Duplicate Stitch Embroidery Tutorial: Decorate Your Knitwear Step-by-step
How to make Duplicate Stitch: instructions + Free Swan embroidery pattern
Hand embroidery on knitwear using the Duplicate Stitch is a great way to embellish your knits, mend a small hole or a stain, or simply breathe new life into a boring old sweater.
Duplicate Stitch embroidery on knitting duplicates the plain knit stitches (stockinette stitch). You can choose to duplicate A-shaped or V-shaped stitches – it is only a design choice.
By the way, you do not need to know how to knit to embroider this simple stitch!
This embroidery technique is also called Swiss Darning, as it is widely used to mend holes in knitwear. With this technique, you can recreate missing stitches (the hole) or cover the existing ones.
Knitters often use duplicate stitch embroidery to substitute for intarsia or Fair Isle knitting. Adding duplicate stitches in knitting is much easier than knitting with multiple colors. Besides that, you do not need to plan the design ahead but can add the embellishments after all the knitting is done.
Swan embroidery pattern for Duplicate Stitch tutorial
I hand-knitted this cotton top and wore it for a couple of years. Then, it got boring, so I set it aside for frogging. I often unpick the knits I made and reuse the same yarn for other projects.
I’ve decided to give this knitted cotton top a second life this time. I will embellish it with a Swan embroidery to give it a fresh look and new vibe.
You can download a free PDF pattern for Duplicate stitch embroidery and join me on this project.
Duplicate Stitch Embroidery Tutorial
Swan embroidery on knitwear with duplicate stitch
Tolls and materials
- Knitwear you want to decorate. I embellished my knitted cotton top.
- The Swan PDF pattern. Download it and print the page with a scheme.
- Yarn – one color for the body and one – for the beak. I used white and terracotta-colored yarns. Opt for the yarn of the same thickness as the knit. Also, choose woolen yarns for wool sweaters and cotton yarns for cotton knitwear.
- Embroidery hoop.
- Darning needle.
- Scissors.
Step-by-step Duplicate Stitch embroidery instructions
- Position the pattern on the knitwear
Define the area of the knit you want to embellish. Measure the center of the zone and calculate the starting point – the position of the first stitch. Place the knit into the hoop. Do not stretch the fabric.
Pro Tip: Divide the pattern into 4 equal squares. This will make counting the stitches and following the pattern easier.
- Start embroidering from the bottom right side
Leave the tale of the thread long and start stitching. You will take care of this end later. For each V of the pattern, make one Duplicate Stitch. Pass the needle under the knit stitch from the right side when working from the right.
- The second row
Follow the pattern and add the second row of duplicate stitches. Now, you work from the felt, so you must pass the needle under the knit stitch from the left.
- The third row
Follow the pattern and keep moving from side to side. Change the direction of the stitches from row to row.
- Secure the threads on the back
When you finish the yarn, secure the end under the previously made stitches on the back. To start, weave the beginning of the thread under the stitches you made before.
- Add more rows
Follow the pattern and keep adding the rows of duplicate stitch in knitting
- Embroider the neck of the Swan
When you reach the point of the pattern where the neck starts, embroider the neck and the tail separately. This way, you will avoid long jumping threads on the back side of the knit.
- Embroider the beak
Use a different color yarn and embroider the stitches of the beak.
- Embroider the tail
After the head and the beak are done, move to the posterior side of the Swan and finish the tail.
- Weave in the ends
When the entire pattern is finished, remove the embroidery from the hoop and secure the loose ends of the yarn on the back. Weave in the ends and trim the tails.
Video Tutorial
Recommended Products
Disclaimer. To cover the cost of creating free embroidery patterns and video tutorials for this blog, I do sometimes link to products. Please assume these links are affiliate links. If you choose to buy through my links then THANK YOU! – it will make it possible for me to keep doing this.
Hand embroidery patterns for Duplicate Stitch
Duplicate Stitch embroidery is a fast and straightforward way to redesign or mend your knits with a modern flair. If you have a project in mind, but the free Swan PDF pattern I provide in this tutorial is not exactly what you are looking for, here are some places you can source embroidery patterns for Duplicate Stitch:
- Purl Soho provides a simple pattern for all alphabet letters in this Duplicate Stitch tutorial.
- You will find hundreds of duplicate stitch patterns (free and paid) on Ravelry.
- Search for duplicate stitch patterns on Pinterest.
- Look for simple cross-stitch patterns and transform them into Duplicate Stitch patterns.
- Design the pattern. Use the paper with a square grid and colored pens to draw a pixelated design you want to embroider.
Note that the size of the final design you choose to embroider will depend on how chunky your knit is. If you want to measure how big the final design will be on your knit, calculate the number of stitches in the widest row of the pattern and then – count the same number of knit stitches in your sweater. This will be the final width of the finished design.
If you want to resize the design – you can double the number of stitches in each row and the number of rows of the pattern.
Over to you
This Duplicate Stitch embroidery tutorial demonstrates how to transform basic knits into modern, original, one-of-a-kind designer clothes with simple stitches.
Use this tutorial to breathe new life into your old knits and let them express your creativity. Embroider flowers or skulls, meaningful words, or pixelated people – anything that is personal and important to you can become a duplicate stitch embroidery pattern.
Have you tried hand embroidering on knits? Please share your experience and projects in the comments!
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More about embroidery on the knitwear on this Blog
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