History Culture Design & Technique How To Artists Convocation   Glossary         Home	Stitches Embroiderers use a wide range of stitches to achieve the design they have in mind. Illustrated here are the Pueblo and colcha stitches as well as a variety of others that Pueblo embroiderers also use. Patterns Stitches Treatment of Edges Darning & Mending Spotlight: Mabel Fragua   Pueblo Stitch The pueblo stitch is unique to the Pueblo people.  It is a variant of the back-stitch. It can be used to cover a large area with an efficient use of yarn. Its use enables the embroiderer to work designs in negative patterning.       Colcha Stitch The colcha is a type of self-couching stitch that is also called Bokhara or Romanian Couching. The long base stitch is held flat along the ground cloth by two or three smaller stitches taken with the same needle and thread. Colcha means "bedcover" in Spanish; in New Mexico the word refers to both the textile and, especially, the stitch used to cover it.                              More Details                                        Double Running Stitch Prehistoric Stitch that was inserted parallel to the weft. Wrap Stitch Prehistoric Stitch that was inserted parallel to the weft. Herringbone Stitch Sometimes used in conjunction with the Pueblo Stitch. Satin Stitch Sometimes used in conjunction with the Pueblo Stitch. Outline Stitch Sometimes used in conjunction with the Pueblo Stitch.  Overcast Stitch Sometimes used in conjunction with the Pueblo Stitch. Back-Stitch The employment of an embroidery thread composed of paired and twisted elements appears to hold the answer for the successful manner in which comparatively large spaces were solidly filled in. This fashion for large solid areas, which is a charateristic, was doubtless responsible in turn for this type of sewing element and an accompanying detail which serve to differentiate Pueblo work from all other described forms of the back-stitch.   Acoma Countered Outline Stitch Found in Acoma embroidery.   Acoma Chain Stitch Found in Acoma embroidery. Weft-Float and Embroidery or Brocade Weft-float pattern weave and twined stitch embroidery Weft-float pattern weave Weft-float or irregular twill Running stitch embroidery flanked by lines of twined stitch Twined stitch embroidery forming a meander pattern on a cloth (enlargement below) Detail of the twined stitch (enlargement of above).   Running stitch embroidery simulating 3/3 diamond twill
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