Dear All,

You are welcome to visit the Embroidery Forum.   This has recently been launched…  Feel free to post in your articles in relevant categories and use it as your area to unwind.

There are various broad areas of interest like embroidery digitizing, business, technical  which are further subdivided into more specific topics.

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Warm Regards

Check out the decorative bells available for you through the cutwork art of embroidery. This is available for view at Secrets Of. You can navigate your way by choosing “Everything for Embroidery” clicking through “A Stitch and A Half” and selecting “Decorative Bells Embroidery Designs”. Aren’t they a beauty? These are shaped in the form of bells and could be used as table centerpieces or as part of your festive decorations. Some of them are available as appliques and the information on applique embroidery designs would come in handy here. All of the embroideries come in hoops in sizes of 4X4, 5X7 or 6X10.

Check out the 5X7 table centerpiece. The stitch count is 9614, height at 3.8 inches and width 6.6 inches. These are available in all machine embroidery formats namely ART, HUS, PES, PCS, SEW, VIP, DST JEF and the information on pc-machine embroidery would certainly help you understand the various formats. Have a great time livening up your decorations.

Another great resource for you on free machine embroidery designs – ABC Embroidery. A repository of good embroideries indeed! Almost all the free patterns are perfectly suitable for 4×4 embroidery hoops. The information and tutorial on endless hoop embroidery designs would be helpful here.

The butterfly next to this post is a cutwork special – 2.91″ x 2.84″, contains 7246 stitches and is made of one single color. You can download this in all embroidery formats – ART, PES, HUS, JEF, XXX, DST, EXP, SHV, VIP or PCS. Special cutwork embroidery instructions have been included along with this download.

The information on digitizing embroidery software would come in useful if you are interested in knowing more about how one interfaces the PC with the embroidery machine.

Some great cutwork embroidery designs by Paula Heckmann is available for view at Keep Sake Cutwork. Paula was raised in a family of artists and needleworkers and has been in the field of drawing, painting and stitching since childhood. Cutwork, quilting and beading held a special fascination for her and she started teaching her art for the Embroiders’ Guild of America, Inc. One of her dreams on cutwork is to add a Gallery on some of her students’ work.

To reiterate on cutwork embroidery designs:

This is a beautiful form of needlework where portions of the background fabric are cut away and discarded, with the edges worked over in buttonhole stitches.

The simplest form of cutwork is that which contains small open areas, such as eyelets, with no connecting bars. Teresa de Dillmont calls Broderie Anglaise – openwork or “cutwork”. Renaissance embroidery is cutwork that needs stabilizing bars worked within the cut-away designs. The edges are connected by buttonhole bars, worked over a single thread and is the same width throughout, except possibly on the edges. Satin stitch fillings are used in the design, then the openwork is done, cutting away unnecessary background fabric to give a much lighter appearance. Richelieu embroidery is similar – only the connecting bars are ornamented with picots and occasionally worked rings are added to give it a studded look. Venetian embroidery is thickly padded buttonhole stitching. The high relief of the outlines is what makes this stand out. Plenty of surface embroidery is included in Venetian designs and open areas with lots of lace stitches! Reticella, or Italian cutwork, is the ultimate and most elaborate of all cutwork. It is just one step away from needlemade lace.

Paula’s works are intricate and disciplined and this reflects in the perfection of her designs. There is also a sense of beauty in the product as a whole. Take the example of the table linen beside this post – the cutwork design stands out prettily in the piece of cloth.

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.

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.

I happened to hear of cutwork embroidery designs through one of my close friends almost a month ago, but I couldn’t really figure out what it was until I read this definition: “Cutwork embroidery is a beautiful form of needlework where portions of the background fabric are cut away and discarded, with the edges worked over in buttonhole stitches.” Sounds a bit difficult to understand…. It will unless you see it.

Cutwork embroidery is a form of hand embroidery. The most interesting definition is undoubtedly the one in the Encyclopedia of Victorian Needlework: Dictionary of Needlework by Sophia Frances Anne Caulfeild and Blanche C. Saward. According to this source, cutwork was a term first used by English writers when referring to the earliest known laces known as Point Coupé, Opus Seissum, and Punto Tagliato. The method for making this cut work begins with fastening a certain number of threads in a frame, crossed and interlaced, tack them to a piece of lawn, and finally do the buttonhole stitch around the edges. The lawn is cut away leaving the buttonholed lace, which may or may not have picots.

If you really want to learn cutwork embroidery designs, you could go through Embellishments A to Z : An Embellishment Idea Book. This to my mind acts like an excellent tutorial although actually it isn’t one. A School-like teaching of Cutwork is available in Lessons on Cutwork. This starts from the basics quite methodically beginning from the basics giving step by step instructions with intermediary images to help you.

Do you know of any good resources or examples of cutwork embroidery designs? If so, please let me know (using the “Contact Us” link at the bottom of this page).