The open cretan embroidery stitch is used for borders, edges and applique. Its feathery stitch is light and perfect for adding surface texture to your project. It’s used often in crazy quilting projects. It is also referred to as the Persian embroidery stitch and the long armed feather stitch. The open cretan stitch is #31 on my journey to do an embroidery sample of 100+ stitches!
Start on your outside line for the stitch and take a stitch towards the middle, making sure your thread wraps around the needle when you take the next stitch.
Put your needle in on the opposite outside line and take a stitch to the middle, again making sure your thread wraps around the needle with the stitch.
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Continue making stitches on your line. You can vary the stitch by taking bigger stitches inside, making the stitches closer together, or further apart.
Another picture of the sample in progress.
And the finished sample of the open cretan stitch! My stitches aren’t all even length or width, but that’s what makes this a sampler! I really can see using this as an appliqué stitch on one of my art quilts, or to emphasize seemliness on a garment.
Check out all of the embroidery projects on Create Whimsy!