Suzhou Embroidery
苏绣
Three Kingdoms period (220–280 CE)
Suzhou embroidery is a renowned silk embroidery style from the Suzhou region of Jiangsu. Distinguished by its refined, delicate stitches and subtle color gradations, it can produce effects resembling oil paintings, watercolors, and photography. Master embroiderers use threads so fine they can be split into 32 strands. The double-sided embroidery technique, where both sides of the fabric show the same image, is a Suzhou specialty.
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Skills & Techniques
Su Embroidery Techniques
The refined art of Suzhou embroidery, characterized by split threads, subtle color blending, and double-sided stitching.
- Select and prepare the silk fabric base
- Transfer the design onto fabric using tracing
- Split silk thread into the required fineness (up to 32 strands)
- Select thread colors for shading and blending
- Stitch using techniques appropriate to the subject (realistic, seeds, plants)
- For double-sided embroidery, conceal all knots between layers
embroidery frame, fine needles, thimble, scissors, magnifying lens
silk fabric, silk thread (split threads), satin fabric, gold thread
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Timeline
Three Kingdoms period (220–280 CE)
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