Embroidery Designs Guide

One of my best friends just presented me with this beautiful hand embroidered oak leaf. Simply a marvelous job! Here is the description of the design as reproduced from the place she got it from -

“This hand embroidery design is worked in detached chain stitch on hand dyed fabric leaving just the area of the leaf un-stitched. This design technique is described as the voided shape technique where the image itself is not stitched but the surrounding area is.

A variety of yarns were used including commercially dyed stranded cottons, hand dyed stranded cottons and rayon threads.”

What really amazed me was the way in which the leaf seems to emerge from the background and the clarity of the veins of the leaf design, which were a cut above the rest.

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 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 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.