How to Embroider Letters (Backstitch Script)

Pick a script font where the thick and thin parts are obvious - that's where this technique shines. Trace the letters lightly onto your fabric in pencil or heat-erase pen. Hoop the fabric tight so it's drum-tight against the rim.

Cut about 18 inches of embroidery floss and separate it down to three strands. Three strands gives you a clean line that fills cleanly - six strands looks chunky, one strand barely shows.

Start anywhere a thin line is. Bring the needle up from the back of the fabric, take a small forward stitch, then come up further along the line and stitch back to meet the previous one. That's a backstitch - each new stitch ends where the previous one began.

On tight curves, shorten the stitches. Long stitches on a curve look angular and choppy. Short stitches keep the line smooth as it bends.

When the letter widens into a thick stroke, don't keep stitching down the middle. Instead, run a single backstitch line down ONE side of the thick area. Stop at the top of the thick part and continue.

This outline is just the first of three rows that'll fill the thick stroke. The other two rows come next, but you need this side line in place first to set the boundary.

Bring the needle up close to where the first thick line started, on the other side of the stroke. Run another row of backstitches parallel to the first one, all the way down to where the thick part ends.

Now you have two outline rows framing the thick stroke. The space between them is what you'll fill in next. The two rows should be just barely close enough together that one more row fits between them.

Run a third row of backstitches right down the middle between your two outline rows. Stagger the stitch lengths so they don't all start and stop in the same spot as the outline rows.

If every row stops in the same place, the thick stroke looks segmented and bumpy. Mixing up where the stitches break makes the fill look smooth and continuous.

When you finish a section and need to move to the next part of the letter, don't pull the thread loose across the back of the fabric. Instead, run the needle UNDER existing stitches on the back to travel from one spot to another.

Loose threads carried across the back show through on light fabric and snag on the back of finished pieces. Threading under existing stitches keeps everything neat and invisible.

Apply the same pattern to every letter. Always start at the TOP of a letter when possible - working downward keeps the stitches lying flat. When you reach a point where two thick strokes meet, skip over rather than stitching across the join. The visible junction looks more natural without the extra stitches.

When the whole word is done, tie off the floss by running it back through three or four existing stitches on the back. Snip the tail close. The hoop is now ready to display, frame, or finish into something else.