Running Stitch

running_stitch

Running Stitch is also known as

Punto de bastilla / Punto de basta / Punto de hilván [ES], Point avant [FR], Vorstich [DE], Punto filza [IT], Ponto adiante / Ponto de alinhavo / Ponto de passagem [PT].


How to do the Running Stitch

The Running Stitch is done by running the needle and thread up and down the cloth at a regular distance. Keep the stitch consistent to make your work look beautiful.

The length of the stitch on the front side can vary from that on the underside. Usually, there is more thread shown on the front than the underside in a running stitch. Yet, to get the beauty of the stitch, I would suggest keeping the length of the stitches as identical as possible.

Learn to do Running Stitch in 2 minutes!


Running Stitch- Everything you need to know

Learn two Running Stitch methods ⁠— the stab and the sew methods. Also, learn how to join circles, make smooth curves, and turn corners.

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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 today.


Learn this stitch along with 305 other stitches from our 600-page eBook. 


Running Stitch Family

Parallel Running

31 Responses

  1. M
    Maria Zwolak says:

    Very interesting information!Perfect just what I was looking for! “We are shaped and fashioned by what we love.” by Johann von Goethe.

  2. E
    Emily says:


    Dear Sarah,
    I hope that you can be proud of my beginner’s attempt at the running stitch. Every moment stitching seems such a lovely feminine and peaceful time. Thank you so much for your kind and patient tutelage.
    Emily

    • Sarah says:

      Dear Emily,
      It is so wonderful to hear from you. I love your attempt at the Running Stitch! It has come out perfect! I am definitely proud of you. ❤️ Will wait to see more stitches. Keep going!
      Love,
      Sarah

  3. N
    Nimisha Parekh says:

    Dear Sarah

    I love to do stitching in my free time and your website provide a wonderful source. By seeing me, my 7 years old son gets inspire and complete one sample of running stitch which I am attaching here. I hope you would love to see it. He also mentioned that while doing he is enjoying stitching and also willing to try more stitching 🙂

    • Sarah says:

      Dear Nimisha,
      I cannot explain my happiness seeing your son’s beautiful hand embroidery. For a 7 year old, what a talent!! I really love his work and choice of colors. Congratulations to him! Thank you for sharing this here. Looking forward to seeing more of his works. 😊♥️

  4. A
    Adrienne says:

    Sarah,
    I love your website and have tried a number of stitches. Do you have suggestions for keeping stitch length even, particularly with running stitches? Thank you, and keep posting!

  5. a
    arnisa says:

    Thanks Sara. Good sharing. I like this blog

  6. G
    Greg Stewart says:

    Hi Sarah,
    I am so glad that I found your website. I am wanting to do my own version of a “Year in Stitches” where I will work on a blank canvas and do random stitches every day.
    I want to do this to get better at my embroidery stitches.
    I have a huge favor- can you suggest how you would go about choosing the stitches because I want them to be in a progressive order and build upon each other.

    Thank you so much!

    Greg

  7. H
    Hope says:


    Here’s My running sampler – with some french knots for fun.

  8. D
    Deniece Sikes says:

    I am looking for the chicken scratch pattern for a colonial girl. Can you help?

  9. R
    Rienda says:

    Here is the picture.

  10. R
    Rienda says:

    Hi Sarah,
    I thought a sampler of some of my favorite stitches would be interesting, so I made one. It’s not the best, but maybe not too, too bad. Stitches used are: diamond eyelet, God’s eye, twisted chain, bullion knot, whipped spider wheel, levithian, back stitch, straight stitch, lazy daisy, french knot and running stitch. I hope the picture is good enough to distinguish them.

    God bless you for what you are doing for so many.
    Rienda

    Picture is not loading. I’ll have to try again.

  11. m
    manohari says:

    your tutorials really helped me.please,show us basic sewing on
    seams and techniques.

  12. r
    riya says:

    Hi Sarah,
    Thanks a lot for this wonderful site….i m a beginner in embroidery and you made it really interesting and easy to learn…good job..!!!

  13. h
    harini says:

    Hi sarah ,

    You have done a very good job :), actually i was wondering wat to do , coz i just got married and was with my hubby outside India … ,I always wanted to learn embriodery .. but here i dine know where and it was far from my place … was going through the website,,, found very useful …. learning all the stitches .. very informative … i would like to thank you with my soul and heart … thank god i am not wasting my time .. i am making it useful ….

  14. t
    teffania says:

    Hi, lovely tutorials.
    I note you say running stitch normally shows more on the top than the underside. That would be true of running stitch used as a decorative stitch, but used as a construction stitch the aim is usually to have more on the underside than the right side to minimise the stitch showing. I know you’re doing a sampler of decorative stitches, so this doesn’t apply to you, but I think the dictinction that big stitch on top only applies to decorative stitches is an important one to make.

    Suggestion of more decorative stitches to add: long armed (aka asymmetrical) cross stitch

  15. B
    Barb Flory says:

    Dear Sarah,

    I have such a basic question. Should I always use two strands of the Sashiko thread? It is so thick that way and I have a hard time with the thread twisting.

    Thank you for your help.

    Barb Flory

    • sarah says:

      Dear Barb,

      You don’t have follow any rule of taking 2 strands of sashiko thread always. Keep yourself flexible and inventive in embroidery. If you feel the thread is too thick to stitch with, use just 1 strand. Generally, the thickness is of that of perle cotton #5, but that is not a rule, ‘coz a lot depends on how thick your fabric is too.
      I hope this helped. 🙂

  16. N
    Nyan Cat says:

    🙂 this site really helped me with my stitching homeworks ;D

  17. N
    Nyan Cat says:

    🙂 this site really helped me with my stitching homeworks ;D

  18. A
    Ana says:

    Hello! I LOVE your tutorials!
    I was wondering if you have any tips and tricks to space your stitches evenly. I always have trouble with that.
    THank you!

    • sarah says:

      Dear Ana,
      Thanks. 🙂

      Spacing your stitches evenly comes with practice…sometimes a lot, especially if you are a beginner. So, don’t worry of you not getting it so well now.
      One thing you can do is try to use your needle to scale the space. That is, try to bring the needle in and out to only a certain length everytime before you go in and out of the fabric again. I hope you followed me and it helps. Let me know.

  19. S
    Sandra H says:

    How do you gather a running stitch?

    • sarah says:

      Dear Sandra

      Did you mean how do you gather the fabric using runnin stitch? If so, then, do a row of running stitch and pull back the fabric towards the point you began from (towards the point A, in the illustration). You can see that the fabric is gathered. Keep the fabric gathered to your desired density and tie a knot at the other end to finish the stitch and to avoid the fabric from straightening out.
      Hope this has helped.

  20. c
    caroline says:

    Thank you very much, it’s very easy to follow!!! greetings,Caroline

  21. C
    Caren says:

    Sarah, I found your blog a few weeks ago and I am so excited to learn from you! I love the way you have organized your tutorials. I am just finishing up a sampler of all of the running stitches you have posted (I experimented with the stitches in the bottom left corner), just wanted to share what I am learning and thank you!
    – Caren
    Columbus, Ohio, USA

    • sarah says:

      Dear Caren,

      What a delight to see your wonderful sampler! 🙂 Thank you so much for sharing it with us. It is sure going to be an inspiration to many beginners.

      We are so happy to see that you have been learning good from our pages and we want to encourage you to keep learning, posting more of your works and even keep experimenting with the stitches, like you have done here. 🙂

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