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Genoa stitch

  • Genoa lace stitch
Genoa stitch main image

This needlelace stitch works groups of four oval open areas which together form a diamond shape.  Groups of detached buttonhole stitches are interspersed with spaces to form the open ovals.

It first appears in print under the name Genoa lace stitch in the 1890s.  The name presumably references the Italian city, although Genoese lace is traditionally a form of bobbin lace, rather than made with a needle.

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Looped Detached Buttonhole Embellishment Open Filling Needlelace

Genoa Stitch is generously sponsored by Diana Stephenson

Method

Outline your design area with a cordonnet or a stitch such as double running stitch.
This stitch needs a relatively large area for the repeating pattern to be effective.

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1
Genoa stitch method stage 1 illustration
Genoa stitch method stage 1 photograph
1

Bring your needle up just inside the outline, towards the top right corner.  Work a group of four detached buttonhole stitches over the top edge.

Single Brussels stitch
2
Genoa stitch method stage 2 illustration
Genoa stitch method stage 2 photograph
2

Leave a loop equivalent to the width of three detached buttonhole stitches and then work another group, this time of three stitches.

3
Genoa stitch method stage 3 illustration
Genoa stitch method stage 3 photograph
3

Continue alternating groups of four and three stitches, with equal loops (of three stitch widths) between them.

4
Genoa stitch method stage 4 illustration
Genoa stitch method stage 4 photograph
4

At the end of the row, take your thread around the stitched edge and make a group of nine detached buttonhole stitches.  Work the first three stitches into the long loop from the previous row, the next three between the group of four and the final three into the next long loop.

5
Genoa stitch method stage 5 illustration
Genoa stitch method stage 5 photograph
5

Leave a gap under the three stitches from the previous row and then work another group of nine stitches, centred under the group of four stitches from the previous row, as before.  Continue alternating groups of nine stitches and gaps of three stitch widths.

6
Genoa stitch method stage 6 illustration
Genoa stitch method stage 6 photograph
6

At the end of the row take your thread around the stitched edge and continue making groups of nine stitches with gaps of three stitch widths.  This time the nine stitches should be offset so that the gaps are centred on the group of nine stitches from the row above.

7
Genoa stitch method stage 7 illustration
Genoa stitch method stage 7 photograph
7

Continue alternating groups of nine stitches and gaps of three stitch widths to fill the row.

8
Genoa stitch method stage 8 illustration
Genoa stitch method stage 8 photograph
8

For the next row repeat the first row but in the opposite direction, working groups of three stitches in the long loops and groups of four into the centre loops of the block of nine.

9
Genoa stitch method stage 9 illustration
Genoa stitch method stage 9 photograph
9

Continue repeating the last three rows (steps 4-8).

10
Genoa stitch method stage 10 illustration
Genoa stitch method stage 10 photograph
10

Work the final row into the bottom of the stitched outline - where there are gaps, whip the thread around the outline.

11
Genoa stitch method stage 11 illustration
Genoa stitch method stage 11 photograph
11

A finished area of Genoa stitch.

Genoa stitch

Structure of stitch

Looped Detached Buttonhole

Common uses

Embellishment Open Filling

Embroidery Techniques

Needlelace

Identifying Genoa stitch

This needlelace stitch can be distinguished by the pattern of four oval holes which form offset diamonds.

References