Ladder and Trellis Hemstitching

Ladder Hemstitching

Work a row of simple hemstitching, and weave the tail into the selvedge. Insert a spacer of heavy yarn (or a yarn bundle) into the shed.

Leaving a weft tail three times the warp width, weave four picks of plain weave. Thread the long tail in a needle and hemstitch while encircling the same number of ends and extending the same number of picks into the fabric as for the first row.

The groups in the two rows of ladder hemstitching will align with each other.

Trellis Hemstitching

Work a row of simple hemstitching with an even number of ends in each group, and weave the tail into the selvedge. Insert a spacer of heavy yarn (or a yarn bundle) into the shed.

Leaving a weft tail three times the warp width, weave four picks of plain weave. Thread the long tail in a needle and hemstitch while encircling the same number of ends, but with groups offset from the previous line of hemstitching.

The groups in the two rows of trellis hemstitching will zigzag rather than aligning with each other. The first and last groups will include more or fewer ends than usual.

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MORE ABOUT FANCY HEMSTITCHING:

Take a closer look at ladder and trellis hemstitching, learn about square and Italian versions, and find links to projects.