Do a French Knot
A french knot is an embroidery technique that creates small tight knots that, in groupings, can form nice centers of flowers and other accents in a dainty piece of handwork. When you finish sewing, crocheting, or knitting something, you'll be able to decorate it with little "dots."
Steps
- Thread your needle. You can do this with one piece of thread that's about 12" long (30 cm) or three separate strands of embroidery floss. If you're making a french knot in fabric, you may want a needle with a larger eye and thicker thread, or even yarn.
- If you're using separate strands of floss, treat the tails of the floss separately – tie a knot near the end of one of the tails, but don't tie the others. Make the string with the knotted tail slightly longer than the other two. This strand will be the anchor of the knot; the other two will provide it bulk.
- Bring your needle up from the back side. Draw the floss or thread through for the full length of the strand, bringing the knot to the edge of the material.
- If you're using several strands of floss, the knot will draw the one strand tight and the loose tails will come through. This is how it's supposed to be.
- If it is an embroidery type piece, you could also anchor the thread on the back of the piece by working it through a few stitches.
- Point the needle downward and wrap the thread around the needle three times. Put the point of the needle back into the fabric just a thread or two away from the place it came up from on the back side. Then, pull the string tight around the base of the needle, forming the beginning of the knot.
- To elaborate: Grab the thread with your left index and thumb (or right if you are left handed) about 2 inches (5 cm) from the fabric. Wrap the thread around the needle towards you – twice for a small knot, three or four times for a bigger one. Pull the string tight so it slides down the needle, where you can see the knot ready and waiting to form.
- If you are working on a larger weave fabric such as aida cloth, you will want to go back in just slightly to one side of the original hole so you don't pull the knot through to the back.
- Pull the strand through the doubled wrap and down through the fabric. Point the needle back into the fabric where you came through initially. As you're pulling through, continue to hold the thread taut with your left hand with a slight loop held by your thumb so it doesn't tangle. The threads will then knot themselves into the right shape.
- Keep the tension on the strand at all times – the knot should be starting to form before the needle is even through. If you've done it right, the double wrap will form a tight little "bud" at the point of insertion – the french knot.
- Don't yank – you could undo all your hard work. Pull through slowly so your stands don't get into the wrong kind of tangled and knotted.
- Anchor the thread on the back. This works better if you have the fabric sitting on a firm surface, such as a book or magazine, rather than poking the needle into your knee. If you'd like to create more knots, you can either tie them off or anchor them in existing stitches. Anchoring them will ensure they don't unravel.
- Repeat the above steps as desired. If you're looking for a little cluster of these, just start again at Step 1 just a thread or two away from the first french knot. Stay at it until you're happy with your grouping. You'll have mastered the french knot by the end.
- Finished.
Tips
- To make a french knot in fabric, use a sewing needle, but one that has a big eye.
- Use a color that goes with your project. If you sewed something that has a pattern, use a color that is in the fabric, or else it will clash. Ex: green, pink, yellow.
Warnings
- Be careful not to prick yourself if you are using a sewing needle.
