Woven Picot Stitch! This stitching technique is indeed one of the hidden treasures within the realm of embroidery.
it excels in the creation of lifelike, three-dimensional petals and leaves that seem to elegantly emerge from the fabric, especially in the captivating world of 3D floral embroidery.
It provides a valuable skill to enhance your embroidery projects with captivating charm. Learning this technique becomes important when you realize its ability to add instant enchantment.
Throughout this lesson, we will thoroughly explore the fundamentals of the Woven Picot Stitch. We'll also embark on an exciting journey, uncovering numerous variations and techniques.
Now, without delay, I invite you to join me in exploring the Woven Picot Stitch. Let's get started on this creative journey!
Let's start with the most commonly used version, the '3 strands woven picot'.
To create it, we start by taking our needle and thread from the back to the front of the fabric. Next, making sure both points are aligned at the same level, we insert the needle about 1 cm away from where it emerged on the front side and then guide it back to the back of the fabric.
The area between these two points will serve as the base for the picot. We continue pulling the thread until a large loop remains on the front side.
We determine the desired length of the picot and, at that distance, we place a large-headed pin into the fabric at the point where the top end of the picot should be, aligning it with the loop's midpoint. This pin will serve as an anchor for the picot's strands.
After this step, we bring our needle and thread to the front of the fabric from the midpoint of the threads spaced approximately 1cm apart.
We pass the thread behind the large-headed pin and secure it in place.
This is how we create the '3 strands,'( although I often prefer to refer to this as the 'warp thread' and generally use this term.)
We begin weaving from the upper end of the picot, moving from right to left. We pass the needle under one warp thread, over the next, and under the following.
Then, we proceed from left to right, reversing these movements. We continue weaving back and forth until we reach the base of the picot
After completing the weaving, we guide the needle and thread to the back of the fabric through the bottom of one of the strands of the picot.
We removed the pin that was holding the top end of the picot in place. And there you have it, our picot is now complete. Isn't it sweet?
We started with the basic 3-strand version, and now, we're moving on to a more intricate type – the 5-strand Picot stitch.
We start the same way we did with the 3 strands picot. We bring the needle and thread from the back to the front of the fabric, making sure it's level with the exit point, leaving about 1.5cm of space in between.
Then, we guide the needle to the back of the fabric at that point. We keep pulling the thread from below until we create a large loop on the fabric.
Taking a large-headed pin in hand, we use its tip to catch the loop and insert the pin into the fabric at the intended top end of the picot. This secures the upper part of the large loop behind the pin's head.
At this stage, we have a reversed V-shaped loop with its top secured behind the head of a pin placed on the fabric. Now, to create the 3rd and 4th strands, we will make a narrower reversed V-shape within this loop.
To achieve this, we pass the needle and thread from the back of the fabric to the front, about 3-4 mm to the left of the right leg of the loop. We pull the thread all the way through.
Then, we pass the thread from right to left behind the head of the pin. Next, we guide the needle and thread to the back of the fabric from a point about 3-4 mm to the right of the left leg of the loop and pull the thread through again
We pull the thread all the way through. Then, we guide the thread from left to right, passing it behind the head of the pin.
We have completed the 5 strands, and now we begin weaving. In the first row, we pass the needle only over the middle strand and under the other four strands.
*In the initial rows, it's possible to perform regular weaving by passing the needle under one strand and over the other, but in that case, the weaving at the very tip of the picot may appear denser.
As the weaving progresses, the intervals between warp threads widen, resulting in a looser weave, which may create visual differences between the upper and lower sections of the texture. At least to me, this method seems to create a smoother weaving pattern :)
Starting from the third row, we transition to regular weaving. We move the needle alternately over one strand and under the next, repeating these movements as we progress.
We continued weaving until we reached the base of the picot. Now, it's time to bring the needle and thread to the back of the fabric. To do this, simply guide the needle to the back of the fabric from the point right next to where the last strand exited the fabric on the side where our weaving row ended.
We start as we did in the first two, creating a large loop on the fabric's surface. For this 7-strand version, I leave approximately 1.7-2 cm of space between the two strands of the first loop.
We begin by forming the first loop and positioning it at a distance equal to the picot's length. We secure its upper end to the fabric by passing it behind the pin's head.
Following that, we move on to the second loop, shaping it between the two strands of the first loop, ensuring there's about 3-4 mm of space from each strand.
As you work with more strands, drawing little guide marks on the fabric can be quite helpful. And if you want to go for bigger picots, just stretch those intervals even wider for some lovely, generous petals.
Finally, we bring the needle and thread to the front of the fabric at the midpoint of the designated base for the picot. Then, we pull the thread all the way through and pass it behind the head of the large pin one more time.
Just like we did in the 5 strands version, we begin the weaving by passing the needle only over the middle strand and under the other 6 strands, moving from right to left.
In the second row, we move from left to right, passing the needle over the first 3 strands, under the fourth, over the fifth, under the sixth, and over the seventh. You can also follow this process from the image above.
Starting from the third row, we transition to regular weaving. We move the needle alternately over one strand and under the next, repeating these movements as we progress.
During the weaving process, while the needle is ready to pass through the strands, pushing the needle upward without changing its horizontal position aligns the previous woven rows and helps create a tighter and smoother weave. We repeat this action frequently throughout the weaving process.
Once we've completed the weaving, we guide the needle and thread to the backside of the fabric.
We removed the pin that was securing the upper end.
At this point, it's worth mentioning that you may also want to explore the free-standing version of the 9-strand picot.
This allows you to create independent petals by weaving them on a separate surface and then transferring them to another embroidery design, adding them to your design by stitching them on with a needle.
The number of strands in a woven picot stitch can be increased as long as they are odd numbers such as 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, and so on.
The process of creating a thread for the picot involves a specific series of steps:
We start by bringing the needle to the front of the fabric and then, leaving a bit of distance from where it initially emerged, we guide the needle under the fabric.
This process forms 2 strands. (Look at Figure 1)
However, to start weaving from the top of the picot, it is necessary to create an additional strand that extends from the base to the top.
This is why a picot always has an odd number of strands. (Look at Figure 2)
Why don't we start weaving upwards with an even number of strands from the base?
The reason is that it becomes quite challenging. While the strand intervals at the base are wide, making it easy to weave, as we move upward, the intervals narrow.
After a while, it becomes nearly impossible to maneuver the needle between the strands.
Therefore, we begin weaving from the top, allowing the needle to pass between the strands where the intervals are wider and then guiding it upward to reach the desired weaving sequence. (Look at Figure 3)
Finally, we will create a long woven picot stitch with 3 strands.
At the beginning of the page, we created a 3-strand picot, and now that we have some experience, we won't have much difficulty making a long picot.
We're starting to create the long picot. We determine the length of the picot to be approximately 3-4 cm. When creating a normal picot, the distance between the picot's base and the point where we attach the pin as an anchor to the fabric was about 1.5 cm.
Now, we're extending this distance to approximately 3-4 cm. Then, we attach the pin to the fabric at that point to secure the loop.
Once we've created all three strands, we begin weaving.
You'll need to decide that for yourself. Personally, I typically start with a small picot to gauge thread usage, then estimate the thread required for the longer picot based on what I've used.
We're beginning a weaving journey, but don't worry, we'll weave patiently to reach the picot's base.
When the weaving needle is among the strands, remember to push it upward consistently without disturbing its horizontal position.
This is crucial for achieving a smooth weaving process. Repeat this action every 3-4 rows to ensure smoother weaving.
Yes, our long picot is ready. With this, we can create embroidery for a flower with long petals, or as in the final trick I'll show you, we can turn this long petal into a flower.
We start by gently curving the tip of the long picot. This action creates a small mound on the picot's base where it's attached to the fabric.
This mound serves as the focal point for the picot to coil around itself, allowing us to spiral the remaining length of the picot around it to achieve the rolled shape.
We secure the pointed tip of the picot to the fabric with a few stitches. To ensure the roll stays in place, we add a few more stitches. That's it!
Here we are at the end of another tutorial. I've tried my best to share what I know about the Picot stitch based on my own experiences. I hope the additional images have helped clarify the instructions. That's it for today's journal.
Please don't hesitate to share your thoughts with me, and your suggestions are always welcome as they inspire new projects.
Wishing everyone happy and successful embroidery! Until we meet again in another tutorial.
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My YouTube channel features a collection of concise instructional videos covering different woven picot stitch variations. You can access these tutorials by clicking on the links provided below:
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