About RSN Stitch Bank
Woven wheel
- Wheel stitch
- Spider's web
- Spider web weaving
- Whipped circle
- Woven spot
- Woven spoke
- Berry stitch
- Sorrento wheel
Woven wheel stitch is constructed from a wheel of an odd number of spokes with the same or a different thread woven around them. It produces a raised circle of thread which lends itself to portraying flowers.
Woven wheels feature in Elizabethan embroidery, as demonstrated by various textiles in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. The examples are typically stitched in metal thread, either silver or silver-gilt. They also feature in Hedebo work from Denmark, a whitework technique in which they embellish the centre of eyelets.
Woven
Raised
Composite
Isolated
Circular
Embellishment
Surface
Crewelwork
Ribbonwork
Wessex Stitchery
Woven wheel is generously sponsored by Ruth Levy
Method
Bring your needle up at the edge of the circle, then take it down a little way around in a clockwise direction, still on the edge of the circle.
Bring the needle up at the centre of the circle and tighten the loop against it.
Take the needle down, as though finishing a fly stitch. Bring it up a little way clockwise around the circle (aim for the same distance as between the initial stitch’s spacing).
Take the needle directly across the centre, and down at the two o’clock position. Draw the thread through and bring it up a little way clockwise around the circle.
Take the needle across and down opposite, then make a small holding stitch in the centre of the spokes.
Bring the needle up slightly off-centre, between the spokes and close to the holding stitch.
Change to a tapestry needle and, working anticlockwise, slip the thread over the adjacent spoke and under the next one.
Continue working in this way, weaving the thread over then under alternate spokes. Work outwards from the wheel’s centre.
Continue working until the spokes are completely covered, then take the needle through to the back and secure the thread.
Woven wheel
Common uses
Embroidery Techniques
Related Stitches
Identifying Woven wheel
A circular stitch with woven thread worked from centre outwards.
References
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Jennifer Campbell, Ann-Marie Bakewell, Guide to Embroidery Stitches (2004) , p.119
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'Elizabethan coif and forehead cover', Victoria and Albert Museum (2021). Available at: https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O251205/coif-and-forehead-unknown/ (Accessed: 13 October 2021)
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'17th century waistcoat', Victoria and Albert Museum (2021). Available at: https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O11095/waistcoat-unknown/ (Accessed: 19 October 2021)
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'17th century women’s coif ', Victoria and Albert Museum (2021). Available at: https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O78811/coif-unknown/ (Accessed: 19 October 2021)
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Isabella Mary Beeton, 'Beeton’s Book of Needlework', Beeton's Book of Needlework (1870). Available at: http://www.beetonsbookofneedlework.com/ (Accessed: 01 December 2021)
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Jytte Harboesgaard, Udklipshedebo (Hedebo Cutwork) (2010) , p.53