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Basket stitch icon
Basket stitch

  • Crisscross herringbone stitch
Basket stitch main image

This stitch is formed by overlapping crossing stitches which form a simple braid effect.

It has similarities with both long-armed cross stitch and closed herringbone stitch.  The structure is similar to the former although the spacing is different and this is more commonly worked as a surface stitch; the latter is visually similar although the structure is different as the reverse shows pairs of stitches across the width of the braid, rather than along the edges of the braid like herringbone.

This stitch first appears in print under this name in the early 20th century.

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Crossed Border Outline Stems Counted Thread Surface Canvaswork

Basket stitch is generously sponsored by Wendy Sysouphat

Method

Publications from the early 20th century show this as a surface stitch with the threads crossing twice; later authors show this stitch crossing three or four times, sometimes with the stitches on the reverse at a slant rather than straight and are more likely to work it as a counted thread or canvaswork stitch.  This version shows the threads crossing each other just twice.

Mary Thomas indicates that the spacing can be varied so there are gaps between the stitches.

Draw or visualise two parallel guidelines.

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1
Basket stitch method stage 1 illustration
Basket stitch method stage 1 photograph
1

Bring your needle up at the start of the bottom guideline and take it down on the top guideline, slightly ahead.

2
Basket stitch method stage 2 illustration
Basket stitch method stage 2 photograph
2

Bring your needle back up directly opposite on the bottom guideline and take it down on the top guideline between the start and end points of the previous stitch to form an offset cross stitch.

3
Basket stitch method stage 3 illustration
Basket stitch method stage 3 photograph
3

Bring your needle back up directly opposite on the bottom guideline and take it down on the top guideline slightly ahead.  It should be parallel with the first stitch.

4
Basket stitch method stage 4 illustration
Basket stitch method stage 4 photograph
4

Bring your needle back up directly opposite on the bottom guideline and take it down on the top guideline slightly behind, sharing a hole with the end of the first stitch.

5
Basket stitch method stage 5 illustration
Basket stitch method stage 5 photograph
5

Bring your needle up directly opposite sharing a hole with the start of the second stitch, and continue making stitches in this way.  Each stitch should be crossed twice by other stitches, once over and once under.

6
Basket stitch method stage 6 illustration
Basket stitch method stage 6 photograph
6

A finished line of basket stitch.

7
Basket stitch method stage 7 illustration
Basket stitch method stage 7 photograph
7

The reverse of basket stitch.

Basket stitch

Structure of stitch

Crossed

Common uses

Border Outline Stems

Embroidery Techniques

Counted Thread Surface Canvaswork

Related Stitches

Long-armed cross stitch Closed herringbone stitch Raised fishbone stitch

Identifying Basket stitch

This stitch resembles closed herringbone stitch, but the top and bottom crossing stitches are aligned rather than offset and the reverse shows vertical pairs of stitches rather than herringbone’s horizontal ones.

References

  • Mrs Archibald Christie, Samplers and Stitches (1921) , p.16
  • Mary Thomas’s Dictionary of Embroidery Stitches (1934) , p.9–10
  • 'Anchor Manual of Needlework', archive.org (1958). Available at: https://archive.org/details/anchormanualofne0000unse/mode/2up (Accessed: 30 June 2022)
  • Jo Bucher, The complete guide to embroidery stitches and crewel (1971) , p.220
  • Jacqueline Enthoven, The stitches of creative embroidery (1987) , p.90-1