For the technique used to shorten rope or cable, seeChain sinnet.
Traditional embroidery in chain stitch on aKazakh rug, contemporary
Chain stitch is asewing andembroidery technique in which a series of looped stitches form achain-like pattern.[1][2] Chain stitch is an ancient craft – examples of survivingChinese chain stitch embroidery worked insilk thread have been dated to theWarring States period (5th – 3rd century BC).[3] Handmade chain stitch embroidery does not require that the needle pass through more than one layer of fabric. For this reason the stitch is an effective surface embellishment nearseams on finished fabric. Because chain stitches can form flowing, curved lines, they are used in manysurface embroidery styles that mimic "drawing" inthread.[4]
Detail of an embroidered silk gauze ritual garment from a 4th-century BC, Zhou era tomb at Mashan, Hubei province, China. Rows of even, round chain-stitches are used both for outline and to fill in color.
The earliest archaeological evidence of chain stitch embroidery dates from 1100 BC in China. Excavated from royal tombs, the embroidery was made using threads ofsilk.[5] Chain stitch embroidery has also been found dating to theWarring States period. Chain stitch designs spread toIran through theSilk Road.[6]
Chain stitch was the stitch used by earlysewing machines; however, as it is easily unravelled from fabric, this was soon replaced with the more securelockstitch. This ease of unraveling of the single-thread chain stitch, more specifically known asISO 4915:1991 stitch 101, continues to be exploited for industrial purposes in the closure of bags for bulk products.[8][9]
Thebasic chain stitch is made by first sending the needle down through the material. Then, as the needle rises upward, the friction of the thread against the fabric is sufficient to form a small loop on the underside of the material. That loop is caught by a circular needle which is beneath the work. The machine then moves the material forward projecting the loop on the underside from the previous stitch. The next drop of the needle goes through the previous loop. The circular needle then releases the first loop and picks up the new loop and the process repeats.[10]
Thedouble chain stitch uses two threads. It is rarely used in today's machines except for ornamental purposes because it uses more thread than other stitches.[10] It is found in bulk material packaging, where it is used to close large bags. As this stitch can be easily unraveled, this permits easy opening of bags sewn shut in this manner.[citation needed]
^Mary Schoeser (2007).Silk. Yale University Press. p. 18.ISBN978-0-300-11741-7. Retrieved15 January 2013.from the same dates comes the earliest evidence of chain stitch embroidery, worked with silk threads
Virginia Churchill Bath,Needlework in America, Viking Press, 1979ISBN0-670-50575-7
S.F.A. Caulfield and B.C. Saward,The Dictionary of Needlework, 1885.
Mrs. Archibald Christie.Samplers and Stitches, a handbook of the embroiderer's art, London 1920, 1989 facsimile: Batsford,ISBN0-7134-4796-6, or online atProject Gutenberg
John Gillow and Bryan Sentance:World Textiles, Bulfinch Press/Little, Brown, 1999,ISBN0-8212-2621-5
Reader's DigestComplete Guide to Needlework. The Reader's Digest Association, Inc., March 1992,ISBN0-89577-059-8
