Stitch of the Week: Daisy Stitch

The Daisy Stitch is a variation on the eyelet stitch. It is rather easy to do. I used an "away knot", brought my needle to the front side and then started the stitch by going over three vertical threads to the right and down. The hole that I went into then became the center hole of the eyelet. Stitch number two takes place three canvas threads below the center hole. Stitch number three takes place three canvas threads to the right of the center hole and stitch number four takes place three canvas threads above the center hole. The result is a cross or plus sign over three canvas threads.

Part two of the Daisy stitch involves placing a cross stitch in the form of an "X" over the existing plus sign. The "X" stitch is over two canvas intersections and each leg is placed equidistant between the existing arms of the cross.

Part three of the Daisy Stitch involves filling in the remaining canvas holes. Beginning to the left of the stitch in the 12 o'clock position, you proceed around the circle in a counter-clockwise manner.

The result is a lovely stitch, one that is "as pretty as a daisy" if you will and looks remarkably flower-like when a French Knot is placed in the center hole. Suzanne Howren and Beth Robertson in their wonderful book, Stitches for Effect (item #2887) recommend using the Daisy stitch for lacy dresses (using embroidery floss), animal eyes (using a wet or shiny looking thread), flowers (using an overdyed floss) or snowflakes (using a thin Kreinik braid.

I experimented with using two different color threads below. The first involves using a pink thread for only the first portion of the stitch (the cross or plus sign) and the second involves using the pink thread for the first two portions of the stitch and the purple thread for the final bit (that is the one that I prefer).