Tutorial Tuesday chain stitch

chain stitch is a stitch that I have hardly ever used.  I have vague memories of making a chain stitch embroidery as a child at school but that's about it.  This could be because I lean towards laziness and it seemed like a faffy stitch for outlining but then (I have no idea why) I used it for the walls and roof of my wonky shed and loved it!

and so here is a quick and hopefully helpful tutorial on my method for chain stitching

I Prefer two strands of thread and I began this with a knot!  There isn't really a need to I just wasn't thinking and before I knew it I'd knotted my thread!  But you poke your needle back down where you came up

pulling your thread gently until you have a smallish loop.  Next poke your needle back up inside the loop (as above).  How far along you poke your needle back up depends on how big you want your stitches (mine were about 3mm long).

pull your thread taut, how taut depends on how you want your stitches to look, I like a little give in mine.  The best thing is to practice because tension matters in chain stitch, you need to keep your tension even throughout your stitching.

this is a little slower to stitch than backstitch but if you want an outline to stand out it's a great stitch.  In fact I'm thinking it would be rather nice around the caravan...

x

p.s. I have accidentally changed my whole blog layout while trying to change my banner.  I'm not too sure about how readable it is like this, the photos are a little large for my liking.  I have an intention of sorting it properly but for that I will have to learn to use typepad properly!!  It may be a while... please bear with me!