Sunday 7 July 2019

Sunday Stitch School - Lesson 105: Burden Stitch

I found today's stitch in Mary Thomas's Dictionary of Embroidery Stitches.
Within the text there is also a bit about the background of this stitch: Burden Stitch has a long history, and was used in the Middle Ages in Italy and Germany for embroidery used in churches.
The sister-in-law of William Morris, Elizabeth Burden, made the stitch popular again when she taught at The Royal School of Needlework. The stitch is named after her, rather than any burden of stitching it (which does not exist!). Read more about it here.

Updated: Mattia, who knows French, gave me this information:  couchure Burden
et aussi point de Burden

Although Burden Stitch has been around since the Middle Ages, it is looking very modern here, I think.

First make rows of long straight stitches.

Make a column of Straight Stitch over every other blue bar.

Change to a contrasting colour (if you want a striking look)
and stitch a column in the same way but alternating the spacing.

Finished. I love this look of fake weaving.

3 comments:

Rachel said...

It's a very useful stitch, and of course spacing variations can work all sorts of wonders!

Pamela said...

I like this! When I read the title of your post, I thought it would be about a stitch that was not fun to do, not knowing the name Elizabeth Burden. This one does look delightful.

Anonymous said...

il y a deux noms pour ce point en français :
- dans le Mary Thomas c'est : couchure Burden
et aussi point de Burden
Mattia