This is one of the few stand alone stitches from the chain stitch family. This stitch resembles the Bull’s head stitch, and often even mistaken with it. But there is a small difference in the way they are stitched. Moreover, a detached wheatear stitch is a single loop of the Wheatear stitch, which will be the next stitch to be posted.
Knowledge of bull’s head stitch will help you understand the difference and logic behind both stitches. Knowledge of the reverse chain stitch will be an advantage.
Fig 1: We start by making the ‘ears’ of the wheat seed. For that, we pull the needle out through A and put it in through B, as shown. Then, the needle is pulled out through C. Note that B lies at about 90 degrees angle between A and C.
Fig 2: We now make the other ‘ear’ of the wheat seed. For that, put in the needle through B and bring it out through D. D lies straight below the point B.
Fig 3: Now, we follow a reverse chain stitch procedure to make the wheat seed. For that bring the needle out from D and take it underneath the previously made stitches without plucking the fabric beneath.
Fig 4: Put the needle in through D again to finish up the stitch.
Fig 5: A finished detached wheatear stitch would look like this. It is a lot in resemblance to the bull’s head stitch. If you note, here, the loop of the chain lies under the ‘ears’ or ‘horns’ , unlike that in the bull’s head stitch.