I love the look of the India Embroidery called Shisha. Shisha has two meanings, one related to smoking with one Internet site showing it as cannabis, but I am excited about Shisha Embroidery.
Each of the small circles on this hand embroidered Shisha pillow case is a small mirror. You can use a sequin or a shiny button. My thinking is that this will be interesting on a Christmas or Holiday decoration. Anything you can place some embroidery around will make it more special.
Here is a
YouTube example of hand embroidering of Shisha. It lasts approximately 13 minutes but certainly is fun to watch. The stitches are just the normal we might use every day,
The next YouTube video is also 13 minutes but it shows a group of Indian women creating items for a world market that appreciates this intricate and delicate style. Sister Lucia checks for perfection – she will cut anything that needs to be redone. (Remember them from school??)
This work is done at St. Mary's Mahila Shikshan Kendra - Fair Trade Artisan Group in India.
I am working with a couple of sparkling buttons and created some circular designs from my frames that are located on all (probably) embroidery machines. Since I could not make the frame small enough for the button, I left it as is and I like the way the fabric adds to the shine by emphasizing the button.
strawberry.zip (190.2KB)