I have come across many resources on animal embroidery designs focusing on cats, bulls, dogs, reindeer to name a few.   Today I stumbled upon Blue Ribbon Printwear – A comprehensive dog embroidering website indeed.. The owners of the website – Linda and Helmut Fleisch are true dog lovers and have owned about a dozen dogs in the last 10 years.    The set contains about 100 different dog breeds embroidery patterns – the maximum I have seen in any resource till date.  All designs come as appliques/patches with a maximum size of 9 inches by 5 inches.  These stock designs can be collaged into a T-shirt or apparel for a custom purchase.  Colors can be changed depending on ones taste other than what one sees on the website, but always keeping in mind the actual colors of the breed.  For example, the springer spaniel could be liver or black OR the siberian silver or reddish.

All embroidery designs are also available as iron-on’s (information on iron-on appliques would be helpful here).

Custom embroidery here also includes embroidered caps, patches, Tee shirts, sweat shirts, denim shirts to name a few.

Some of the motifs are unique like the Tibetan Spaniel and the Scottish deer hound you see below the post.

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Gone are the beautiful fun filled days of our childhood where we used to sit together and sing our favourite nursery rhymes.. But here is a resource that will bring us all back to our kiddy days!   Nursery Rhymes Embroidery Designs is a set of embroidery patterns which focuses on a particular rhyme and the pattern is symbolic of that design.   Some of the designs are quite well done and signify the entire rhyme like Hey Diddle Diddle (was one of my favourites – it still is).   All the designs are available as a custom embroidery which can be embroidered on any apparel that is being sold by the store.  In case you want it stand alone, the picture would give an idea of how to do it – through digitizing it yourself/ through hand embroidery.

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“Dongor” means hill “Kondh”,  means “inhabitant”.   One who inhabits the hills in Rayagada district of Orissa are the Dongoria Kondhs.  This tribe has a rich culture of art, dance and music over the last few centuries.  The most eye-catching of the handicrafts are the colorful unique embroidery shawls.  These are also known as “Kapada Gonda” (main cloth) and signify an important signature in their personality and dress.

These natural colored shawls are generally woven by young girls for themselves, their brothers or lovers.  The colors of the embroidery threads are vibrant vegetable colors like red, green or yellow.  These dyes are extracted from juices of leaves, roots and turmeric.  Green symbolises prosperity and fertility and stands for the earth goddess.   Yellow symbolises happiness, peace and health.  Red or maroon signifies blood or animal sacrifice and stands for vigour, strength and revenge.  Depending on the mood, the occasion and the wearer for whom it is meant, one of these 3 colours would stand out in the embroidery designed shawl.   It generally takes 3 to 4 months to complete one shawl.  The girls do the weaving and embroidery while they tend the crops or look after the cattle.   While older men sport simple motifs on their shawls, the brother wears an artistic piece.   During ceremonial dances or in a bustling marketplace, if a boy flings his shawl at a girl, it signifies that he wants to marry her.  The girl has a choice of accepting the shawl or throwing it back.  If she accepts, the couple meets and marries with the consent of their families.   The boy can also make the marriage proposal by snatching away the shawl from the girl.

The Dongoria Kondh embroidered shawl is a symbol of pride of the wearer.   A beautifully embroidered shawl is the cynosure of all eyes in a marketplace.  These shawls sell in the marketplace at prices ranging between Rs. 500 and Rs. 700.

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