Put a smile on your face – and your knits :)

It’s World Smile Day – so why not celebrate by stitching a smile on to your knits?

Turn that frown upside down – not only is it Friday, but it’s World Smile Day! And to celebrate we’re sharing our smiley duplicate stitch pattern with y’all, along with some tips on how to get a great finish.

smiley graph

The duplicate stitch technique allows you to create the effect of your motif being knitted into the piece, without the hassle of knitting with multiple colours at the same time! And you can go back and add it to any piece that’s been knitted in stocking stitch. To put a smile on your knits, follow the graph graph above to embroider the pattern using the duplicate stitch technique.

How to duplicate stitch

1. Secure your yarn on the wrong side of your fabric, in the place where you want to start sewing.

2. Bring the needle through to the right side of the fabric, at the bottom of the first stitch you’ll embroider over.

3. Tug on the yarn until all of it has been pulled through to the right side.

4. The spot where you’ve pulled the yarn through is at the bottom of the little ‘V’ formed by the stitch in the knitted fabric. Your duplicate stitch will sit on top of this stitch, hiding the yarn under it, and it will look as if it was a knitted stitch. First, form the right-hand ‘leg’ of the stitch by inserting the needle at the top of the stitch, under both ‘legs’ of the stitch above it.

5. Now pull the yarn through.

6. Complete the stitch by inserting the needle in the same place where you started off.

7. Pull the yarn through to the wrong side of the fabric, and finish off the stitch.

Repeat steps 2 to 7 to continue your duplicate stitching.

Top tips

Work from the bottom of the design to the top, moving from side to side – this will give your duplicate stitches a good coverage.

Duplicate stitching with Crazy Sexy Wool looks amazing. To avoid the yarn getting too worked and becoming fluffy, don’t cut your strands too long.

Stay smiley, Gang!

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