French Knots

Updated May 7, 202.
I got an email from a reader, it said: “I was teaching myself the french knot. Looking at different stitching books I found that there was no one right technique. What technique do you use? `I know what you mean. I have been told that what I call a French Knot is actually a colonial knot, but to tell you the truth I can’t see one bit of difference, so I call them French Knots.

I haven’t found a really good illustration in a book for French Knots, but I found some good stuff online.

–a video tutorial by a stitcher with an excellent reputation.

–an excellent photo tutorial from a quilting & knittingshop in NYC.

— another video tutorial.

— an illustrated tutorial (drawings) from Sublime Stitching,

— another YouTube video from Expert Village, which is excellent.

None of these are done on needlepoint canvas. All but the Expert Village one are done on non-evenweave fabric. The thing that will be different about French Knots in needlepoint is that you can come out and go into the fabric in the same hole or over a thread or intersection.

Here are some other things to remember about French Knots:

• the size of the needle makes the biggest difference in the size of the knot
• the thickness of the thread makes a difference as well
• in needlepoint wrapping the thread around the needle once or twice is preferred
• you can make French Knots over a base of Basketweave, so that you don’t have to make solid knots to cover an area, I call this the “Lazy Stitcher’s Method” and use it often; it makes for a less dense look
• French Knots can replace beading