I did the 100 Day Project in 2019 where I learned 100 embroidery stitches. Some stitches were totally new to me while others I just explored further. Working on this project helped me to see a lot of similarities between certain stitches. I am currently working on another 100 Day Project where I’m taking this stitch exploration a little bit further. I’ve noticed that I can group some stitches into a family because there are so many similarities between these stitches. One of these families is the Fly Stitch family. There are a lot of great stitches in this group.

Samples of the various stitches in the Fly Stitch Group.

The first stitch is the standard Fly Stitch. To do this stitch, you’ll bring the needle up at 1 and down at 2. Don’t pull the thread all the way through, yet. There are two options for the next step - stab vs. sew. In the stab method, you’ll bring the needle up at 3 making sure that the working floss is below the needle. You’ll pull the thread taut, then bring the needle down at 4. For the sew method, when you put the needle into the fabric at 2, you’ll bring the needle up at 3 in one movement. Then you’ll complete the stitch in the same way.

You can vary the look of this stitch by adjusting the width of the “V” shape and the length of the tail. This stitch can look like a “V” or a “Y” depending on the length of the tail. As standard Fly Stitch, you can either scatter or group these stitches to get the effect that you want.

Can you find the Fly Stitch in this hoop? This Mushroom Print is for sale in our Spoonflower Shop.

Once you know how to do the Fly Stitch, you can try one of the variations. The next one to try might be Double Fly Stitch. This stitch is composed of two Fly Stitches layered on top of each other going in the same direction. The first Fly Stitch you make is typically really wide with a short tail. The second Fly Stitch is narrow with any length tail that overlaps the first stitch you made. You can have some fun with color or you can keep it consistent. Either way looks good.

The next stitch you can try is Reversed Fly Stitch. The concept here is similar to Double Fly Stitch except that this time, you will flip the second Fly Stitch you make. The width on both of the Fly Stitches will be similar with this version. You can also vary the tail lengths. Since this is another stitch with layers, you can have some fun with the color combinations.

If you love the look of Fly Stitch, but you want to use it as a border, Plaited Fly Stitch is the stitch for you. For this stitch, you will slightly overlap the tops of the Fly Stitch to get a plaited look. It works better with a slightly wider “V” portion, so that it doesn’t get too crowded when overlapped. You can also vary the tail lengths here…even within the same border…for a really interesting effect.

Finally, the last stitch in this group is the Fly Filling Stitch. This stitch is great for filling in spaces on your project. It looks similar to Wave Filling Stitch, but it’s made using rows of Fly Stitch. With each row, you will flip the direction of your Fly Stitches. The tails should be really small with this stitch, too. There’s a bonus with this stitch…the back side looks great! If you’re looking for a stitch that will look good on the reverse side, too, this stitch is a great option.

I hope you found some new stitches to try from the Fly Stitch group of stitches. I love how easy these stitches are to do, too. They’re great for some stitch therapy. Grab some fabric and give these a try. You won’t regret it. We’d love to see what you do with these stitches. Feel free to tag us on Instagram so we can see your work. Happy stitching!

Now that you know about these stitches, you should give them a try, too. I love to make these little hoops where I get to play around with some new stitches.

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On the Fly