This practical step-by-step guide to haute couture embroidery covers everything from machine and hand stitching, to tambour beading, goldwork and monogramming. Whether you are interested in adding monogrammed initials to your favourite bathrobe, stitching a flower on your favourite jacket, adding sparkling beads to a new dress or creating a goldwork embellishment, Fashion Embroidery teaches you how to add a unique touch to your clothes. In this beautifully illustrated book, Jessica Pile, the Production Director at Hand & Lock embroidery, explores the intricate techniques used in fashion embroidery. With hand-drawn designs, catwalk photographs and step-by-step guides, this book is perfect for beginners looking to personalise their own clothes, as well as more experienced embroiderers who want to apply new techniques to different fabrics. Beginning with an inspirational overview of the fashion industry, Jessica looks at examples of embroideries and embellishments by a variety of couturiers, including Christian Dior, Louis Vuitton, Hardy Amies and Burberry. The book then demonstrates the basics of three main techniques – goldwork, tambour beading and embroidery stitches including silk shading, satin and stem stitch. In do-it-yourself projects, Jessica first helpfully explains the basics of materials; she teaches you how to pick the right fabric, what tools to use, where to source materials, what types of wire or beads to use and terminology. Taking influences from existing couture designs, she then shows you how to execute these learned techniques onto your own clothes. This book is perfect for fashion students, textile artists, and those who want a more unique look to their clothes.

Tracing the recent rise in popularity of embroidery in Italy, a nation characterized by its opulence and emotion The absolute dedication required by embroidery's sophisticated, precious handiwork has rendered it increasingly rare: as a craft, it calls for mental discipline even more than physical, and for infinite patience, virtues so far from contemporary, so eccentric in a society that wants everything delivered at once, that of course embroidery has come into the spotlight again. Embroidery: Italian Fashion follows the technique's recent rise in a national culture known for its opulence and emotion, and brings readers the experience of both with a soft, embroidered cover. Inside, the details of micro-paillettes, mirrors, bugle beads, ribbons and implausibly thin threads produce virtuosities, coups de theÇtre, surprising elegances. Embroidery is a door on a wondrous, opulent dimension where light plays with the richness of threads, and Embroidery shows its meaning transformed by the violence of modern lines and gestures, like the burnt Swarovski crystals that are Riccardo Tisci's hallmark. When Antonio Marras presented a skirt at his first Milan show in which the embroidery seemed to allude to beginner's work, to the gauze on which little girls once learned to sew, he asked his embroiderers to imitate this style, calling it wrongstitch. And those extraordinary craftswomen, accustomed to perfection, learned just what feeling, what fascination can be concealed in an apparent mistake. The embroiderers and their colleagues remain the silent but ever-present heroines of this revival, their handiwork recalling the human touch at every glance. Includes work from Anna Molinari, Blumarine, Dolce & Gabbana, Emilio Pucci, Gianfranco Ferre, Marni, Roberto Cavalli, Valentino and Versace.

Published in association with the Victoria and Albert Museum.

Sustainable Fashion, Migrants, Embroidery: Ateliers of 'Social Integration' tells of community-led 'solidarity ateliers' engaged in sewing and embroidery activities which, in the Global North and Global South, are providing a vital alternative to neoliberal and neo-colonial fashion paradigms. On encountering several ateliers solidaires/sartorie sociali during her immersive fieldwork, for which she travelled to Morocco and Southern Italy, and contrasting her findings with her knowledge of parallel and analogous initiatives in London, Alessandra Lopez y Royo suggests that despite their different outlook and approach these ateliers can be inscribed within an ever-growing economy of solidarity and sharing. With a uniquely combined focus on sustainability, fashion and migration, Lopez y Royo examines how the ateliers foreground a powerful social inclusion agenda, encouraging migrants (and refugees) to collaborate, exchange knowledge, and foster communities on a level playing field with locals. Questioning widely accepted notions of 'empowerment' and 'social integration', and drawing on her background in archaeology and material culture studies, Lopez y Royo uses micro-studies to illuminate a broader path to a more inclusive, sustainable, and socially conscious industry, presenting a fresh perspective on repurposing and upcycling. In a world grappling with the need to shift away from fast fashion's wasteful practices, this thought-provoking exploration shows how slow-growth 'solidarity ateliers' can challenge the widely accepted notions of both 'fashion' and 'social integration'.

Explore personal transformation through the stitching of dreams and intentions. Anything but ordinary, Mystical Stitches combines the beloved and accessible craft of embroidery with a spiritual element, introducing a rich treasury of 200 magical symbols you can use to set an intention and create personal icons to wear or embellish items in the home. Christi Johnson offers unique patterns inspired by botanicals, animals, numbers, the cosmos, earth elements, zodiac signs, and mythical beasts, for novice or well-practiced crafters to combine into talismans with personal meaning. Johnson’s folk art style is vibrant and unintimidating and provides a framework for bringing spiritual elements into physical form. This publication conforms to the EPUB Accessibility specification at WCAG 2.0 Level AA.

“A spectacular encyclopedia of embroidery, sharing valuable techniques passed down through the generations . . . you’ll wonder how you ever worked without it.” —Sew Magazine Enjoy the tranquility of slow stitching with this step-by-step, visual guide to 149 embroidery stitches, motifs, and extras. Go beyond basic color theory–robust color charts take the guesswork out of choosing thread, silk ribbon, buttons, beads, and trims. Then take your embroidery to the next level with luxurious seam treatments and stunning stand-alone designs. Bestselling author Christen Brown’s traditional and contemporary techniques are showcased in a colorful gallery of crazy-quilted projects. “An overview of embroidery stitches and techniques as well as inspiration for embroidery projects . . . She dissects several of her pieces, summarizing the color palette, decorative elements, and stitches used.” —Library Journal

Start embroidering your own clothes with inspiration from Connie’s book full of detailed embroidery projects that will have you captivated by the technique of free-motion embroidery. Starting with simple ideas that can be done in an afternoon to get you warmed up, and moving onto more complex, detailed projects that will keep you busy for weeks! Finished pieces like tops, denim and accessories will inspire you to start decorating your own clothes and fill your wardrobe with totally unique, upcycled pieces that no one else owns. The book is split into four parts, each with a range of embroidery projects to get you inspired to either patch up that old top with a hole or stain, or create something outstanding on that staple denim jacket you’ve been wanting to customise for ages - Don’t throw away something just because it’s no longer new! The book will cover all skill levels - from easy patches using straight lines, to big pieces with lots of color and shading for maximum impact and detail! There’s something for everyone to start with before challenging yourself and progressing onto more advanced designs. Each project will contain beautiful imagery of the design process from start to finish, showing how an embroidered garment is created from the initial thought processes and drawing stages, right through to the stitching techniques and the finished pieces.