About the Maidenhair Stitch
Maidenhair stitch is very decorative and can be accompanied by other stitches like the French knot or oyster stitch to create beautiful designs. This stitch is a bit different from the other kinds in the Feather Stitch Family. Instead of taking a ‘V’ shape each time, it finishes a set of half ‘V’s on one side before moving to the other. Let’s say that it follows, more or less, the single feather stitch technique, with the stitches on both sides.
How to do the Maidenhair Stitch
I will work on three parallel stitch lines A, B, C. Stitch lines can be drawn to avoid asymmetry.
 |
 |
| Fig 1: First, make a single ‘V’ for a regular feather stitch. Bring the needle out through A. Putting in the needle through C, bring it out through B. | Fig 2: Now, take the needle in through a point in a straight line and closer to A, as shown. Bring the needle out through B. |
 |
 |
| Fig 3: As done before, take the needle in at yet another point in a straight line closer to the previous point. Again, bring out the needle diagonally through B and pull it out with the thread under it. | Fig 4: We begin a similar procedure on the other side. Take the needle in through C, bring it out through B, and pull it out with the thread under the needle. |
 |
|
| Fig 5: We keep on with this procedure, alternating between both sides after every set of stitches. B will always remain the stitch line from where the needle will always emerge out. | |
 |
|
| Fig 6: A finished portion of the Maidenhair Stitch will look like this. You may add as many branches on the sides as you wish, but the farther you go towards the sides, the longer the stitch gets, and the higher the chance of the thread loosening. |
Learn to do the Maidenhair Stitch in 2 minutes!
Learn this and 305 other stitches from our 600-page eBook.
Other Stitches from the Feather Stitch Family
Sarah has been researching and sharing hand embroidery lessons for over 17 years, making it accessible to everyone around the globe.
feather stitch
Wow! this is such a cool way to use the maidenhair stitch! I love it, love it!
I’m glad you did this one and it’s still up. I did the stitch from a Linda Causee book, but a lot of people don’t have the book, published by ASN, so I was able to refer them to this site to your tutorial!
Thank you, Susan.
merci beaucoup pour ce joli point tout simple que je ne connaissais pas…
chechi can you please provide more patterns on each stitch.
hai sarah chechi , i have done maidenhair stitch on my salwar itz really interesting to do. and your tutorial is simple to understand. thanks a lot.
Great to know Luciya. 😊
Just a quick hello and thank you for sharing so much to teach so many!
Your illustrations for the stitches are done so clear and precise making it easy to follow along.
Love your dragonflies, they are beautiful pictures and makes one inspired to stitch them in stumpwork.
~OwlBe~
hi
i love embroideries and stitches but in our places we dont have a class for this and im a home maker so no time for search also im was so nice to see this site and i was very happy i learn basic embroiders because for you thanks for much
Thanks Jayahari 🙂
muy hermoso tu trabajo, soy de argentina y junto con mi hija de diez años estamos muy felices de haber descubierto tu sitio, estamos practicando los distintos puntos con mucha dedicación, tendrias que ver la posibilidad de editar un libro. de nuevo muchisimas gracias Dios te bendiga a vos y a tu familia,Kar
Querida Karin,
Estamos encantados de saber que usted y su hermosa hija está aprendiendo de nuestras páginas.
Gracias por sus felicitaciones por nuestro trabajo. La publicación de un libro … sí, quizás en un futuro próximo. 🙂
Mis mejores deseos
Translated as:
Dear Karin,
We are delighted to know that you and your lovely daughter is learning from our pages.
Thanks for your compliments on our work. Publishing a book…yes, maybe in the near future. 🙂
Best wishes