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Loop picot icon
Loop picot

  • Pinned picot
  • Looped picot
Loop picot main image

This simple picot consists of a tiny loop which is anchored in place with a buttonhole stitch.  They are frequently used en masse on the edges of motifs in needlepoint lace to create a furry effect.

This picot can itself be used to embellish a larger picot - see the image at the end of the Method below which shows a ring picot decorated with loop picots.

Loop picots are used in many different needlelace traditions.  One of the early traditional laces which uses them is Alençon lace which dates the last quarter of the 18th century, this is sometimes presumed to be because they were quicker than the Venetian picots which had previously been popular.

add_circleMy Stitches
Looped Knotted Buttonhole Edging Cutwork Whitework Needlepoint lace

Loop picot is generously sponsored by Joanna Garnier

Method

The picots here have been worked larger than normal in order to show the working method clearly.

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Loop picot method stage 1 illustration
Loop picot method stage 1 photograph
1

Work buttonhole stitches along the edge. When you reach the point where you wish to make a loop picot, insert a pin into the fabric so that it protrudes from the edge, and loop your thread behind it.

Loop picot method stage 2 illustration
Loop picot method stage 2 photograph
2

Insert your needle in the same place where you would have started the next buttonhole stitch and pull it through the fabric.

Loop picot method stage 3 illustration
Loop picot method stage 3 photograph
3

Bring your needle to the front of the fabric, encircle both the pin and loop picot and take your needle into into the loop left by the working thread (this creates a buttonhole stitch to hold the loop picot).

Loop picot method stage 4 illustration
Loop picot method stage 4 photograph
4

Remove the pin and use your needle to adjust the length of the loop picot before you pull your thread tight and complete the loop picot.

Loop picot method stage 5 illustration
Loop picot method stage 5 photograph
5

Continue to edge your fabric with buttonhole stitches.

Loop picot method stage 6 illustration
Loop picot method stage 6 photograph
6

Loop picots can be used to embellish ring picots.

Loop picot

Structure of stitch

Looped Knotted Buttonhole

Common uses

Edging

Embroidery Techniques

Cutwork Whitework Needlepoint lace

Related Stitches

Picot

References

  • Mrs Archibald Christie, Samplers and Stitches (1921) , p.122
  • Mary Thomas’s Dictionary of Embroidery Stitches (1934) , p.161
  • Pat Earnshaw, Bobbin and needle laces - identification and care (1983) , p.102