​A bold raised knotted dot used for decorative purposes giving texture to the surface of the material.  They can be used singly or in closely packed groups or scattered.

French knots appear as one of the stitches on the Butler-Bowdon cope, a piece opus Anglicanum from the 14th century (although they were not a particularly common stitch in this tradition).  They were also used on a notable piece of Swiss/south German ecclesiastical embroidery from the 16th century and by the following century were certainly in common usage in both Jacobean crewelwork and in raised work (frequently used to depict foliage or hair).

By the 19th century they were being used across different embroidery traditions and regions: in Britain they were used at the beginning of the century to embellish silk needlepaintings; to create geometric designs for Java canvas work (named for the origin of the fabric), and in the 1870s and 80s to cover large areas of the ground fabric of what were termed ‘etching embroideries’; in Eire they were used as a key element of Montmellick white work; and in Portugal as part of the Guimarães embroidery tradition.