How to do the Indian Herringbone Stitch - Sarah's Hand Embroidery Tutorials

About the Indian Herringbone Stitch

The Indian Herringbone Stitch is commonly known as the Double Herringbone Stitch, which also has another variation. I have separated both stitches for clarity in technique. The regular Double Herringbone Stitch is just two layers of regular Herringbone Stitches one over the other. The Indian Herringbone Stitch follows a weave method while making the Herringbone Stitches, as this particular stitch is also used as a base for another woven stitch that makes the Kutch Embroidery. When you work on crewel embroidery focusing on the texture of the stitch, you can use the regular Double Herringbone Stitch. But, if you want a tighter and more woven stitch, or if you are working on more traditional embroidery like the Kutch work or Marash Embroidery, you would want to do the Indian Herringbone Stitch to accommodate all teh weaves correctly.

How to do the Indian Herringbone Stitch
This variation requires you to work from scratch rather than just over a row of regular Herringbone Stitch. This is because we need to weave within the stitches of the Double Herringbone to support the interlaced weavings.


Fig 1: Bring the needle out from A, put it in through B and then take it back out from C, like you would for a Herringbone Stitch.	Fig 2: Now, pass your needle below the stitch A-B. This is a very important step for this stitch as it creates the weave at the base level to help the interlaced weaving later.

Fig 3: Continue with the similar process until the row is finished.	Fig 4: Now begin the next row from the left end again. Follow the illustration.

Fig 5: This is the next important step. Pass the needle under the stitch of the previous row of herringbone stitch, as shown.	Fig 6: Continue making the herringbone stitch.

Fig 7: Again, pass the needle under the working herringbone stitch and over the previous herringbone stitch, as shown.	Fig 8: Continue this process until the end of the row.

Fig 9: At the end, you will note that the stitches intersect in a weave pattern.