by Jenny Hart

Did I hear somone say "how do you make a satin stitch"? Or, "how do I solidly fill in an area"? Was that you? Well, you *can* use any stitch you want to fill an area in solidly, but the satin stitch is one of the quickest ways. Here are three methods: plain, outlined and inline (or padded). There's also a little no-pattern-necessary design at the end!

Let's say you have a shape you want to fill in. I dunno, like, oh say...a circle.

Step 1:
Bring your needle up along the outer edge of the shape and reinsert your needle across from it, on the other side. Note: I started in the middle of the circle because I think it's easier than trying to begin with the smallest stitches at the ends. We'll work toward those.

Step 2:
Pull your needle all the way through, making a long stitch from one side to the other. Okay now, pay attention because the next step is important!

Step 3:
Bring your needle up again back at the place where you started, not next to where you pulled you last stitch through.
It will be too hard to make the stitches right next to each other if you do, with only a few fibers of fabric in-between,
causing you unnecessary aggravation. We don't want that.

Step 4:
See? Like so. You are doing splendidly!

Step 5:
Repeat, repeat, repeat.

Disclaimer! Experienced needleworkers will often "strip" their floss before they work a satin stitch. "Stripping" is when you run stranded embroidery floss across a bit of velcro, evening out all the strands. This will often make your stitching neater and easier. And, when working a satin stitch, it helps to hide the stitches so it looks like one solid area. A knowledgeable needleworker will see that I didn't bother to strip my floss! I'm an un-fussy stitcher. That's just me. But, if you'd like a little more finesse to your satin stitch, strip it!

Take a peek at the back. It should look the same as the front.

Step 6:

All finished! Nice. Kinda looks like a cough drop. You can tell now that I didn't strip my floss first,
because you can see, more or less, each stitch I've made. Oh, I'm just not that bothered.

The next question is usually
"what if I want to outline it?" Well then let's talk about the...

Outlined Satin Stitch

So outline it already! You can use whatever you stitch you want. I am outlinining it here
in a back stitch and got all wild 'n crazy and with a new color.

Minou is thrilled by my outlined satin stitch. 

I will now close my eyes, concentrate reeeally hard and predict your next question. Silence please. (Holding temples) You want to know: "so, should I outline it first or after?". Am I right? If you are outlining, it is much easier to do it after. Otherwise, your needle will always be catching or snagging on the stitches you made while you try to satin up the center. But, here's what you can do with a pre-outlined shape:

Inlined (or Padded) Satin Stitch 

I outlined the shape first this time (that's a split stitch). Now check out this smooth move:

I am going to work my satin stitch just as I did before, but I will bring my needle up outside the stitched I worked.

You can also "seed" the inside of the circle with random, straight stitches which is called a padded satin stitch.

Like so! Keep working your stitches like this since you're already a newly-minted expert in the satin stitch. The results are:

A nice, thicker, more outstanding (and upstanding) bit of stitching! Lesson over? Not yet! I had me an ideer.

Get out the pencil. Draw some lines. That was tough.

Let's try a stem stitch in green there. See how not perfect my stitches are?
It's okay if yours aren't either. Enjoyment is to be valued over perfection. 

"Gosh, I wonder where she's going with this?"

Pattern? I don't need no stinking pattern! I'm just going to add some downward-pointing, isolated chain stitches
(which you learned in my Lazy Lotus tute) for tiny leaves...

Oooh! Ooh! I know! Some French knots around like this...

Aaand howsabout putting some single stitches in the middle of that other one like this...

Kerblam. Cute. Easy. Took me a whole 15 minutes.

Or, long enough for Minou to go right back to sleep. 

You like? Well, then you'll be glad to know that I have a brand-new book coming out very soon full of techniques and ideas like this, including transfer patterns and projects for satin stitching and a whole bunch more: