I have been designing stitching cards for over ten years but the origins of the craft go back a long way. Card has probably been used as a base material for embroidery since card itself was first produced. In the 1800s sheets of perforated paper became available to needle crafters. This started the Victorian craze for stitching mottoes and sayings on card. Designs were usually worked in long parallel stitches to form areas of colour.
Today’s card embroidery designs are typically worked in long crossing stitches that form geometric shapes. The first mention that I can find about this style of stitching cards is by Dutch designer Erica Fortgens. She started writing books with instructions and patterns for making stitching cards in the early 1990s.
In the forward to her book “Embroidery on Paper” Erica Fortgens tells how she got started. Continue reading
When your card goes in the post it will pass automatic sorting machines that have a series of guide rollers. It may be turned around sharp bends and squashed in the franking machine. Not to mention the rough time it may have in the mail sack.
“Strawberry” by Eileen Scott is a gorgeous combination of stitching, decoupage and cutting.