Sunday 20 August 2017

Sunday Stitch School - Lesson 33: Chinese Knot Stitch

Welcome to another geography lesson at Sunday Stitch School.

We are still focusing on China, and will work the Chinese Knot Stitch. Its other names are Blind Knot and Forbidden Stitch.
Mattia tells me these are the French names:
- point de nœud de Pékin
- point de nœud aveugle
- noeud oublié
In Japanese Embroidery (Nihon Shishu) the stitch is called 輪相良繡い(sorry uncertain of pronunciation) according to Toshiko Nagayama's book 'Nihon Shishu wo Tanoshimu'.
Swedish name, Kinesisk Knut.

It is basically a French Knot with one wrap round the needle - a 1/2 French Knot? The name Blind Knot is said to come from the fact that the stitch is small and difficult to see. The Forbidden Stitch because the tiny stitch is forbiddingly small.

This is a free school and you can skip this lesson and this stitch!

Anyway, this is an easy way to work it:


Tighten the fabric in a hoop.
Use both hands.
Pull the thread tight.
Place the needle underneath the thread,
wrap the thread over the needle away from you.


Insert the needle near where you came out.
Pull the thread tight.


You have your first knot.


Make another knot nearby.

 Make more knots close by.





Not so neat on the Aida sampler.

Homework:
Use this silk thread and this this kimono silk to make a nice pattern.
Take plenty of rests to rest your eyes!

14 comments:

Rachel said...

Good luck with that fine silk!

https://linsartyblobs.blogspot.com said...

I think I have done this stitch a lot, not realising it was a Chinese Knot Stitch.

Janie said...

Yes that is a 1/2 French knot.
Good for layering and shading maybe?
Nice work on such a tiny stitch.

carorose said...

That fine silk looks forbiding! I read where the young girls who embroidered this stitch often went blind. Be careful.

margaret said...

the brown thread really is very fine for stitching surely it will be difficult to see stitches made with it certainly makes a very small stitch

Annet said...

I didn't know this French knot variation is called Chinese knot stitch!

Queeniepatch said...

Many books use a different method - forming a loop on the fabric, inserting the needle, pulling tight and then through.
This method is much faster and easy once you get the rhythm.

Queeniepatch said...

Although fine it works a treat and the sound of the silk thread going through the silk fabric is like music!

Queeniepatch said...

It is thin, but oh so nice! Like a knife in soft butter! The sound is great, too!

Queeniepatch said...

I will use it for filling. It will take some time but it is nice work.

Anonymous said...

Bonjour, le nom (ou les noms) en français de ce point :
- point de nœud de Pékin
- point de nœud aveugle
- noeud oublié (dans le Mary Thomas)
Mattia

Queeniepatch said...

Thank you, Mattia.
I have updated the blog and also included the Swedish and Japanese names.

Queeniepatch said...

It is twice as fast at the French Knot, and smaller, flatter and more discrete. I am sure I have used it a lot, too, without thinking it had a names of its own.

Queeniepatch said...

Thank you. So far so good!