies near B.Fig 2: The same procedure will be worked on the first stitch line. Take the needle diagonally across to D and bring the needle back out through E.
Fig 3: Continue to make such crosses on both stitch lines alternately. Ensure the diagonal stitches are parallel to each other to bring out the best look.Fig 4: A finished sequence of the Herringbone Stitch would look like this.

Learn to do Herringbone Stitch in 2 minutes!


Use this stitch on a pattern

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78 Responses

  1. L
    Lillian bunton says:

    Sarah, I purchased one of your books and can’t find the directions for downloading it. Can you point me in the right direction? (Sorry to hijack comments!)

    • RockSea says:

      Hey Lillian, we have emailed you the purchase details with the download link once again. Could you check your mailbox junk folders too? Let’s know if you got it!

  2. J
    Jamila says:

    THANK YOU!!!
    You just saved me on this wedding dress with stretchy fabric that needs a hand stitch applied. Your instructions and pictures are very easy to follow.
    😘
    Blessings from Dallas TX

  3. K
    Kathrin says:

    What is the ratio of length to width for this stitch?
    I plan on using it for a shirt placket which is about 1cm wide.

    • Sarah says:

      Hi Kathrin,

      There is no fixed ratio to the herringbone stitch in hand embroidery. You can make it as narrow or as wide as you wish. I, personally, use, roughly, a width-to-length ratio of 1:1. So, if my stitch is 1cm in length (height), the width (on the wider side) would be 1cm.
      If I were to mark my fabric before stitching, I would mark at every 0.5cm distance on both the parallel lines. When stitching, I would see my herringbone stitches leaving every alternate dot between them. Hopefully, my explanation has not confused you. Let me know if it has worked for you. 🙂

  4. P
    Pedro Aguirre Smith says:

    Muchas gracias por compartir tus tutoriales, son muy buenos, muy didàcticos.

    • Sarah says:

      Gracias, Pedro. Estoy tan feliz de que te esté gustando aprender de nuestras páginas.

      • A
        Ashley says:

        Hi Sarah, I am keen to know the history of Singalese stich. Does it have any connection Sinhalese? Thanks

        • Sarah says:

          Hi Ashley,
          Yes, this stitch is used in traditional Sinhalese embrodiery. Usually, the red and blue threads are used on either side to intertwine between the open chain stitch.

  5. S
    Sky says:

    Hey used this in school thanks really helpful. your amazing have a good day✨

  6. Judie says:

    I love being able to see each step in making these stitches but I would love a hard bound book of all your instructions. I have to constantly bring the instructions up on my phone or computer. Do you have any publications of your stitch instructions?

    • Sarah says:

      Hi Judie,

      Thank you for your interest shown. As of now, we have just the eBook. It is a 452 pages book and will take time to bring out the printed version of such a big book. The digital version will require you to use the phone or computer, but is designed in the form of a printed book. Also, you can use it even without internet and carry it around in your mobile phone or tablet! 🙂

      • Judie says:

        Thank you for your response, Sarah, I will most likely try the e-book but was curious to know if there might be a hard copy available. Your explanations are so clear and your pictures so helpful , I can learn a new stitch fairly easily. Right now I am trying the color wheel sampler and having great fun with it. Thank you again for your help.

  7. l
    lakshmi says:

    u r tutorial is soooper .i learnt many stitches from u .and took print out of all kinds of embroidery

  8. S
    Saha says:

    Sarah… Your tutorial is wonderful…. It’s really really awesome… It’s easy to understand n work out… Thanks for ur website.. I’m jus a beginner I feel very happy for this wonderful tutorial….

  9. G
    Gia says:

    Thank you for these tutorial, we’ve been looking for tutorial on how to do the stitch and the steps of it. Because our homework is to give the step-by-step on how to do the stitch w/pics. Actually, its not me who found this but my partner. We started searching for tutorials of the stitch last Friday, and finally we found this tutorial, we are so happy when we found this. Thank you very much, if you didn’t do this tutorial, we are so dead in our homework. Thank you again😀

  10. M
    MEJAILA says:

    THANK YOU………… 🙂
    BECAUSE OF YOUR TUTORIALS I DO ALL MY HOMEWORKS

  1. November 2, 2014

    […] para decorar bordes, rellenar vestidos o hacer lindas flores. También emplea mucho el caballito (herringbone stitch), el punto atrás (back stitch), la cadenilla (chain stitch) y el diente de chucho (blanket […]

  2. December 12, 2014

    […] each other over the crosses. The illustrations will make it clearer. …. You need to know the herringbone stitch to be able to do this stitch. […]

  3. January 6, 2015

    […] Shadow work (using herringbone stitch) […]

  4. February 10, 2016

    […] the solution presented itself to me — fold the edge so it’s doubly strong and do the herringbone stitch around it (all of my handmade hankies are hemmed in herringbone stitch). […]

  5. February 14, 2016

    […] I used this tutorial to get started on the stitch itself. Initial Herringbone Stitch: https://www.embroidery.rocksea.org/stitch/herringbone-stitch/herringbone-stitch/ […]

  6. April 21, 2016

    […] le decimos en El Salvador; también se le conoce como punto de escapulario y, en inglés, como herringbone stitch), solo que, en vez de puntadas horizontales lleva puntadas verticales, siempre del borde hacia […]

  7. April 28, 2016

    […] made double straps and used a herringbone stitch to tie in the cream straps with the gray […]

  8. May 20, 2018

    […] Caballito o punto de escapulario (herringbone stitch). […]

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