Embroidery Designs

There are thousands of embroidery designs currently available. In some types, the design is not regulated by the underlying fabric, suitably known as ‘free embroidery’. This group includes one of the most known examples of embroidery designs, the ‘Bayeux Tapestry’, which has quite an interesting twist of history. It depicts the story of the Norman conquest of England that was headed by William the Conqueror. The tapestry employed the use of the crewel method that is more than one thousand years old. In order to support the stitching weight, firm fabric is used. It also requires the use of sharp-pointed, large-eyed needles. The method uses embroidery stitches to follow the outline of a design that has been applied to the fabric.

Another type of embroidery design is the counted-thread that employs stitches made over calculated number of threads in the foundation fabric. An example is cross-stitch, where the stitches are in the shape of an X. It is used more often on countable evenweave pieces of cloth or fabric. This is later removed by drawing its threads from under the embroidery. The thread that is normally used is cotton embroidery floss. It was commonly used in household linens and dishcloths but is currently more popular in pieces of canvas. Realistic effects can be created by the use of fine fabric and thread.

Another early embroidery design is quilting, where two layers of fabric are stitched together. Normally, a soft and thick substance is sandwiched between them and held in place evenly by the stitches. It seems to have its origins in ancient Egypt. Its initial application was more for warmth than decoration although at present the aesthetic appeal has gained more weight. Nowadays, there are machine-quilted clothes and especially bed covers. Running stitch is in more common use in this kind of embroidery.

In surface embroidery, the required pattern is made by making stitches on top of rather than through the foundation fabric. In the appliqué type of surface embroidery design, which is also a form of needlework, the required shape is cut out of a fabric. The fabric is then sewn onto another fabric. In stumpwork, on the other hand, stitched figures create a 3-dimensional effect on the foundation fabric.

Dense patterns that cover the underlying fabric completely are stitched in canvas work although newer patterns employ the canvas itself as part of the desired pattern. An example of canvas work is ‘Needlepoint’. It uses the canvas for creating another fabric. You can use plain stitches or fancy ones with this type of embroidery design. There are three types of needlepoint, namely mono, penelope, and interlock, the difference being in how the canvas is woven. Mono is where the thread goes over and under another one. In penelope, two threads are grouped together closely. Interlock employs the use of one thread and stable mesh intersections.

You can currently find thousands of embroidery designs online, either by buying or for free, which you can download instantly. However, you need to ensure that your machine uses the digitized file type before downloading.