Embroidery is hot!

The world is a trend-driven place, and no where is this more apparent than in the craft industry. First knitting came on the scene, and pretty soon young hipsters were toting their needles and skeins to coffee shops. Then sewing enjoyed (and still enjoys) a renaissance.

There are trends within trends, too. Scrapbooking, for instance, seems to be evolving from a craft that involved using pre-made images and mass-produced paper products to a more free-flowing format that calls for creative use of recycled objects and momentos. Along those lines, ” art journaling ” is growing in popularity and elevating scrapbooking even more.

Embroidery is everywhere right now—on blogs, in books, and on the bag you see above that I made last weekend for a friend’s baby shower. (It’s meant to be a book bag her son can use at the library in a few years. I followed this design by Sarah Jane Studios )

Some of the most popular books on the topic are Doodle Stitching by Aimee Ray, Sublime Stitching by Jenny Hart, and Embroidered Effects , also by Hart. Another new book on the topic is Embroidery for Little Miss Crafty by Helen Dardick. I haven’t seen it in person, but it looks like it could be good.

Hart deserves a lot of the credit for making embroidery hip again. Her images are … how should I put it? … not exactly the ususal subject matter for traditional embroidery enthusiasts. You can learn more about her here .

Traditional embroidery images are popping up again, too, though. On Flickr, crafters scan and contribute designs that are no longer protected by copyright to image pools, like the Hoop Love Vintage Transfers pool, and anyone can go online and print out those patterns. Crafters are using the designs to adorn quilts, baby bibs, clothing, little stuffed hedgehogs … whatever. (Hedgehogs are hot, too, by the way.)

Some other embroidery links worth checking out:
Feeling Stitchy
Etsy Stalker
How to transfer an embroidery design, by Elemental Stitches
A Princess and the Pea design and other beautiful work by Flickr member Georgia McDonald (found via Sew Mama Sew )

So if you’re trying to stay on top of the trends, give embroidery a try. If you’ve been embroidering for years and could care less about being cool, more power to ya! Make yourself a cup of tea, do some stitching and send me some photos so I can post them here on Dwell Well.