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BRICK STITCH

The brick stitch is simple to do and provides a nice texture. It is a good stitch for backgrounds. The brick stitch, like all vertical or horizontal stitches, requires that you use a heavier thread than normal if you want good coverage. This is not always necessary; a lighter coverage can be nice, especially in a background, but if it bothers you to have canvas threads show, or if you are stitching on a painted canvas and have chosen a different thread color to use than the canvas is painted, you will want to either select a heavier than normal thread weight, or if using a thread that divides into multiple strands, you will want to increase the number of strands in your needle.

Here is the first row of a basic brick stitch, made over two canvas threads in height:

Here are two rows of brick stitch, with the first row shown in white, and the second row shown in aqua, for illustration purposes only:

The next diagram illustrates three completed rows of brick stitch. For purposes of illustration only, the first and third rows are shown in white and the second in aqua:

The next illustration shows areas of full brick stitches, with compensating stitches added at the top and bottom rows. For purposes of illustration only, the compensating stitches are shown in aqua:

Several variations on the basic brick stitch are possible. One of them is the double brick stitch, in which pairs of stitches are made side by side before skipping up a thread or down a thread to make another pair of stitches. To better help you recognize the rows, alternate rows are shown in white and aqua, for illustration purposes only.

Another variation of the brick stitch is to make it over four canvas threads rather than two.

Diagrams and text copyright 2005 Threadneedle Street