A BDE Round Robin

I am finally getting going on this blog! When you get to be my age, anything technical takes 10 times longer to accomplish! Now, give me a needle and thread and I'm off to the races! So, as I work out more of the bugs, I thought I'd blog about a BDE Round Robin that I'm involved in.

For those of you that don't know what BDE stands for, it's Brazilian Dimensional Embroidery. This is a special type of hand embroidery that produces wonderful dimensional effects, especially when stitching flowers. It was developed by a woman in Brazil in 1960, but isn't really a Brazilian needlecraft. BDE is most often done using rayon embroidery threads like those sold under the EdMar name brand. Their threads come in eight different styles and weights and are "z" twist threads.....in difference to the "s" twist of silk and cotton embroidery threads. There are purists out there that believe it isn't BDE unless it's done with rayon ...... they may be right. The illumination and sheen of the rayon thread produces that special quality that BDE is known for. That said, I will, also, say that all of the techniques and instructions for BDE can be done in other threads like silk, cotton, and wool.......they will just not have the luster that rayon thread produces and any instructions must be modified to allow for the difference in the twist of the thread.

A good place to find out more about BDE is at the Brazilian Dimensional Embroidery International Guild site http://www.brazilian-dimensional-embroidery.org/ There are instructions for many of the stitches, as well as samples of finished pieces and some free patterns. Click on the information about the upcoming seminar to see some beautiful samples of finished pieces offered as classes this year. Great eye candy! More samples of project can be found by looking at the finished items of kits and patterns being offered by a variety of BDE designers at http://www.jdr-be.com/ BDE is a nice additon to many types of projects such as crazy quilting, sane quilting, clothing, and home decor.

Now that you know what BDE is, I'd like to share some projects that I've worked on the last few months while participating in a Round Robin with a group through the Brazilian Dimensional Embroidery International Guild. There are eight of us in this particular Round Robin group. Each of us had to decide on a project we wanted to have the other ladies work on. It could be anything that BDE could be done on.....within size and weight restrictions due to postage and mailing. Items like shirts, vests, pillow covers, wallhangings, etc. are popular items. The project is then sent from person to person to be worked on, until it finally returns to it's o
riginal owner....thus the name Round Robin!

Since this was my first BDE RR, I wasn't just sure what to send. I had a purse pattern that had an interchangable flap. I decided to send a flap around for a blue denim purse and another one in natural colored denim. Each of us were to do some stitching on our own project and then send it on to the first person on our list. I decided to work on the natural colored denim purse flap. I wanted the other ladies to help me produce a summer flower garden across the flap. I began the garden with a group of Hollyhocks in the center. They were made using buttonhole stitches and detached buttonhole stitches to produce dimension to the flowers. It will be fun seeing what flowers the other ladies "plant" in my purse flap garden as it makes it's round.