Hand Embroidered Chuppa

Hand embroidery

Work in progress

The bride provided me with inspirational photos and references.  She knew exactly what she wanted which really helped simplify the design process.  It was to have 3 rings of flowers and leaves in shades of blue and green.  I made a decision as it grew, that the flowers would gradually grow as the circles grew.

Work progresses

Installation

For the very first time, I had professional 'Chuppah installers' to help me.  It was absolutely wonderful!  Susan Avni at www.chuppah.ca  provided the frame and offered to do the set up.  What a gift!  I didn't have to worry about how to hang the canopy.

Florist

Catherine Slovacek (instagram@bohemianbouquet) did an amazing job hanging the canopy with her partner, Jonathan Reid.  She arranged real flowers to enhance the embroidered ones, without overpowering the structure or the canopy.  The end result was picture perfect, exactly what the bride was hoping for.

Detail

The goal I set for myself in this project was to never repeat a flower.

Detail

The bride was very involved in the process throughout.  She chose the theme, the design, and even came with me to the store to pick out the embroidery floss colours.  She decided that the fabric would be a loosely woven natural linen which turned out to be a great choice.  I had never embroidered on linen before, but the loose weave made it very easy to do.  Often I decided to sew with all 6 strands at the same time.

Detail

Although I had decided that the flowers would grow bigger as the circles did, the bride really liked the delicacy of the little flowers so I added those into the larger circles as well.

detail

as seen from below after the canopy was hung

The bride encircles her groom with love

The stand size was 8 feet square but I made a decision from the start that an 8 foot square hand embroidery would be unwieldy so I began with a 4 foot square of linen and then bordered it with blue cotton when it was done.  I wanted to create a frayed edge on the linen which meant pulling out a lot of warp on one edge and weft on the other. (you weavers will know what I mean)

Then I had to sew the right side of the blue fabric on to the wrong side of the linen which also presented a problem solving challenge.  (you sewers will know what I mean)

I was quite happy with the result that that assemblage created.

Magic moment

After the ceremony, we hung the Chuppah vertically on a photographer's stand so everyone had the opportunity to get 'close up and personal' with it.  An unexpected result was that many guests used it as a backdrop for selfies!

Now that the festivities are done, and they are back from their honeymoon, the bride and groom are very excited to hang it in their home.