Double Woven Stitch

Updated June 15, 2021.
This is an absolutely delightful stitch I came upon by accident several years ago.

When stitched it looks like a woven basket. It’s similar to Woven Plait, but it has two parallel stitches in each set, not one.

It looks more complex than it is because the sets of stitches are diagonal stitches over three intersections. The change in direction comes because each new set of stitches goes over the ends of a previous stitch.

One problem I often have with needlepoint is that many of the stitches have a strong direction to them. This can often fight with the image being stitched.

There are lots of ways to minimize this tendency, like alternating the direction of the stitch, reversing the stich direction in some areas, or offsetting the stitch.

But probably my favorite is changing the direction of the stitch constantly. Double Woven does this.

I love this stitch and will be using it on a Christmas ornament I’m starting soon.