5 Basic Embroidery Stitches Every Beginner Should Learn

You might be surprised to hear that creating beautiful embroidery only requires a handful of basic embroidery stitches.

It’s true—just a few simple techniques can transform your work into something stunning!

I’ll introduce you to five essential stitches that are perfect for beginners. In fact, these are the ones that I learned when I started learning how to embroider over 15 years ago. To keep things simple, I’ll share the basic techniques for each one in this post, but I have also linked to more in-depth tutorials for each stitch if you want to explore further.

Basic Embroidery Stitches For Beginners

There are hundreds of embroidery stitches, but I’ve selected these particular stitches for a few key reasons:

• Learning a smaller amount of stitches can feel less overwhelming and a lot more enjoyable.
• These stitches are versatile and commonly used in many embroidery designs. You can use them for outlining, filling, or adding decorative details to your projects…this gives you just enough options to complete a design!
• They are foundational—many other stitches are simply variations of these basics, making them essential building blocks for your embroidery skills.

Supplies You’ll Need

In order to start practicing, you don’t need much; just an embroidery hoop, an embroidery needle, some fabric, scissors, and some embroidery floss. It’s also helpful to have a marker or pen on hand to mark the fabric with.

Check out this embroidery supply list if you need help choosing materials.

Back Stitch

If I could only recommend one stitch for someone to learn, it would be the back stitch. This stitch is the first one most people learn because of simple and versatile it is.

What to use it for: It’s great stitch for embroidering lettering, outlining shapes, and you can even use it to fill in areas (see the brick stitch).

1. Come up through the fabric at A (a stitch-length ahead along the line you intend to stitch).
2. Go back down through the fabric at B (at the start of the line).
3. Skip ahead a stitch length, coming up through the fabric at C.
4. Go back down at D.
5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 along the line.

Chain Stitch

The chain stitch is an interesting one. Don’t let it’s fancy looks fool you! It’s also relatively easy to learn. This stitch creates a thicker line compared to the back stitch, and similar to what the name suggests, the stitches look chained together.

What to use it for: You can use this stitch for decorative borders, lettering, and more. If you want to add interesting texture to an element, you can use it to fill in areas. It’s also possible to embroider small flowers with it (aka a lazy daisy).

1. Come up through the fabric and then back down again at A.
2. Pull the thread until a small loop forms. Then come up a stitch length ahead and through the loop at B.
3. Pull the thread to tighten the loop.
4. To make another stitch, go down through the loop where the working thread is at C.
5. Proceed a stitch length ahead, coming up through the loop that forms at D.
6. Repeat the desired length.

Want to learn even more embroidery stitches?

This workbook is NOT your usual stitch encyclopedia. Most embroidery books don’t actually show you how you can use each embroidery stitch and they also don’t come with many tips. This workbook is packed full of helpful information to make you a better, more confident stitcher.

It comes with:

• embroidery stitch tutorials
• helpful tips for each stitch that will maximize your learning and improve the way your embroidery looks
• fun, modern embroidery patterns you can use to learn the stitches with ease

Get The Workbook

French Knot

This knot is probably the most challenging of all of the stitches to learn in this tutorial, but with practice I think you’ll love it. Out of all of the knot stitches, I utilize this one the most in my embroideries.

What to use it for: French knots are great for small flowers, filling in the center of larger flowers, simple eyes, and for any area you want to add more texture to. Check out this French knot tutorial for even more helpful pointers.

1. Come up through the fabric at A.
2. Hold the working thread in one hand and twist the thread around the needle 1-3 times.
3. Hold the thread tight and come back down at B, directly beside where you came up.
4. Pull the thread through and a small knot will form.

Satin Stitch

The satin stitch is a wonderful fill stitch. It is essentially straight stitches that are laid side by side one another. It adds a smooth, neat finish to any area.

What it’s used for: This stitch can be used for flowers petals, filling in leaves, or any shape you can think of. If you have trouble getting it to lay neatly, check out this satin stitch tutorial for more tips.

1. Come up through the fabric at A.
2. Make a stitch across the shape, coming back down through the fabric at B.
3. Come up at C and back down at D.
4. Repeat across the entire area you want to fill in.

Stem Stitch

The stem stitch is another stitch that is very versatile. It can be a bit more challenging along curves, so be sure to read this post that shares more tips for mastering the stem stitch.

1. Make a stitch along the line from A to B. (This first stitch should be 2 stitch lengths long.)
2. Pull the working thread through, keeping a loop off to the left side. Then come up in the middle of the stitch at C.
3. Pull through and again pull the working thread off to the left side. Skip ahead a stitch length and go back down through the fabric at D.
4. Pull the thread through, leaving a loop of thread off to the left. Go back up through the fabric at the base of the stitch above (at E).
5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 the desired length.

PDF + Free Mini Course

If you’d like a PDF of all of these stitches and a free mini course on how to get started with embroidery, you can sign up below! This course is available on my website. I’ll send you the password to get in, and you’re welcome to use it indefinitely. You’ll receive a free pattern, and you’ll have access to lots of informative resources to help you continue to learn the art of embroidery.

Once you’ve got these basic stitches of embroidery down, you may enjoy exploring more embroidery stitch tutorials. Another amazing resource is the RSN stitch bank.

Amanda

Amanda is a hand embroidery teacher and artist. With over 15 years of experience in the craft industry and embroidery, she owns and runs Crewel Ghoul, sharing accessible tutorials and patterns to help inspire fellow crafters to get creative. In addition to running this website, she teaches on Skillshare and Youtube.