St. Leonettes. For Beginners. Embroidery Tips, Techniques, Stitches.

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Embroidery

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Ribbon comes in many colors, sizes and styles, not to mention material. Embroiderers may be most familiar with the silk ribbon, currently so popular, and its counterpart, the polyester/organza ribbons that hold up a bit better than true silk. It's a fast and effective way to cover the surface of almost anything with lovely, embroidered motifs. The simple stitches unique to ribbon embroidery are easy to learn.

Ribbon can also be manipulated by folding or tying, not just using needles and thread! Candace Kling is a master of this art and I highly recommend her book, The Artful Ribbon. Reading through this book is a lovely way to spend an afternoon. I'm sure you'll come away with plenty of ideas for manipulating ribbons in all kinds of new and inventive ways.

This type of embroidery, also known as Rococo embroidery, may have begun back in the mid-1700s (during the French Rococo period, 1750-1780s) when the French court was very impressed with this manner of decorative dress. It is my understanding that only members of the French court were permitted to wear these fancy gowns, which were made by sanctioned embroiderers. Lovely silk threads accompanied the ribbons along with beads, tassels, cords, laces, trims of all sorts, and it all truly appealed to the Victorian needlewoman in England, and soon spread to Australia, New Zealand, Canada and America.

Through the 1800s it covered parasols, hand bags, garments, gloves, fire screens, frames, and other home furnishings.

There was a wide-spread surge of interest about 20 years ago in America, spilled over to South Africa and it hasn't faded yet.

Many books have been written most recently about silk ribbon embroidery and these can provide hours of reading pleasure. They're full of detailed diagrams, charts, how-tos and plenty of ideas for today's embroiderer.

I have a suggestion as to information you may like to read on this website. Start here:

A Few Techniques and Stitches

Ribbon embroidery is not as exact as other forms of needlework. There are as many variations to these stitches as there are designers who use them. The size of the stitch and how they are used (singly, in a row, or in a mass) and the size of the ribbon will all have an effect. The following instructions are intended to serve as a basic guide. READ the directions for each stitch before beginning.

1. Threading the Needle	20. Herringbone Stitch
2. Couching	21. Ladder Stitch
3. Back Stitch	22. Long and Short Stitch
4. Bokhara Couching	23. Open Chain Stitch
5. Broad Chain Stitch	24. Petal Stitch
6. Bullion Knots	25. Ribbon Stitch
7. Buttonhole Stitch	26. Romanian Couching
8. Chain Stitch	27. Running Stitch
9. Coral Stitch	28. Satin Stitch
10. Cretan Stitch	29. Seeding
11. Cross Stitch	30. Shisha Stitch
12. Cup Stitch	31. Split Stitch
13. Detatched Buttonhole Stitch	32. Spider Stitch
14. Detatched Chain Stitch	33. Star Stitch
15. Double Cross Stitch	34. Stem Stitch
16. Feather Stitch	35. Straight Stitch
17. Fly Stitch	36. Twisted Chain Stitch
18. Freestyle Cross Stitch	37. Wheels
19. French Knots	38. Woven Picots

and now .....

You are ready for your first embroidery project ...