Embroidery is used to decorate clothes, accessories, household items. There are a lot of types of embroidery. One of the most famous embroidery stitches is the cross stitch. To do a beautiful job, you need to choose the right thread and fabric. Usually, a cross is embroidered on the canvas.
Embroidery is one of the oldest ways to decorate clothes and household items. People have been engaged in embroidery since prehistoric times. Although the oldest embroidered designs are found in ancient China, there is evidence that embroidered clothing was worn in ancient Egypt, Hellas and Rome.
Types of embroidery
There are a lot of types of embroidery. But all the variety can be divided into three large groups. The first group, perhaps the largest, is embroidery that fits tightly onto the fabric, covering the entire base or partially, as the pattern requires. The second is the so-called "line", or embroidery, complemented by slits, which results in an openwork pattern. And the third group is embroidery on thinned fabric or even on a mesh. This includes all kinds of hemstitching, guipures, etc.
Embroidery can be hand or machine. Handcrafted items are of course more valuable.
Embroidery is a cross between craft and art. The work requires perseverance, considerable skills and artistic taste. Not any kind of this needlework can be taken up by a beginner.
Usually, the first thing that embroiderers master is cross-stitching. Other seams will be readily available. For example, many folk patterns on towels and valances are made with a chain stitch. Satin stitch embroidery is suitable for decorating clothes.
The description of the seams is the subject of a separate, and more than one, article. But it makes sense to focus on the materials that are needed for embroidery.
Embroidery materials
First of all, for work you will need pattern drawings, good scissors, sets of various needles, a hoop.
One of the most important attributes is the thread. They can be any: linen, cotton, silk, woolen. In some cases, synthetic threads may also work, although experienced embroiderers prefer natural materials.
Linen threads are not often used. Basically, if the embroidery is in the same color as the warp, so-called white stitching is obtained.
Silk threads are quite difficult to work with, but products embroidered with silk satin stitch are very beautiful.
Woolen threads create a softer, more voluminous pattern. They are used quite often both for cross stitching and for other seams.
The most common are cotton threads. And most often - the well-known floss. You can buy them at any clothing store. The choice is usually quite large: in color, quality, and price.
Finally, it is very important to choose the right base for the job.
In principle, you can embroider on anything: leather or felt. You can embroider both coarse fabrics and the finest ones. Even cardboard in some cases will do.
However, it is worth stopping at a fabric that is specifically designed for embroidery. This is a canvas.
There are several types of canvas. There is a canvas that resembles the fabric of a regular plain weave, except that this weave is somewhat smoother. Large paintings with a very large number of crosses are made on such a canvas. It is clear that already experienced embroiderers undertake such work.
More often they use a canvas with a sparse weave, forming cells along which stitches are laid. This canvas is also not the same. It has numbers: the larger the number, the smaller the cell. Accordingly, the same drawing, made on the canvas of different numbers, will turn out to be of different sizes.
There is also a very rigid canvas with large cells. It is used for embroidery, for example, pillows and is called "stramin".
Recently, a plastic canvas has appeared, it is used to make curly embroidery souvenirs.
The plastic canvas can be used for children's creativity. When working with such a canvas, you will need a larger needle and thicker thread than when embroidering on a regular canvas.
Of course, this is far from an exhaustive description of materials for embroidery, there are much more of them. But you can find out about this, choose something most suitable for your own needlework, only by engaging in specific practice.
