Dmcthread's Blog

Sharing My Newest “Find”

I’m a bit of an antique store junkie, and I do try to go “hunting” at least once a month.  While nosing through every nook and cranny of antique malls (and the occasional flea market), I am always on the lookout for needlework items.

Some awesome – and often valuable – pieces have been found on my forays. But, the downside is that my collection has outgrown the linen closet!

My find this week is not particularly valuable – in fact, I have no doubt this Chinese silk embroidery featuring tree peonies was probably mass-produced for export.

But, it’s pretty – and pretty old. The piece provides some outstanding inspiration!

The fact that I found it at all is a little strange, because I didn’t even see the needlework at first. Instead, what I saw was a rather ugly old painting on boards (see photo to the right) tucked in the corner – I moved it to get to the item behind it.

Once I moved the item, it opened to reveal 4 very pretty, tonal embroidered panels.

The two end panels are heavily worn and torn – as if the item had been folded and stuffed in an attic for a few decades, protecting the inside 2 screens. The tears give a glimpse of the Chinese newspaper that was used to pad the panels.

These photos are small, but you can click on them to make them larger, so you can see the details better.

While the panels are not as finely worked as a fine antique, they are worked in silks on silk fabric. The motifs are simple enough to be adapted for a beginner’s satin stitch project – which I plan to post at a later time.

The four panels feature a flowing floral design with branches that flow naturally from one panel to the  next, accented with humming birds.

I am planning to provide a humming bird pattern to be worked in satin stitch using DMC Satin Floss. It’s silky in appearance and I’d like to modernize the design with some hip color choices.

I’ll to post the pattern in a few weeks, but was so excited, I just had to show you what I found!

To learn more about Asian silk embroidery, I would recommend Painting with a Needle by Young Yang Chung or  Chinese Embroidery: Traditional Techniques by Josiane Bertin Guest.

Happy stitching – and hunting!

~Emma