Figure embroidery – the depiction of human figures in embroidery – is the hook that originally got me into exploring surface embroidery in earnest.

I came across a lot of it when doing research for a History of Art course in college, and it absolutely fascinated me. At the time, I already dabbled in surface embroidery, but the exquisite, artistic nature of the figure embroidery that I found in texts, in museums, and eventually in church sacristies and collections really astounded me. It was an art form I had never really noticed before, until I started studying it in earnest. And, like I said, I was hooked. It became a bit of an obsession.

Since then, I’ve collected a lot of Stuff pertaining to figure embroidery – many pieces, gleaned from antique dealers, online auctions, and the like, as well as books the at least touch on the subject (there are no books, to my knowledge, solely devoted to the subject) and pattern collections.

Technology has made the study of figure embroidery from an amateur’s perspective (i.e., my perspective) a lot easier than it used to be when I was in college. Way back then (some 25 years ago), I had a camera – you know, the kind with film? – and as for a computer… ha! I thought I was pretty advanced to have an electronic typewriter in my dorm room. And while I had access to computers, they certainly didn’t do what they do now. If I wanted to study a piece of figure embroidery up close, I used a magnifying glass.

Now, my favorite tools for getting really up close and personal with pieces of old embroidery are my camera and my computer.