Super Spicy Microtrend: Mexican-Style Embroidery

There’s a big trend right now… embroidery.  We’re seeing surface embroidery on everything from dishtowels to sweaters, curtains, scarves, and bedding.  One very bright, funky, and beautiful subset of this trend is Mexican embroidery.

Though there are many styles of embroidery throughout Mexico, the stitch-work that we most commonly see utilizes a technique known as “satin stitch” which covers a large surface area in long, smooth stitches that shine like satin.

Examples of Mexican-style embroidery can be seen on this dress:

…this pillow:

…on this bedspread:

…and in this Bluprint embroidery project called Tessellations:

Are you ready to start stitching?  You can do stitch-work just like what’s pictured above with a little practice and the help of a nice tutorial.  Here are some places to start.

A few great embroidery tutorials:

1. Sarah’s hand embroidery tutorials.  This site is incredibly comprehensive, not only offering tons of embroidery tutorials, but also lots of info on the history of various types of embroidery.

2.  A quick flower tutorial from Little Deer Tracks.

Are you into embroidery? We’d love for you to share some of your projects with us!  AND, for even more surface embellishment inspiration, try Linda Permann’s online class, Crafty Crochet Embellishments. In this class you’ll learn to use simple crochet techniques to add beautiful, artsy touches to any project, whether knit, sewn, crochet or store-bought!