Learning how to cross stitch linen or evenweave doesn’t need to be intimidating, and this tutorial will teach you how to start your threads with a pin stitch that’s perfect for linen. Recently I started learning how to cross stitch linen, which has definitely been an adventure. I bought Blaine Billman’s pattern “Spirit of the Sockeye,” and it’s meant to be done on 28 count black Cashel linen. So this pattern is my first time really using linen for anything, let alone trying to cross stitch linen. It’s also my first time doing fractional stitches, first time doing 2 over 2, and first time working on a dark fabric. So it’s a lot of firsts, but I’m learning a lot and I thought I’d pass on some of the tips I’m figuring out as I go. I’ll be doing another video soon about how to do fractional stitches, so if you’ve never done those or are intimidated by them, help will be on the way soon!
In the video below, you will see how I do a pin stitch on linen. I have another video here about how to do a pin stitch on Aida fabric, but on linen it’s different as you can’t anchor the stitch into a block of threads like you can with Aida. I’m also using a pin stitch as this particular pattern uses a lot of blended colours (one strand each of two different colours), so I can’t use the loop method to start my thread. If you’re not sure what the loop method is, here’s a video about how to do that.
How to Cross Stitch Linen – the Pin Stitch
Final tips
- This pin stitch is a little different than one on Aida as you can’t really easily puncture the warp and weft threads in linen or other even weave
- This method also is better for linen as the fabric is finer and more translucent than Aida
- Keep the tail of your thread anchored with your thumb until you’ve been through the fabric a few times, otherwise it may slip out of place
- Try to place the pin stitch somewhere you won’t confuse it with a fractional stitch
- To end the thread, I run the floss under a few stitches at the back to catch it rather than doing two pin stitches close to each other (which gets confusing when working with fractionals)
If you have any questions or comments, feel free to let me know in the comments section below!
4 Responses
Ruthie Franklin
Question please. For the pin stitch, you just went down in the bottom left corner and came back up in the same hole. How did you not pop the stitch out?
Dana Batho
Hi Ruthie! I’m not sure, I filmed that a long time ago. It’s possible the thread got caught at the back on another stitch as I came up, so thus it didn’t pop out. Good eye. 🙂
Jeannine
Great video on pin stitch. Have shared with my stitching group
Dana Batho
Thanks very much Jeannine, I’m glad you liked it! And thanks for sharing — it’s such a simple stitch but can make things so much easier! 🙂