Woven Picots: Embroidered Leaves That Lift Off the Fabric

If you’ve ever wanted to add leaves, petals, or tiny details that actually stand away from the fabric, woven picots are one of the most satisfying stitches to learn. They’re the unsung heroes of dimensional embroidery — simple in principle, endlessly versatile in practice.

I’ve used woven picots in many of my own designs: the leaves in front of a stumpwork bunny’s basket, sepals on a lazy daisy strawberry, and even sunflower petals. Once you’ve got the knack, you’ll find yourself adding them to everything.

Woven picot leaves on a crazy quilt strawberry

In this tutorial I’ve used Pearl cotton number 8 so you can clearly see what’s happening in the photographs. For a more delicate effect in your actual projects, switch to a finer thread like tatting cotton. Feel free to practise with the Pearl cotton first — getting comfortable with the weaving motion is more important than the thread weight.

For an overview of how woven picots fit into stumpwork, see my stumpwork embroidery guide.

What You’ll Need

Set the Foundation

You’ll need two threaded needles for this stitch. The first holds your working thread; the second is just temporary — any leftover thread will do.

Start with the temporary needle. Make a short vertical stitch as shown in the photo, and secure it by knotting the ends together at the back. This holding stitch sets the tip of your leaf — you’ll remove it once the picot is finished.

Now take your working needle. Bring it up through the fabric at the base of your leaf. The distance between the holding stitch and this point sets the length of your picot.

Slip the needle through the temporary stitch (without going through the fabric), then take it to the back at the base, to one side of where it came up. Bring it back to the front between those two base points.

Slip the needle through the temporary stitch once more to form a triangle shape with a centre line. You’re now ready to start weaving.

The triangle foundation with centre line — needle ready to weave

Begin Weaving

Weave the needle under two threads in one direction and under one thread in the other, taking care not to pierce the fabric beneath.

Keep your initial stitches tight to create a solid foundation at the tip of the leaf. After a few rows, use your needle to gently push the weaving upwards towards the tip, closing any gaps.

This is the rhythm you’ll keep for the whole picot — under two, back, under one, back. Simple and meditative once you find your flow.

The first few rows of weaving at the tip

Shape Your Leaf

Controlling the Width

Continue weaving back and forth, working down towards the base of the leaf.

As you approach the middle — the widest part — ease the tension slightly to allow the leaf to widen naturally. Keep placing stitches close together for a firm, dense picot.

Getting the tension right takes a little practice. It’s a good idea to work a few practice leaves on a scrap of fabric first. Once your hands learn the feel of it, your picots will come out beautifully consistent.

The leaf widens as you ease the tension

Complete Your Leaf

Finishing Off

As you near the base, increase the tension again to taper the leaf back to a neat point.

Keep weaving until you can’t fit any more rows in. Take the needle to the back and secure it — if there’s other stitching nearby, pass the needle under it to fasten off. If not, bring the needle up at the edge of your work where you can secure it later.

Now the satisfying part: snip the temporary holding thread at the tip and gently pull it free. Your woven picot lifts away from the fabric, completely freestanding.

Ready to snip the holding thread and set the leaf free

Tips for Better Picots

Working Over Existing Stitches

When your picot needs to overlap other embroidery (like the couched snail shown here), weave the needle through the leaf shape further down first, then slide it up into position before tensioning. This stops you from accidentally catching the threads underneath.

Working a picot over existing stitchery

Anchoring Longer Leaves

Longer picots can twist or move once the holding stitch is removed. To prevent this, secure the tip with a tiny stitch in matching thread after you’ve finished weaving.

Or leave them loose on purpose — the leaf in the photo below can be moved aside to reveal the snail underneath, adding a lovely interactive 3D quality to the piece.

This longer leaf lifts freely to reveal the snail

Creative Uses for Woven Picots

Once you’ve mastered the basic leaf, the possibilities open up. Here are some of my favourite ways to use woven picots.

Troubleshooting Tips

Woven picots are forgiving once you get the feel, but here are the most common hiccups and how to fix them.

More Dimensional Stitching

Now that you can weave a picot, here are some related techniques to try next.