Border stitches are used to create decorative borders around a design or an element of a design.

Construction stitches are those used when constructing fabric articles; they are functional rather than decorative.

​A decorative stitch applied to the edge of a fabric.

Textured stitches are used to create either raised or flat decoration.

A stitch used to embellish or create an eyelet hole which has been pierced or cut into the ground material.

Filling stitches are used to fill specific parts of a design so there is no ground fabric showing.  The areas filled are normally relatively large.

Image courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, accession number: 50807

A repeated stitch that is used prior to starting embroidery to anchor the thread in place, and again once the end of the thread is reached.

​An insertion stitch is used to join two pieces of cloth together or to fill an area of cutwork.

These are stitches which lend themselves to depicting leaf veins.

Image courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum, New York.  Accession number:39.13.2a

These are stitches which lend themselves to depicting leaves.

Open filling stitches are used to partially fill parts of a design resulting in an area where the ground fabric shows between the stitches.  The areas filled are normally relatively large.

Outline stitches are used to outline a particular area of a design, which may then be decorated with a filling stitch.

Padding stitches are those which are raised from the fabric by layer(s) of either fabric or thread.

Powdered fillings are where isolated stitches are scattered across the design area so the ground fabric is still clearly visible between them.  The stitches can be either regularly spaced or randomly distributed.  The density may also vary within the design area, for instance close together in the centre and more widely spaced towards the edge.  The orientation of the stitch can be consistent or varied.

Pulled thread fillings are those pulled thread stitches which are used to fill an area with a repeating pattern.  The stitches are worked under tension which pulls the threads of the ground fabric apart, this often creates a lacy effect.  Some pulled work fillings are double-sided and are known by different names depending on which side is uppermost.

N.B. these stitches exclude pulled work stitches such as eyelets and ladder stitch which are used predominantly as isolated stitches.

For a full list of all pulled work stitches, see pulled work (technique).

Shading stitches are used to fill areas of a design with graduating colour or spacing.

Smocking stitches are used to gather fabric. Smocking was commonly used to allow stretch in the cuffs, bodices, and necklines of garments before the introduction of elastic.

These stitches lend themselves to the creation of stems for plants and flowers.