Fall 2019: Embroidery Development

During my Fall semester, I had the opportunity to explore the creative development of embroidery. In my embroidery class we learned over 100 stitching techniques as well as creating various embroidery projects to explore these different techniques. As hand embroidery could be considered an older craft, I wanted to explore this form of decorative finishing to enhance my designing skills with more personal and tactical elements.

Along with my embroidery class, I also had the opportunity to collaborate with Marist's Makerspace by using their embroidery machine for faster commercial embroidery techniques. As learning how to use the machine was a learning experience of its own, I utilized the embroidery machine to make swatch samples for both my Muse and Classification collections showcased in my portfolio. Not only was I able to develop embroidered fabric samples, but the machine also allowed me to create new stitching patterns. These include; topstitching on heavy weight fabrics, lace detailing on silk chiffon, and eyelet embroidery on medium weight fabrics.

For my final project, I applied inspiration from my senior collection to make a textural and three dimensional topographical map. This final sample project explored various hand embroidery techniques as well as incorporating my own form of embroidered stitches. This final topographical map motif inspired the block print pattern within my senior collection. My experience in the hand embroidery class along with the usage of the industrial embroidery machine, allowed me to incorporate machine embroidery details with my stitch-lines and stitch-details within each garment of the collection.