Dear lace-Chatters The double-sided embroidery is one of the wonders of China. I was lucky to visit a workshop studio on my first visit to China in 1987. I cannot remember the name without looking it up, but we were somewhere near Changsha. The workrooms were built round a square garden courtyard, the green foliage was supposed to help rest the eyes of the young girls when they took their rest breaks.
The girls worked on large embroidery frames with the flat surface of the fabric underneath, not on top of the frame, as we work. This meant that the embroiderer could place a smooth piece of padded wood on which to rest her embroidery arm. Sometimes two girls would work the piece at the same time, in this case the frame was upright. The very fine silk thread was worked so that the main stitch was on the surface and only a small stitch on the reverse. The girl working the other side would make her long stitch and the tiny stitch would be hidden under the front embroidery of the first girl. If only one girl worked at a time, the frame would be reversed for the other stitchery. It was amazing, a tiger would reverse to a peacock, a cat would have both its back and front head, a man warrier would reverse to a female warrier, etc. It was very expensive and at the time I could not afford to buy a piece, but of course took lots of photos of work in progress, as well as buying slides, which I cannot find to tell you the name of the place!! Angela Thompson In high summer Worcestershire UK [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace-chat [EMAIL PROTECTED]
