How to make a French Knot

Here’s a little tutorial on how to make a French knot. You can download a printable PDF version by clicking here. This is free, so please share it, but keep my name and logo on the printout, okay? Thanks!

Note: Directions here are given for right-handers, but the PDF has photos and directions for left-handers on the second page.


Thread the perle cotton or floss in your embroidery needle, and knot the end. Bring your needle up from the back of the fabric to the front, exactly where you want the knot to form. Pull until the knot is snug against the back of the fabric.

Put the fabric down on a flat surface, like your knee or a table.


Take the thread coming out of the fabric in your left hand between your thumb and pointer finger. Have the needle in your right hand.


Wrap thread over the needle …


and around it three times. (To make a smaller knot, wrap only one or two times.) It should be wrapped tightly, and close to the tip of the needle.


Slide the loops of thread close together, down toward the tip of the needle, holding them with the pointer finger on your right hand. Push the tip of the needle back into the same place where the thread came out (or just a thread or two away).


As it goes in, keep pinching it in place with the thumb and pointer finger of your left hand. The loops must be kept tightly together, or you will not produce a neat, tight knot.

Pull the thread completely through to the back of the fabric, and the knot will form on the front.

Practice, practice, practice!