Mosaic Stitch and Variations

Mosaic Stitch is made from small squares of stitching, each containing 3 stitches of graduating sizes.  It’s similar in shape to Scotch stitch, but a bit smaller.

This easy-to-work stitch has a variety of variations, which can all be used to add pretty textured fills to any shape in your needlepoint project. Many of the stitches can be worked in two or more colors.

Because of its smaller scale, this stitch can be used in areas of a design that are too small for chunkier stitches like scotch stitch or cushion stitch.

Basic Mosaic Stitch

The basic mosaic stitch is made up of a group of 3 diagonal stitches. The first stitch is worker over one intersection of canvas, the second stitch is over two, and the third is over one. This makes a small, square stitch.

Reverse Mosaic Stitch

Work every other stitch in the opposite direction.

Reverse Alternating Mosaic Stitch

Work every other stitch in the opposite direction using a second color.

Framed Mosaic

In this version of the stitch, each small square is outlined with tent stitch.

Checkerboard Mosaic

To make the checkerboard version of the stitch, each square mosaic stitch alternates with a square made from 4 tent stitches.

Two Color Mosaic Stitch

In this version of the stitch, the stitches worked over a single intersection of worked first using color 1, and the longer stitches worked over two intersection are worked in color 2.

Diagonal Mosaic

In this version, the stitch is worked in diagonal rows.

Diagonal Alternating Mosaic

Worked the same is diagonal mosaic, but colors alternate every other row.

Elongated Diagonal Mosaic

In this version of the diagonal mosaic stitch, the stitches are worked over 2 and 3 intersections of canvas instead of one and two.