Featherstitch or feather stitch and Cretan stitch or faggoting stitch are embroidery techniques made of open, looped stitches worked alternately to the right and left of a central rib.[1] Fly stitch is categorized with the featherstitches.

Drawing of Cretan embroidery in closed Cretan stitch from Embroidery and Tapestry Weaving, 1912
Featherstitch

Applications

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Feather stitch is a decorative stitch which is usually accompanied with embellishments.[2] Cretan stitch is characteristic of embroidery of Crete and the surrounding regions.[3]

Open Cretan stitch or faggoting is used in making open decorative seams and to attach insertions.

Feather stitch embroidery arose in England in the 19th century for decorating smock-frocks. It is also used to decorate the joins in crazy quilting. It is related to (and probably derives from) the older buttonhole stitch and chain stitch.[1]

Variants

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Common variants of featherstitch include:[4][1]

  • Basic featherstitch
  • Long-armed featherstitch
  • Double featherstitch
  • Closed featherstitch
  • Chained feather stitch
  • Cloud stitch
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Looped stitches

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Other looped stitches include:[4][1]

  • Cretan stitch[5] or Open Cretan stitch or faggoting stitch
  • Closed Cretan stitch
  • Fishbone stitch
  • Fly stitch,[6] a filling stitch made of single, detached tacked loops.
  • Loop stitch
  • Scroll stitch
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See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ a b c d Reader's Digest Complete Guide to Needlework. The Reader's Digest Association, Inc. (March 1992). ISBN 0-89577-059-8, p. 39-41
  2. ^ Sarah (2011-01-26). "Feather Stitch". Sarah's Hand Embroidery Tutorials. Retrieved 2019-04-17.
  3. ^ Christie, Grace: Embroidery and Tapestry Weaving, London, John Hogg, 1912
  4. ^ a b Enthoven, Jacqueline: The Creative Stitches of Embroidery, Van Norstrand Rheinhold, 1964, ISBN 0-442-22318-8
  5. ^ Willem. "Cretan Stitch". trc-leiden.nl. Retrieved 2021-07-10.
  6. ^ Willem. "Fly Stitch". trc-leiden.nl. Retrieved 2021-07-10.

References

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  • Caulfield, S.F.A., and B.C. Saward, The Dictionary of Needlework, 1885.
  • Christie, Mrs. Archibald (Grace Christie), Embroidery and Tpestry Weaving, London, John Hogg, 1912, online at Project Gutenberg
  • Enthoven, Jacqueline: The Creative Stitches of Embroidery, Van Norstrand Rheinhold, 1964, ISBN 0-442-22318-8
  • Reader's Digest, Complete Guide to Needlework. The Reader's Digest Association, Inc. (March 1992). ISBN 0-89577-059-8