Embroidery on the Mandarin garments found at antique shops today in coats, skirts, and rank badges, was mostly done in Peking. The “forbidden stitch” was employed in much of this work.
A lingering mystique revolves around this stitch. It has been said it was forbidden to all but royalty, or that it was forbidden because it made embroiderers blind, but the term simply refers to a stitch developed in Peking’s Forbidden City—the area that was off limits to all but the emperor and his court.
The Forgotten Luxury collection included some pillows of exquisite workmanship in which delicately rendered butterflies and flowers were embroidered on top of pleated silk without having the thread pass through the entire pleat. As a result, the embroidery appears to float on the surface.
I marvel at this process, for even though I have been a needleworker since I was 5 years old, I have no idea how this feat was accomplished.
