Embroideries everywhere have been fascinated with different designs. But only its natural form that embroiders love is beauty in their stitches. Today designers and artists pick up motifs from traditional designs and incorporate them in weaves, embroideries, and color ways based on market demand. Keeping this in mind, an attempt was done to work with 'Redwork' embroidery in home furnishing items. This study contributed to developing varieties of cushions for the Indian Markets.

Redwork, a style of "art needlework," first became popular in the United States in the late part of the Nineteenth century. Red thread is typically used in this style because the red color contrasts well against a light background.

Keeping the above points in mind, the following objectives were framed:

  1. To revive the Victorian age embroidery into the Modern Age.
  2. To document motifs and patterns of 'Redwork' embroidery.
  3. To develop a range of articles using motifs of 'Redwork' embroidery on different varieties of fabrics.
  4. To find the acceptability of the articles produced for home furnishing.

Methodology

Keeping this in mind, the researcher tried to develop samples in home furnishing with redwork embroidery on different fabrics and also tried to find the acceptability of the article.

The various steps which were followed to achieve the objectives:

  1. To retrieve the Victorian age embroidery into the modern age, extensive research formed the basis for the studies.

  2. To document the motifs by searching Victorian age motifs from various resources i.e. books, magazines, the internet.

    a) Selection of Motif

    The motifs were selected for developing the article. Motifs were explored, and approximately 50 motifs were documented. Finally, 5 motifs were selected for preparing the articles.

    b) Selection of fabric

    The fabric being selected for the article is cotton, silk, tissue, organdy, and satin.

    c) Selection of thread

    Red anchor thread is used to embroider the article.

    d) Selection of designs

    5 designs were selected to design them on the fabric.

    e) Techniques of transferring the design onto the fabric:

    f) The design is embroidered.

    g) Product Development:

    When embroidery was complete, the fabric was stitched into the article.

h)Acceptability of the product A questionnaire was design by the researcher to evaluate the acceptability of the product. Developed article were again evaluated by panel of judges to analyze the product for its acceptability among the consumer.


Rating Scale-


A rating scale was prepared to assess the acceptability of the product. Following criteria was followed for rating the article:


  1. Best preferred fabric
  2. Selection of design
  3. Excellent motif
  4. Best overall appearance
  5. Placement of motif
  6. Design suitability according to the article
  7. Marketability of the product


Five parameters were chosen- The scores are:


Excellent: 5

Very Good: 4

Good: 3

Average: 2

Poor: 1


Results and Discussion


With the help of tables in order to final shape to the collected data, it was statistically analyzed by the frequency distribution and percentage.


Evaluating the acceptability of prototypes


1)     80% like the idea of using silk fabric for cushion.

2)     78% respondents find the girl with flower most impressive motif

3)     90% indicates that new design on silk fabric for cushion was most suitable for product development.


Summary & Conclusion


Current trends are propelling people towards the ancient and traditional art and designs. There would be great demand for this embroidery because of its white and red combination. There would be certainly a competition for other articles in the market. There is great scope for such embroideries into the modern age.



The author is Assistant Professor at International College for Girls, Jaipur