About RSN Stitch Bank
Condensed cashmere stitch
- Diagonal cashmere stitch
This is a diagonal stitch with a small pattern repeat of offset rectangles. The rectangles are condensed which means that the end of one rectangle overlaps the start of the next. Each rectangular cashmere block of this pattern is worked across two canvas threads by three.
N.B. Mary Thomas calls this version of the stitch ‘Cashmere stitch’ in her Dictionary of Embroidery Stitches, but she is alone in this and so we have kept the more widespread name.
Flat
Pattern
Parallel
Condensed
Filling
Shading
Canvaswork
Cashmere stitch
Staggered cashmere stitch
Condensed cashmere stitch is generously sponsored by Neil MacArthur in memory of Beatrice MacArthur
Method
Make a tent stitch across one intersection of canvas.
Starting directly beneath this stitch, make a diagonal stitch across two intersections of canvas.
Repeat to make a second stitch across two intersections of canvas.
Finish off the rectangle with a second tent stitch at the bottom right corner of the block.
To work a diagonal row, continue the pattern with two longer stitches, then a tent stitch.
When working the next row to the right, the first tent stitch of each cashmere block should meet the top right hand corner of the previous row’s cashmere blocks.
Condensed cashmere stitch
Embroidery Techniques
Variant Stitches
Related Stitches
Identifying Condensed cashmere stitch
A variation on cashmere stitch where instead of complete blocks, the smallest stitch acts as the end of one block and the beginning of another thus condensing the stitch and creating thin stepped diagonal bands of satin stitch on a canvas fabric.
On subsequent rows the long stitch interlocks with the indent created by the tent stitch to create the interlocking pattern.
References
-
Rachel Doyle, RSN Essential Stitch Guides: Canvaswork (2013)
-
Mary Thomas, Jan Eaton, Mary Thomas’s Dictionary of Embroidery Stitches (Revised Edition) (1989) , p.29