French Knots

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Originally uploaded by Digital Leaf

I went to the Rubin Museum, where there is a piece made entirely of "french knot" embroidery. I didn't write down the details about the Buddhist image, but the crisp detail was impressive. A guide said the piece was for a Chinese Emperor and that the technique was only allowed for royalty.

Browsing Flickr, i came across this pillow and decided I had to try making french knots. Here is a video on how to make a french knot.

I embroidered this onto a drawstring bag I made a while back to hold my yarn when commuting. I started with the center of french knots and then filled in the petals with brick stitch. I got lazy when I got the leaves, so I sewed long stitches down the leaves and then wove two threads up the center and wrapped them so they stayed snug down the middle.