Everything You Need to Know about French Knots and Cross Stitch

I feel like I’ve written a lot about French knots, probably because they are one of those things that’s pretty common in cross stitch but also that give some stitchers problems. So let’s take another look at how to make French knots and why you might be having trouble.

This information comes from a great blog post from Caterpillar Cross Stitch, which notes that a lot of the success of your French knots depends on what you do before you actually make the knot.

It talks about what kinds of needles are best for making French knots (hint: not regular embroidery needles because the eye is bigger than the shaft of the needle, which makes it hard to get even tension), what other supplies you’ll need and how to cut your thread to make it easier.

It also covers how to actually go about making a French knot and some of the problems you might encounter along the way and how to fix them. This is things like your knots ending up on the back of your work, sizing issues, tension issues, having trouble pulling the thread through and more.

You’ll also find a discussion of the colonial knot as an alternative to the French knot (I’ve written about that one, too), which some stitchers find easier and it looks virtually the same as a French knot. And if you want to avoid knots altogether there are also some ideas for what to use instead.

Check out their post at Caterpillar Cross Stitch, and you’ll probably learn some things you didn’t know about French knots.

Pair it with my post at Our Daily Craft all about French knots, which is a little bit more about embroidery than cross stitch, but does have a handy chart showing knots of different twist numbers made with different numbers of thread, which I at least think is interesting.

[Photo: Caterpillar Cross Stitch]

Artmishka Cross Stitch is an Etsy shop based in Italy with lots of whimsical and colorful designs and an emphasis on animals, flowers and landscapes. Let’s take a closer look!

The animal section is by far the largest, and it includes everything from realistic birds to cartoony cats, a set of little chick ornaments for Easter and a blackwork butterfly, to name a few. There are little animals in clothes and scarves, and this sweet folk art style owl in modern colors.

This one (and lots of them, really, I think) was designed as nursery decor, and it calls for 10 colors, which you can of course change up to suit your decor, nursery or otherwise. The design is 95 by 95 stitches, which comes out to about 7 inches or 18 cm square on 14 count fabric or 28 count evenweave stitched over two strands.

Another large category is flowers, which includes birth month flower designs, flowers that look hand drawn and colored, floral wreaths with teapots and wedding floral cross stitch designs.

The sampler section includes a variety of small patterns, images with words, colorful geometric and floral designs, and a few holiday patterns. Christmas designs include stamps, Christmas trees, stocking, snowmen and a cute box of snowflake shaped Christmas cookies in a box with a mug of hot chocolate, to name a few designs.

There are also a fair number of designs in both the landscape and cottage categories. These include iconic landmarks and colorful sunsets, and buildings from beach houses to a mushroom cottage, book shop and a cottage with flowers bursting out of the roof. There’s also a section called girl, which has designs of a little girl in different outfits and situations and some other characters.

Other categories on the site with smaller numbers of patterns include boy designs, princesses, plants, hobby themed designs (sewing, knitting, baking), art and bookmarks. There are also a handful of cross stitch kits, all of the little girl character.

Check out all of the fun designs at Artmishka Cross Stitch.

[Photo: Artmishka Cross Stitch]

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