Stitches Commonly Used in Reticella and Punto in Aria
     
   

 
x x x x x x x
x            
  Double running stitch        
 

 

  

 

      
 

couching -

diagram of couching thread to fabric.

        
             
  Here is a picture of white linen threads couched with gray thread.        
x            
  buttonhole stitch        
             
  Here is a diagram of embroidering over the corner of a square in buttonhole stitch.        
             
  If your stitches are too tight to feed the needle through (this usually happens to me when embroidering the designs within the square, you can wrap the thread around the buttonhole stitches (Figure 12).        
             
  Needle weaving stitch        
             
  figure 18 - needle weaving        
         
  Here is a picture of needleweaving using 50/2 linen threads. The edges of the square are embroidered in buttonhole stitch.        
             
  Here is a detail from border cutwork and needle lace Italian, early 17th century. - Clare Browne, Lace, from the Victoria and Albert Museum, (V&A Publications, 2004)
Photography by Christine Smith, plate 8) that shows needleweaving (the vertical bar). The leaf is embroidered in solid buttonhole stitch and the stem attaching the leaf is embroidered by wrapping an outer thread around the thread connecting the leaf in a spiral.		        
             
  If I don't have a thread that is long enough or if a horizontal reinforcement thread breaks, I needle weave through some of the squares and then feed a new thread through some of the existing needle weaving, needle weaving over the existing needle weaving using the new thread. This attaches the thread so that it is more strongly connected to the previous squares. (Figure 22 shows the new thread in gray). If you need to start a thread to embroider a pattern in the square, you can feed the needle through the needle weaving stitches or if that doesn't work, needle weave 5-10 stitches over the needle woven bars until you get where you can start your pattern.        
             
 

solid buttonhole stitch -

the next two figures show how to do 2 rows of solid buttonhole stitches to create the first two rows of a triangle

Here is the first row of buttonhole stiches.

        
             
  Here is the second row of solid buttonhole stitch - shapes can be made using solid or skipped buttonhole stitch.        
             
  Bar Stitch        
             
  Here is an example of bar stitch done using 90/2 linen thread.        
             
 

Skipped Buttonhole Stitch -

skipped buttonhole stitch was commonly done in reticella and punto in aria - often patterns in period would indicate using skipped buttonhole stich by showing black dots in the shapes.

        
             
 

Basically skipped buttonhole stitch is lots of small bar stitches stacked on top of one another. You embroider a couple of rows of solid buttonhole stitches and then string a thread between them at intervals and cover that with buttonhole stitch.

How far apart you make the rows and bars depends on the thickness of your thread - the smaller the thread the closer your bars can be to one another. You want to space them far enough apart so that you can see the spaces between them.

        
             
  When you have finished a row of skipped buttonhole stitches, you string your thread across again a few stitches above to start another row.        
             
  Then you begin embroidering your bars to connect the row to the rest of the skipped buttonhole stitches.        
             
  In this diagram, the second row of bars has been completed.        
             
  Here the third row of bars has been completed - you can also do two rows of stitches for each bar if your thread is very fine (as in this example) so that you can see the alternating stitches and spaces more clearly.        
             
 

If you are embroidering a shape using skipped buttonhole stitch, first you would couch a thread to your diagram to outline the shape, embroider the outline using buttonhole stitch, then you would fill in the shape using skipped buttonhole stitch.

Here is an example of a shape embroidered in skipped buttonhole stitch; the border at the top left corner is done in bar stitch.

        
             
  Here is an example of skipped buttonhole stitch with more than one row of stitches on the bars. The top semicircle is done in solid buttonhole stitch.        
             
 

Picots -

One way to create a picot is to create a thin loop the desired length of the picot. Anchor each thread at the base of the loop using a buttonhole stitch. Make sure the threads at the base of the loop are very close together

       
             
  Then cover the loop in buttonhole stitch. You may want to either hold the end of the loop with your fingers (if you are not couching to a pattern) or anchor it by pinning it or couching the thread to the pattern to keep the loop straight        
             
  You can also hold the loop straight by using a needle to put a piece of thread through the loop and then hold the thread with your fingers or pin it (if you are not couching it to a pattern). Next thread the needle through the stitches to get the thread back to the base of the loop.        
             
  Sometimes I cheat if I am using very fine thread by creating a picot by embroidering a chain of buttonhole stitches        
             
  Here is a picture of some picots I did using the chain buttonhole stitch shortcut (90/2 linen thread).        
             
     
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