Woven Picot Embroidery Stitch
The woven Picot is an embroidery stitch that is commonly used in stumpwork or raised embroidery. The base of the picot is attached to the fabric, but the thread is woven together in a way that the rest of the stitch is detached from the fabric. This stitch is a bit more challenging to learn, but with practice it’s super fun to incorporate into any embroidery!
This tutorial is one of many embroidery stitch tutorials
Woven Picot Tutorial
You will need a pin or any type of needle as a temporary anchor for the stitches.
You’ll also need an embroidery needle for making the stitches, and I also like to have a tapestry needle (one that has a blunt tip) to make weaving the thread easier. So in total, you’ll want 2 sharp needles and one blunt needle.
- Place the “anchor” needle in the fabric. The gap between where the upper portion of the needle enters the fabric and the lower portion exits will determine the height of the woven picot stitch.
- Bring your need to the left of the anchor needle at A and wrap the thread around the top of the needle at B. (Make sure stitch A lines up directly to the left of where the bottom portion of the needle is coming through the fabric)
- Bring your thread back down through the fabric at C. (There should be an equal distance between the stitches and the center needle, and stitch A and C should be aligned with one another.)
- Come up directly to the right of the anchor needle at D.
- Wrap the thread around being the needle again at E.
6. Now, begin weaving in between the three threads. Start by going under, over, under.
7. Then, weaving the opposite direction, weave your needle over, under, over.
8. Repeat until you have reached the very base of the picot.
9. Secure your thread at the base of the picot.
10. Now you can take the anchor needle out, and you’re done!
Tips
The woven picot embroidery stitch can be a tricky one, and the way you set it up will directly affect how the stitch turns out. Here are a couple tips:
- As I mentioned in the tutorial, make sure that you space the two outer strands of threads as evenly as possible so that the anchor needle is in the middle of them. (It’s ok if it’s ever so slightly off, but you generally want them to be as even as you can make them.)
- The three strands of thread and the bottom of the needle should all be on the same horizontal plane.
- Try not to pull the thread too tight while you are weaving the thread in and out. Working the stitch with too much tension will cause the picot to become misshapen.
Woven Picot Flower
This stitch makes for great flowers. You can work the picots around in a circle to make individual flower petals. (This embroidery pictured above was a pattern that I share in my intermediate embroidery class. )
You can get even more creative with this stitch…Needlenthread has a tutorial on a rolled picot flower that is so unique!
Amanda is a hand embroidery artist and teacher. With over 15 years of experience in the craft industry and embroidery, she owns and runs Crewel Ghoul, sharing tutorials and patterns to help inspire fellow crafters to get inspired and creative. In addition to running this website, she teaches on Skillshare and Youtube.