Embroidered Clothes

The Egyptians were doing it. The Chinese mastered it. And your grandmother probably did too. Are you embellishing your clothes with stitches? Embroidered clothes have been around since the beginning of history and were once considered a sign of wealth. Today it is all about aesthetics and making a piece of clothing unique.

Throughout history, embroidered clothing has undergone many changes and is now filling our shopping malls, boutiques, and adorning couture fashion. With the increased interest in the needle arts, many of us are now embroidering our own clothing. All you need to do is look at the flickr embroidery group and you will see many women transforming an ordinary tank top into something very distinctive. There are many places to seek inspiration for altering your clothes, such as walking through shops, flipping through fashion magazines, and looking at embroidery patterns.

With spring here and warmer weather approaching, you might be looking to uplift your wardrobe. Check out anthropologie which has dedicated a section of their website to all things embroidered, including this sweet "bohio smock."

Here are some tips for embroidering clothes:

1. Use a stabilizer which adds support and eliminates sagging or pulled stitches. This is especially helpful when working on t-shirts or fabric with a lot of stretch.

* Sulky has a whole line of wonderful stabilizers.

2. Use an embroidery hoop that is sized to the area of fabric you are working. For example, if you are working on a neckline or sleeve use a very small hoop.

3. Don't feel like you need to do small, detailed work around necklines. You can use the back of a shirt and embroider a fabulous motif. This was very popular in the 70's ranging from the very sweet to the completely rock-n-roll!

4. Start with an item of clothing you found on sale or already have in your closet so there will be no tears or curses if you mess up.

5. Have fun and post your shirt, skirt, hat, or whatever on the Flickr Embroidery Pool.