Hardanger Filling Stitches – dove’s eye

Dove’s eye stitch is an oldie but a goodie. It is a traditional Hardanger stitch that has remained popular because it is such a useful and attractive filling stitch.

However, many people don’t realise they’re not working them correctly, and I’ve even seen books that instruct using an incorrect method. (By this I don’t mean there is an accidental error in the instructions – that can happen to the best of us! – but that the method that is taught is not correct.)

Of the four stitches that create the dove’s eye, one end of each should be on top of the next. There should never be two ends of the same stitch on top, or at the bottom; that is incorrect. Also, the intersection of the first and last stitch should have the same number of twists as the rest of the stitches. Sometimes I see the intersection of the first and last stitches with too many twists or too few.

Hardanger Filling Stitches has instructions for working dove’s eyes in a clockwise direction and in an anticlockwise (or counterclockwise) direction. And as with all the stitches, there are both left-handed and right-handed instructions.

Dove’s eyes can be combined with many other stitches to create conglomerate stitches. That’s one of the things that is so appealing about them – they’re very versatile. Many of these variations are included in Hardanger Filling Stitches.

We’re part way through a series exploring the stitches that are featured in my forthcoming book, Hardanger Filling Stitches. If this is the first post you’ve seen in the series, have a look for the others.

Hardanger Filling Stitches by Yvette Stanton, will be arriving in Australia in December 2023, New Zealand shortly after that, UK in February 2024, and the US in March. You can order it from your favourite needlework store, worldwide. If they don’t know where to get it from, you can ask them to contact me, and I will direct them accordingly.

Vetty Creations have supplies packs for the Hardanger Filling Stitch sampler featured in the book.