Lazy Daisy (Detached Chain): How to Do It Step by Step

Lazy Daisy (Detached Chain) is a hand embroidery stitch that makes single loop petal or leaf. Makers reach for it for flower petals, leaves, scattered filling. It is rated beginner here, so it is a good stitch to learn early and practice on a small swatch before a real project.

1. Bring the needle up at the base of the petal. 2. Insert it back into the same hole. 3. Bring the tip up at the petal tip, with the thread looped under the needle. 4. Pull through to shape the loop. 5. Insert the needle just over the loop to tack it down. Work slowly for the first few repeats, keep your tension even, and check the result against the steps before continuing across a whole row or motif.

The most common problems are: going down in a different hole at the base, which leaves a gap; tacking stitch too long. Most are easy to spot if you pause after a few repeats and compare your work with the steps. Good light helps a great deal, especially with dark yarn or thread.

Stitches closely related to lazy daisy (detached chain) include Chain Stitch, Fly Stitch. Learning them together makes patterns easier to read, because many designs switch between related stitches to change texture, height or line. Each has its own step-by-step page in the stitch dictionary.