Choosing the Fabric<\/strong><\/p>\n
Let\u2019s start with the foundation.
We don\u2019t use the standard embroidery canvas you\u2019ll find in most craft stores. Instead, we use silk gauze\u2014sometimes sold as silk organza because it is transparent and fairly stiff.
However, ordinary silk organza from a fabric shop usually isn\u2019t suitable for counted embroidery. What we need is an even weave, where every thread is perfectly spaced to create a regular grid.
People often ask whether another evenly woven fabric could work instead.
Personally, I think the answer is yes\u2014but with one important condition.
Try to find something softer and more flexible than traditional silk gauze.
The stiffness of silk gauze is actually an advantage for flat pieces such as fire screens or decorative panels. Upholstered furniture is another story. When covering miniature chairs or sofas, a rigid foundation easily develops unwanted folds and creases. Even silk gauze can be difficult to shape, so choosing the right fabric is worth the effort.<\/p>\n
What Count Do Miniaturists Use?<\/strong>
Most miniature embroiderers try not to go below 40-count silk gauze (40 holes per inch). For miniature carpets, for example, 40-count is fairly standard and offers a good balance between detail and the time required to complete a project.
There is also the Miniature Needlework Society in the UK, which brings together enthusiasts of miniature embroidery, knitting, and bobbin lace. I\u2019m not a member myself, but I\u2019ve heard from fellow miniaturists that they generally recognize work stitched on 72-count silk gauze or finer. I can\u2019t personally verify that, though!
That said, I have to admit that embroidery on 72-count\u2014or even 90-count\u2014looks absolutely incredible.
The frustrating part is that photographs don\u2019t really capture the difference. At miniature shows and exhibitions I always found myself staring at embroidered pieces because they\u2019re simply breathtaking in person. In many cases it doesn\u2019t even look like embroidery anymore. It looks like a woven textile made specifically for the furniture.
I\u2019ve seen some outstanding painted upholstery in miniature, and when it\u2019s done in scale it can be wonderfully convincing. But exceptional embroidery has a unique richness that is difficult to imitate. It\u2019s also one of the reasons why furniture upholstered with miniature embroidery is usually far more expensive than painted upholstery.
That doesn\u2019t mean painted upholstery is somehow inferior. Not at all. If it\u2019s executed with the right level of detail and looks convincing in scale, it\u2019s an excellent solution.<\/p>\nDesigning the Pattern<\/strong>
In the video I mentioned that I create my embroidery charts digitally.
The programs I use are PC Stitch and WinStitch.
Of the two, WinStitch isn\u2019t my favorite. Large charts can become painfully slow, especially when using operations such as mirroring or cropping.
Today I would add another essential stage to the process: sketching.
I used to make detailed sketches only for marquetry or painted decoration, but once you start working on 60-count silk gauze or finer, preliminary sketches and color studies save an enormous amount of time.
As I mentioned in the video, I always stitch a small test section before committing to the final embroidery. It\u2019s the only reliable way to evaluate color combinations. I wouldn\u2019t skip that step.
And, of course, having a large selection of threads helps enormously.
That\u2019s one of the reasons I still love Chinese silk. It comes in an astonishing range of colors, and when I bought most of mine, it was surprisingly affordable.<\/p>\nMagnification<\/strong>
People often ask what magnification I use.
Most of the time I work with binocular magnifiers.
Recently, however, I discovered something rather amusing.
When stitching on 72-count silk gauze, I don\u2019t actually need magnification at all. I\u2019m quite nearsighted, so before I start stitching, I simply take my contact lenses out.
It works surprisingly well.
I haven\u2019t tried the same trick on 90-count yet\u2014mostly because I need to finish my current project first.
Why It Takes So Long
At the beginning of this article I said that miniature embroidery is slow.
I wasn\u2019t exaggerating.
A single small flower stitched on 72-count silk gauze takes me at least 30 minutes. That\u2019s only about 100 stitches.
Those stitches may involve four or five different shades, which means constantly changing threads, separating individual silk strands, preparing them, and occasionally adjusting the colors as the work progresses.
Interestingly, higher counts make color transitions more subtle, so achieving enough contrast often requires changing the original plan.
Background areas are much faster than floral motifs\u2014but they\u2019re still time-consuming.
Now imagine an embroidery measuring 190 \u00d7 190 stitches, and you\u2019ll have a pretty good idea of why these projects take so many hours.<\/p>\nWhy I Prefer Fine Counts<\/strong>
So why do I choose such fine silk gauze?
Simply because I love the result.
Higher counts allow for significantly more detail, more sophisticated chart design, and a much more convincing textile effect.
After years of working this way, I\u2019ve also developed a good intuition for matching thread thickness to the fabric, which makes the entire process much more enjoyable.
It\u2019s certainly not the fastest way to embroider miniature upholstery\u2014but for me, the finished result is worth every stitch.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Let\u2019s talk about miniature embroidery. I recorded a dedicated video on this subject about three years ago. If you watch it, you\u2019ll also see the embroidered upholstery panels for the armchairs I showed yesterday (around 2:13). I briefly explain my choice of threads and needles there, so I won\u2019t repeat all of that here.Instead, I\u2019d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_vp_format_video_url":"","_vp_image_focal_point":[],"_vp_custom_popup_image":0,"_vp_format_audio_url":"","_vp_album_images":[],"_vp_custom_thumbnail":0,"_vp_custom_thumbnail_focal_point":[],"_vp_custom_thumbnail_cover":0,"_vp_hover_thumbnail":0,"_vp_hover_thumbnail_focal_point":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[342,333,346],"tags":[497,512,540],"class_list":["post-4330","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-basics","category-miniature-needlepoint","category-to-read","tag-112-en","tag-embroidery","tag-miniature-needlepoint-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/victoriamorozovaminiatures.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4330","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/victoriamorozovaminiatures.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/victoriamorozovaminiatures.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victoriamorozovaminiatures.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victoriamorozovaminiatures.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4330"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/victoriamorozovaminiatures.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4330\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4332,"href":"https:\/\/victoriamorozovaminiatures.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4330\/revisions\/4332"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/victoriamorozovaminiatures.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4330"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victoriamorozovaminiatures.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4330"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victoriamorozovaminiatures.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4330"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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