Close Menu
  • News
    • Fashion
    • Features
    • Sewing Bee & TV
    • Trends
    • Sustainability
    • Homes & gardens
    • Lifestyle
    • Wellbeing
  • Magazine
    • Meet the team
    • About Simply Sewing magazine
    • Latest issue
  • Sewing patterns
    • Free beginner sewing patterns
    • Free children’s sewing patterns
    • Free Christmas sewing patterns
    • Free home sewing patterns
    • Free sewing patterns
    • Free women’s sewing patterns
    • Pattern corrections
  • Sewing guides
    • How to sew
    • Sewing tools and kit
    • Reviews
  • Embroidery
    • Beginner embroidery patterns
    • Free embroidery patterns
    • How to embroider
    • Embroidery kit
  • Competitions
  • Pattern shop
  • Subscribe
  • Newsletters
Facebook Instagram Pinterest TikTok
  • About Simply Sewing magazine
  • FAQ
  • Advertise
  • Newsletters
Facebook Instagram Pinterest TikTok
Simply SewingSimply Sewing
Visit our pattern shop
  • News
    • Trends
    • Lifestyle
    • Features
    • Sewing Bee & TV
    • Fashion
    • Homes & gardens
    • Sustainability
    • Wellbeing
  • Buy magazine
    • Latest issues
    • Back issues
    • About Simply Sewing magazine
    • Meet the team
    • FAQ
    • Simply Sewing templates
  • Sewing guides
    • How to sew
    • Sewing tools and kit
    • Reviews
    • Pattern shop
  • Sewing patterns
    • Free sewing patterns
    • Free beginner sewing patterns
    • Free children’s sewing patterns
    • Free home sewing patterns
    • Free Christmas sewing patterns
    • Free women’s sewing patterns
    • Pattern shop
    • Pattern corrections
  • Embroidery
    • Beginner embroidery patterns
    • Free embroidery patterns
    • How to embroider
  • Win
Pattern shop Subscribe
Simply SewingSimply Sewing
Home»Embroidery»How to embroider»How to stitch Colonial Knots

How to stitch Colonial Knots

  • September 16, 2019
  • Rebecca Reid

Get the new Great British Sewing Bee book worth £30 when you subscribe to Simply Sewing magazine

Discover a new embroidery stitch with this beautiful embroidery knot that adds texture and detail to your embroidery hoop. In this Stitch Library post, we talk you through how to sew colonial knots.

Colonial knots have a raised, textured appearance and can be sewn individually or in clusters, making them ideal for stitching floral motifs.

Sew colonial knots using three shades of pink to stitch delicate blossoms with our step by step guide to this clever embroidery stitch. Download our free template below as a positional guide to where to place your knots. Trace the blossom embroidery pattern onto the fabric.

If you’re working the design above, add the words, branches and birdcage in backstitch. Template design by Lisa Jones stitching and instructions by Rebecca Reid

Free blossom embroidery pattern (PDF)

Method

1

First, secure your thread on the back of your work through some of the already worked backstitches, close to where you want your first knot to be. Now bring the needle up at 1 and loop the thread over it.

How to stitch colonial knots step 1

2

Next, take the thread over and under the needle in a figure of eight. Follow the thread path on the diagram to see exactly how this is done. With time and practice you will get very quick at doing this.

How to sew colonial knots step 2

3

Push the needle back down at 2, close to where it first emerged. Before you pull it all the way through, tighten the loops around the needle and hold them in place. Pull the needle through to form a neat knot.

How to work colonial knots step 3

Add colonial knot blossoms to brighten up bags and pouches

The welcome sight of blossoms in bloom is  a sure sign that winter is behind us and spring has sprung. Though the blossom season may be fleeting and it’s not long before those pretty petals float away on the summer breeze, you can make it last by stitching your own blossom tree onto
a plain make-up bag using colonial knot stitches. Download our free pattern above and use your new skills to embellish a plain bag with these pretty blooms.

How to do colonial knots

Rebecca Reid

Rebecca Reid

Rebecca is founder of Amber Makes and has previously worked as Senior Technical Editor of Love Embroidery and Simply Sewing magazines. She works with sewing TV channels including Sewing Street, Yarn Lane and Sewing Quarter. She been stitching since she was a child and has worked on many craft magazines as well as running her own curtain-making business. She is known by her colleagues as a sewing oracle – you name it, she can sew it. She’s hugely knowledgeable about sewing techniques, fabrics and tools and is full of helpful advice for her fellow sewists, from the best place to buy curtain-making materials to which books and websites are handy for that sewing problem you’re stuck on.

See author's posts

Related

Simply Sewing subscriptions offer

Subscribe & save

Never miss an issue! Sign up to receive your favourite magazine every month – delivered straight to your door.

Sign up today

Read more

See More
History
The multi-billion-dollar detail hidden on almost every zip in the world. Have you seen it?

It fastens our jeans and helps astronauts survive in space, yet the humble zip has a surprisingly dramatic history filled with failure, billion-dollar success, and one of the biggest fashion embarrassments anyone can suffer

Read More
12 things you should throw out of your wardrobe today (number 9 is a must!)
Are you a Faithful or a Traitor? Get the look of TV’s most iconic woman
Simply Sewing issue 153
The “dying art” of tailoring is making a comeback, here’s why
Simply Sewing
  • Contact us
  • Terms & conditions
  • Privacy policy
  • Cookies
  • Code of conduct
  • Advertise
  • Consent Choices
© 2026 This website is owned and operated by Our Media Limited (www.ourmedia.co.uk), a company registered in England and Wales under registration number 05715415. Its registered office is at Eagle House, Colston Avenue, Bristol, England, BS1 4ST.

Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.