Summer Stitch School Week 9: Queen Stitch

Welcome to another week of summer stitch school! This week’s stitch is the queen stitch also known as the renaissance stitch. The queen stitch isn’t one of the more common stitches, but there is nothing hard about it, and it has a nice shape that can be used in a variety of ways. 

The queen stitch
The stitch is composed of a series of straight stitches. First make a vertical straight stitch, then a small horizontal stitch in the middle of the first stitch.

Next, make another vertical straight stitch in the same holes as the first.  Then make a  small, horizontal anchoring stitch to the left.

Repeat on the other side.

Now the stitch is complete!

Variations on the queen stitch
There are of course, a whole wide range of variations for the queen stitch.  Here is shown just a few of them.

1. An example of the standard stitch formed.
2. Addition of more color is just one idea. There are many possibilities for arranging the individual stitches. Here they are lined up on their sides.
3. The queen stitch can be a filling stitch also. If you don’t want a zig-zag edge, try making some half stitches to fill in the gaps.
4. Different examples of aligning the queen stitch. You can make your stitches wider or narrower by changing the width of the center straight stitch. For a wider stitch, just make the middle straight stitch wider.
5. This is an example with 3 colors. Each of the colors has its own needle.  Handling all those needles can be a challenge a serious challenge in itself!
6. The queen stitch is well-suited to beading. In this example, a bead is added to the middle straight stitch.
7. In this example a thread is whipped around the middle straight stitch. There are many other possibilities for wrapping and threading the stitches.
8. Another possible alignment of stitches. Lining up two rows can make an interesting line of stitches.

I hope you enjoyed this week’s stitch. Grab some thread and fabric. It really is fun to experiment a bit!