Make a simple design—a box, a circle, a leaf, any simple shape— directly on the fabric with a marker.

Start on the front of the fabric. Take a needle and insert it through the fabric, leaving a tail. Make a small straight stitch or two (A).

Make a long stitch all the way across the design (B).

Insert the needle on one side of the thread line a small distance along the laying stitch(C).

A small way further down the laying stitch insert the needle on the other side of the thread from where you are— “crossing over” (D). Make these “couching” or “tacking” stitches all the way back to the end of the laying stitch.