From: Tracy Hite
Date: Thu, 9 Apr 1998

As far as I can tell, Bullion knots are basically just French knots that are wrapped around the needle a lot more times than usual before pulling them tight.

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From: KMC528
Date: Fri, 10 Apr 1998

A bullion knot is sort of an elongated French knot. You wrap the floss around the needle a bunch of times and then go down several threads over from where you came up, and GENTLY pull the needle through the resulting floss tube. (Coax with your fingernail to be sure the floss lays straight in the finished stitch.) You'll have to experiment with your particular pattern and fabric to determine whether "a bunch of times" means 4, 6, 10...

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From: Carolyn
Date: Thu, 9 Apr 1998

Bullion knots....two words that send me into a cold sweat. Worse than French knots (which I *can* do if absolutely pressed). How to explain how to do it? Basically, you bring your needle up at one end of where the knot should be (A), down at the other end of the length of the knot (B), but not *all* the way thru...in kind of a sewing method you want it going down at B at the same time you bring it back thru A again halfway.

Then you wrap the floss around the needle at least six times (if your instructions specify how many times, follow that, otherwise six is usual), then slowly (!) pull the needle all the way thru the material and the twists, continuing to wrap it tighter with your fingers as you do so. Then bring the needle back down into B a last time and you are done.

Yes, they are a royal b**** to do. I had to do some for an embroidery class I took ... swore I'd find alternates to that darned thing for the rest of my life afterwards. Alternates? I had done a smallish butterfly piece once where the butterfly bodies were all supposed to be bullion knots. Don't know where they thought I'd find a large enough needle because the darned stitches were almost two inches long! (the longer the stitch, the more you need to wrap around the needle, the longer a needle you may end up needing!) So I got some Wisper (the fuzzy stuff) and did the bodies in straight stitch with that instead. Different "kind" of look but it worked for me. Bugle beads perhaps could be substituted for smaller bullion knots.

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From: Arliss Link
Date: Thu, 09 Apr 1998

Try this site for stitch diagrams:
http://www.classicstitches.com/glossary/stitches/bullion.htm
The bullion knot is illustrated.

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From: Rae J
Date: Fri, 10 Apr 1998

Check your stash. You might find directions for bullion knots in some of your things. I found directions for it in 101 Best-Loved Designs from Cross Stitch and Country Crafts, page 61. I can't make a French Knot look anything other than a blob, I can imagine how bullion knots would look like - a very bad blob.

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From: Cameo Date: Mon, 13 Apr 1998

Here is another web resource for learning this stitch:

Sharon's Stitch Dictionary:
http://www.anu.edu.au/ITA/CSA/textiles/sharonb/stitches/Bullion.html

And instructions can also be found in the following books:

page 43

Reader's Digest Complete Guide to Needlework Editor, Virginia Colton Pleasantville, NY Reader's Digest Association Copyright 1979 504 pages, indexed ISBN 0-89577-059-8

page 127

Counted-Thread Embroidery by Helen Fairfield Copyright 1987 by Helen Nixon Fairfield St. Martin's Press ISBN: 0-312-00965-8 Out of print according to Amazon.com

LC Number 87-42636
143 pages; 7.25" x 9.75"

page 86

The Anchor Book of Ribbon Embroidery Paperback - 128 pages Copyright: 1997 David & Charles Uk ISBN: 0715306332 Dimensions (in inches): 0.42 x 5.63 x 5.95

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