Stitch of the Week: Nobuko

The Nobuko stitch is a great stitch for creating special effects in your piece. It is a textured stitch that is worked in alternating long and short diagonal stitches, and is worked in rows similar to the Continental Stitch. It can be worked in a single color or multiple colors by row.


To stitch the Nobuko, you will work from right to left. Bring your needle up through the canvas and over one intersection (1-2 in the diagram shown). After that, you will bring your needle up one row under the first (3), and then you will carry the stitch over three intersections (3-4 in the diagram shown). The next stitch will be over one section, and then you will continue in the same way across the row you are stitching. When you are stitching the next row (as you can see in the picture below) you will be working in the opposite direction.


There are a lot of great threads you can use to really emphasize this attractive stitch. Flair is a very pretty ribbon thread that you can use to create snow. Threadworx Overdyed thread is great for stitching sky and water. To create snow, sky or water, you can use Silk and Ivory and Silk and Ivory Stardust. To create fish scales, you can use Perle cotton in either #3 or #5, and you can also use Trebizond.