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Embroidery and Handwork Contest Entries

May 25, 2026 6 Comments

close up of pink smocking on a dress with words Handwork Contest Entries on top

We had a wonderful group of entries for our April Contest - Embroidery and Handwork on Folkwear patterns. Folkwear is known for (and founded on) the handwork details that can go into a traditional or historic garment. Many folk garments are embroidered -- for decoration and meaning -- and the the handwork can place the garment in a time and location. And Folkwear patterns are also used by art-to-wear makers who create amazing garments, incorporating traditional and modern textile arts to create unique and beautiful pieces. A Folkwear pattern is a canvas for creativity.

I am going to show off some of the entries for this contest because they are beautiful and inspirational. A huge thanks to everyone who sent in an entry! You are a talented group!

The 101 Gaza Dress is well known for the embroidery on the front. The gown is traditionally called a thobe and has distinctive Palestinian embroidery decorating it. Customer, Amy, used Folkwear's pattern to add to the bodice. And, Mary sent us this tunic she made (second below) from the 101 Gaza Dress in March.

close up of woman wearing a white top with embroidery

We also had several 103 Romanian Blouse entries. The Romanian Blouse is an iconic blouse from Eastern Europe with many different styles, but is known for the detailed and beautiful embroidery on the sleeves and front.

Cathy won last summer's contest with this stunning blouse (below), which she showed off again this month. She says: "I bought this pattern for the Romanian blouse with my mother (a professional dressmaker) in London, England, at least 45 years ago. I completed the blouse whilst staying in a hotel in The Hague in the Netherlands about 2 years later, sadly after my mother was no longer with us. As I was in a hotel I had no access to a sewing machine so did all of the finishing by hand, having sewn all of the embroidery by hand previously, following the guidance of the pattern. That is why the sections were all totally hand hemmed, the seams hand faggot stiched, the neck and sleeve edges crocheted and even the tie cords hand twisted. It was a wonderful way to pass the time whilst my fiancee was attending a work conference (the reason we were there), and to honour my mother's memory."

Woman standing in a red skirt and romanian blouse

close up of romanian blouse sleeve embroidery

Janet made this classic Romanian Blouse (below), with embroidery and smocking, and says she finds it very comfortable (and always get compliments on it!).

white blouse with blue embroidery hanging on a line

Grace made this version of the Romanian Blouse (below) in a very non-traditional, but beautiful way. She used a border print as a base to embellish with stitching, adding texture and depth. This is very pretty and such a great idea for quickly adding a place to decorate a garment.

White blouse with embroidery on the sleeves

Our 105 Syrian Dress pattern has a lot of embroidery designs included in it -- based on traditional dress and embroidery of the region of and around Syria. Customer, Sherry, made a beautiful dress from it, and said that she wore out the first dress she made (over 15 years ago) and she lifted the embroidery from that dress and made a new one, adding the embroidery from the old dress to the new (and an added patch of embroidery from another garment). So creative!

Front of Syrian dress with lots of red and colorful embroidery

back of syrian dress with lots of embroidery

Another pattern that has a lot of embroidery designs included is our 107 Afghan Dress. While some customers use our embroidery designs, this dress lends itself very well as a canvas for creativity. We had several stunning entries of the Afghan Dress.

Carolyn made the dress below many years ago, spending 200 hours on the embroidery and beading of the front and back panels, plus the fringe. Stunning!

Colorful Afghan dress with lots of embroidery and beading on a dress form

Close up of Colorful Afghan dress with lots of embroidery and beading on a dress form

back of Colorful Afghan dress with lots of embroidery and beading on a dress form

Jean shared a panel she made in the late 1970s with a white double layered gauzy cotton, with added white embroidery on the front panel as well as added silver coins she collected from around the world.

white on white embroidery with silver coins on a panel for front panel

Also, this incredible dress by Carol, who use hand appliqued and machine quilted with metallic thread the bodice. She shortened the dress and only used about 4 1/2 yards of fabric for the skirt. The hand appliques (Broderie Perse) are on the front and back bodice. The Broderie Perse is taken from the hem fabric. We loved this one!

I love the 109 Little Folks pattern. If you want to try some embroidery, doing it on children's clothes is not only precious but takes so much less time that a full size dress. This one that Margot made for her daughter was so cute (and was one of the winners of the contest).

We also loved this 114 Chinese Jacket by Helen, with added fabric paint, embroidery, and beading. You can see details on how to do this technique on our blog. So pretty!

blue and brown chinese jacket with butterfly embroidery

blue and brown chinese jacket with butterfly embroidery, close up

116 Shirts of Russia and Ukraine is a pattern that includes quite a bit of traditional embroidery typically found on these shirts. We got several entries, from Abigail, Leslie, and William, with this pretty embroidery.

white embroidered blouse on a dress form

man wearing a white shirt embroidered at neckline with light blue

white shirt with embroidered neckline in red on a dress form

Our other winner of this embroidery contest was this 124 Bolivian Milkmaid's Jacket made by Mary. She also wrote a blog post about how she made and embellished this incredible jacket (with lots more photos).

Woman in a pink velvet embroidered jacket with her back to the camera

We were also impressed with this other 124 Bolivian Milkmaid's Jacket Rachel made for her daughter. She says, "The outer fabric is blue cotton velveteen flatlined with unbleached cotton calico. The sleeves are lined with rayon taffeta and the body is lined with a cotton print. I made the cording by crocheting DMC No. 10 perle cotton, I appliqued cotton Cluny insertion lace to make part of the front edge detail, and I used glass seed beads and bugle beads as well as silver sequins for the beading. The jacket itself was quick and straightforward to make, but the handwork took all of my spare time for at least a month."

woman wearing a blue 124 Bolivian Milkmaid's Jacket with white embroidery

woman wearing a blue 124 Bolivian Milkmaid's Jacket with white embroidery. Back to camera

We also really loved the more free style embroidery on the 129 Japanese Hapi (by Teresa) and 112 Japanese Hippari below. Beautiful and creative.

back of Japanese Hapi with chickadee and cherry blossoms embroidered on it

back of a japanese jacket with embroidered bird on it hanging on a wall

Of course, one of the entries we saw often was the 142 Old Mexico Dress. While there is no embroidery in the pattern, it is a great canvas for embroidery and traditionally the yoke is covered in embroidery. We have a pattern for a traditional embroidery design that can be used, and we love to see what people add to this top or dress. Below are a few of the entries.

Mary Martha made this beautiful top, and you can read all about it on her blog.

Woman standing outside in a white embroidery mexican top and a red skirt

close up of embroidered mexican top on a woman

Dru also used our pattern to embroider her top:

woman wearing a mexican blouse with embroidered yoke

Linda made the dress and also used our embroidery pattern for the yoke. She also attended Sarah Pedlow's embroidery class, and she made the sleeves slightly longer.

red mexican dress with embroidery hanging on a door

Janet says, the "tops make the best t-shirts ever - cool, attractive, go with shorts, skirts, pants, and over slip dresses. No tight underarm to collect sweat. I also appreciate the ability to use leftover fabric from other projects to make them. I just finished my fifth one today, and I wear them all summer." We are showing off a few of her favorite 142 Old Mexico Dress tops below.

four mexican tops hanging outside on a line

white mexican blouse with embroidered yoke

We also loved Sue's 142 Old Mexico Blouse, which she made sleeveless and used our Wildflower Embroidery pattern to embellish the top.

white top with floral embroidery on the yoke

We loved this 150 Hungarian Szur that Patricia made and embroidered. This coat is a stunning one to add any embellishments to.

woman wearing a long embroidered brown coat

woman wearing a long brown embroidered coat. back to camera

It was so fun to see this entry of our 207 Kinsale Cloak by Belinda. She says, "I started this when it was really cold this winter, and wanted to design a cloak inspired by “The Snow Queen”. So I needle felted a winter’s scene across the entire hem, Snow Queen included! Needle felting wasn’t one of my skills, but I had a lot of fun doing this!"
So creative and beautiful!

Woman wearing a cloak with a scene needlefelted at the bottom

We had several amazing 221 English Smocks, and I am always super impressed with what people do with this pattern.

First, Marian had this pretty, long smock. She said, "I made a couple of personal changes to the original by adding patch pockets, leaving the collar off and embroidery around the neckline. The fabric is linen for its breathing benefits because I will wear this a lot."

pink english smock in a striped linen on a dress form

pink english smock in a striped linen on a dress form - close up of back

And Melina made this stunning dress. She made the round smock variation from linen and used cotton embroidery thread. She added several extra inches of smocking on the chest and also added pockets!

Woman standing on a porch wearing a light blue embroidered english smock

close up of woman standing on a porch wearing an embroidered english smock

Finally, I wanted to share Robin's story and a few photos. She did hand embroidery on our 302 Victorian Boudoir pattern with her mother. Her story is sweet. She said, "I made your entire Victorian Boudoir Set for our guest bedroom about 15-20 years ago with my mother. The set included hand-embroidered sheets (but I purchased the sheet set), the comforter cover, shams, and bedskirt, decorative pillows we embroidered, three embroidered sachets, two embroidered "doilies" for nightstands, and a night cap that my stuffed bunny is wearing. My mother and I worked on this after my father died because I wanted to have an excuse to go over and spend the day with her to keep her company. I would usually go over just once or twice a month and we would each work on our "homework assignments" on our own in between visits. It did take us awhile to complete everything. I used mainly cotton fabrics, but also Irish linen for the doilies, and cotton velveteen and silk for the decorative pillows and sachets. My mom is now 102 years old and still kicking. She can't sew anymore due to arthritis, which is sad. I will always remember our time together working on this project and several other projects we took on together."

bed set with old fashioned embroidered pillows and cushions

We were so excited to see the incredible talent and creativity through this contest. Thanks so much to everyone who entered. Tell us, what was your favorite?

6 Responses

Laura

June 15, 2026

So glad you posted all these photos! Sometimes we just get the winners, but all of these are fabulous and done with such creative skill. I love all of these, but have been personally thinking about the English Smock and I have to say, Melinda has set a high bar on that—Wow! I always enjoy the customer makes : )

Janet

June 04, 2026

I am totally in love with these, but especially the milkmaid jacket! I’d love to see what she did on the front…Stunning!

monnica

May 26, 2026

What a wonderful treat to see all these fantastic works of art. I am so grateful that you made all this available to us! Thank you to all the artists!

Rachell

May 26, 2026

In a world of mass-produced short-lived fast fashion, it gives me so much hope and pleasure to see these beautiful hand-crafted garments.

Mary

May 25, 2026

Such beautiful work by everyone! The Romanian Blouse needs to be finding its way to my collection soon, the embroidery showcased here is just stunning.

Paige

May 25, 2026

My favorite is Melina’s long blue linen dress made from the smock pattern. Just wonderful.

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Embroidery and Handwork Contest Entries

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