Traditional Hand Embroidery

This section will introduce you to the different traditional embroideries and give a step-by-step guide to those embroideries. Every culture around the world had developed the art of needlework unique to themselves and laden with historical information. There had also been an exchange of the art of embroidery between cultures and countries over the ages and every time, it evolved into something newer!

The art with thread and needle has been an ongoing and evolving process. While many hand embroidery forms must already be extinct, many others have managed to pull through. Hand embroidery is now evolving with modern expressions. In short, hand embroidery has moved from being a mere necessity to being a form of art as well.

If you are absolutely new to the art of Hand Embroidery, then I recommend you to check the For Hand Embroidery Beginners section first.

Which traditional hand embroidery would you like to explore today?

 

212 Responses

  1. s
    shalu says:

    hello madam..
    sth kindled my interest in embroidery now..when i googled i just come across your site…it was very nive or beginers like me.I was shell-shocked to see the types of stitches. now being very basic i wanted to know how am i to begin with right from buying needles threads etc., how should i ask the shopkeepers …like what sought of needles, threads etc..

  2. n
    norma kringer says:

    THANK YOU

    Thank you !!!!!!!!! I must have been on this stupid computer an hour looking for your help. Your photo’s are so easy to follow. I am working on a Baltimore Album Quilt and need to do some embroidery work on the leaves and couldn’t find the outline stitch. I remember doing it long ago and just couldn’t make it work on the quilt. I see what I was doing wrong thanks to your help.

    Most offers of help required a signed contract it seemed.

  3. s
    swapna says:

    Really a nice tutorial and really helpfull desingning
    It will be good if u can provide some design layouts where we can use for dress designing and saree designing

  4. sarah says:

    Thanks Krupa. 🙂

    You can try using satin stitch for the leaf. The size of leaf you mentioned, if I understand correctly, is apt for this stitch.

  5. K
    Krupa says:

    Hi Sarah,

    You are just blessings for me… I am getting back to hand embroidery after a long time and your site is really really helping me a lot in this… I learnt many new stitches from your articles.

    Currently, I am working on a dress border where it has small leaf … not as small that I can use tulip stich / lazy daisy stich and not that big that I can use Herringbone stitch… I am thinking to use chain stitch over its border… Is there any other stitch which can be suitable for such thing?? Its urgent… please let me know

    Thanks,
    Krupa.

  6. S
    Shijila says:

    This site is simply superb…i loved it..keep rocking…this is really helpful to all who are interested in learning embroidery..:) 🙂 🙂

  7. J
    Jane says:

    Hi Sarah!
    Thank you for so much information. I appreciate that you would share your skill with me. If you have a newsletter could you please add me on the list using the email address that I supplied. I love hand embroidery – but after so very many years – I still stay with the basic stitches. Perhaps I will expand my stitch knowledge.

    Blessings to you!!

    • sarah says:

      Dear Jane,

      We don’t have a newsletter, but we do have a facility where every new article I make will come as a news update.
      You can use any reader, like the google reader to subscribe to it. The link to subscribe is https://www.embroidery.rocksea.org/feed

      I hope this helped you. Sorry that I could not reply to you earlier as I was travelling.

  8. s
    surekha galagoda says:

    dear sarah
    iam surekha from sri lanka. i always wanted to enjoy this fasinating art but never had time as i was working as a journalist.now iam a grandma and at home. i love your tutorials and have started to practice. thanks a mln. may the noble triple gem bless u, your husband and the baby. regards surekha

  9. S
    Sasirekha says:

    Dear Sarah mam,

    Your tutorial is awesome. Eventhough I know some of the basic stitches earlier, seeing your website, I was so impressed on your tutorial, and started doing work in my Twin Daughters dresses. They appreciate me in spending time for the handwork even I am an office goer. Even they are doing their 3 rd standard schooling, becoz of my interest, they have started doing embroidery work, so I gave 2 sets of embroidery kit for them. They are very interested and they wanted to embroidery for their dresses and wants to get appreciation from everybody..
    ITS ALL BECOZ OF YOU SARAH MAM. THANK U MAM !!!!!

    • sarah says:

      Dear Sasirekha,

      It is heart warming to know how you are spending time to stitch for your daughters. I am so happy to hear that they also took to this interest and are all set to learn!

      Please do share some of yours and your daughters’ works here. You can take a picture of what they have stitched and upload it using the function given just below the comment box. You will find this facility in every page, so you can correspond it with the respective stitch they are doing. It will give them a chance to share their work with the rest of the world and also earn some appreciation. 🙂

  10. k
    kavita shekhawat says:

    hey sarah..i m doing fashion designing in mumbai..i really like ur site..its awesome..nd easy to learn..u r doing such a gud work..i love it..i need a book of that if its is published..its urgent ..pls kindly reply..i ll be waiting..

  11. n
    naina says:

    hi sarah

    very good work dear!!! Great to see such elaborate work on the net and to learn from it!! its very easy to learn from images, i am making my kurta by using patal stitches and other stitches,

    i did mail before but u didn’t reply, plz reply 🙂

    can you learn me sindhi embroidery stitches?

  12. s
    shanika says:

    hey sarah,
    your site is prtty good but i dint get any embroidery of kashidakari ,kathiwar or mochi bharat……if you hv ny idea regardng dese topics plzz leme knw soon….

  13. J
    Joe says:

    Dear Sarah,

    I found your site very helpful that I can learn again about hand embroidery. I started learning hand embroidery when I was in elementary and falling deeply in love with the needle work right away. But left it for a long time and starting to come back on doing what I love, so your site really help me to refresh my memory, because I need it to teach a group of non-working moms with HIV who need more income for their family.
    Thank you so much for helping the needy moms.

    JOE

  14. g
    girija says:

    would like to learn embroidery…pls let me know what i should do

  15. l
    lilly mary says:

    hiiiiiiii sara,

    i am looking for embroidery can send me simple designs to mail id plsssssssssss.

    looking for ur reply.

  16. C
    Chhaya says:

    Dear Sara,
    Thanks a lot for your tutorials.I follow your blog and I am learning lot of new stiches from it.Can you help me with basic lessons in smoking type of emb.
    Chhaya

  17. a
    aswini says:

    hi……
    ur’s site is very useful for innovaters…
    thnx 4 dt..
    i want to know wat type of thread we can use for embroidery in cotton, silk cotton and poly cotton for gud finish and wat’s the needle no…. thnx in advance

  18. C
    CELIA MARIA says:

    Sarah, my congrats! I’m a Brazilian lover of handcraft who was looking for a simple pattern for a work in vagonite to my kitchen. I decided to search in English (on “Doctor Google”) and suddenly I found this page. WOW! It is really an amazing one! I have many patterns from my mom and grandmom who also embroidered. I’m trying to scan them, maybe someday they will be ready, so I can send to you. God bless you and your family, dear!

    • sarah says:

      Dear Celia,

      Thanks! 🙂 I am glad that our pages have impressed you. Please do share some old and valuable patterns…I would love to put them up relevantly so that learners can use them.

  19. s
    shreya says:

    your tutorials are lovely.keep up the great work

  20. B
    Barbara says:

    Where do you get your pattern? Thank you , I love you site.

  21. n
    nikisha says:

    hi Sarah,
    can you tell me if you know about the hadangar stitch

  22. s
    shubha Anil says:

    dear sarah,
    you are really a great person with so much of knowledge in this great art. you are the ultimate person ya. please can you help me. basically i know 10 stiches but an expert like u.i want to do kamal work for my saree can you please let me know how i can trace the design on my saree without hassles

    thanking you

  23. p
    poornima says:

    Hi Sarah,

    I would like to join for hand embroidery tutorial classes online. I am staying in bangalore so I would need online coaching.
    Please let me how is the fees and how many days will it take to learn.

    Thanks

    • sarah says:

      Dear Poornima,
      I have not started providing online embroidery classes yet. For now, you can just go to the picture dictionary section and pick each stitch to learn from. Check the top right hand side of this page, and you will find an ‘Embroidery’ section with few embroidery tutorials too.

  24. n
    naina says:

    hi sarah

    very good work dear!!! Great to see such elaborate work on the net and to learn from it!! its very easy to learn from images, i am making my kurta by using patal stitches and other stitches,

    can you learn me sindhi embroidery stitches?

  25. hello,Sarah,i am a college student of China,i find this website by chance, pictures with explanation is very careful, and your embroidery works are really amazing. And Chinese embroidery is also very extensive and profound like Suzhou embroidery , Chinese knot and the Art of weaving. My mother is a woker to make Woven clothes, so i started to learn it when i was a little girl. I am interested in embroidery and the art of weaving. and i sometimes do some small toys or some simple embroidery. That really makes my life much colorful. By the way, i am very happy to find ths website, and hope you can create more beautiful arts.

    • sarah says:

      Thanks Winnie for stopping by. We are happy that you liked our website. 🙂
      I have wanted to learn more of chinese embroidery styles and have done a very brief research too. But, I guess it needs a lot of time. I have also seen many wonderful chinese art (including embroidery) at a museum here near my mother’s place. Some of them were truly a feast to the eyes and the precision and intricacies had to be appreciated.

  26. D
    Danielle says:

    Sarah,

    Thank you so much for your helpful website! I was just recently introduced to hand embroidery by my great aunt, but she isn’t able to explain how to do things at this point in her life. I really appreciate your tutorials and plan on coming back to your site frequently!!!

    Thanks,

    ~Danielle

  27. s
    saurabh says:

    Hii sarah…
    Your blog so interesting and very helpful for begginers so keep it on.

  28. v
    vasantha says:

    hi sarah ur tutorial is excellent

  1. August 5, 2012

    […] a sweet website I found while doing what I do best, using Google.  The website it came from is https://www.embroidery.rocksea.org/hand-embroidery/ and I highly recommend this site for anyone who would likes hand […]

  2. November 14, 2012

    […] Sarah’s hand embroidery tutorials are also a great resource, there is even a pictorial dictionary of stitches to help you figure out how to create a particular stitch or texture you want to make. […]

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