The Indian shoes were first designed 400 years ago and were called jooti or nagra. Even today, they retain the first position in the world when it comes to the best fashioned footwear. The Indian embroidered shoe is generally made of plain upper leather and the shoe takes the shape of the wearers foot. Have a look at the beaded And embroidered handcrafted leather slippers beside this post which is worn by women. This is studded with beads and the upper portion of the shoe is embroidered with silk thread and decorated with Khasida embroidery. This is generally used as casual wear. You have other varieties of Indian footwear which are adorned with appliqué and bead work. Dying in various colors or fixing brass eyelets has been another way of decorating jooties.

I am doing an analysis of flip flops and footwear of unique varieties and if you have come across anything interesting, do let me know through the contact form below. That would be helpful. Thanks.

A great resource on cutwork embroidery designs for you here from Sadia Sews. Sadia Andrews, born in Sialkot, Pakistan has a rich cultural background of Russian, Kashmiri and Persian which reflects in her arts. With a range of interests spanning from flowering, cutwork, quilting and other forms of embroidery, this is a treatise to enjoy. A special mention on the rose cutwork collection, one of which lies next to this post. These are striking embroideries with the perfect mix of colours to bring out the essence of the roses. There are a few free downloadable cutwork embroidery designs in the same collection. You could also visit All Free Embroidery Designs to check out some more available freebies.

Introducing you to some awe-inspiring dakota embroidery designs at the Embroidery Mall – Just push the door to enter! All designs have done using machine embroidery techniques. Check the pattern next to this post. The palm tree has a puffed look giving it a 3D effect. This is done by using foam along the outlines to give the desired look. All the embroidery designs can be used as appliques on T-shirts or baby dresses.

Its Christmas time! This is a great time to look at some of the best old fashioned Christmas embroideries we have at SecretsOf.com – Navigate through Home -> Everything for Embroidery -> Scroll down to “A Bit of Stitch” -> Old Fashioned Xmas. These are great appliques and can be used on towels, greeting cards, table linens, pillows, wall hangings and winter cardigans. A thin layer of cotton under the applique fabric gives the patterns a 3D look and feel. Applique directions and special instructions are included in the color charts. All designs are sized for the 5×7 hoop.

I would like to draw special attention to the free downloadable embroidery game – Tic Tac Toe done using machine embroidery and is available in hus, jef, pcs, vip, sew formats! Have a great Christmas this year.

You might recollect ‘Diana’ in the magic of silk embroidery at the hand embroidery designs page.

Welcome to Suzhou – the silk hand embroidery city of China – also known as the paradise on Earth. This town is studded with wonderful gardens, soft Suzhou accent, delicious Suzhou food and of course – amazing silk double-sided embroidery art. Check out some samples at SuEmbroidery.com. Most silk hand embroidery products find a good export market. Su embroidery is well-known for its neat stitches, elegant colors and fine quality. The methods applied in producing embroidery artworks include crisscrossing, mixing, netting, scattering and many unique secret methods.

History of Su Embroidery – Chinese Suzhou embroidery (Su embroidery for short) is the most famous hand embroidery art (history exceeding 2000 years) among all embroideries in China. It is said that after the Song Dynasty (about 960 AD), every family in Suzhou bred silkworms and made hand embroidery. Even now many people live by embroidering. For example, Zhenhu, a small town has close to 10,000 embroidery craftswomen.

# Su embroidery is sorted by theme: Silk hand embroidery animal
# Silk hand embroidery portrait
# Silk hand embroidery landscape
# Silk hand embroidery flower

There are two varieties of Su embroidery based on techniques applied: single sided embroidery, double sided embroidery of different colors. Double sided embroidery – the specific style of Su embroidery can be appreciated from both sides. Pictures look exactly the same and wonderful on both the sides. Some complex double sided embroideries can have two totally different pictures on the two sides of the silk embroidery. For this, special ways are used in knitting instead of knotting. The end of the silk thread is invisible. It is knitted in the right angle without piercing the other side. Both sides would then present the same excellent effect.

Take the example of the farm lady with chickens above this post. What impresses one is the depth of the embroidery art, the ease at which the emotions of the lady are portrayed and finally the clarity of the features of the birds and trees. Truly amazing!

Su embroidery furnishings include scarves, curtains, handkerchiefs, ladies clothes, tablecloths, pillow covers, cushion covers, wall hangings.

Are you a fan of bird or animal embroidery? Do you also love reading English literature? If yes, we have the right mix for you. Two well written books called Embroidered Birds and Embroidered Animals by Helen Stevens are enchanting not only in terms of stitching but in the expression of language itself. The author is a textile artist and she reveals how to create the splendour of nature in your home embroideries. The beauty of the birds as they swoop and soar in various directions take importance first and then later comes the advice on how to embroider them. In explaining how to silk embroider a male pheasant, the head and neck is described as a symphony of rich, juxtaposed colors with smooth merged stitching. The throat, breast and belly is explained to be made of indistinct colours which flow less abruptly. Isn’t there a distinct admiration towards the natural habitat? Helen teaches on how to create stunning animal and bird portraits using fine silk thread. (You can view a post on silk embroidery at our embroidery websites category.)

As I said, you just cannot put these books down. A very interesting read indeed!

A huge and well made selection of free machine embroidery designs at Embroider This. It is really heartening to see so many good embroidery designs – many of them cross stitch – available in all formats for FREE. The color information and the zipped file of each design can be downloaded to your machine. The information on machine embroidery techniques would come in handy here.

The “magic fingers” cross stitch freebie next to this post is 3.90 x 3.90 inches with 16 colors. This is ideal for a 4″ by 4″ hoop. This is available for download in pes, pcs, hus, dst, xxx, jef, exp, art formats. The butterfly at dawn machine embroidery design and the spring song cross stitch freebie are also worth stitching.

If you want to learn how to digitize your favourite embroidery designs in order to sew them using your embroidery machine, you must visit SecretsOf.com – (Click on “Everything for Embroidery”, choose “Tutorials” for a range of choices which include tutorials for embroidery digitizing software.) Here you can learn to digitize your own designs through the fun way of learning – practical projects – which include the candle holders shown beside this post using embroidery software. For the candles embroidery design, here is the summary explanation of the download project – “The download consists of detailed step-by-step instructions with lots of pictures showing you how to create the candle holders.

There are two .bmp files included with the shape of the poinsettia files you need, and the final designs are included as well (just in case you want to embroidery first and learn to digitize your own later!)

The design consists of 2 files in the following formats: .ART, .PES, .XXX and detailed assembly instructions. All designs fit within a 5″ x 7″ hoop (the designs are slightly less than 5″ x 5″).” The PC Machine Embroidery Designs Guide would come in quite handy here.