Stitch School: Lazy Daisy

Lazy Daisy is the common name for the detached chain stitch, which is a looped stitch that can be worked alone or in groups. Once you master it, you can combine the individual stitches in a length (this is called chain stitch) or in clusters to make flowers and leaves. You can even get ambitious and try something like this:



But, first things first.

Start by bringing your threaded needle to the front. Then take the needle to the back as close as possible to where the thread emerges. Bring the needle to the front at the tip of the stitch.



Loop the thread in a counter-clockwise direction under the tip of the needle.



Pull the thread through. I’ve read directions that say to hold the loop down with your thumb to prevent the loop from twisting, but if you’re careful I don’t think that’s necessary. The tighter you pull your stitch, the thinner the loop will become. So, if you want nice round loops don’t pull too much.



To anchor the stitch, take the thread to the back just over the loop.



That’s it. And to make a chain, instead of taking the thread to the back, just continue along making individual stitches until you get to the end.



To make flowers, group a series of individual stitches in a ring. You can vary the length of the stitch depending on the kind of shape you want. Small loops make tiny flowers like this…



Longer stitches make long petals…



You can use a second thread in a contrasting color to create a flower like this…



You’ll see lots of French knots in the above pictures because they’re often used for the centers of flowers, either singly or grouped. Since it’s a difficult stitch to master, I’m going to skip that for now and continue with the more basic stitches. We’ll do straight stitch next and, believe me, you can’t get any easier than this one. But, if you can’t wait on the French knots, I did a post about them a couple of months ago—you can see it here.

See you next week; class dismissed!

And if you've missed any of the lessons in this series, there's a handy list of previous Stitch School posts in the menu to the right.