Learning to cross stitch [Part 4]

Welcome the last part of our mini series on learning to cross stitch! Today we will finish our ladybug with the back stitches. Yesterday we talked about following a pattern. Missed yesterdays post? You can find it in the links below. In this series the following topics will be discussed:

Part 1: Materials
Part 2: Cross stitches
Part 3: Following a pattern
Part 4: Back stitches

During this series we will work on a cute little ladybug. Just click on the image below to find the enlarged image of the pattern. I hope you follow along and enjoy your first steps in cross stitching.

So lets talk back stitches! I love to do stitch them, they add the details to your work. In the ladybug pattern all back stitches are done with a single black thread (DMC 300). In the schematic below you will see how some stitches are made. You pull your thread up at the end of the first stitch you want to make. Than you go back to the beginning of the stitch and go to the end of your second stitch. So you kinda work backwards ;) Probably the pictures will be more clear than my explanation.

I started stitching around the pink body of the ladybug. In this pattern all outlines will be stitched. We start by stitching some straight line (1-8).

At the end of the straight part we will take a turn, so at the back of your fabric you will see a diagonal stitch. But as you can see, on the front we have only horizontal and vertical stitches (11-12).

After you’ve gone around the body you can stitch around the dots and also around the black areas. Do you see how wobbly the stitches look at the back :) Such a difference with the front!

When all outlining is done, we have to stitch the feelers. Just simple back stitch them from the head toward the end of the feeler (13). Then gently wave your needle through the stitches on the back, back to the head (14). When you cross the empty area of the fabric with you black thread on the back, it could show a bit on the front.