The Art of Chinese Embroidery

About Margaret Lee

The SEW Region Magazine - Book Threads

Chinese embroidery has been around for centuries. It has long been admired around the world. Until now, little instruction is written in the English language.

The introduction begins with a brief history of embroidery in China. It then moves on to the art of Su embroidery and the discipline that is the focus of the book. Margaret Lee talks about becoming an embroidery artist; about the way we commit to embroidery alongside learning the stitches. The last topic covered in this section is practical consideration. Su embroidery takes time, Margaret advocates planning and preparation and forming good work practices. Protecting the work and silks is also covered here.

The next section Getting Started, talks about the equipment and materials needed for Su embroidery. Some of which are not readily available outside of China, so Margaret suggests suitable alternatives. Filament silk is the thread she recommends and the dividing of this is explained. Preparing the fabric and framing up are also covered in this section.

The embroidery stitches and techniques sections cover all the stitches used in the book. They are broken down into groups, linear techniques, filling techniques, supplementary techniques, scale techniques, and knots. Each group of stitches begins with a short description and indication of where they are used.

The second half of the book is dedicated to projects featuring flowers, plants, insects, designs in the style of brush painting, birds, and fish. A labelled, colour picture and a line drawing showing the stitch direction accompany a stitch guide for each project and the full-size designs are provided on two pull-out sheets at the back of the book.

If you have ever considered trying Chinese Su embroidery this is an essential learning guide, but I think that its appeal is to a far wider audience. If you have struggled with filament silk but wish to use it in your embroidery, I recommend this book for this section alone.

Anyone wishing to learn thread painting techniques will benefit from reading the stitch guide on filling techniques. This is a gorgeous book that definitely belongs in my collection so that I can refer to it again and again.