Make French Knots Easy!

French knots are one of the most intimidating stitches to learn if you've never mastered them.

Before we get started I want to give you a very sound piece of advice that I had to learn the hard way. When first trying to learn this stitch, I highly recommend practicing several times on scrap fabric until you feel comfortable with the way they look.

French knots are generally done at the very end of a piece to finish it off. By practicing on scrap fabric first, you will ensure that none of your cross stitch projects will get ruined.

Please don't let French knots scare you away from a project. It took me a long time to learn them, once I did though, it opened a whole new world of cross stitch patterns for me. I no longer had to avoid certain favorite projects simply because they had this stitch in them.

Here are the basic steps to creating a French knot:

1. From the reverse side, Insert your needle where the chart shows the French knot should be.

2. Make sure you hold the thread taut at all times. Having any slack in the thread will almost always cause your French knot to be less than perfect. This was the toughest part for me to remember when I first started to learn this stitch.

3. Start at the bottom of the working thread, close to the fabric. Wrap thread around the needle following the charts instructions as to how many threads to use and how many times to wrap it around the needle.

4. Turn the needle and reinsert it at the next fabric thread from where the needle was brought up originally.
5. Pull the needle all the way through while still holding the wrapped threads taut. They should be flat against the fabric.

There you have it...that's all there is to creating a wonderful French knot.

When learning the French knot, the old adage practice makes perfect certainly wrings true. Don't let it get you frustrated.

If you find yourself getting aggravated, simply put the scrap fabric down and work on something a little more fun until you're ready to try again!

source: patternspatch.com