How to Do a Lazy Daisy Stitch

Bring your needle up through the fabric right at the pointed tip of where you want the petal to sit, and pull all of the working thread through so the knot seats against the back. This point is the bottom of the petal, the spot it narrows to, so you start every lazy daisy here.

If you are stitching a whole flower, this point is the center of the daisy. Every petal will begin from this same spot and fan outward.

This stitch is a two-hand job. Use your free hand to lay the working thread out flat in the direction you want the petal to point, then press it lightly against the fabric to hold it there.

Aiming the thread before you anchor it is what controls where the petal lands. Point it where you want the petal and the loop will follow.

Take the needle back down into the same hole you came up through, or just beside it, which is perfectly fine. Draw the thread to the back slowly and stop while a generous loop is still sitting on top of the fabric.

Leave the loop bigger than the petal you actually want. The extra slack gives you room to shape it cleanly in the next steps, and you can always draw it down later.

Bring the needle back up through the fabric on the inside of the loop, aiming for the spot just inside that curved top edge. The needle must come up within the loop, not outside it.

Coming up inside is the whole trick of the stitch. It is what hooks the loop in place so it reads as a rounded petal instead of pulling flat into a straight line.

Gently draw the working thread through, pulling it out away from the end of the loop. Go slowly and watch the lazy daisy shape form as the loop settles. Stop once the petal is as full and round as you want it.

A touch looser keeps the petal plump and rounded. A touch tighter gives a slimmer, more pointed petal. Either can be right depending on the flower you are making.

Take the needle down with a very small stitch right over the outside edge of the loop's curved top. As you tighten that stitch, rest your thumb on the petal so it keeps its rounded shape instead of being pulled flat.

That tiny tacking stitch is what locks the petal to the fabric. Once it is snug, you have made one complete detached chain, which is one finished lazy daisy petal.

Tension takes practice, so do not worry if early petals pull narrow. To round one back out, slide the needle through the middle of the loop and gently draw a little slack back to the top, then secure it.

Work a ring of these around one center point and you have a daisy. They do not always need a sharp point either. A softer horseshoe shape is perfect for leaves or a bee's wing.