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Embroidered Fabrics – Our Favourite Finds


We recently visited the fabulous Deco Off in Paris and we blogged here about the bucket loads of inspiration it gave us! Whilst here, we also popped into fabric showrooms in Paris’ quaint St Germaine area to see freshly launched collections. We could not help but notice how heavily embroidered (often with wool thread) fabrics have taken the centre stage. This is one of our favourite traits in fabric design so join us as we celebrate some of our recent embroidered fabric finds…

Maison Pierre Frey is often our one-stop shop, with its vast and eclectic fabrics and wallcoverings. We found their ‘Roselia’ design – a floral motif with sumptuous woollen embroidery on a linen background. The original design from Pierre Frey’s archives dates back to 18th century French workshops.

We also spotted ‘Mahana’, a cheerful design from Pierre Frey’s new collection. Like suns, these rosettes embroidered in part by hand, swirl on a beautiful linen canvas with cheerful colours.

Offering a sense of the exotic is ‘Tahiti’. A beautiful landscape of hand-embroidered coconut trees, where raffia and large cotton threads are juxtaposed to animate this oasis.

Next, we headed to the Schumacher showroom. Here we found an abundance of botanical motif embroideries, where many were executed in crewel technique – ideal for creating appealing pattern textures with depth and dimension. Of all the amazing displays, ‘Deco Flower Embroidery’ caught out eye. It has wonderful movement and texture which would be perfect for windows, upholstery and pillows.

‘Mandevilla Embroidery’ was also among the new arrivals. It is a large-scale tree of life pattern, stitched on a cotton-linen background. This gorgeous scrolling floral owes its wonderful depth and dimension to melange yarns, which are used in a variety of crewel techniques. The stylized blooms each have unique patterning, giving this familiar motif a versatile, modern look.

One of our favourites from Schumacher is ‘Marguerite Embroidery’ which features a pronounced surface floral design, stitched with thick wool yarn. Subtle irregularities of the thread lend handcrafted warmth and charm to this fabric.

These vibrant trailing motifs reminded us of the sunny, tropical fabrics used in this bedroom’s scheme at Knightsbridge Hotel.

The new design, ‘Baptista’ by Colefax and Fowler has a similar appearance, created by embroidery techniques. We particularly like this bold and refined colourway.

We have fallen in love with a new addition by Osborne & Little. ‘Puzzlewood’ takes the viewer’s imagination to a mythical garden. It has embellished fantastical trees, blooms, birds and butterflies that coexist together on an off-white linen background.

We are now back in our London Design Studio and can’t wait to get scheming with these fine embroidery floral patterns. Watch this space for some new bedroom designs and keep in touch on Instagram @KitKempDesignThread.

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