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Japanese darning stitch icon
Japanese darning stitch

Japanese darning stitch main image

Japanese darning stitch is an open filling stitch which can be worked on either even-weave or plain fabric. Parallel rows of darning stitch are worked first and then slanted straight stitches are worked to connect them between two rows.

The stitch first appears in print in Lewis F Day’s 1900 Art in needlework, although in the original version the spaces between the horizontal stitches are much smaller so the stitch appears to be made up of rows of triangles (see the video for this spacing).  It’s a versatile stitch as Constance Howard’s Book of stitches indicates that it can be worked on net; and its geometric precision means it would work well as a blackwork stitch, although it isn’t normally categorised as such.

The origin of the name is unclear but it is possible that it was named based on a decorative version of Japanese mending.

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Flat Parallel Pattern Embellishment Open Filling Surface Counted Thread Blackwork

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Method

You could work this stitch using a frame, or by holding the fabric in your hand. The stitches in the photographs below were worked in a frame, and the video shows it worked in the hand.

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1
Japanese darning stitch method stage 1 illustration
Japanese darning stitch method stage 1 photograph
1

Work evenly spaced horizontal rows of darning stitches over the design area to be filled. Offset the stitches.

2
Japanese darning stitch method stage 2 illustration
Japanese darning stitch method stage 2 photograph
2

Working from right to left, bring up the needle at the top right of the first row and take it down on the second row to make a slanted stitch which joins two darning stitches.

3
Japanese darning stitch method stage 3 illustration
Japanese darning stitch method stage 3 photograph
3

Now come up on the second row at the start of the next darning stitch. Go down at the end of the first stitch on the first row to make another slanted stitch.

4
Japanese darning stitch method stage 4 illustration
Japanese darning stitch method stage 4 photograph
4

Repeat the slanted stitches to connect the next two rows.

5
Japanese darning stitch method stage 5 illustration
Japanese darning stitch method stage 5 photograph
5

Continue in this way until you have filled the area as required.

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Japanese darning stitch method stage 6 illustration
Japanese darning stitch method stage 6 photograph
6

Keep the stitches regular to create a geometric pattern.

7
Japanese darning stitch method stage 7 photograph
7

The reverse side of Japanese darning stitch.  You can see that the darning stitches are doubled.

Japanese darning stitch

Structure of stitch

Flat Parallel Pattern

Common uses

Embellishment Open Filling

Embroidery Techniques

Surface Counted Thread Blackwork

Identifying Japanese darning stitch

This stitch can be identified by the parallel lines of offset darning stitches which are joined by slanting straight stitches to form indented rectangles.  Some versions change the angle of the slanting stitches so that the stitch is formed by rows of triangles.

References

  • Mary Thomas’s Dictionary of Embroidery Stitches (1934) , p.73–4
  • Jennifer Campbell, Ann-Marie Bakewell, Guide to Embroidery Stitches (2004)
  • Lewis F Day, Art in Needlework (1900) , p.85-6
  • Constance Howard, The Constance Howard book of stitches (1979) , p.14, 17