Good morning!
As I’m writing this the smell of baking bread is permeating my home and I can’t wait for it to come out of the oven.
I hope those of you who weathered Sandy’s destruction are all safe and warm and that life is slowly beginning to take on a sense of normalcy again. Here the weather is still up and down, sunny and warm one day, cold and miserable the next. On Sunday we went to find the sun at the beach and we all had a wonderful time; especially Eliana, who enjoyed playing in the sand.
Today I want to share the bullion stitch with you. I must confess that I am definitely no expert on this stitch but I have seen it being used to great effect, especially in freeform crochet, like in the photo below (click on the photo to go to the site, this one is from etsy. You can buy the PDF tutorial).
Since I am no expert I also thought I’d share a link to a video tutorial and some tips for making the perfect bullion stitch.
How cute are these bullion stitch pumpkins? If you click on the photo it will take you to the pattern.
By now you will probably have realised that I love hats. I love wearing them and making them and I found this awesome hat making great use of the decorative nature the bullion stitch lends to any crochet article.
Lastly, here’s a cute bullion stitch flower.
So, now that I’ve given you some inspiration for the bullion stitch lets see how it’s done.
Firstly, you will need a knitting needle or a thick tapestry needle to make this stitch. The tutorial I linked to above shows how to make the stitch without these and if you have a crochet hook with a wide thumb rest you can simply wind the yarn around that part of the hook but my hooks are quite slim, so that technique does not work for me.
Step 1 You will need a foundation row, I used a row of 10 DCs for this tutorial. Place the knitting needle or tapestry needle on top of your crochet hook, as indicated in the photo.
Step 2
Wrap the yarn around the needle and hook 7 times (the more yarn you wrap around the hook the longer the stitch will be.)
Step 3
Insert hook into next available stitch, YO. Make sure that you hold onto the loops on the hook and needle well with your forefinger.
Step 4
Pull up a loop.
Step 5
YO and pull the yarn through the first loop on the hook.
Step 6
Before you pull the hook through the remainder of the loops turn the hook so that the hook part faces up. You want the needle and hook to touch. this will help to keep all the loops in place (at least that’s what I found).
Step 7
Now pull the yarn through all the loops wound around the hook. Leave the last loop on the hook though!
Step 8
YO and pull the yarn through the two remaining loops on the hook.
Well done! You have just completed a bullion stitch 🙂
Here’s a row of bullion stitches.
As you can see they are not very neat. This is definitely a stitch that is both difficult to master as well as time consuming in it’s execution. I think the result is beautiful though and I am definitely going to practice some more.
Oh, one thing I did notice is that the stitch is easier to make if you don’t wind the yarn around needle and hook too tightly.
Please don’t forget to share your work with me via email (stephanie@radiate.co.za), post photos on Instagram and tag them #loveabagofcrochet and @stephaniedavies or post them on my facebook fan page.