Figure embroidery is a topic that absolutely captivates me.

I started my whole adult Embroidery Journey (that is, pursuing embroidery with Lusty Gusto, avidly collecting, reading, examining, attempting) while studying the history of art in college.

Ever since then, I’ve built my own collection of embroidered pieces and photographed others – especially on church vestments and vesture – in order to study them closely.

Now, if you’re not really into ecclesiastical figure embroidery, that’s ok – the techniques can translate well into any figure embroidery, whether church-related or not.

And true, there are other ways of embroidering faces and figures, besides the somewhat formal styles presented in church embroidery. For example, there are contemporary interpretations in embroidered portraits, like those by fiber artist Cayce Zavaglia.

I think one thing that really mesmerizes me about this subject is that the assortment of extant examples of such embroidery from various ages teaches us so much about the whole development of embroidery styles, techniques, and even materials – the development, in short, of the art of embroidery through the ages.

An important point to consider about figure embroidery is how it is meant to be viewed. The embroiderer will most certainly embroider differently, depending on the way the embroidery is supposed to be seen.

To illustrate this point, let’s take a look at some figure embroidery.