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Open basket filling stitch icon
Open basket filling stitch

  • Basket filling stitch
Open basket filling stitch main image

This pulled-thread stitch is constructed from rows and columns of satin stitches interlaced to give a “basket” effect.  The stitches should not be pulled too tightly otherwise it will be difficult to work the stitches where the rows intersect.

There is a stitch with a similar name, basket filling stitch, although this is a surface stitch, not a pulled-thread stitch.

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Pulled Embellishment Open Filling Whitework Pulled Thread

Open basket filling stitch is generously sponsored by The Huddersfield Embroidery and Textile Arts Group, remembering all their stitching friends with love.

Method

Some authors work this stitch in groups of either six or seven satin stitches, rather than ten, and with the spaces spanning four threads rather than three.

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Open basket filling stitch method stage 1 illustration
Open basket filling stitch method stage 1 photograph
1

Start with a horizontal row of satin stitches. Work groups of ten stitches over three fabric threads, spacing the groups three fabric threads apart.

Open basket filling stitch method stage 2 illustration
Open basket filling stitch method stage 2 photograph
2

Work the second row in the same manner. Arrange the groups of ten stitches so that the gaps between the groups are offset in order to create a brick pattern.

Open basket filling stitch method stage 3 illustration
Open basket filling stitch method stage 3 photograph
3

Work all the horizonal rows to fill the area.

Open basket filling stitch method stage 4 illustration
Open basket filling stitch method stage 4 photograph
4

Then work the vertical rows, arranging the groups of ten stitches to fill the gaps left.

Open basket filling stitch

Structure of stitch

Pulled

Common uses

Embellishment Open Filling

Embroidery Techniques

Whitework Pulled Thread

References

  • Mary Thomas’s Dictionary of Embroidery Stitches (1934) , p.9
  • Mary Thomas, Jan Eaton, Mary Thomas’s Dictionary of Embroidery Stitches (Revised Edition) (1989) , p.200
  • Shirlee Lantz, Maggie Lane, A Pageant of Pattern for Needlepoint Canvas (1974) , p.464