Stitch Your Dogby Make It Yours

Stitch guide · Outlines

How to do a feather stitch

Feather stitch is a row of open V-shaped loops, made like fly stitches, worked one under another and alternating to the left and right. It makes a branching, feathery line. Use it for borders, trailing vines, leafy stems and decorative seams, such as on crazy quilts.

  • Level Easy
  • Also called Briar stitch

Use it in a pet portrait for…

  • A trailing vine or a leafy border around the hoop.
  • A decorative line under your dog's name.
  • Feathery fur along a long-haired tail.

How to do it, step by step

Feather stitch: where the needle goesCome up at 1 and go down at 2, leaving a loop. Come up at 3, inside the loop and halfway between, to make a V. Go down at 4, to the right, and come up at 5 for the next V. Then go down at 6, on the left, and come up at 7. The V's alternate right and left down the line.1234567

Come up at 1 and go down at 2, leaving a loop. Come up at 3, inside the loop and halfway between, to make a V. Go down at 4, to the right, and come up at 5 for the next V. Then go down at 6, on the left, and come up at 7. The V's alternate right and left down the line.

Odd numbers: come up from the back Even numbers: go down Dashed: the next stitch

  1. Come up at the top of the line, a little to the left of center.
  2. Go down level with it, a little to the right, and leave a loop.
  3. Come up inside the loop, below the two holes and halfway between them, and pull the loop snug into a V.
  4. For the next V, go down level with your thread, a little to the right, leaving a loop, and come up inside it, below and halfway between.
  5. Make the V after that to the left: go down level with your thread, a little to the left, and come up below and halfway between.
  6. Keep alternating, right and left, down the line. Finish with a tiny stitch over the point of the last V.

Common mistakes and how to fix them

The line wanders.
Draw three guide lines, one down the center and one on each side, so every V lands in the same place.
Lopsided V's.
Come up exactly halfway between the two holes each time, with the loop under the needle.
The V's pull flat.
Snug each loop gently around the thread, then stop pulling.
The last loop flops open.
Anchor it with a tiny stitch over its point.

How many strands?

Two or three strands for most borders, or one for a delicate vine.

Embroidery floss comes as six thin strands twisted together. Cut a length from your fingertips to your elbow, pull out the strands you need one at a time, and lay them back together (DMC’s guide to stranded floss).

Questions people ask

What is feather stitch used for?

Borders, vines and leafy stems, and decorating seams, such as on crazy quilts. It was also a classic decoration on traditional English smocks.

Fly stitch vs feather stitch: what's the difference?

A fly stitch is one V held by a small anchoring stitch. Feather stitch is a chain of V's, each starting where the last one ended, alternating left and right.

Is feather stitch the same as briar stitch?

The names overlap. Briar stitch is used for feather stitch, and also for double feather stitch, where two V's go to each side before it switches.

Sources: Royal School of Needlework Stitch Bank: Feather stitch