EMBROIDERY

It looks so easy!

You probably learned from your mother or grandmother. These days you can follow courses that handle about anything, but embroidery lessons? What a waste of time. You might be surprised to hear that there actually are a lot of things that you might not know.For example, did you know that all thread (except silk threads) have a nap. Using it incorrectly can cause you knots and color differences in your work!

Embroidery gives me a chance to strive for excellence and peace. There is a certain peace that you can find with embroidery that seems far away in our world today.

Embroidery in its purest form probably started when animal skins needed to be sewn together. We have evidence of early weaving. These clothes also needed to be stitched together to create clothing, tents and other articles. In places where the stitches needed to be fortified, extra and more decorative stitches were used.

In our modern world embroidery is used decoratively. There isn’t much that can’t be decorated with a few embroidery stitches and techniques. Taking courses in embroidery is a challenge, but it gives the opportunity to use the techniques in everything.

There is a many kinds of fabric, fabric where you can discern the seperate threads and fabric where you can't. With the first type of fabric you can easily see the threads to count them. Usually this type of fabric is loosely woven and you can move an embroidery needle (with a dull point) through the fabric. The fabric should be squarely woven, 10 centimeters in the height and breadth should have an equal amount of threads.

When you are just starting out, Aida is a easy embroidery fabric. The fabric can be bought in all kinds of different “counts.” Count means how many threads there are in an inch. The higher the count, the finer the fabric will be. In most cases the pattern needs to be counted onto the fabric. The pattern is on graph paper. You always begin to embroider from the middle working outwards. You can also draw your own pattern on the graph paper to embroider yourself. There is also special software available to make your own patterns, from pictures for instance. The second type of fabric can also be embroidered, but then the pattern is transferred directly to the fabric. This is call freestyle embroidery.

It is always a challenge to start on an empty piece of fabric and create your own image. It doesn’t matter if you choose a pattern designed by someone else or use your own creativity. Your piece can be abstract or a life-like image. It is such an accomplishment to make something all your own. Sometimes embroidery is called painting with thread. It is no longer a necessity but can be called Art.