Chain stitch is a
sewingSewing or stitching or Tailoring is the fastening of cloth, leather, furs, bark, or other flexible materials, using needle and thread. Its use is nearly universal among human populations and dates back to Paleolithic times...
and
embroideryEmbroidery is the art or handicraft of decorating fabric or other materials with needle and thread or yarn. Embroidery may also incorporate other materials such as metal strips, pearls, beads, quills, and sequins....
technique in which a series of looped stitches form a
chainIn most meanings chain is a sequence of connected links of some kind.Chain may refer to:* A physical, literal chain* Chain , unit of length* Gunter's chain, a unit of measurement...
-like pattern. Chain stitch is an ancient craft - examples of surviving
ChineseChina is a cultural region, an ancient civilization, and, depending on perspective, a national or multinational entity extending over a large area in East Asia....
chain stitch embroidery worked in
silkSilk is a natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be woven into textiles. The best-known type of silk is obtained from cocoons made by the larvae of the mulberry silkworm Bombyx mori reared in captivity...
threadYarn is a long continuous length of interlocked fibers, suitable for use in the production of textiles, sewing, crocheting, knitting, weaving, embroidery and ropemaking. Thread is a type of yarn intended for sewing by hand or machine. Modern manufactured sewing threads may be finished with wax or...
have been dated to the
Warring States periodThe Warring States Period , also known as the Era of Warring States, covers the period from 476 BCE to the unification of China by the Qin Dynasty in 221 BCE...
(5th-3rd century BC). Handmade chain stitch embroidery does not require that the needle pass through more than one layer of fabric. For this reason the stitch is an effective surface embellishment near seams on finished fabric.
Chain stitch is a
sewingSewing or stitching or Tailoring is the fastening of cloth, leather, furs, bark, or other flexible materials, using needle and thread. Its use is nearly universal among human populations and dates back to Paleolithic times...
and
embroideryEmbroidery is the art or handicraft of decorating fabric or other materials with needle and thread or yarn. Embroidery may also incorporate other materials such as metal strips, pearls, beads, quills, and sequins....
technique in which a series of looped stitches form a
chainIn most meanings chain is a sequence of connected links of some kind.Chain may refer to:* A physical, literal chain* Chain , unit of length* Gunter's chain, a unit of measurement...
-like pattern. Chain stitch is an ancient craft - examples of surviving
ChineseChina is a cultural region, an ancient civilization, and, depending on perspective, a national or multinational entity extending over a large area in East Asia....
chain stitch embroidery worked in
silkSilk is a natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be woven into textiles. The best-known type of silk is obtained from cocoons made by the larvae of the mulberry silkworm Bombyx mori reared in captivity...
threadYarn is a long continuous length of interlocked fibers, suitable for use in the production of textiles, sewing, crocheting, knitting, weaving, embroidery and ropemaking. Thread is a type of yarn intended for sewing by hand or machine. Modern manufactured sewing threads may be finished with wax or...
have been dated to the
Warring States periodThe Warring States Period , also known as the Era of Warring States, covers the period from 476 BCE to the unification of China by the Qin Dynasty in 221 BCE...
(5th-3rd century BC). Handmade chain stitch embroidery does not require that the needle pass through more than one layer of fabric. For this reason the stitch is an effective surface embellishment near seams on finished fabric. Because chain stitches can form flowing, curved lines, they are used in many
surface embroiderySurface embroidery is any form of embroidery in which the pattern is worked using decorative stitches and laid threads on top of the foundation fabric or canvas rather than through the fabric; it is contrasted with canvas work....
styles that mimic "drawing" in thread.
Chain stitches are also used in making
tambour laceTambour lace refers to a family of lace made by stretching a fine net over a frame and creating a chain stitch using a fine hook to reach through the net and draw the working thread through the net....
, needlelace,
macraméMacramé or macramé is a form of textile-making using knotting rather than weaving or knitting. Its primary knots are the square knot and forms of hitching...
and
crochetCrochet is a process of creating fabric from yarn or thread using a crochet hook. The word is derived from the Middle French word croc or croche, meaning hook. Crocheting, similar to knitting, consists of pulling loops of yarn through other loops...
.
Applications
Hand embroidery
Chain stitch and its variations are fundamental to embroidery traditions of many cultures, including
KashmirKashmir is the northwestern region of the Indian subcontinent...
i
numdahs,
IranIran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran is a country in Western Asia. The name Iran has been in use natively since the Sassanid period and came into international use from 1935, before which the country was known internationally as Persia...
ian Resht work,
Central AsiaAsia is a region of Asia from the Caspian Sea in the west to central China in the east, and from southern Russia in the north to northern India in the south. It is also sometimes known as Middle Asia or Inner Asia, and is within the scope of the wider Eurasian continent.Various definitions of its...
n
suzaniSuzani is a type of embroidered and decorative tribal textile made in Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and other Central Asian countries. Its name is from the Persian سوزن Suzan which means needle. The art of making such textiles in Iran is called سوزنکاری Suzankāri .Chain, satin, and buttonhole...
,
HungarianHungary , in English officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in the Carpathian Basin of Central Europe, bordered by Austria, Slovakia, Ukraine, Romania, Serbia, Croatia, and Slovenia. Its capital is Budapest. Hungary is a member of OECD, NATO, EU, V4 and is a Schengen state...
KalotaszegKalotaszeg is a region in Romania, belonging to the area of Transylvania which was formerly part of the Hungarian Kingdom. It is one of the few areas in Western Romania with a significant Hungarian population, and it is a stronghold of old Transylvanian Hungarian folk traditions.-External links:*...
"written embroidery",,
Jacobean embroideryJacobean embroidery refers to embroidery styles that flourished in the reign of King James I of England in first quarter of the seventeenth century....
, and
crewelworkCrewel Embroidery, or Crewelwork, is a decorative form of surface embroidery using wool and a variety of different embroidery stitches to follow a design outline applied to the fabric. The technique is at least a thousand years old...
.
Machine sewing and embroidery
Chain stitch was the stitch used by early
sewing machineA sewing machine is a textile machine used to stitch fabric or other material together with thread. Sewing machines were invented during the first Industrial Revolution to decrease the amount of manual sewing work performed in clothing companies...
s; however, as it is easily unraveled from fabric, this was soon replaced with the more secure
lockstitchA lockstitch is the most common mechanical stitch made by a sewing machine.-Description:The lockstitch uses two threads, an upper and a lower. The upper thread runs from a spool kept on a spindle on top of or next to the machine, through a tension mechanism, a take-up arm, and finally through the...
. This ease of unraveling of the single-thread chain stitch, more specifically known as
ISOThe International Organization for Standardization , widely known as ISO , is an international-standard-setting body composed of representatives from various national standards organizations. Founded on 23 February 1947, the organization promulgates worldwide proprietary industrial and commercial...
4915:1991 stitch 101, continues to be exploited for industrial purposes in the closure of
bagA bag is a non-rigid mostly semi-rigid container, made of paper, cloth, plastic, leather, or some other flexible material.A bag is used for packaging and/or carrying items...
s for bulk products.
Machine embroideryMachine embroidery is now so heavily utilized for product branding, corporate advertising, uniform adornment and also for personal sewing and craft projects by hobbyists that the word "embroidery" is now generally more readily associated with forms of Machine Embroidery than any of the more...
in chain stitch, often in traditional hand-worked crewel designs, is found on
curtainA curtain is a piece of cloth intended to block or obscure light, or drafts, or water in the case of a shower curtain. Curtains hung over a doorway are known as portières...
s, bed
linensLinens are fabric household goods, such as pillowcases and towels.Originally, many, such as bed sheets and tablecloths, were made of linen. Today, the term "linen" has come to be applied to all related products even though most are made of cotton, various synthetic materials, or blends...
, and
upholsteryUpholstery is the work of providing furniture, especially seats, with padding, springs, webbing, and fabric or leather covers. The word upholstery comes from the Middle English words up and holden, meaning to hold up. The term is applied to domestic furniture and also to in automobiles and boats...
fabrics.
Variants
Variations of the basic chain stitch include:
- Back-stitched chain stitch
- Braid stitch
- Cable chain stitch
- Knotted chain stitch
- Open chain stitch
- Petal chain stitch
- Rosette chain stitch
- Singalese chain stitch
- Twisted chain stitch
- Wheat-ear stitch
- Zig-zag chain stitch
External links
Kalotaszeg embroidery at MagyarMuseum.org