Dolce and Gabbana is doing it.
Gucci is doing it.
Dior is Doing It.
Yves Saint Laurent is doing it.
TV/ Game of Thrones is doing it .
Are you doing it ?
Back in the day, wealthy women would embroider lavish spectacular creations to be worn or displayed. The needle art was handed down through the generations by mothers or tutors. Today England has the Royal School of Needlework, training new needlework artists.
Even youtube has embroidery directions for the novice. It is my belief that people are searching for more individual and one of a kind looks. A backlash to the high volume boring looks that have saturated stores, the runway, and life in general for years now.
What better way to create a statement piece but with art?
My introduction to embroidery comes from a more humble place than an academy. It was the dining room of my friends home. Back in grade school days, my best friend Wendy and I wanted to embroider some flowers on our Fred Segal jeans. Wendy's housekeeper Maria, generously introduced us both to the art of embroidery. Maria was a master of the craft, and her talent sadly under-appreciated in a world of machine embroidery. If only I could thank her again for the introduction to hand embroidery she gave to us.
As an adult, my embroidery was mostly limited to making children quilts and pillows as gifts. For these, I created free-hand designs inspired by fairytales and nursery rhymes. But life with raising a family and work got in the way. I barely had time to read the paper, so I simply stopped embroidering.
A few years ago I was yearning for a creative relaxation to watch TV with. So I began to embroider once again. While sourcing for design inspiration, my enthusiasm was peaked by a book called American Denim-A New Folk Art by Peter S. Beagle.
Denim lends itself to this art form, especially for daily wear pieces. So I pulled out my favorite denim shirt and began stitching away. It started with a few whimsical flowers. However I was throughly inspired to keep going . With each new design I completed, a new idea popped in my head. All of the designs had a personal meaning to me: There are references to the Fibonacci golden math rule, saving/protecting water, as well as several spiritual and mystical symbols.
*The denim shirt that started out to just cover a few sharpie marks above the right pocket.
When my denim shirt was finished, I began with my next project : A linen shirt-which had a few tiny tears at stress points. What better way to save an old favorite? I diligently covered each tear with a new design. Sadly however each time I wore the shirt, more tears appeared.
For this embroidery rescue I quickly learned, the linen shirt was passed saving . The fabric was just too fragile. Lesson learned.
Not one to toss out all the embroidery, I grabbed scissors and cut all the stitch work off before tossing out the remaining shirt. Now I'm attaching the needle work to a new linen safari jacket.
*My new linen safari jacket with transplants from my old linen shirt.
*I attached each embroidered piece to felt for extras support. Then attached the felt patch to the new linen shirt jacket.
Now my embroidery has gone beyond just a TV watching hobby. It's hard for me to put down. I'm so glad to have this back in my life. It soothes my inner soul, and has become my creative therapy.
Currently I am embroidering tarot and playing cards. These designs I discovered while searching for unusual and unexpected versions of the cards. Eventually these will be attached to yet another
jacket in my closet.
A Royal Flush
Tarot
My goal is to be whimsical, fun, and embroider designs that are meaningful to me.
True folk art pieces are meant to be one of a kind. They are statement heirloom treasures in their own right. Machine work does not capture the depth, dimension, and irregular movement of hand embroidery.
Couture is not daily wear knock around fashion. It's for special occasion. These designer collections are spectacular because of all their hand work done by skilled artisans. It takes hundreds of hours of work to create these hand embroidered collections.
The more casual RTW designer looks are created with machine embroidery and will never be the real deal of folk art . So if you lack the funds to buy couture, or want real folk art in your life, pick up an embroidery needle and start your own personal statement piece.
#GucciHoodie #DiorTarot #YSLJeanJacket #DolceAndGabbana #OneOfAKind #GameofThronesEmbroidery #AmericanDenim #FolkArtEmbroidery #HandEmbroideryArt
