Materials for creating embroidered portraits
At left are some of the supplies used in the creation of my embroidered tapestries. Initially, I used yarns that varied by weight, fiber content and twist. Now I work almost exclusively with Paternayan 100% wool tapestry yarns. Available in an extensive range of colors (each displayed on a sample color card), they are lustrous, 3-plied, colorfast yarns with a tight, even twist that makes them extremely durable.
Linen is my favorite backing fabric because its threads are stronger and less likely to suffer distortion of shape caused by the addition of embroidered yarns. It's not necessary to use white as a background. In fact, I seldom do, preferring to use light or dark shades of taupe. Colored backings can be used as well, however, the fabric will subliminally warm, cool, brighten, darken or maybe even heather the overall look of the piece because of tiny spaces between stitches (even close stitches). For pieces with large areas of dark coloring, I have a supply of heavy-weight raw linen. When it was new, it smelled like mown grass. My original linen source is closed now but Dharma Trading Company and other online stores have a broad variety of fabrics available.
Linen is my favorite backing fabric because its threads are stronger and less likely to suffer distortion of shape caused by the addition of embroidered yarns. It's not necessary to use white as a background. In fact, I seldom do, preferring to use light or dark shades of taupe. Colored backings can be used as well, however, the fabric will subliminally warm, cool, brighten, darken or maybe even heather the overall look of the piece because of tiny spaces between stitches (even close stitches). For pieces with large areas of dark coloring, I have a supply of heavy-weight raw linen. When it was new, it smelled like mown grass. My original linen source is closed now but Dharma Trading Company and other online stores have a broad variety of fabrics available.