A simple couching tutorial
This week I had a message from a lovely customer who was stitching the flower gardener and wanted to know about couching and I realised that I don’t have a tutorial for couching here. Today has been such a dull rainy day that I thought I would put a simple couching tutorial together. I hope you enjoy it.
First a little bit about couching. It is a great decorative stitch and a way to use threads or yarns that might be more difficult to stitch or very thick. You can couch pretty much any thread or yarn or even grasses or seaweed if you would like to. I like to couch my beautiful linladen linen threads as they are not as soft and easy to stitch as some thread. I have also used appletons wool and some DMC perle thread. Knitting wool would be great or even strips of fabric.
You can couch with contrasting coloured threads for a bold effect. I have used contrasting colours here so you can see the stitching but you can also use the same coloured thread for a more subtle textured effect.
Your couching stitches can be straight stitches but they don’t have to be. In the first picture I used cross stitches for the top piece. You could use other decorative stitches too.
You can space your stitches evenly or create a pattern with them as I did in the second piece in the first picture, using sets of three stitches.
In the second picture I knotted both ends of my foundation thread and laid it on top of the fabric before stitching it down so the knotted ends become a feature.
You can also couch shapes like the spiral in the third picture. This is great for lettering as you can just lay the thread down in the shape and simply stitch it in place
So on to the tutorial
Thread a needle with your foundation thread (you may need a larger needle than the one you usually use to stitch if your thread is thick). Bring the thread up through your fabric at the beginning of the line and take it back down at the end of the line (like a giant stitch).
Now thread your needle with the couching thread and, beginning close to the end, make tiny stitches over the foundation thread, trapping it. In this example I have stitched them evenly along the length of the wool
Once you reach the end you are done
I stitch shapes slightly differently. I still bring the foundation thread up at the beginning (In picture one I have brought it up at the centre of the spiral) and I usually take it down at the end but I place the thread as I stitch, as you can see in the second picture. When I reach the end of the shape I pull any extra foundation thread through before finishing off.
I don’t use couching a great deal in my patterns but there is a little bit in the caravan pattern and also the bunting at the top of the flower gardener pattern
There is lots of fun to be had with couching, if you would like some inspiration I have a pinterest board with some great couching ideas here
I hope you’ve enjoyed this little tutorial, if you have any questions or any extra tips about couching then please message me. I would love to hear from you.