Different Styles of Miao Needlework

The Miao embroidery has a great abundance of needlework, resulting in vivid and one of a kind creations. Here are some examples:

Paper Cutout Style Needlework

Miao women create paper-cut models and adhere them to the fabric prior to embroidery. The pattern comes to life as colored threads are stitched onto the cloth, filling the model. This type of needlework makes the embroidery look more three-dimensional.

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Plain Needlework

Plain Needlework is the most popular and foundational skill and stitching style of Miao Embroidery. Miao women use a single needle and thread, resulting in patterns filled with colored stitches arranged in a regular, side-by-side fashion.

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Split Style Needlework

Split Style Needlework is the most unique and signature technique for Miao embroidery. First, a normal thread is split into 8 or even 12 finer strands. Each piece is then drawn through soft wax, folded between a green leaf to lubricate it. The final result is smooth, crisp, glossy, and resistant to becoming soiled. This is truly a painstaking and time-consuming process. (Source from Google Arts & Culture)

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Seed Style Needlework

The Seed Needlework style is another major technique in Miao embroidery. It involves winding the thread around the needle tip, holding the coil with fingers, and then tightening it to form small knots, creating a pattern with small seed-like dots. This technique adds a unique and intricate texture to the embroidery, making it a distinctive feature of Miao embroidery artistry.

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Straight Line Style Needlework

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Entwined Style Needlework

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Braid Style Needlework

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Inlay Style Needlework

In inlay embroidery, the stitches are not closely spaced but rather inlaid, resulting in a meticulously crafted design.

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Rim Locking Style Needlework

This embroidery technique, achieved with a single needle and thread, is commonly used to outline patterns with linear details, demanding a high level of technical skill.

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Gold/Silver Thread Embedded Needlework

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Piled Cloth Style Needlework

Piled Cloth Style embroidery, also known as stack embroidery, is a intricate and time-intensive technique. What sets it apart is that, unlike traditional embroidery using threads, it primarily utilizes fabrics. In the creation process, various colored fabrics are soaked in a soap solution, dried, and then cut into approximately 1/3-inch squares. These small squares are folded into triangles with tails, pinned onto the fabric layer by layer from the pattern's center outward, resulting in a meticulously crafted design.

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Cross-stitch Style Needlework

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📖📝 Interested to discover more about Miao Embroidery? Read on to learn more about the Symbolism in Miao Embroidery.