The East is famous for its traditions, this also applies to needlework. The Chinese embroidery technique, also known as Suzhou (after the name of the area), has been known for over two thousand years. Despite such a long history, this embroidery technique became known to Europeans only in the 20th century. Since China is the birthplace of silk, it is not surprising that silk began to be used in needlework.

Chinese embroidery is satin stitch embroidery with silk threads on silk fabric. They use double-sided stitching, so the picture looks the same on both sides. The highest craftsmanship is the embroidery of different pictures on the front and back sides – embroiderers achieve such a coincidence of plots that it is impossible to understand that another picture is embroidered on the reverse side. To achieve this result, the entire canvas, including the background, is covered with embroidery, very thin threads are used, and the knots are hidden in a special way. Such two-sided works are not hung on the wall, but framed on a horizontal surface so that you can turn and admire both sides. Multilayer embroidery techniques are also interesting, when different images are embroidered on different canvases and then superimposed on each other, this achieves the effect of image depth.

Paintings made in the technique of Chinese smoothness are real works of art. Many shades and the finest silk threads create a magnificent realism of the image. The works include more than 30 shades of colors, and complex works can be made using more than a thousand shades. The favorite motifs for embroidery are nature: plants and animals, or folk epic stories. It is not surprising that the creation of paintings takes from several months to a year. However, there are works on which craftswomen worked for several years.

Chinese embroidery heart

The city of Suzhou, one of the most famous cities in China, was and is still the center of silk embroidery. This is where this tradition originated. The annals of embroiderers say that they used needles as thick as a human hair, the threads are bright, and the resulting pictures were as if alive. Sometimes Chinese embroidery is indeed compared to painting.

Embroidery became popular and actively developed, especially during the period from the 17th to the 20th century, when it split as if in two directions: embroidery for the people and embroidery as a pattern. Embroidery began to decorate the clothes and accessories of many people. Once upon a time, Suzhou artisans bred silkworms to produce silk threads specifically for creating conditions for embroidery. Today, silk is also produced in this city in a modern way, striving to create new bright and interesting threads and fabrics, but the embroidery traditions have not changed. Almost every woman in Suzhou knows how to embroider, but it is considered a special honor to work at a state-owned factory, where embroiderers create paintings for special occasions on government orders, for example, to decorate important rooms or as a gift to the head of a state.

Chinese embroidery is known all over the world today due to the beauty, sophistication and elegance of finished products. The works are equated with the creations of world art; exhibitions are organized to demonstrate them, where you can buy real masterpieces. The works of Chinese masters are in the collections of famous world museums. Under the influence of the West, new directions began to appear in Chinese embroidery. For example, in the 20th century, realistic embroidery depicting people appeared. The portraits are very similar, the smallest details are worked out, special attention is paid to the image of the hair, there is a complete feeling that this is a well-painted portrait or photograph. A new embroidery method was also developed, called “free stitch”. This style uses stitches of different lengths and directions, as well as overlapping threads of different shades. Nowadays, embroidered copies of paintings by famous artists are also popular, which practically do not differ from the originals.

The Secret of Chinese Embroidery

The main secret and main difficulty of this type of embroidery is the use of very thin threads. The silk thread is divided into 16 threads, which are then used in the work. To create the effect of volume, different elements are made with threads of different thicknesses. For example, a petal is embroidered by reducing the thickness of the thread from the base to the edge. The direction of the stitch also matters – by changing the direction, you can change the shade, as the light will reflect off the silk thread differently. Modern masters and just amateurs have the opportunity to embroider with silk ready-made drawing. For this, special color paintings printed on silk are sold. Embroiderers can only embroider with silk over some parts of the picture or cover the entire canvas with stitches.

In traditional embroidery, the master embroiders work on fabric using outline images, moreover, the highest skill is considered to be embroidery on a clean fabric, like creating a picture. For embroidery, untwisted silk is used, which evenly covers the surface. Traditional hoops can damage or stretch thin fabric, so work is done on a frame hoop or on a stretcher. Such work requires some experience, but after the skill appears, embroidery brings real pleasure.

Colors and shades are of great importance in Chinese culture. The background for embroidery is chosen dark – black, dark blue, brown, dark green. And the threads are selected bright, but do not forget to separate them to create the desired effect. Embroidery is done with a regular stitch using some shades from one color to indicate shadows and a smooth color transition. For the Chinese, it is also important what is shown in the picture. Chinese culture is very symbolic, so every animal, plant, background color matters.