Shadow Work

Shadow work as the name implies, is the shaded part of a design worked on the wrong side of a fabric.

A shadow Work Design

Wrong side of the Design where stitches are done

Shadow work is usually done on fine transparent fabric like Organdy, Organza etc. and the Stitch used for shadow work is Closed Herring Bone Stitch, also known as Double Back Stitch. The colour of the thread appears delicately through the fabric giving the design a shadowy appearance.

Materials Required
Embroidery frame
Embroidery Thread (Double Shade or dark&light shade
Thread-different colours)
Tracing Paper
Carbon Paper
Scissors
Needle
Methods
Shadow work seen from the wrong side

First trace out the required design (usually flowers) on the wrong side of the cloth using carbon and tracing sheet. Take two strands of embroidery thread, put a knot at one end and start stitching.
There are two methods of stitching :

Method 1
Bring the needle to the right side at 1, in at 2, out at 3, in at 4, out at 5 and so on.
Method2

Bring the needle through A take a small back stitch and insert the needle at B
Bring the needle through C, insert the needle at D
Bring the needle through E and Insert at A
Bring the needle through F and insert at C
Bring the needle through G and insert at E

u get many more from here...

Mirror Work

Mirror work is the art of stitching mirrors on to the fabric in a variety of designs.

Mirrors of different shapes (Square, Diamond, Round etc) and sizes are used for Mirror work. Mirror work can be done on any fabric in sarees, blouse pieces, skirts etc. After fixing the mirror you can stitch beads around to make it more attractive.

Sequence is a plastic silver coated material available in different shapes and size. This is also used instead of mirrors.

Materials Required

Mirrors or sequence of desired shapes & sizes
Embroidery Thread
Needle

There are different ways of fixing mirrors of different shapes to the fabric. Two or three strands of thread are taken to fix mirrors or sequence.

1st method- For Round Mirrors
Place the mirror on the cloth & draw the out line. Mark a dotted line 1/2 cm away from the outline. On the dotted line work chain stitch loosely.

Join the last & first chain . Then pass the thread through the inner chain. when it reaches the last chain, insert the mirror and pull the thread and make it tight. Bring the needle out through any chain and then take the needle down the fabric and end it with a knot.

2nd method

You can also fix mirrors by stitching with the mirror placed on the cloth in position. Keep the mirror in position and start stitching. Refer to the figure on the right side and follow the instructions given below

Insert the needle at A
Take the needle to B
Bring the needle to C
From C to D
D to E
E to F
F to G
G to H
Again come back to A. If you want a thicker appearance repeat once again

Do Button hole or blanket stitch on the thread .To give a finishing touch to the work, you can do Closed Herring Bone or Chain stitch as the outline of the mirror.

u get many more from here...

Kantha Work

Kantha is basically close running stitch filled inside a design. Though the work is simple, the final appearance is beautiful. Different shades of thread; double shade or single shades can be used aesthetically according to your taste.

Materials required

Embroidery frame
Embroidery thread
Tracing Paper
Carbon Paper
Needle

Designs:

Method

First trace out the design you have chosen on the fabric using tracing paper and carbon. Stitch the outline and then fill in the design with running stitch leaving very little space. The model is shown here to get the idea of the stitch. The stitch shown on the right side should be longer and the space in between should be minimum possible.

Running Stitch:

Take two strands of thread, tie a knot at one end and start stitching. Take the needle up from below the fabric, leave some space, take it down and up again repeatedly till the outline is fully done. Start stitching inside the design in the same way until the whole design is filled.