bread-stitch

A form of brede-stitch — A kind of old embroidery stitch, giving the same pattern on both sides of the cloth.

Meanings

noun
  1. alternativeAlternative form of brede-stitch.
    2 more examples

    Form it all with a double Back-stitch, and on the one side of the Stalks work a broad Gold-stitch, and bring it off by degrees with powdering, first pretty big stitches, and so smaller and smaller; work the veins of the leaves with Bread-stitch, Chain-stitch, open Chain-stitch, and any other that you can think on, or devise; then sprig them thick with several Fancies, and let the folds of your Leaves be the thinnest work, and be sure you put a shadow under every fold.

    1675, Hannah Wolley, The Queen-like Closet, page 83

    They can read, write, and cast accounts; they understand their needle, bread-stitch, cross and change, and all manner of plain work; they can pink, point, and frill, and know something of music; they can do up smallclothes; work upon catgut; my eldest can cut paper, and my youngest has a very pretty manner of telling fortunes upon the cards.

    1766, Oliver Goldsmith, The Vicar of Wakefield
Cite this entry
APA

bread-stitch. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bread-stitch

MLA

“bread-stitch.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bread-stitch. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “bread-stitch,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bread-stitch.

Source: bread-stitch on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.