Nativity stitch along day 4.

It’s day four of our stitch along! Today are going to cover the last bit of detail work and learn French knots. We will fill in the heads of Mary and Joseph, as well as stitch the star. Let’s get stitching.

How to make French knots

French knots are one of my favorites to make. I love the process of making them and beautiful texture they make. The knots on our Nativity hoop are a great place to learn them. Instead of stand alone French knots that you want to be prefect, these knots are bunched together. This means if your knots are perfect no one is going to notice. Putting them all together makes a fantastic texture and removes the focus from one knot to the group.

• STEP 1 – Insert needle and pull up thread. Wrap the thread around your needle one time, keeping needle close to the fabric.
• STEP 2 – While holding tension on your thread. Reinsert your needle very close to your up point.
• STEP 3 – Pull thread down while maintaining tension on your thread.
• NOTE – To create a bigger knot, wrap the thread more times around your needle or use more strands of floss.

PRO TIP: Be sure not to pull too hard on your thread will pulling the needle through the fabric. If you pull too hard your needle will be much harder to pull through the fabric.

Making the star

There is no specific stitch for the star, just a method for stitching around the entire star and making fun texture while doing it.

Start you star with a single straight stitch from the top point to the bottom point. Then come back up to the left of your first stitch on the star outline. Go down to the right of the bottom point of your first stitch. Continue working in a counter clockwise circle, coming up to the left of the last stitch and down to the right. Try to have even stitches so that your middle stitch will go from point to point on the star. (Note: This will work in both directions. If you watch the video I go in a clockwise circle instead of counter clockwise.)

Video of day 4 stitch along

Be sure to watch the video to see how to fill in the headband on Joseph. Note that if you watch this video on a mobile device or directly on youtube the image will appear bigger.

Questions?

Remember to ask any questions in the comments here or on Instagram. If you missed any of the previous days you can find them here: DAY 1 | DAY 2 | DAY 3. Happy stitching!