Kakisubata

Revered by cultures around the world for its beauty and grace, the iris makes a perfect subject for this superb Japanese embroidery. Iris laevigata grows in water and features narrow, strap-like leaves of soft grey-green and refined flower heads of rich purple and golden yellow. Worked onto textured silk fabric with flat silk, the embroidery is highlighted with aspects worked in gold and purple metallic threads. There are forty-six techniques that form the basic building blocks for traditional Japanese embroidery. Each of these techniques has been given a definitive term that has become part of Japanese embroidery language.  In the instructions, the stitching is described in a more generic way, however the Japanese embroidery term for the technique is also given.