Split Line Stitch of Miao
1 min readSplit Line Stitch is the best technique among the Miao embroideries, elegant and exquisite, dainty and time consuming The typical Split Line Stitch works are from Shidong Town, Taijiang County, with the best-embroidered robes and best silver ornamentations.
This technique is the same as the Plain Stitch, but the requirements for line treatment is much more rigorous It requires one silk line splitted into 8 or 16 thinner color lines and the splitted lines are put onto needles through leaves of honey locust, so that the color lines will be more smooth, elastic, shining and tight. Silk lines thus treated for plain stitch embroidery to cover the figure. Currently this technique is undergoing changes because the sources and structure of the silks utilized are different and it is split into two or three.
In Shidong area, Taijiang, the split line stitch technique is applied to the center part of the embroidery work and it is rimmed with color lace, but not all so. Split Line Stitch is so time consuming and elaborate, it is used for wedding dress or for wears for very important ceremonies only and it usually take four to five years to finish one. The best of the Split Line Stitch embroidery work is embroidered densely, evenly, and smoothly and clear-cut at the rim with good patterns and good implications.
