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Whipped wheel icon
Whipped wheel

  • Spider's wheel stitch
  • Ribbed wheel
  • Ribbed spider's web
  • Back-stitched spider's web
  • Back stitch spider's web
  • English wheel
  • English Rosette
  • Rosette

Whipped wheel, also known as spider’s wheel, can be worked over an odd or even number of spokes and produces quite a raised stitch that adds an interesting ribbed texture.  It’s origins are unclear, but it is referenced (as an English wheel) in Mrs Beeton’s Book of Needlework, published in 1870.

Whipped wheel is generously sponsored by Nicola Clarke in memory of Winifred M. Clarke

Method

1

Bring your needle up just outside the edge of your circle, then take it down directly opposite.

2

Take the needle down through the fabric and draw the thread through, then bring it back up two-thirds of the way around the circle.

3

Take the needle down directly across, then bring it back up roughly a third of the way around the circle.

4

Draw the thread across and down opposite.

5

Make a small holding stitch in the centre. Bring the thread up between two of the spokes, then swap to a tapestry needle.

6

Bring the needle back up in the centre of the star. Take the needle anticlockwise, over the first spoke adjacent, then clockwise, under the first and second spokes.

7

Draw the needle and thread through and pull the thread tight against the centre.

8

Take the needle over then under the second spoke, and also under the third spoke clockwise.

9

Continue this sequence, taking the needle back over the previous spoke, then under the next two.

10

Work all the way around the wheel until the spokes are completely covered. Secure the thread as normal.

Whipped wheel

Common uses

Identifying Whipped wheel

​A circular stitch with spokes radiating from the centre of the circle, with thread wound over and in between each spoke, from the centre outwards.

References

  • Various Authors, The Royal School of Needlework Book of Embroidery (2018) , p.69
  • Mary Thomas, Jan Eaton, Mary Thomas’s Dictionary of Embroidery Stitches (Revised Edition) (1989) , p.75
  • Isabella Mary Beeton, 'Beeton’s Book of Needlework', Beeton's Book of Needlework (1870). Available at: http://www.beetonsbookofneedlework.com/ (Accessed: 01 December 2021)