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Pulled Thread

Also known as Fil Tiré, Punch work, Drawn fabric work, Deflected element embroidery

Pulled thread embroidery is a form of whitework, where threads are pulled tightly together to form designs.

The stitches are normally worked on a relatively open evenweave fabric so that the stitches pull the fabric apart to create a pattern of holes (the holes can appear to have been punched into the fabric, hence the alternative name of punch work).

N.B. Some authors use the term drawn thread for what we call pulled thread stitches.

Related Techniques

Whitework Counted Thread Drawn Thread

Pulled Thread Stitches

Algerian eye stitch Barred buttonhole wheel Braid stitch filling Chessboard filling (pulled thread) Cobbler filling stitch Coil filling stitch Diagonal chevron stitch Diagonal cross filling Diagonal drawn filling Diamond eyelet (pulled thread) Diamond Eyelet (single) Double faggot filling stitch Elizabethan ground stitch Elizabethan half-and-turn stitch Festoon filling stitch Four-sided stitch Framed cross filling Greek cross filling stitch Honeycomb darning Honeycomb filling Ladder stitch (pulled thread) Open basket filling stitch Ringed back stitch filling Round eyelet (pulled thread) Single faggot stitch Small round eyelet (pulled thread) Square eyelet (pulled thread) Three-sided stitch Wave stitch filling (pulled thread)