Satin stitch

File:Altar frontal with silk and metallic-thread embroidery 1730-1740 detail 3.png

Satin stitch in silk. Detail of an altar frontal, France or Italy, 1730–40, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, M.2009.76.

In sewing and embroidery, a satin stitch or damask stitch is a series of flat stitches that are used to completely cover a section of the background fabric. Narrow rows of satin stitch can be executed on a standard sewing machine using a zigzag stitch or a special satin stitch foot.

In order to maintain a smooth edge, shapes can be outlined with back, split or chain stitch before the entire shape including the outline is covered with satin stitch.

Machine-made satin stitch is often used to outline and attach appliques to the ground fabric.

Variants

Variants of the satin stitch include:

• Bourdon stitch - a tightly spaced, decorative stitch typically used for monograms and decorative purposes.
• Brick stitch, in which alternate rows of satin stitches are offset by half the stitch length. Worked in several related colors, brick stitch allows stepped shading. (Brick stitch is also the name of a beadwork technique.)
• Encroaching satin stitch, in which the top of each row of stitches is set between the bottom of the stitches on the previous row.
• Long-and-short stitch, used for fine shading; in the first row of satin stitches, every other stitch is half the length of its neighbors. Subsequent rows in related colors are all of the same length.
• Padded satin stitch, in which shapes are filled with rows of small running stitches which are then covered with satin stitches.

Thread

Satin stitch is frequently made with embroidery thread, which has less twist than standard sewing thread. This gives a more uniform effect, with the individual threads' filaments merging.

While good sewing threads produce acceptable satin stitch, low quality threads usually do not sit straight, and produce an uneven result. The colour of each thread usually does not matter.

Stitch gallery

• Satin stitch.gif

  Satin stitch

• Embroidered letters HB.jpg

  Bourdon stitch

• Brick stitch shading.gif

  Brick stitch

• Encroachng satin stitch.jpg

  Encroaching satin stitch

• Long-and-short-stitch.gif

  Long-and-short stitch

See also

• Embroidery stitch

References

• Caulfield, S.F.A., and B.C. Saward, The Dictionary of Needlework, 1885.
• Christie, Grace (Mrs. Archibald H.): Embroidery and Tapestry Weaving, London, John Hogg, 1912; e-text at Project Gutenberg

• Reader's Digest. Complete Guide to Needlework. The Reader's Digest Association, Inc. (March 1992). ISBN 0-89577-059-8