Interesting Facts on Cross Stitch Embroidery

What exactly is cross stitch embroidery : Cross-stitch is one of the oldest forms of embroidery and is famous amongst enthusiasts across the world. Many folk museums show examples of clothing decorated with cross-stitch, especially from continental Europe and Asia. Cross-stitch is a popular form of counted-thread embroidery in which X-shaped stitches are used to form a picture.

There are two different stitching techniques commonly used in Cross Stitch Embroidery.

The first, the "stab" method, is used by most beginning stitchers. The stab method involves moving the hand back and forth from the front of the fabric to the back of the fabric. The needle is "stabbed" into the front of the fabric, left there, and then pulled through from the other side. The second, the "Sewing" method is a favourite of stitchers who prefer to hold the fabric in the hand instead of hoop.

Each stitch technique has unique characteristics. The stab method is effective when using a hoop or frame. The stab method of stitching does not distort the fabric. It is easy to make certain that the stitch is placed properly. In the sewing method, the stitcher's hand and needle stay on top of the fabric, except when securing floss. The needle scoops under the weave of the fabric. Since this requires practice, the sewing method is not the best for beginners. It is more difficult to ensure stitch placement, and the fabric can be distorted by the scooping motion. For more experienced stitchers, this sewing technique is preferred for some projects because a hoop is not required and the speed is considerably faster.

Some forms of Cross Stitch :
Here we introduce you to some of the common and famous forms of cross stitch : Counted cross-stitch is unique since this involves actual counting of each of the stitches. Cross-stitch is done on designs printed on the canvas, showing every single cross (stamped cross-stitch)."

Two-dimensional (unshaded) cross-stitch in floral and geometric patterns, usually worked in black and red cotton floss on linen, is characteristic of folk embroidery in Eastern and Central Europe.

Multicoloured, shaded, painting-like patterns as we know them today are a recent development, deriving from similar shaded patterns of Berlin wool work of the mid-nineteenth century

Cross-stitch is the most popular form of hobby embroidery in the western world. It lends itself well to recreational use, as it is easy to learn and very versatile.

In the United States, the earliest known cross-stitch sampler is currently housed at Pilgrim Hall in Plymouth, Massachusetts (Pilgrim Hall).The sampler was created by Loara Standish, the daughter of Captain Myles Standish, circa 1653.

Traditionally, cross-stitch was used to embellish items like dishcloths, household linens, and doilies (only a small portion of which would actually be embroidered). Although there are many cross-stitchers who still employ it in this fashion, especially in Europe, it is now more popular to simply embroider plain pieces of canvas and hang them on the wall for decoration. There are many cross-stitching "guilds" across the United States and Europe which offer classes, collaborate on large projects, stitch for charity, and provide other ways for local cross-stitchers to get to know one another.

Embroidery Designs Guide

Hand Embroidery Designs

Amazing Embroidery Designs

Hardanger Embroidery

My home growing up was with filled with Hardanger embroidery. When I was older I realized what a treasure these linens were and I now keep them carefully stored and display them for special occasions only. My grandmother was from Norway and despite emigrating to a new country and helping run a fishing camp, she still found time to carry on this lovely tradition. You can see some examples of the linens by clicking the link at the bottom of this article.

Hardangers?m (or Hardangersaum), is Norwegian for 'embroidery from Hardanger', and refers to the style of needlework that many of us know as Hardanger embroidery It takes its current name from a town on the southwestern coast of Norway, in a mountainous area at the head of the Hardanger fjord.

Hardanger is a form of cutwork embroidery which is believed to have originated in Asia and Persia. Hardanger has also been referred to as Norwegian lacemaking because of the way it looks. Portions of the background fabric are cut away and discarded, with the edges worked over in buttonhole stitches. It is worked on white even weave fabric, usually linen or cotton, using linen or pearl cotton threads.

The patterns were used as a favourite decoration worked in bands of embroidery across tablecloths, napkins, towels, bedspreads, pillows and curtains and clothing items such as aprons, shirts, and Norwegian folk costumes.

In simpler forms of hardanger, the holes themselves decorate the fabric but in more advanced techniques, the holes can be filled in with threads in various patterns to create a more elaborate design. You can see both examples in the pictures.

The traditional designs are geometric and based on several shapes: square, rectangle, triangle, diamond, diagonal, zig-zag and cross. These shapes are put together to form many different designs but never created pictures. Patterns varied greatly from one family to another and from village to village. Eventually specific designs came to be associated with specific places.

Hardanger uses many easy-to-learn stitches of two basic types. The first is counted thread embroidery with simple stitches which can be altered slightly or combined in many interesting ways to create limitless designs. Together with drawn-thread or cut-work embroidery, this leads to a stunning effect!

It often featured:

• diamond, triangular or square motifs of cutwork
• satin stitching in rectangular blocks (kloster blocks) and other shapes
• pulled thread work in the form of four-sided stitch
• cable stitch
• eyelets

  Karens Variety is a craft patterns retail site, http://www.karensvariety.com with a large selection of new and used crochet, knitting, needlework, cross stitch, plastic canvas, tatting, embroidery, macrame, dolls and sewing patterns, craft books and PDF reproductions of vintage patterns and pattern books. Learn more by visiting the site Newsletter. Enter the monthly Contest

Embroidery and Screen Printings Tools of The Trade

Having the right equipment in the Embroidery and Screen Printing business, seems to make or brake you.

When we first started out we bought a commercial Embroidery machine and a Clam Shell Heat Press. Our thought process was that we would target companies and schools who needed Embroidery, and Heat Transfers. Our dealer also showed us a revolutional screen printing machine called, Direct-To-Garment Printers. We knew we couldn't compete with other companies with so view tools. We went back to the dealer and ask them to sell us the new machine.

Now we were armed with a full array of weapons to stand strong against our competitors. As we found out, we only had three pieces of the puzzle. We had to have more to make sure we could cover every aspect of the embroidery and screen printing business.

After watching a video about Sublimation, We were lucky enough to find an Epson 1280 printer on ebay for about half the cost else where. Though we still needed more tools, we quickly learn to create strategic alliances, and save money at the same time. Our alliances had the tools that we didn't have, and we had the tools they didn't have.

Now with many alliances, we found we don't need as much equipment to give our customers the best service possible. In fact, we outsource some of our work, especially when we need a well deserved vacation.

Take the time to start your business, if not keep learning as much as you can to keep you prepared for the next order you customers request. If you can't get enough equipment, than know where to send your work. You'll feel relieved to know someone else can do the work the way you want it and can provide your client with the same high quality as you do. www.embroideryandscreenprinting.com.

Paul Canales is the owner of Selanac Embroidery and Screen Printing. His experiences have helped him to succeed is this business that seemed to be saturated with other Embroiderers and Screen Printers. SWFeast's equipment also adds strength to this competitive busines.

Indian Embroidery Stitches Up Into A More Organised Sector

Indian embroidery has gained a new horizon

Embroidery is one of the oldest and most accepted styles of surface ornamentation of fabrics and garments, and India is among the leading producer of embroidered fabrics and garments worldwide.

Be it Chickankari from Lucknow or Phulkari from Punjab or Ari or Kutchi embroidery from Kutch, each is being valued and have their own consumer. Indian embroidery has gained a new horizon and has created a niche for itself in the world market. Their exclusive style and stitches imitates the ethos and culture of their region.

The increasing demand of embroidered wear as ethnic wear in youths

Today, in India embroidered Salwar-kameez, Lehnga-cholis and Sarees, Sherwani, Kurta-pyjama with stole, Churidar, in various traditional designs are popular and demanded as 'Ethnic Wear' or 'Heritage Wear'. Jeans and jackets with embroidered pockets and in various designs in front or backside are very much demanded; even embroidered neckties and t-shirts are also very much demanded as a latest trend. Even these traditional Indian wears or ethnic wears are being more popular in Western countries too.

In recent time the demand of garments with embroidery is more than that with prints in ladies and girls apparels. Embroidery is favored over prints because of its eco-friendly characteristics. Garments with sequins and crochet laces (of Indian looks) are well recognized by foreign customers and now such works are available and very much demanded in sleepwear too. Even home furnishing products like bed sheets, tapestry, bed linen, kitchen linen etc are also more demanded with various traditional embroideries.

Traditionally, embroidery is utilized for embellishing of apparel and products such as undergarment have not occupied with much of embroidery. This type of embellishment is only now accepting for menswear.

India is still an undeveloped market for embroideries. Studies have revealed that consumption of embroidery per person in India is Rs 8 per annum. The market size of the Indian embroidery is slated to be approximately Rs 800-900 crore per annum and embroidery market of India is increasing at 20 percent per annum. This shows the enormous prospective market of embroidery in the country, which requires more efforts to tap the market.

The efforts for getting organized

With its traditional embroidery garment demands, the local embroidery production is almost totally unorganized with very small units located in scattered areas of the country. These are like a cottage industry. Majority of the exporters in this segment do not have any production facilities, but get the jobs done from such small units.

Surat, Ahmedabad, Kutch and Mumbai are the major embroidery centers in the country, and Bareilly, Muradabad, etc are well known for their beadwork. Surat is holding a strong position in this segment.

Furthermore, the demands in the domestic market for very small lots and very large varieties only help to the small units. Many exporters into embroidered and printed fabrics of Mumbai get its orders done by units located in Dharavi and Govandi areas. But, it is not easy to get established soon in the domestic market, as local competition and small units are operating with their traditional embroidery skills.

Typically with 2 and 4 embroidery machines and very small units, till a decade ago embroidery business of India was considered as unorganized. But at present, 60 percent of the market is attributed by organized players.

The export market is more organized and majority of professional producers exports their products to the UK, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Egypt. Many exporters are exporting to their products in various countries, depending upon the demands and are growing at a rate of 15-20 per cent per annum.

In the international market and in India, the demand for garments embellished with embroideries with sequins and crystals is high. Though, embroidery is utilized in a whole lot of products internationally, the market has still a large gap, and it needs to fill up this gap with the exact requirement of consumers of worldwide as well as Indian.

In recent time, some large players have taken interest in to enter in the sector after realizing the huge potential and to fill up this gap and have been making efforts for getting more organized. Nearly 3,500 multi-head computerized embroidery machines are being set up in Surat; nearly 1,500 such machines are setting up in Mumbai, and a similar number each in Tirupur, Bangalore, Coimbatore, Ludhiana. All these units will need best quality embroidery yarns.

With capacity of 5 billion stitches per annum, Pioneer Industries is the biggest in Asia for crochet laces and schiflli embroidered fabrics.

Surat: in the race of becoming a hub of the embroidery

Textile industrialists of Surat city of Gujarat foresee a huge potential for clothes embellished with chic embroidery work, in both in the foreign and Indian market. In Surat, by many textile industrialists more than 3,500 latest embroidery machines have been established in the last one year to satisfy the growing demand of embroidered clothes in the country and abroad. Many textile industrialists of Surat aim to make Surat as the hub of the embroidery industry with these embroidery machines having an inbuilt capacity of manufacturing multiple designs.

These machines were imported from the countries like China, Korea and Germany, the costs of each machines range between Rs 10 lakh to Rs 2 crore. These machines are operated with computerized system. The designs are all set on the computer and then it is ready for embroidery work on the machines.

These embroidery machines have substituted the old-fashioned Jackard and Doby machines, which were utilized to make designs on the sarees and dress materials. Though, the industrialists believe that the embroidery machines are designed to offer 110 percent output against the Jackard and Doby machines which provide only 10 to 20 percent output.

The scenario has changed in the last two years with the arrival of latest embroidery machines. Though, it is not easy to compare the art of machine to that of human hands, but these machines offer the quality of work and save human hours. Also it is not easy to evaluate the cost of embroidery done on machines and those done by hands. The embroidery made on machine is much cheaper than hand-embroidery.

In Surat, by this way old technology is being substituted by the new technology and this is the right approach to value addition, really Surat has the potential to develop the embroidery industry. In Surat, at present the 3,500 odd-embroidery machines are producing more than one lakh meters of cloth per day and it is estimated to increase three-fold in the next two years. Majority of producers are exporting around 60 per cent of embroidered clothes to foreign countries and also doing job-work for the different companies and fashion houses across the country. Besides casual wears and dress materials, the fashion of wearing embroidered undergarments is also going to increase.

Threads and yarns

Threads, the vital part of this sector, are easily available in the country. Consumption of embroidery yarns in the country exists at nearly 11,000 tones per annum, of which viscose has a major share. Demand for embroidery thread in the country is increasing at a rate of about seven percent per annum. In India, threads are easily obtainable, but there is possibility for improvement in quality. And majority of thread producers are planning to expand capacities.

Indian Rayon has planned the production of viscose embroidery yarns realizing the requirement for quality embroidery yarns with yarns' capacity of 850 stitches per minute. To fine-tune the quality of the yarn, Indian Rayon is now stabilizing the dyeing processes, and also planning to improve the colour fastness of the yarns, ensuring azo-free dyeing, etc. They will be starting commercial production by December 2005, or by January 2006 with the aim of receiving 10 percent of the market share by 2006-07.

Viscose yarns are largely used in embroidery, cotton, polyester and metallic yarns are also utilized for making embroidered products.

Latest embroidery machineries

For completing big orders, it is not feasible to completely depend on hand-made works and there is a requirement to mechanize all the hand works.

Many embroidery garment exporters are importing their embroidery machines from Germany, Japan, Taiwan, and China. Many players use only German and Japanese embroidery machines those who can compromise on quality go for Chinese makes.

But looking to the price factor the industry is coming across a decision that Chinese machines are just as good. These machines are performing well for those who need 6-12 head embroidery systems. The price differentiation is huge; for Japanese, Korea against China. Chinese machineries are cheaper than Japanese, Korean and Germany and hence this attracts people to purchase Chinese machines.

Pioneer Industries produces its schiflli embroidered products on Swiss machines and multi-head embroidered products on German machines. Garment Machinery System is intending to bring in machines that can sew beads, in February 2006. ZSK has approached with a new technique in embellishment called StitchTuft, a soft, though stable cut pile.

Tajima has introduced a new embroidery machine for chenille stitch with sequin. Its TCMX series, the chenille embroidery heads work at 750 rpm. Combination of chenille embroidery in six colours and by using alternatives like high speed sequin device gives high precision and higher-value added embroidery.

Indian embroidery

In India, according to the community or region there are many embroidery styles and designs available, which include mirrors, beads, stones, shell, jute ropes etc.

Banjara tribal women located near by Hyderabad wear blouses and head scarves embroidered and decorated with mirrors. Embleshied with motifs of flowers, creepers and chinar leaves, mango the Kashmiri embroidery or kashida and Zardozi are very much popular, and Amritsar is well know for making kashida work.

While prepared with the help of an awl, Ari embroidery of Kutch is popular for its heavy work. Rabari embroidery of Gujarat is well-known and widely available, the women of this community wear black skirts with various embroidered designs; even children wear heavily embroidered salwars and shirts. There are many communities in Kutch like Sodha, Jats, Aahirs, Dhebaria Rabari, Mochi (Cobbler community), Meghwal, Mutwa, and Node? Jats, which make embroidery (Rabari embroidery, Ahir embroidery, Sindhi embroidery, Banni embroidery, Mutwa embroidery, Ari embroidery, Soof embroidery) on various garments according to their traditional designs. Besides these, in Gujarat Kanbi, Ahir and Kathiawari communities make embroidery in their traditional styles.

Dating back to 15th century Punjab's Phulakari embroidery (significantly divided into two words - Phul meaning flower and Kari meaning work that means floral work) created for Punjabi women to embellish their Odhnis, Chaddars, Shawls and Blouses. Besides their textiles and stitches, Phulkari itself is categorized into various types- Chope, Sainichi, Seeshadar and the bagh. The Bagh is one of the popular Phulakari and generally worn in parties and ceremonies.

The "Chikankari" embroidery is largely practiced in the city of Lucknow, the Nawabs of India were used to wear their clothes with this embroidery. Along with heavily worked out Zardosi or other traditional Indian embroidery, the Chikankari embroidery is available with stitches in the patterns of flowers, paisleys and various Indian motifs and is most popular in embellishing ghagra cholis, full-length dresses etc.

Hand embroidery embellished in their traditional patterns with various designs covering mirror, are very popular. Kasuti embroidery (Dharwar, Karnataka) done on handloom saris is well recognized among Indian women.

Besides these, there is also availability of readymade shapes of the material with names such as nakshi, sadi, kora and kangani are stitched on to form of zardozi patterns. This material is get by weight and is readily available in bunches known as lachhis.

It is still to articulate, there is only one aspect that is identify Indian styles and culture worldwide, is the Indian embroidery, which cannot be replicated elsewhere. It is the expertise and talent that goes into embroidery, which provides an Indian garment its distinctive look. The demand of Indian embroidery products will remain forever with its various cultural and regional styles and preference of design of numbers of communities.

Fibre2fashion has emerged as a distinctive B2B platform for global Textile, Apparel, Fashion and Retail and allied industries. Fibre2fashion.com offers business solutions, news, articles and information that help to survive and sustain in the most hostile and competitive business environment.

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Perfect Backing for Best Looking Embroidery

It is an opinion of all the experts that selection of the perfect backing is the key to achieve the best-looking embroidery. However, this decision is very much personal.

In proportion to cost, embroidery backing is a small investment next to purchasing sewing machinery, but choosing the perfect backing for each project expresses vast difference between a product customers want to buy and one that they do not.

Backing is a non-woven material put behind the garment, which is to be embroidered, holds the fabric firm and does not allow it to move or stretch while the embroidery process is on. Thus backing works as a fulcrum or a strong support for non-woven material.

High-quality backing lengthens the life of the embroidery and improves its looks. Moreover, it increases permanence of the fabric and furnishes stitches more dimensions as thread has more to 'hold on to' as it is sewn. It saves the garment from pressure and friction of the thread and bobbin as it is sewn.

There are some fabrics that do not need backing before doing embroidery, however, like heavy canvas or some woven shirt materials, most do.

The finished product appears much smoother with backing because if no backing is used, particularly on a thin T-shirt, you can get wrinkling. Backing also holds lock stitches tight and prevents them from being pulled out. If stitch tends to get pulled out, it is less expected if you have got backing stabilized the cloth. Backing also makes laundering or dry cleaning last longer.

Backing can also make the machine run more competently and smoothly. Backing helps the needle heat as far as the needle enters the backing. If one has the appropriate backing, one does not get as many thread breaks.

Production of Backings

Embroidery backings are normally fabricated from polyester and rayon fibers that are pressed together to create a non-woven fabric like a paper-sheet.

One cannot define a fixed percentage mixture, but they are composed of polyester and rayon fibres. Processes for fabricating backings hinges on the manufacturer and end users.

John Solomon Inc. and Hollingsworth & Vose both fabricate wet laid backing. To make wet lay, fibers are blended with water and laid on a screen. As the screen ascends, the fibers get dry to form the backing. This is the best form of backing for embroidery for the reason that it is multidirectional - i.e. it does not spread out in any specific direction and it can be torn in any direction. It has an unchanging, even surface, and if you select the appropriate weight, you should require only one layer.

Despite the fact that using numerous layers is a prevalent practice among embroiderers - and in some cases, two layers may be proper - it's generally not the best way to go, as advised by industry wizards.

Use as low-weight a backing as possible. Use a single layer of a medium to heavy backing to hold up rather than taking care of three or four pieces.

It is better not to employ multilayer because of bulk; lot of people in big production houses believe that multi layering is the perfect answer of their problems, but it is just a fallacy.

Backings are also fabricated in carded saturate and random saturate. The fibers in carded saturates are all arranged in one direction. The fibers in random saturates are haphazardly blended.

Which backings to apply

If we ask two or three embroiderers which kind of backing is ideal for which use, and we might receive as many as 10 different answers. Cutaway and tearaway are the two most accepted types of embroidery backings. Both are available in different weights to be used with various weight fabrics.

Cutaway backings are normally a more significant for embroidering sections like soft or very stretchy fabrics, which require more support. They are composed to be clipped from the edges of the finished embroidery. Cutaway backings are for bigger areas like sweatshirts since you have thousands more stitches in the area that is being embroidered. Essentially, when one has smaller areas, one uses backings that tear away. However, the weight of the fabric that one is embroidering also matters.

Since special care is required in clipping close to embroidery, cutaway backings are more time-consuming and it would be an unwise option for large amount of productions. Tearaway backings intend literally to be torn away from the back of the embroidery, and they can be much faster and more effortless to use. They must, however, be used with the appropriate fabrics.

If it is a very light material, sometimes workers or technicians may use a cutaway, because the pressure of tearing might damage the fabric. All embroiders have different opinions about when to use which backing.

There are no hard and fast rules. There are so many variables - machine tensions, thread type, how the operator feels when they wake up in the morning, the weather, and the hooper. It is advisable to use always one layer of backing only. If an embroiderer uses 2000 stitches he prefers lightest weight. Moreover, if embroiderers are doing 15,000 stitches, they do not want to use three layers; it costs them too a large amount of money. Density of their stitches should be in proportion to the number of stitches they do.

The selection of backing is primarily relied on the weight of the fabric. It is recommended that the backing should be slightly lighter in weight than fabric. Both, lightness and heaviness of backing damage the fabric; too light a backing does not give required firmness and too heavy a backing presses down the garment and alters the shape.

Many companies provide lighter weight mesh backing other than standard weights of cutaway and tearaway backings.

As mesh backing is a waffle-weave, some embroiderers like it; it is a very soft backing and it fuses into the fabric after it is cut. Waffle weave does not expose as much in thin fabric.

Since mesh backings are woven, they can be used for embroidering on leather.

Sometimes when somebody embroiders a letter O on vest leather, the O is dropped out. The benefit of a woven backing is that it stitches it back.

Special uses

Adhesive backings are generally used with distinctive hoops or hooping tools.

Those are all fixtures that are fabricated in such a manner that one can put adhesive onto the frame, then put the garment down onto the adhesive backing and it adheres into place while the embroidery is being done, therefore, one does not have to support it. That is for hard-to-hoop items like the rim of a collar or cuff, or for something where one does not want a hoop burn to come forth.

More and more embroiderers are opting for backings that fade away to generate a finely embroidered appearance without the bulk of backings. Water-soluble film, used for years as a topping material, is increasingly common as a backing because it fades away when wet.

The benefit of using it is the complete design comes to be a lot softer. We are inclined to find out a lot in the towel industry, because they require to use topping to keep the stitches from vanishing, but also when they are using it on the back, it appears rather nice without having that typical tearaway left behind. Moreover, any little bits left behind dissolve with the first washing.

It is also used in fashion applications such as wedding costumes. For the moment, it tends not to be used by the big commercial embroiderer who is doing lots of T-shirts or golf shirts. For fabrics that cannot get wet like suede, velvet, corduroy and silk, heat removable backing suits well. The backing fades away with the treatment of a hot iron.

Top it off

Toppings are used on fabrics with loft, texture or nap such as terry cloth, velvet, velour or corduroy to keep the stitches from sinking into the fabric.

The use of topping immensely enhances the appearance of embroidery on any fabric with texture. It may also be applied when embroidery has been carried off and re-stitching is needed. In this case, topping can stop stitches from sinking into holes left by the deleted design. Parts of the topping are left under the embroidered design and as a result, they modify the surface of the fabric that is being embroidered.

What one needs?

To start a new shop and know which backings to store can be a complex question for the embroiderer.

The small shop is advised to focus on maintaining a small inventory of light, medium and heavyweight backings, hence the shop can satisfy the customer's needs no matter which kind of fabric or product the potential customer brings in.

A bigger shop with numerous heads is characteristically embroidering for a specific market section. They would test depending on the runs that they are currently doing and choose the backing that functions most suitably from a performance outlook and a cost perspective. Until and unless the class of product they are embroidering alters suddenly, they will stay with that and then they would put to the test again.

In testing, the shop owner will embroider samples for the customer who then approves or disapproves the quality.

If one uses an inefficient backing, one is not going to have good stitch formation and they are not going to sanction the project.

Shop owners also should decide whether to purchase their backing on rolls or in pre-cut sheets.

If you have number of persons working for you, and you are paying large amount of salary for machine operators, you may come to know that the quickest way to do it is to buy it in cut sheets. On the other hand, you may have somebody who has time on their hands between embroidery that can cut it themselves. You must consider costs.

Tips and Tricks

Some tips and tricks for successful embroidery: If you apply spray adhesive with backing, it keeps the cloth thoroughly flat and not stretched out therefore when you get it out of the hoop, it appears nice, flat, smooth embroidery. It is also much easier to hoop since you are not pursuing a piece of backing beneath the shirt trying to discover if it's in the right place or not.

It is also advised that embroiderers always tell their digitizer in advance what type of garment the design will be stitched on, because the best backing and hooping job will not secure a design planned for the wrong shape.

Finally, experimenting is recommended. Nearly all of the topmost backing suppliers have models on hand.

Stitch out some samples. Check out a couple of diverse backings and a couple of different weights of backing. There are many experts out there, but eventually, if you just give enough time practicing with your device, you will come to know what works best for you.

Sew Special

It is tough task to know whether or when to apply specialty backings. Information provided below can help you decide.

Peel and stick:It is a tearaway backing with a pressure-sensitive coating and a release liner. It has three general uses:
. To make hard-to-hoop applications such as shirt collars and cuffs is easier.
. To stabilize high-stretch fabrics such as bicycle shorts and sweatshirts.
. To eliminate hoop marks that can occur with certain problem materials such as brushed denim and suede.

Caps: Tearaway cap backings are used to enhance the crispness of lettering and columns, specifically with low profile and unstructured caps.

Fusible: Fusible backings can be lastingly fixed to garments with a hand iron and are used for very stretchy and hard-to-hoop materials such as fleece and leather. They can also be used to coat the inside of accomplished embroidery designs that may have a rough surface, such as metallic threads.

Puff: Puff backing is a lofty material used to create a three-dimensional, trapunto or quilted appearance.

Children's sleepwear: Backings whose fiber content meets fire retardant standards.

Black backings: Black backings are used for dark garments where white backing would show and be distracting.

Toppings: Toppings are used to stop stitches from sinking into high profile fabric.

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How to judge Chinese Suzhou Embroidery?

Chinese Suzhou embroidery is a traditional art which has a high requirement on hand skills. A piece of good Suzhou embroidery is a perfect combination of techniques and art, the quality of effect in the artwork becomes a criteria in judging Suzhou Embroidery. Normally we can tell from the following criteria.

1. To judge the concept of the whole picture, in present market, most of the concepts of pictures are similar, so we can tell creative embroidery form ordinary ones.

2. The fineness of the needlework: it plays the most important role in a picture. It should be very clear where the thread should be thick and where it should be thin, and they should hide the thread head and knot as well.

In order to make very fine embroidery, the thread must be divided into thinner ones. Splitting the silk thread is one of the traditional techniques of Chinese Suzhou embroidery, that means to divide the thread into several strands. Like half or a quarter of the original thickness, or even thinner. If you want to embroider the tail of golden fish, you should use very thin silk strands to express a sense of lightness and transparency. The silk strand used for the body of a fish should be thicker, giving people a sense of weight. If you want to embroider a stone, or a tree trunk, you must use thick thread, and a more random pattern. And for the stitching of a cat, a color change must be used for its fur, then the finished fur of the cat will be as vivid as real cat fur.

The last key point is that the needlework should be dense. The low quality embroidery is just printing the base picture, then matching it with several threads with similar color, and it will give people the impression of embroidery if you stand far away from the picture. But if you look at it carefully, you will find the pattern in the back.( Since the picture is printed, and after a period of time, the color of the ink will fade, it doesn't last long.) This kind of embroidery is fake.

An embroidery with high art value also has the base picture, but no matter how you check the picture, you will never find it on the base. The base picture has been covered by silk thread.( Good embroidery is usually made by hand. The procedure of Mechanical Graphing and manual graphing is different . Mechanical Graphing Computer jets the picture, then fixes it in the supporting frame. And because silk is quite flexible, it is easy to be deformed when fixed into the frame. But manual embroidery is different , it is fixed into a drawing frame first, then they embroider it. So it's impossible to deform. The high value embroidery does not only need the embroidering technique, but also they need the craftsmen knowledge of painting. Because there is no base picture , only a profile of the picture, for color they need the talent of the craftsman. So a good piece of Chinese Suzhou embroidery is not only imitation, but also includes the talent of the craftsman.

The disordered stitching embroidery has a special requirements on the thickness of thread, but also thread angle is critical. To use the color of the thread to show the bright and dark sides of the picture, they need the crafts man to have a deep understanding of the application of color.

3. The process of the artwork's color and art effect. That means the brightness and color should match well, and transition naturally. Such as an embroidered cat, the most difficult part is the pair of eyes. The craftsman needs more than twenty different colors to transition from one color to another, making the eyes alive and vivid. An embroidery with high value should have a beautiful pattern, fine needlework, elegant colors, and deep meaning.

This articles was written by Susan Yip, the co-owner of Su Embroidery Art Studio which offers silk paintings entirely hand embroidered. For more articles on Chinese silk embroidery, please visit http://www.suembroidery.com