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Have You Ever Used a Colonial Knot?

December 6, 2024 by Sarah White

I’ll admit there are a lot of things I don’t know when it comes to cross stitch techniques, but it’s not often that I come across a term I’ve never heard of before.

It happened recently when I found a post at Fab Reilly all about decorative knots, specifically comparing French knots to colonial knots.

Of course I know what a French knot is; I’ve made tons of them and even wrote a post about how to make French knots and comparing the look using different numbers of strands of thread and different numbers of turns around the needle.

The colonial knot has a similar look but it’s done in a different way, by twisting the thread around the needle in a figure 8 rather than just wrapping it around the needle. I don’t know why they are called colonial knots.

In their side by side comparison, French knots and colonial knots look pretty much the same, but the colonial knot maybe is a little nicer looking because the threads lie a little flatter. Once you get the hang of it you might find colonial knots easier to make, and you can use them interchangeably when a project calls for a decorative knot.

The Fab Reilly post has a step by step photo tutorial on how to do colonial knots, as well as a video if that helps you learn. Of course now that I know it exists there are tons of tutorials out there I just had never seen before.

This is definitely a technique I’m going to have to try and see if I like it better than standard French knots. (I actually think making French knots is kind of fun.)

Have you ever done this method of knot making before? Do you prefer French knots or colonial knots? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

[Photo: Fab Reilly]

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Fancy Pumpkin Cross Stitch Patterns

If you’re ready to move beyond basic, solid orange pumpkins, check out these pumpkin cross stitch patterns that are just a little bit fancier with some kind of pattern on the pumpkin. 

Keep it simple and rustic with this plaid pumpkin form Cross Stitch with Art. You can make the plaid whatever colors you want to match your decor, or keep with the Halloween color palette. It uses three colors and comes out to about 6 inches/15.24 cm square when you stitch it on 14 count fabric. 

Mamaida Pattern has this cute pumpkin with a vine in the negative space. Since that portion isn’t actually stitched (though you could make it green if you like) that makes this pattern pretty easy. It uses just two colors and measures 108 by 110 stitches. That’s about 7.7 by 7.9 inches or 19.6 by 20 cm on 14 count fabric. 

Speaking of negative space, this design by Tinsel Cross Stitch blows out the pumpkin a bit so the ridges are negative space and the colors here too have kind of a vineing effect. This design is 98 by 113 stitches and uses three colors. It measures 7 by a little more than 8 inches, or 17.78 by 20.5 cm on 14 count fabric.

Get even more detailed with the carving effect on this pumpkin cross stitch pattern from Anemone Patterns. This one is 85 by 83 stitches, which comes out to 6.1 by 5.9 inches (15.4 by 15.1 cm).

In a similar vein but a different color, there’s this pretty green pumpkin from Crystal Feather Crafts. Of course you could make it any color you like, but I always like to remind people that even in nature not all pumpkins are orange. This design measures 101 by 93 stitches, which is 7.2 by 6.6 inches/18.3 by 16.9 cm. 

And speaking of color, if you want to stitch a pumpkin with boho vibes, this one from Stitch Craft Creatives is probably the one for you. At 200 stitches square, it comes out to 14.4 inches or 36.3 cm square on 14 count fabric. It uses 14 colors for a very vibrant pumpkin!

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