“Isphahan”

One of my dreams has always been to create embroideries that would flawlessly convert to whole cloth embroideries. All along, somehow or the other, I have been trying to do that but somehow some special ingredient was always missing. Some while back, I had started to think about creating a collection of designs which will create an overall embroidered effect as well as be able to be used by themselves individually. Moreover, I wanted to have low stitch count as well as minimum of threads to stitch out the designs. Everytime I go shopping for fabric, I find the most beautiful fabrics with overall embroideries. The price tag however, has always made me question the need for purchasing those fabrics.

With this in mind, I created the “Isphahan” collection which I hope to release very soon. Isphahan is not only one of the most historical and largest cities in Iran, but also has very deep personal ties in my own family background. Using an antique Persian carpet as my inspiration I used simple motifs to create designs that would create an overall embroidery effect. The original designs that I drew were quite heavy and had too much in them which led to difficulties in blending the various designs together. But, that is what an Isphahani carpet is all about. So, I set about modifying the motifs and the designs. The close-up above is the fnal result.

As it is almost winter time, I dug into my stash and found…believe it or not, medium weight polar fleece fabric. Not the best of fabrics to use for designs that are very low density…but then why not. For stabilizer, I used H&V wash away tearaway only and even I was impressed with the final result. Mind you, fleece has a tendency to have the stitches sink into it and for digitizers that is a definite challenge. One of the methods I have seen is the layering effect which builds the threads up and the design can then be seen on fleece. Experimenting I have found that instead if longer stitches are used rather than short stitches, they tend to stay above the heavier plush and there is no need to have the machine work harder with the layering effect. Ofcourse a light density does work better on plush than a heavy density which tends to warp the fabric after the embroidered item is washed.  I used the designs as a border on the sleeve and front of the jacket only.

The trick is in perfect matching….or is it? After several dishearted attempts at trying to create a method that would continue the design, I decided to go simple and easy. A hint to fellow digitizers attempting the same. It is not the continuity that counts when creating a continuous design but the concept of continuity. It took me a while to figure it out myself. My initial designing had only three shades of any color that were to be used within the design. However, once I saw what a dear tester had accomplished using different colors, I was sold! The collection as it stands at the moment has both the versions of designs in it, monotone and color. As to the release date…well, Isphahan is the final collection for the year 2008 and I hope to release it well before the month is out.