Background Fabric for Brazilian Dimensional Embroidery

I had a request from a stitching friend; she was looking for fabrics to work her  Brazilian dimensional embroidery magic on.

She asked about Trigger cloth which many of us have used, but mentioned that it is fairly hard to needle. I wrote back to her and then decided this information might be helpful to other stitchers, so I'm sharing.

Trigger cloth has gotten quite stiff, almost like canvas. If you are at your local fabric store, take a look at their T-Shot Poplin. It's the same weight as Trigger but much easier to needle and you can find it in a lot of different colors. It's 45" wide, compared to the 60" wide Trigger, or the Blazer Poplin that most of us use.

Please remember that Brazilian embroidery can be worked on almost any fabric. A lot of people enjoy stitching on finer poly-cotton blends, linens or almost anything you can pass a needle through.

When I began B.E., I found some really nice table napkins; weight was about the same as trigger or any of the poplins and I used them to practice; these napkins have the advantage of nicely-serged edges and make wonderful doodle cloths. If you have a Dollar Store, K-Mart, WalMart or any of the one-stop-shop stores that carry table linens, you can probably find something nice. Most are large enough and colorful enough to make beautiful pillows. If you use them as doodle cloths, just remember to write on them with your Micron Pigma Pen - the stitches used, colors, name of the flower, etc., for future reference.

My stitching friend also asked if I ever use a lining, even with Trigger or Poplin. 

I often back even my Blazer poplin embroidery with the Symphony Broadcloth (80%/20%) that JoAnn Stores sell for under $2.00 a yard (look for coupons).  I’ve found I don’t have to work so hard to hide floss tails. And several of our stitchers have used one of the batting-type backings like Thermolam.  A lining is not always necessary; it's just a choice.

Now, about that RoseyPosey I was going to share with you. . . 
      Well, you'll be pleased to know that I've finished editing all of the pictures I took for the photo tutorial of my new, never-before-published-on-a-design RoseyPosey. There were a LOT of them, but some of our blog readers have to set their translator feature to work -- and sometimes visual aids are just more helpful.

Well, let's see ... maybe I can find a flower or two to pop in here. 

Today's little examples are from one of my Millefiori B.E. designs called "Alphabet Flower Sampler" - it's a floral picture frame with a double flower border stitched in mostly lighter-weight floss such as Glory and Iris, metallic threads and beads, and if you'd like a print with all instructions, just let me know. I think it's on my website. If not, it SHOULD be. I need to wander on over there and get that thing updated. Look for Millefiori Design #904.

Rosalie