Featherstitch

Featherstitch or feather stitch and Cretan stitch or faggoting stitch are embroidery techniques made of open, looped stitches worked alternately to the right and left of a central rib.^[1] Fly stitch is categorized with the featherstitches.

Drawing of Cretan embroidery in closed Cretan stitch from Embroidery and Tapestry Weaving, 1912

Featherstitch

Applications

Feather stitch is a decorative stitch which is usually accompanied with embellishments.^[2] Cretan stitch is characteristic of embroidery of Crete and the surrounding regions.^[3]

Open Cretan stitch or faggoting is used in making open decorative seams and to attach insertions.

Feather stitch embroidery arose in England in the 19th century for decorating smock-frocks. It is also used to decorate the joins in crazy quilting. It is related to (and probably derives from) the older buttonhole stitch and chain stitch.^[1]

Variants

Common variants of featherstitch include:^[4][1]

• Basic featherstitch
• Long-armed featherstitch
• Double featherstitch
• Closed featherstitch
• Chained feather stitch
• Cloud stitch

Stitch gallery

• 
  Featherstitch
• 
  Closed featherstitch as a couching stitch, left, and long-armed featherstitch, right
• 
  Double featherstitch
• 
  Chained featherstitch

Looped stitches

Other looped stitches include:^[4][1]

• Cretan stitch^[5] or Open Cretan stitch or faggoting stitch
• Closed Cretan stitch
• Fishbone stitch
• Fly stitch,^[6] a filling stitch made of single, detached tacked loops.
• Loop stitch
• Scroll stitch

Gallery

• 
  Cretan stitch
• 
  Closed Cretan stitch
• 
  Closed Cretan stitch
• 
  Faggotting with twisted Cretan stitch
• 
  Fly stitch
• 
  Loop stitch
• 
  Scroll stitch

See also

• Cross-stitch
• Embroidery stitch