Also known as: Point de riz, Seeding stitch
This stitch is just a chaos of single straight stitches used to fill patterns. Unlike the seed stitch, it does not follow any straight line or pattern, rather its speciality lies in it not having a pattern. It looks like strewn rice grains over the ground, which contributed to its name.
I will work on a paisley pattern to demonstrate this stitch.

Make a single straight stitch at any angle, preferably from one end of the pattern. Keep making such single stitches randomly at different angles till the entire pattern is filled. A finished sample would look like the pattern above.
Tags: embroidery, filling stitch, point de riz, rice stitch, running stitch, straight stitch


Who on earth said that seed stitch follows any pattern? And this is seed stitch not rice stitch.Lady,please research more before publishing tutorials. Seed stitch is also known as rice grain. Which book are you copying the tutorials from?
I know you may just delete this comment..but this had to be written.
Dear XYZ from Bangalore,
Thanks for the comment and your anxiety is respected.
Rice stitch is what ‘point de riz’ is in French. This stitch is not to be confused with the rice stitch from the cross stitch family, or even the rice stitch that is prominent in knitting.
Rice stitch is also known as ‘seeding stitch’ and not ‘seed stitch’ as you have mentioned. And, you are right, seed stitch is also known as rice grain stitch. We have published the seed stitch tutorial for more details.
Let me bring notice to your intellect that there are many stitches that follow similar names and also are confused with each other due to the visual and technical similarities. So, before you comment on someone’s work and effort, please do the research yourself.
Dear Sarah, thank you for your wonderful tutorials! I am working on sewn illustrations for a children’s book, and have turned to your work to inspire me. I am not a stickler for terminology — am just thankful for the how-to tips here!
Dear Mcsister,
It is really nice to know that you are working on sewn illustrations. It would be great if you could share some some of the pictures as samples in our site. It will be a great inspiration for others and I am curious to see as well!
good for you to reply to xyz. what a rude person! I LOVE, LOVE LOVE your tutorials. When will you publish your e-book? I would like to receive updates from you
By far, I can strongly claim that I have not known anyone who has invested so much of their time, effort and will to put together such an efficient and well-explanatory set of tutorials. The amount of feedback Sarah receives each day speaks volumes about her successful endeavor. It is such a shame that people relish in pointing out such silly flaws and do not even have the basic civility to use appropriate language to put their ‘baseless’ point across.
Anyways, KUDOS Sarah! Keep up your good work.
Dear Marlin,
Nice to hear from you after a long time. Thanks for your support.
It really shows that you understand the kind of effort that goes into making this tutorial, and that is reassuring. We were always open to corrections if there has been any short comings in our tutorials. But it gets a bit cheap when people come up with the sole intention to put you down with harsh language, and that too anonymously.
Hoping all is well there.
Links for your reference. If all these references are wrong..then Iam not sure what to say.
http://books.google.co.in/books?id=9NDRHvBq594C&pg=PA140&lpg=PA140&dq=seed+stitch++v/s+seeding+stitch+embroidery&source=bl&ots=i9bZETWmTN&sig=2DxvYTE0TclUBhKvkv-W1RkbDuo&hl=en&ei=rXmZTO2HEorUvQOm4OiWDQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CC4Q6AEwAw#v=onepage&q&f=false
http://www.needlenthread.com/2007/04/seed-stitch-video-tutorial.html
http://www.dmc-usa.com/majic/pageServer/140101005h/en_US/Embroidery-guide.html
http://www.needlecrafter.com/Stitches/stitches.html?let=S#S
This one is similar to yours but seed stitch is different,it has two parallel lines which is infact widely followed :
http://www.artsanddesigns.com/cgi-bin/makeGlossary.pl?category=embroidery§ion=S
I agree that the name are similar and confusing,but the comment was made after due research.
Thank you and good bye.
XYZ,
I find that the links vaguely consent with each other. Though most of them agree that ‘seeding’ is scattered straight stitches, they still seem to differ over ‘seed stitch’. My claim is not that they are all wrong, but only that my tutorial contains information that is best to my research, and knowledge.
Anyway, if you personally feel that this tutorial was done without proper research, and is wrong, then kindly refuse to follow any of my pages.
I do not appreciate anonymous comments written for the purpose of proving someone wrong, rather than for enlightening.
Good bye and good luck.
the heck with names..as long as it’s a simple tutorial that i can follow..
thanks a lot Sarah..i only knew how to backstitch, before i found this website..i haven’t gone through all, but will practise all the types of stitches you’ve shown in my workbook..
thank you for such a lovely site. it helps us –beginners like me– a lot. best wishes to you both and your little girl
You’re right AJ, who cares about the name of the stitch, all I care about is the result on my embroidery. I’ve been doing this calling it “seed stitch”, but I now see they do look more like rice grains than seeds.
And thank you Sarah for the wonderful tutorials, I’ve bookmarked you page a long time ago, I like the clarity of your explanations on the tutorials and how you’ve organized the stitches by family. This week I’ve given the link to my class mates at the sewing course, most of them don’t speak English but the pictures are easy to understand, thanks also on their behalf!!!
Dear Sandra,
Thanks for writing and supporting.
It is nice to know that you and your friends are finding our pages good. All the effort seems worthwhile. Do share some of your works with us when you get a chance. Our ‘welcome’ to your friends.
No kidding! Why on earth would you surf the net, find some sweet soul’s website and post such rude and completely uncalled for remarks about their work? Would you walk up to your colleagues at work or a stranger, and if their work is not quite up to your ‘supposed’ standards, pass a rude remark at them?
It’s highly unlikely because I highly doubt you’d be ok with the reaction you might get. At some point it’s gotta sink home that it’s THEIR work!! NOT yours!
So what if a few stitch names get confused along the way…people come out with new stitches all the time and there is such a variety that it’s hard to keep track of all the names. What counts is that you learn how to do them, you make beautiful things for your home and have the satisfaction of knowing you did that with your own hands…
BTW…embroidery, like cooking and baking is not a straight-laced type of craft. It’s a warm and very beautiful pastime. It should never be treated like a cut and dried, ‘have to do it this way or I’ve failed’ type of hobby. Treat other’s work and opinions with some respect please.
Dear Wendy,
Thanks for writing and showing support to me.
Must admit with apologies that I am seeing your comment only now…some technical problem from this end.
A great deal of effort goes into researching and making a page of tutorial, and your understanding of this is reassuring.
Thanks a lot.
hello dear mrs sarah.
your art is very very nice and beauty.
very thanx.
good luck for you and your family.
bye.
Thanks Tahereh,
It is very nice of you. Wishes to you and your family too.
hai sarah.my name is rizna,i have been searching in web to know how to do handstiching and all.today accidently i happen to see ur tutorials.it awsome and ur pictures are just what i need for learning the stiches properly.thank you so much and i love your site very much:) bye
Dear Rizna,
Hope you enjoy learning from our pages and share some of your works with us.
It is nice to know that you are liking our pages.
Sarah,
Thank you for your most helpful tutorials. I’ve been looking for a different and fun stitch to quilt my hand embroidered blocks together and I think this one is just what the doctor ordered no matter what it’s called.
Connie
I lilked ur tutorials very ver much Jazakallah
Sarah! Nice name
I m very much interested in embroidery .so plz carry on ur work as far as u can
All the best
hi sarah realy ur website is very useful…….plzz post more stitches
Hi Sarah! Love your site. Can’t wait to get started!! Thanks!
Best–Megan from J’adore Lucy
Hi Sarah
I’m just a beginner in embroidery. Lovely tutorial! Keep the great work going!
Hello,
I am a 51 year old bus mechanic in Ft. Lauderdale who broke my arm in a motorcycle accident. Your web site has helped me understand and improve my embroidering skills. Still learning. Thank you for the free help. My mind feels much better, due to the free therapy. Friends thank you for the beautiful work I’m doing.
Keep up the good work.
Regards, Marvin.
Hi Sarah,
Its really a nice and very helpful tutorial for beginners. Thank you so much for your time and effort to publish this tutorial which make everyone understand and learn easily. Great work dear. Keep up the work.
Regards,
Hi Sarah,
Am a beginner and was searching the net for the best tutorials i can
find,and thank God i found you. its sad how some people are quick
to critisize rather than appreciate the efforts
that people put in their work.
pls dont listen to
such discouraging comments.
I must confess am so much in love with your work.
Keep up the good work.
Hi Sarah,
I started doing embroidery about 50 years ago but had put it aside for the last 20. I just picked it back up and your site is exactly what I needed to get me excited about the craft. You have an incredible amount of information and the Basic Stitch Family is exactly what I needed. I also love all the pieces that are illustrated on your site. Thank you for sharing your knowledge in such a generous way.