K-Embroidery: How we make handmade napkins?

At K-Embroidery, we offer 100% hand-embroidered napkins. Thoroughness in each step has helped us create the world’s best products with Vietnamese brands. In this article, learn about the process of creating handmade napkins from our factory. Explore now !!!

Origin of embroidery in Vietnam and the specialties of Vietnamese hand embroidery

In the 17th century, Mr. Le Cong Hanh was sent by the king as an ambassador to China. While working in that country, he learned embroidery. Later, when he returned to his country, he brought his valuable techniques and experience to the villagers of Quat Dong. From then on, hand embroidery developed widely throughout the country and Mr. Le Cong Hanh also became the father of Vietnamese embroidery.

Although machine embroidery is very developed today, no modern machine can replace the delicate and talented lines of the hands of hand embroidery artisans. Vietnamese people are hard-working, industrious and skillful. Therefore, the products created contain the feelings and soul of the embroiderer. That’s also the reason why when you hold Vietnamese handmade napkins from our factory, you will see the difference!

How to make embroidered napkins: Process from K-Embroidery factory

Below is the basic process from K-Embroidery’s factory, let’s see how we embroider napkins by hand!

Step 1: Prepare embroidery supplies (fabric, needle, thread, frame)

We believe that premium products are only made from high-quality materials.

Depending on the customer’s embroidery pattern, K-Embroidery will advise customers on the appropriate embroidery fabric, however, we prioritize high-quality fabrics such as cotton, linen, or silk.

Needles used for hand embroidery come in many different sizes, divided into 2 types: regular and doubdo-headed. Forged quite manually with buried heads that are often rough and large. Before use, our craftsmen often grind the needle to make it smoother and smaller, making the stitches more delicate and precise.

The threads used in traditional embroidery are shiny silk threads, tip threads, cotton threads, glitter threads… However, K-Embroidery’s handmade napkin products use 100% Elastic Thread – This type of thread is tough and colorfast. And because it is dyed with natural colors, it is completely health-friendly.

Each embroidered product often uses many different thread colors to create a delicate softness according to the artist’s creativity that machines cannot create. It is this color mix that plays an important part in creating the beauty of traditional hand-embroidered products.

Napkins embroidery frames are usually small, round, handheld frames that help stretch the fabric flat so that the embroidery process is more precise. At K-Embroidery’s factory, there are workers so experienced that they don’t need to use an embroidery frame. Seeing the hand embroidery process directly, you will be very surprised, I’m sure!

Step 2: Sketch the embroidery

First, the artist will sketch embroidery patterns on pre-stretched fabric panels. They must be shaped into the correct position relative to the customer’s design. There are many ways such as drawing directly, drawing and printing with carbon paper, computer printing, or tube printing. At K-Embroidery, we use the traditional tube printing method with 3 steps:

• Step 1: The artist needs to sketch his work with contour lines of the exact size that he plans to embroider on the fabric.
• Step 2: Redraw the main lines (outlines) on tracing paper with a black pencil and then use a needle to separate the limits of each embroidery pattern before printing.
• Step 3: Use pigment mixed with kerosene or carrier and then print on the embroidery fabric to identify different areas of embroidery thread color.

Once completed, the sketch will have the appearance as shown below:

Step 3: Mix embroidery thread colors

An indispensable step in the napkin hand embroidery process is choosing and matching embroidery thread colors. This step is complicated, requiring highly qualified artisans with many years of experience.

To have a beautifully embroidered scarf, you need to use many types of threads with different colors, sizes, and materials. There are thousands of embroidery thread colors that a craftsman needs to be highly specialized to recognize. For example, the same basic blue color, but we have more than 70 types of blue thread colors from dark to light. Just a little deviation can bring different nuances to the final product.

Choosing threads and color combinations is also an art that requires color perception, aesthetic thinking, experience, and even the delicate eyes of embroidery artists. There are themes of hand-embroidered paintings, especially landscape embroidery that sometimes require hundreds of different types of threads to complete.

To choose embroidery thread that is beautiful and suitable for the picture, while choosing, you also need to use the skill and art of mixing embroidery thread colors. Whether the painting is truly vivid and the transitions between colors are soft and natural, creating a realistic and lively overall picture, depends greatly on the artist’s color combination.

Step 4: Embroider the pattern on napkins

Embroidering the pattern is the most time-consuming and labor-intensive step in the hand embroidery production process.

After the pattern has been drawn, the embroidered fabric will be stretched onto the frame, unclear lines will be corrected and embroidery will begin. On the market, many napkins products look beautiful from a distance, but when viewed closely, we see many errors: sparse embroidery, long embroidery stitches, incorrect color coordination, thread connections that are not careful, and broken. bung – only book, looks very rough… Therefore, the artistry of the napkin completely depends on the embroidery technique, thread coordination, aesthetic sense, care, meticulousness, and skill of each embroidery artist.

To have a perfect hand embroidered napkin that is highly appreciated for its aesthetics, the artisan must have all the embroidery skills from basic to complex. They must go through the process of learning, practicing, and perfecting. Continuously improve skills to improve skills. The more qualified you are, the faster and more accurate the process of embroidering napkins by hand, and the better quality the work will be. Hand-embroidered napkins by veteran artisans often have a superior beauty to machine-embroidered products.

Step 5: Check and pack

After completing the process of embroidering the pattern, the napkins will be carefully inspected, excess threads cut off, errors corrected, and removed from the embroidery frame. Here will be the QC’s job, checking the quality of each product to ensure there are no defective products before packing them into plastic bags according to specifications and transporting them to the warehouse.

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The above article has introduced to everyone how to make embroidered napkins from the K-Embroidery factory. Hope it has provided useful information. See you again in the next articles!