Every now and then I end up with a particularly troublesome embroidery hoop that won’t keep my fabric quite as taut as I’d like it. The issue comes down to there not being enough friction between the hoop and the fabric, which causes slippage while stitching. So how do you remedy this frustrating problem? There’s actually a very quick and easy fix - binding your embroidery hoop.

When it came to stitching knots in my hand embroidery, I used to almost exclusively use the french knot stitch - I loved it! I loved how I could wrap the thread around the needle more times to get a larger knot. I loved the wonderful stubbly texture it created when I filled a shape entirely with knots. And then, I discovered the colonial knot.