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Ring picot icon
Ring picot

  • Buttonhole ring picot
  • Buttonhole ring
Ring picot main image

A ring picot is a semi-circular loop, normally on the edge of a piece of fabric, covered in buttonhole stitches.

This picot can itself be embellished with a smaller picot, normally either a simple picot or a loop picot - see the images at the end of the Method below.

Ring picots can be worked so that each semi-circle overlaps with the previous one to form a decorative edge.

N.B. The alternative name of buttonhole ring can also be used for Buttonhole couronnes.

add_circleMy Stitches
Looped Knotted Buttonhole Detached Picot Edging Whitework Cutwork Needlepoint lace

Ring picot is generously sponsored by Elizabeth Shelton

Method

To work different size ring picots, vary the number of buttonhole stitches across which it is worked and use a different size tapestry needle or similar implement to tension the thread.
For a thinner picot, use a single thread as the core of the picot, rather than three.  N.B. always use an odd number of core threads so that your needle finishes at the correct end of the picot, ready to continue the buttonhole edge.

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Ring picot method stage 1 illustration
Ring picot method stage 1 photograph
1

Work buttonhole stitches along the edge of your fabric.  Count back 8 stitches and insert your needle into the top of the stitch.  Always insert your needle from front to back.

Ring picot method stage 2 illustration
Ring picot method stage 2 photograph
2

Pull your thread through to create a semi-circle.

Ring picot method stage 3 illustration
Ring picot method stage 3 photograph
3

Insert your needle into the buttonhole stitch at the start of the semi-circle and pull through, leaving another semi-circle of thread.

Ring picot method stage 4 illustration
Ring picot method stage 4 photograph
4

Use your needle to tension both semi-circles to the approximate size which you want.

Ring picot method stage 5 illustration
Ring picot method stage 5 photograph
5

Insert your needle back into the top of the 8th buttonhole stitch.  Try not to split your threads.

Ring picot method stage 6 illustration
Ring picot method stage 6 photograph
6

Use a large tapestry needle or similar implement to tighten all three threads to the required size.

Ring picot method stage 7 illustration
Ring picot method stage 7 photograph
7

Insert your needle through the ring and over the working thread to work your first buttonhole.

Ring picot method stage 8 illustration
Ring picot method stage 8 photograph
8

Pull your thread diagonally down so that the knot is at the very end of the ring.

Ring picot method stage 9 illustration
Ring picot method stage 9 photograph
9

Work the next buttonhole stitch.

Ring picot method stage 10 illustration
Ring picot method stage 10 photograph
10

Continue working buttonhole stitches around the ring, the first few stitches may look uneven.

Ring picot method stage 11 illustration
Ring picot method stage 11 photograph
11

As you work around the ring, the buttonhole stitches will form a ridge around the edge.

Ring picot method stage 12 illustration
Ring picot method stage 12 photograph
12

When you reach the end of the ring and can’t fit in any more stitches, insert your needle into the fabric to work the next buttonhole edging stitch.

Ring picot method stage 13 illustration
Ring picot method stage 13 photograph
13

Finished ring picots.

Ring picot method stage 14 photograph
14

A ring picot further embellished with a loop picot

Ring picot method stage 15 photograph
15

Ring picots with picots

Ring picot

Structure of stitch

Looped Knotted Buttonhole Detached Picot

Common uses

Edging

Embroidery Techniques

Whitework Cutwork Needlepoint lace

Related Stitches

Loop picot Buttonhole stitch Picot Buttonhole bars (cutwork)

References

  • Mrs Archibald Christie, Samplers and Stitches (1921) , p.122
  • Mary Thomas’s Dictionary of Embroidery Stitches (1934) , p.162
  • Pat Earnshaw, Bobbin and needle laces - identification and care (1983) , p.102

Examples of Ring picot

Needlelace collar (Metropolitan Museum 08.180.701)

This 19th century collar features 17th century Venetian needlepoint lace elements. The narrow bars are embellished with ring picots which in turn are embellished with four tiny picots (these may be loop or simple picots). https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/215050