Fabric Decoration with Embroidery
Senior 2 · Fine Arts
Fabric Decoration with Embroidery
Lesson 4 of 5
20 min
A strong embroidery begins as a strong drawing. Some of the best designs for stitching are already around you in Rwanda: the bold geometric ridges of imigongo, the zigzags on an agaseke, banana leaves, coffee cherries, the animals of Akagera. In this lesson you will turn an idea into a clear design, plan which stitch goes where, and transfer the design onto fabric so that no marks show when you finish.
A stitch plan is your final drawing with a key that shows the stitch and the colour for each part. Here is a plan for a square motif inspired by imigongo patterns.
| Method | How | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Window tracing | Tape the design to a sunny window, tape the fabric over it and trace the lines with a sharp pencil. | Light, thin fabrics that let light through |
| Dressmaker's carbon paper | Put the carbon face down on the fabric and the design on top, then draw firmly over the lines. Use white or yellow carbon on dark fabric. | Medium and some dark fabrics |
| Tissue paper | Trace the design onto thin tissue paper, tack it to the fabric with large stitches, stitch through paper and fabric together, then gently tear the paper away. | Dark, patterned or textured fabric such as kitenge, where lines will not show |
| Drawing directly | Draw the design straight onto the fabric with tailor's chalk or a pencil. | Simple, bold shapes |
Whatever the method, draw lightly: every transfer line must end up hidden under stitches. Test any pen or chalk on a scrap of the same fabric first.
Keza has drawn a motif 5 cm wide but she needs it 15 cm wide for a cushion. The scale factor is 15 ÷ 5 = 3. She draws a grid of 1 cm squares over her small drawing and a grid of 3 cm squares on a large sheet of paper, with the same number of squares. Then she copies the drawing square by square: whatever crosses a small square, she draws across the matching large square. The copy is exactly three times as wide and three times as tall.
Imigongo is a traditional art from eastern Rwanda. Artists build raised ridges from cow dung mixed with ash, then paint them, traditionally in black, white and earth red. In this panel, black ridges form V shapes that point towards the centre from every side, making a star. Shapes like these, bold, geometric and high in contrast, translate well into embroidery: backstitch or chain stitch for the ridges, satin stitch for the triangles between them.
Tip
Plan, then trace lightly. Decide the stitch and colour for every part before you pick up a needle, and match the transfer method to the fabric: window for light fabric, white carbon for dark, tissue paper for busy prints like kitenge.
Name a transfer method for a design on dark blue kitenge, and explain your choice.
Solution: the tissue-paper method. Light cannot pass through the dark fabric for window tracing, and pencil lines would not show on it; with tissue paper you stitch through the paper and tear it away.
A design is 4 cm wide and must be enlarged to 12 cm. What is the scale factor, and what size should the squares on the large grid be if the small grid has 1 cm squares?
Solution: 12 ÷ 4 = 3, so the large squares are 3 cm.
Why must transfer lines be drawn lightly?
Solution: every line must be covered by stitches. Heavy lines can show at the edges of the stitches and may not wash out.
Your hoop is 20 cm across. How wide can your design be at most, if you keep 2 cm of fabric clear on every side inside the hoop?
Solution: 20 − 2 − 2 = 16 cm.
Remember
Sources and credits
This lesson adapts CC BY-SA material and is shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.
