Round things are everywhere, and when they appear on your needlepoint canvas they can seem tricky to stitch—because needlepoint grids are square!
We have some practical tips and ideas for stitching round objects in needlepoint.
1. Straight Stitches
It might seem counterintuitive, but a straight stitch is a great way to stitch a round object.
The type of straight stitch will depend upon the area you want to fill.
It can be a Satin stitch (simply, straight stitches of the same or varied lengths laid in parallel), like on the reindeer's cheek...
Satin stitch also creates a nice curve for the letter O on this Christmas Cardinal ornament kit...
Or, a Brick stitch, which is a straight stitch that offers a more patterned effect. The Brick Stitch can lie horizontally or vertically.
Here, we have used Brick stitch on the Christmas Truck hub caps.
2. Eyelet Stitch
The Eyelet stitch is a handy little stitch for wheels, flower centers, or anything else that has a central point. We show it here on the flower center of this IDGAF needlepoint kit design.
With the needlepoint Eyelet stitch all stitches lead to a central hole, so if your thread is pliable, you might want to thin it. If your thread is not pliable, don't let that stop you from trying this stitch—you might be surprised at how many threads will fit into a single hole!
Here is the eyelet stitch used on the Girl With A Pearl Earring...
3. Circle Rhodes Stitch
The Rhodes stitch creates a 3-D effect. It forms a small "hill", so it is great for animal noses, buttons, and ornaments.
We used the Rhodes stitch on this reindeer nose.
And also the jewel on the hat of our Nutcracker Soldier...

You can work this stitch clockwise or counter-clockwise; it doesn't matter. The only thing to be aware of is that the last layer of the Rhodes stitch will be the most prominent. On the reindeer, this stitch lies vertically, so we started just beyond the vertical. But if you want your top stitch to lie horizontally, begin just beyond the horizontal.
4. A knotty solution to a round problem.
French knots are great for round spaces; especially small round spaces.
Single French knots make small dots on the flower centers of this Flower Market design.

And multiple French knots form a larger circle in the blue flower center of the Cutting Garden...
We hope you have found these needlepoint stitch ideas for round objects useful. Happy round stitching!
Share this blog post on social media...