Forbidden Stitch also known as the Seed Stitch or Blind Stitch is a Chinese form of hand embroidery, where the embroidery designs are done through small knots made on the fabric surface by wrapping a heavy embroidery thread, usually silk floss, around a needle and then stitching it down. This is an ancient form of embroidery and early relics of this stitch have been found in an Eastern Han tomb at Nuoyinwula, Outer Mongolia and also in Linzi, Shandong Province. If you notice the example next to this post, each knot is separate, looped once around the needle, fairly flat and closed and a series of rows of such knots would form the embroidery design. Tough time-consuming work indeed!

Why the name “Forbidden Stitch”? – The story goes that this work was so fine, that continuously working on a design for hours at a stretch led to eyestrain and hence this form of stitching was forbidden in the past in China. This explains the fact that this is also called “blind stitch”. The second story, which also seems authentic and more straightforward, is that this originated in the Forbidden City of China and hence the name was coined after the city.

You could go through these couple of resources – the first gives the technique of forbidden stitches with images – Marlamallett and the second gives some practical examples of embroidered shirts – Vintage Textile.

But careful while experimenting – it is forbidden