4 ways to stitch leaves

3 embroidered leaves

I have lots of flowers and leaves in my embroideries and so I thought I would share my four favourite ways to stitch leaves. They are fairly interchangeable so if you don’t like one method you can just try out another. You could also add extra leaves to your embroideries for a bit more embellishment

The simplest leaf is also the smallest. A simple detached chain stitch with an extra straight stitch in the middle. The one I have shown above is stitched with 2 strands but you could stitch it using more strands to make it look more filled. This is perfect if you want to add extra leaves to a branch or flowers as there is no drawing involved, just the stitch itself.

If detached chain stitch is new to you I have a tutorial here

The second stitch is the leaf stitch. For this it can help to draw a straight line down the middle of the leaf (if your leaf is curved then try to curve the line keeping it roughly in the middle). This doesn’t have to be too perfect.

Begin with a single straight stitch at the top of the leaf then bring your needle up just to the right of that stitch at the top and bring the needle down just underneath the first stitch (picture one).

Now bring your needle up at the top left of the first stitch and bring it down just below the other stitches as shown in picture two.

You continue to add straight stitches in the same way working from side to side and gradually down the leaf until you have filled the whole shape.

The next method is fly stitch. This is a little more difficult on tiny leaves so you may want to practice on bigger ones. It has a similar effect to the previous leaf but it has a distinct rib down the middle. Once again I recommend adding a centre line to help.

begin with a straight stitch at the top (picture 1) The length of this stitch determines the angle of the rest of the stitches. If it’s shorter your stitches will be more horizontal. If it’s longer the stitches will be more diagonal.

Next bring your needle up to the side of the first stitch (at the top) and take it down on the other side creating a sort of loop (pictures 2 and 3)

Now you need to bring your needle up just under the centre stitch inside the loop (picture 4) Tighten until you are happy with the way the stitch lies. Be careful with your tension here. Now bring your needle down in the centre just under the loop to lock the stitch in place (picture 5) and you can see the centre rib forming (picture 6).

Keep going in the same way all the way down to the end.

The final method is satin stitch. This is a very simple method that will work for small to medium leaves. I’ve used 2 strands here but if your leaf is bigger you may want to use more strands. I haven’t stitched an outline as this was a very small leaf but you could add an outline if you wished using back stitch.

Satin stitch is basically straight stitches stitched very closely together, keeping the stitches smooth. Here I have stitched them vertically to follow the shape of the leaf.

I have a tutorial for satin stitch here

I hope you find these little tutorials useful. If you have any questions about them please do comment below and I will try to answer.

Happy stitching

Kate x