Lately, you’ve seen a few mentions of Society Silk embroidery – also called Silk Art embroidery, needle painting, thread painting, silk shading, and … on and on – here on Needle ‘n Thread. The box of vintage needlework supplies (including silk threads and stamped linens from the early part of the 20th century) was, for me, a catalyst for further explorations into Society Silk. I also featured some of these historic needlework items in my give-away a couple weeks ago. Since then, it’s been a case of Silk-Art-Embroidery-on-the-Brain.
Needless to say, then, I was super-duper delighted when a reader left a comment directing me to her Flickr page that is jam-packed full of 192 photos of Society Silk embroidery! Oh, wow! I was in Silk-Shaded Heaven.
This particular collection on Flickr includes color plates from books published by silk companies and now in the public domain. The collector has put her images together in one place, so that the rest of us can meander through some really gorgeous examples of silk shading and other embroidery in silk.
Even if nothing else in the collection thrills you to the tips of your toes (a scenario which is highly unlikely!), then this embroidered peacock surely will. It is… it’s – amazing.
While you’re meandering around Embroiderist’s Flickr collection, make sure to click on Embroidery Collection, which will take you to a more general page that includes all her collections related to embroidery. Beware, though – you might spend hours browsing! There are heaps of vintage designs there!
I hope you enjoy browsing the Embroiderist’s collections – and thank you, Embroiderist, for commenting on Needle ‘n Thread and posting your link! I thought it was far too good a source of inspiration to leave it lost in the comments – hope you don’t mind the write-up!
OMG, this blog entry is so great. Thanks for sharing those photos and URL! –vince
I've found my way to this site several times as well. It's wonderful and isn't that peacock spectacular? It's a lovely place to spend a few hours.
Society silk on the brain, eh? Join the club! 🙂
WOW!!!!
These are magnificent!
Thank you Mary for passing this along.
Annie in Michigan
This is fantastic!
Beautiful eye candy. Thanks so much for posting about this site and sharing the URL.
WOW!!!
Dear Maria, thank you very much for this wonderful link with so many beautiful things!!
Hugs
Maria del Valle
Wow! Someof these gems brought me right back to my grandmother's house many, many years ago.
Thanks for sharing!
*gasp*
*dribble*
*dribble*
You can download the book that these are from "A Treatise on Art Needlework with Twenty Color Plates" from the Antique Pattern Library http://www.antiquepatternlibrary.org/completelist.htm
celeste
Oooh! Pretty pretty, Mary! You know… reading your blog so easily becomes a time sink as I flit to the wonderful places you recommend to me… But… so… so… wonderful!
Thank you Mary! I love love love this sort of thing! Shame I have to go to work now, I could lose myslef in these for hours!
An AMAZING resource! Thank you Mary! (Again!!)
Hi again. no I don't mind. the whole point of putting things online is to share. but eep 4000 hits in less than a day!
This is absolutely beautiful
Love this beautiful embroidery. Please let me know if there is a book on teaching this fine embroidery. Thank you, Pat/Texas
Hi, Pat – Society Silk embroideries were worked primarily in needlepainting or long and short stitch shading. So any book on silk shading, needlepainting, or long and short stitch shading (it goes by a lot of names!) will do the trick. If you’re completely new to this type of embroidery, Clare Hanham’s Beginner’s Guide to Silk Shading is a great place to start. Here’s my review of it: https://needlenthread.wpengine.com/2007/10/book-review-beginners-guide-to-silk.html
Gracias por compartir esos descubrimientos es maravilloso muchas gracias