Brazilian embroidery is a type of surface

embroidery Embroidery is the art of decorating Textile, fabric or other materials using a Sewing needle, needle to stitch Yarn, thread or yarn. It is one of the oldest forms of Textile arts, textile art, with origins dating back thousands of years across ...

that uses

rayon Rayon, also called viscose and commercialised in some countries as sabra silk or cactus silk, is a semi-synthetic fiber made from natural sources of regenerated cellulose fiber, cellulose, such as wood and related agricultural products. It has t ...

thread instead of

cotton Cotton (), first recorded in ancient India, is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus '' Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure ...

wool Wool is the textile fiber obtained from sheep and other mammals, especially goats, rabbits, and camelids. The term may also refer to inorganic materials, such as mineral wool and glass wool, that have some properties similar to animal w ...

. It is called "Brazilian" embroidery because the use of high-sheen rayon thread in embroidery was first popularized in

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

, where rayon was widely manufactured. Brazilian embroidery patterns usually include flowers formed using both knotted and cast on stitches. Rayon thread, which is smooth and shiny, makes it easier to pull the needle through the wrapped stitches, such as bullion stitches. Milliners needles, which have a straight shaft and an eye area no wider than the shaft, are usually used for the wrapped stitches that are frequently used in Brazilian embroidery. Although many of these stitches are used in other forms of

, the technique used to create them is slightly different. The difference is caused by the method used to manufacture the rayon thread. For example,

thread uses an ''S'' twist when the fiber plies are combined into a strand.

Rayon Rayon, also called viscose and commercialised in some countries as sabra silk or cactus silk, is a semi-synthetic fiber made from natural sources of regenerated cellulose fiber, cellulose, such as wood and related agricultural products. It has t ...

thread uses a ''Z'' twist. One type of twist turns the fiber plies clockwise; the other turns them counterclockwise. When forming the knots of Brazilian

, the embroiderer must wrap the thread onto the needle in the opposite direction from that used in other types of embroidery. Otherwise the fibers of the thread will unravel and make the resulting stitches and knots unattractive.

References

External links

EdMar Company
A good place to see what Brazilian embroidery looks like
Official website of the Brazilian Dimensional Embroidery International Guild - BDEIG, Inc.
*Needle 'n Thread Blog (Mary Corbet)
Brazilian Embroidery
Embroidery by country Textile arts of Brazil {{textile-arts-stub