Last time I wrote about amazing embroidery designs, I mentioned Hunan Silk, which is truly an unique type of embroidery that resembles oil paintings or photography. My second favorite type of embroidery that undoubtedly belongs to the amazing category are embroidery appliscapes. The “Applique” section on SecretsOf.com has a few of them (click on the above link, choose “Everything for Embroidery”, then “appliques” from the left side navigation menu, and scroll down for the appliscapes).

The process of embroidering appliscapes is to break up the design into many pieces, generally 16, do each one separately and then join together seamlessly. Apart from the Chinese appliscape shown here, the Hawaian and the Victorian appliscapes found on the site are both worth your try.

Embroidery appliscapes make great bedsheets or screen curtains, although I saw once a different use of such an appliscape. The person had made an enlarged version of the applique design and secured it underneath the umbrella. Don’t ask me why! I am still guessing.

If you have seen any websites featuring embroidery appliscapes, do let me know.

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If you are into animal embroidery designs, you definitely should visit SecretsOf.com (click on “Everything for Embroidery” and then on “animals” from the left-side navigation menu). This is the largest collection of animals I have ever seen – even larger than all the zoos I have visited (and, mind you, I am an avid zoo-goer). The ones that I liked the most were the cuddlesome critters applique designs, including some cute giraffes, elephants, and horses.

Another place you may want to check out is ArtisticThreadWorks.com (use their search function to search for “animal”).

The best part in doing animal embroidery is the face since managing the expressions on the face can be quite exciting and can make or break the design. What are your views on animal embroidery designing? You can click on “Contact Us” at the bottom of this page to let me know.

Among many Indian embroidery designs, Chikan always has a special place in my heart. Not because of its beauty, but more so because of its history! The legend says that there was a particular king who had many wives and the youngest of wives found it difficult to draw his attention towards her. Somebody advised her to make an article in such a manner that it would be difficult to emulate. She made a cap with a peculiar stitch form of embroidery design. This had never been done before and the king was very happy. Tradition has it that the teaching was percolated down to the masses and this became famous as a form of hand embroidery art that would never leave a person penniless, since it appeared to sell easily. Even today, we have specialised workers who have mastered this art.

Chikan embroidery designing is a very laborious and time consuming task. (The craftsmen are trained for 15 to 20 years and sometimes it takes 10 to 15 days to make an outfit with hand embroidery as they fill in the designs with threads with detail work). This is why Chikan is so expensive as compared to machine embroidery. But it is worth it as you really do feel like a queen when you wear it – a Chikan suit is a regal treasure in any fashion connoisseur’s wardrobe! Really, the great thing about this form of embroidery is that it never goes out of fashion and it suits women of all ages. If you are going to invest in a few pairs of elegant wear, try adding chikan to your wardrobe. And before the men (in your heart and home) start feeling left out, they too can wear this form of embroidery – get a Chikan shirt for them!

Some excellent chikan embroidery designs can be viewed at Lucknow Chikan House.

I was surprised and happy to see an organisation called Self Employed Womens Association (SEWA, which means “service” in hindi). Its only objective is to improve the living standards of 5000 poverty stricken crafts women. This organisation has become internationally known for the famous Chikan products that it exports to various parts of the world.

In case you want to hear about the history of Lucknow and Lucknowi chikan, please see City Details.

I used to personally sell this through word of mouth a few years ago (when I had some time in my hands) and the sales were very quite exciting due to the unique touch that each particular form of embroidery had. The famous works of chikan are shadow, murri and taipchi.

I would be delighted to have your views on chikan and hand embroidery art and also maybe share some of your views on other unique forms of hand embroidery designs.

I just came across Embroidery DK when i was actually searching for something else. I don’t remember what is was specifically searching for — something to do with categories of embroidery designs. This site had a good look and feel and more important, it had subcategorised its basket of embroidery designs. Lot of free embroidery designs and for the rest, only 5 dollars for 4200 designs. The free embroidery designs can be downloaded easily and seemed okay to me. (one shouldn’t say anything bad about something that is free. That’s just not on). They also claim to have the worlds greatest subscription. By the way, they have a lot of designs using SHV, VIP, HUS, PES, SEW, JEF, PCS, DST, ART and XXX and you might just want to get some information on machine embroidery designs. Do let me know how you rate this site.

If you ask me which are the most amazing works of embroidery designs I have ever come across, the first that comes to my mind is Hunan Silk embroidery designs. Hunan embroidery form builds on inherited traditional techniques, in pursuit of perfect unity of embroidery technique and art design. Modern Hunan embroidery effects romantic charm and provides realistic expression of lifelike classic figures in vivid texture and brilliant color achievable only by the hand of the artisan. Hunan silk embroidery design is well known for rich colors comparable to an oil painting and realism comparable to photography. The unique technique of Hunan embroidery provides a means for threads of different colors to mix naturally, resulting in a very harmonious effect. There is no real comparison to this form of embroidery art.

Do let me know if you have come across any Hunan Silk embroidery design!

I happened to hear of cutwork embroidery designs through one of my close friends almost a month ago, but I couldn’t really figure out what it was until I read this definition: “Cutwork embroidery is a beautiful form of needlework where portions of the background fabric are cut away and discarded, with the edges worked over in buttonhole stitches.” Sounds a bit difficult to understand…. It will unless you see it.

Cutwork embroidery is a form of hand embroidery. The most interesting definition is undoubtedly the one in the Encyclopedia of Victorian Needlework: Dictionary of Needlework by Sophia Frances Anne Caulfeild and Blanche C. Saward. According to this source, cutwork was a term first used by English writers when referring to the earliest known laces known as Point Coupé, Opus Seissum, and Punto Tagliato. The method for making this cut work begins with fastening a certain number of threads in a frame, crossed and interlaced, tack them to a piece of lawn, and finally do the buttonhole stitch around the edges. The lawn is cut away leaving the buttonholed lace, which may or may not have picots.

If you really want to learn cutwork embroidery designs, you could go through Embellishments A to Z : An Embellishment Idea Book. This to my mind acts like an excellent tutorial although actually it isn’t one. A School-like teaching of Cutwork is available in Lessons on Cutwork. This starts from the basics quite methodically beginning from the basics giving step by step instructions with intermediary images to help you.

Do you know of any good resources or examples of cutwork embroidery designs? If so, please let me know (using the “Contact Us” link at the bottom of this page).

I was searching for some unusual embroidery designs in Google when I came across this interesting lady and her website. Her name is M. A. Klein and her works hang in many corporate, public and private collections including the Library of Congress, Washington, DC, and in churches and community buildings.

Klein used to design and manufacture needlecraft kits sold throughout the United States under the labels of Hanson Handcrafts, Monterey Bay Needleworks (Designs by Mary-Alice) and Sunbow, Inc. At the same time she was raising seven girls and one boy, all teenagers at that time!

Since 1979, she began to concentrate on one-of-a-kind textile wall hangings in mixed-media fiber collage which combine collage (applique), acrylic painting, embroidery (both hand and machine), and quilting. Occasionally she adds needleweaving, drawn threads, beads and such.

Quite an unique stuff, indeed!

I felt it a different experience to view her embroidery designs and other works of art, not only because of their one-of-a-kind design but because each of them seemed to convey some meaning that resonated from her heart. The designs seemed to be real life episodes experienced by Klein translated onto her embroidery works. Especially the Watering Hole, which currently hangs inside the Library of Congress, is a must see! So simple, yet so beautiful. Among other works that I especially liked were Religious Works, Story Time and People & Children.

What do you think about her site? Which of Klein’s embroidery designs are your favorites? Just click on the “Contact” link at the bottom of this page to send me your thoughts.

What is the cost of applique embroidery designs?

The costing can vary right from a few dollars to a few thousand dollars. Since this is an art there can be no fixed amount for the designs. The costing of an applique embroidery design varies on a lot of parameters which would include the originality of the design, the make of the cloth and the intricacy needed in stitching the applique.

 

What are the various specialities in applique?

The various specialties of applique range from quilt blocks to embroidered shirts. Applique is a Big Topic since it includes not just traditional quilting applique, but molas and many ethnic textile techniques from around the world.

 

I have a specific requirement for an applique embroidery design– can it be custom designed for me?

Yes, the same can be done. The process is that there is an initial study of the requirement which would mean that you give end to end details of what you are looking at. Then a study of the details would be done followed by the mapping of the same to your likes. Care would be taken that the environment that the design would eventualy fall into is taken into consideration. Finally some templates would be suggested. Following a sign off on the design and commercials, the same could be made ready and delivered to you at your doorstep. Alternatively, once the design is signed off, you could buy the design and stitch it yourself.

 

How do I pay for the designs?

What is critical is knowing what exactly are the threads used and what is the kind of stitches provided. These are available in an electronic format by sellers, who provide these at a price which can be paid to them using your credit card or some other means as mentioned. Once you buy them, what you would get is an email giving the final product as a zipped attachment. Sometime you would get a license number where you could go and download the same from the sellers website.

 

 

Can I monthly subscribe for applique embroidery designs.

Yes, many sites do have a scheme where applique embroidery desings can be downloaded for a small monthly fee. The advantage is that you get a variety of designs to choose from. The advantage that the website gains is that it is assured of a recurring income.

 

Where can I buy some good applique embroidery designs?

a) Secrets of Embroidery : This site has over 2000 pages with a large appliqué collection and also applique embroidery designs tutorials.

b) ArtisticThreadWorks : You have unlimited design downloads with a small membership fee. This website has a well classified design library, which enables an easy search.

 

c) America’s Sewing & Embroidery Center Sewforless.com : A hybrid website with a lot of information on applique embroidery designs as well as other forms of embroidery.

 

d) Embroidery Designs Our own digitized designs. $12.95 per set or $45.00 for everything. : Designs By Sick : This is a small site but contains some good unique designs on applique.

 

 

 

Having nothing better to do this morning, I searched for embroidery designs forums on Google. While many of the returned results were either paid embroidery design web sites or sites that are struggling to attract a wide enough audience to make their discussions more lively, one embroidery designs forum definitely got my attention.

With over 5,000 registered members and close to 70,000 posts, SewForum.com is one of the largest and most lively embroidery designs forums I have ever visited. Those of you who have prior experience with other discussion forums will find the site’s layout familiar, pleasant, and extremely user-friendly. All the posts are organized into sections and each section is further broken down into sub-categories.

The two most interesting sections are definitely the ‘Project Showcase’ and ‘SewForum.com’. As the name suggests, the ‘Project Showcase’ is where people show off their embroidery designs. As I write this, there are altogether 474 posts. Showing off, however, is not the only thing one can do inside the ‘Project Showcase’ as the other sub-category is devoted to free embroidery designs. There, you can download and use for free (as long as you observe the copyright) any of the hundreds of free embroidery designs.

The two most interesting sections are definitely the ‘Project Showcase’ and ‘SewForum.com’. As the name suggests, the ‘Project Showcase’ is where people show off their . As I write this, there are altogether 474 posts. Showing off, however, is not the only thing one can do inside the ‘Project Showcase’ as the other sub-category is devoted to free embroidery designs. There, you can download and use for free (as long as you observe the copyright) any of the .While ‘Project Showcase’ is definitely interesting, the real gold can be found in the ‘SewForum.com’ section. It is divided into eight sub-categories, including: Embroidery, Sewing, Knitting, Quilting, Serging, Crafting & Home Decor, Industrial, and Starting Your Own Business. Of course, for me personally, the most interesting is the Embroidery category and to say that I was positively surprised, is a gross understatement. Got a question about poor stitch quality? Not sure which stabilizer to use? What about metallic threads? If your question isn’t already answered in one of those 5,500+ posts, you can be sure that several of the active forum members will get back to you with their qualified advice within hours of you asking your question.