A three dimensional embroidery, mainly floral designs, worked in bright shiny coloured threads and using a variety of stitches, including bullion stitch.
CHARACTERISTICS
• 3 D embroidery – stitches piled, intertwined, padded,
twisted and knotted.
• Brilliantly coloured silky looking threads of different weights –
smooth, lustrous or have a crinkled boucle effect.
• Background filled with fine growth, branches and field flowers.
HISTORY
The Brazilian-style of embroidery was developed in 1960 by Mrs Elisa
Hirsch Maia of Brazil, who embroidered all her household linen and family’s
clothing.
She was dissatisfied with the floss and colours available. After much experimenting, she developed a method of dyeing the native cellulose so that each thread of floss could be several vivid colours. Soon she was in business, teaching her style and selling her twisted rayon floss. The business grew and her floss was sold around the world.
The different textures and thicknesses of rayon floss each have a different
name.
In the Edmar range – Glory, Frost, Iris, Lola, Nova, Rafia and Boucle.
References:
Brazilian Embroidery Instructions, B.D. Johnson, Hawkes Publishing, 1980
Brazilian Three-Dimensional Embroidery by Rosie Montague, Dover, 1983.
Floss Flowers by Virginia Chapman, Impact Presentations, 1988
Textured Embroidery, Bradford, J, Sally Milner, NSW 1993
© Valerie Cavill, 2009