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Cutwork embroidery designs are most of the times invisible – yes you heard it right – Invisible. This technique originated by initially embroidering the design, then cutting out pieces of excess cloth and finally finishing the edges with different stitches or connecting bars of thread in a creative manner to give the end result a beautiful look. Cutwork can be placed on apparels, handkerchiefs, bedsheets, curtains, pillow covers – you name it. Even as you are reading this, there would be a cutwork design somewhere around you but not noticeable. If you remember, I had mentioned about the Lucknowi Chikan work at Indian embroidery designs. The cutwork resource – LaceFairy – has designs that look similar to those patterns, but the style and technique of stitching is quite different from Indian. The Spanish cutwork is distinguished by it’s hemmed satin stitch edges and the Venetian cutwork is characterised by its thick buttonhole stitches. We also have the Moorish Cutwork with colorful filings of silk and gold with gold embroidered cords forming loops and the Hedebo category which are essentially Danish cutwork with satin stitches which include fillings of wheels, triangles and ladders. But the one that stands out over the rest and which has been displayed next to this post is the Broderie Anglaise, which is a Whitework technique and uses the presence of eyelet holes of various shapes and sizes amidst floral embroidery designs to give the motif a stunning look! This is indeed a time consuming and complex work involving hours of involvement of the designer. You might be interested in knowing more about other forms of hand embroidery.
