Herringbone, as the name suggests, looks like a row of interlaced fish bones. This useful stitch is worth knowing for its versatile nature and the easy way it fills space on any piece of embroidery. Herringbone is found in some quilting circles as part of ‘crazy quilting’ because it is an effective way to decorate seams. Follow these easy steps and when you feel confident, try some variations to the basic herringbone stitch.
How to do Herringbone Stitch
Step 1: If you are following a border with the herringbone stitch, it is wise to draw two parallel lines to guide you. As you get more proficient you can skip adding the guidelines.
Bring your thread up from the underside of the fabric on the right of the top line, at point (1).
Step 2: Insert the needle again at point (2), and out again a short distance away at point (3).
Note that (3) is to the right of (2). You will continually be working this stitch from left to right. This will form the little cross at the bottom of each stitch.
Step 3: Then insert the needle in the top row into the point (4), and out at point (5).
Step 4: Continue making the stitches following these three easy steps and the five points of the pattern.
Herringbone is a great border or edging stitch and because it is so simple it has many interesting variations. Simply by changing the size of the stitches, you can change the look of the pattern.
By adding another thread to weave amongst the herringbone you can create another dimension to the stitch called interlaced herringbone.
A favorite variation of the herringbone stitch is the double herringbone. This is a simple additional row of herringbone placed along the row. It looks especially attractive when you use two contrasting thread colors.
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