French Knots the Easy Way

by April Sproule

Here is the closeup of the area where I added French Knots. This piece is an example of types of stitches to be used for Visible Mending or embellishing other items such as bags, clothing, or just about anything else you could add stitching to.

On this sample of added them a a decorative design element, but the French Knot can also be used for utilitarian purposes.

For this linen Art Tech Satchel I made a few years ago, I added French Knots to the center of my design for more dimension and texture to the piece. You can see that I used a darker red floss at the center of the circle. Depending what I'm working on, I usually use 3 strands of DMC floss. And I will wrap my thread around the needle 2-3 times, or more, to achieve the effect I want.

You can use 1 to 6 strands of floss, but the more strands the bigger your needle has to be. This can make it harder to pull the needle through your fabric, so do a quick experiment first.

This piece was constructed in the following order:

All pieces were cut, then painted with my original stencil designs.
The hand embroidery was all completed so I didn't have to stitch through multiple layers of materials.
The separate parts were machine quilted, and then the bag pieces were sewn together.
If you want to see the other side of the bag, look here: Back Side of the Emperor Moth Bag, featuring the Rice and Stem Stitch instructions.