My inspiration for this set came from antique style of raised Italian whitework. I love the heavy, textured stitches used on all the beautiful linens and garments made by hand from a gone by era. This can never be duplicated by machine but by adapting and manipulating the idea, this set was created for machine embroidery with a modern touch.
For the same effect, layers are created for the raised effect of the design which starts with some soft silver detail stitched with silver metallic thread. This step can be replaced with white cotton thread if you need to do it all in white. Then, building layers for the base of the technique are stitched with 100% cotton. These cotton layers have multiple underlays stitched with zigzag and straight stitches. Some of these have candlewicking detail for more height which is then covered later with Lana wool thread, still revealing the candlewicking. This final layer gives the raised and textured effect in the design.
Although I use metallic, cotton and Lana embroidery thread, the entire design can be stitched using only 100% cotton thread, leaving it as a complete whitework piece. It is still very effective and beautiful but it won't have the same effect as my original work.
Although this is a whitework technique, it looks beautiful done in pale blue embroidery cotton on white fabric.
PDF with full instructions, step by step pictures and how to frame the embroidery are included.
01/12/2015
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