We are here with a contest for all of you! All of you have been associated with the world of embroidery in some way or the other. Pen down your experiences in the form of any project/learning done in embroidery. The best entry gets a 100 dollar gift certificate from Embroidery.com. Not just that, we will also display the best entry on our website under the relevant category. Consolation Prizes – wait and watch! What exactly would the judgement be based upon. The originality of the writeup, image and interest aroused would be the key performance criteria. Just be yourself and reach out to the audience. The rest will follow. Deadline for submission is March 25th 2006. How do I submit? You can mail your articles in to shikhadeepak@embroidery-designs-guide.com (The freebie that you see beside this post is from Embroidery.com. You would find a range of free embroidery designs at “All Products” > “Embroidery Designs” > “Free Designs”. The butterfly is 2.34″ by 3.74″ design available for you in various formats. This has 12058 stitches and is available in ART, PES, SEW, JEF, EXP, CND, VIP, PCS, CSD, XXX, DST, HUS, EMB formats.)

A cute set of baby embroidery designs which you should not miss is available at Awesome Embroidery. These have been categorised into interesting sets, each containing anywhere between 6 – 15 embroidery designs. These are not the usual run-off-the-mill categories but unique categories, which makes it quite vivid to stitch for any of the baby dresses like bibs, T-shirts and frocks. The mothers-to-be and the fairy stick designs are out of the world and the set of sea critters – one of which is next to the post – are superb and worth a peek! The uniform patterns inside each of the critters are really well done giving it a knitted look. Best wishes for a New Year 2006.

It is not often that a fabric post card comes through to your loved one, and we have for you the embroidered greeting card technique (which can be done in 7 easy steps) which should “wow” the special person in your life. Quilt Card Greetings are perfect for Valentine’s Day! Make them and mail them. Unique and memorable greetings for any celebration? Birthdays, Valentines or just to say Hi? And this pieced heart is just right for the Valentine in your life. Our friends at How-to-Quilt have just introduced their latest step-by-step 62 page guide with 130 color photographs – Quilt Mail Greetings for Valentine’s Day which shows exactly how to create a fabulous quilt greeting – that you can make and send. You will find all of the details at Valentine Fabric Quilt Cards.

Till Valentine’s Day, there are some freebies available – 4 free bonus gifts with each purchase. How to Sew Half-Square Triangles, US Postal service regulations (these are quite complex and it is good to have all of them in one document), Postcard quilts internet resources and a Quilt Template which ensures that the quilt card size would fit your postcard postage.

These are the happy days of Deepavali, a festival in India, which symbolizes the triumph of good over evil. It is called the Festival of Lights. Indians generally dress themselves in elegant splendour and with sweets and savouries to feast on, this festival is indeed a time to look forward to.

On Indian embroidered dresses, the resplendent Indian saree has stood the test of time. It symbolizes the adorn and beauty of the Indian women. The various categories of Indian sarees are cotton sarees, pure silk saree, wedding embroidered sarees, crepe sarees, chiffon sarees, georgette sarees to name a few.

But today, I draw special attention to the lehengas – one is next to this post – which are unique to this country. You must see some good examples of the hand embroidered lehenga cholis made by tribes of Gujarat, India and is handloom woven cotton fabric with thread and mirror embroidery designs.

What is unique in this technique of hand embroidery is the use of glass, mica, herring bone, mirror woven around with the embroidery design to give the entire pattern a stunning look! The silver glass used are produced by blowing glass into spheres and then breaking them into pieces of the required size. This is an art in itself.

Check out this unique natural style of embroidery (perfect for any natural images like birds or animals) – called “thread art”. In “thread art”, the direction of sewing is not in normal straight lines but depending on the figure being sewn, it could be in various directions with the single purpose of giving the final result a natural texture effect. You can check out some samples of thread art at Embroidery SA.

If you take the example of this African fish eagle next to this post, the beauty stems from the distribution of the thread colour so smoothly to the places where it naturally occurs in the bird. Generally this style of digitizing results in a longer ” time to sew” than conventional embroidery. To allow natural distribution of colour, a greater number of jump threads are needed. This is similar to what happens when embroidering in cross stitch. The modern home embroidery machines would help in automatically cutting the jump threads for you.

Again taking the example of the African eagle, take a look at the background scenery. Doesn’t the sky blend beautifully with the clouds?