Credit: Ricamificio ESSEMME
The next winter season will see a significant presence of elaborate embroidery on clothing and accessories, thanks to a return of the maximalist style that calls for rich workmanship and precious materials. But what are the differences between manual and machine-made embroidery? How can you tell the difference between them? We talked about it with Tommaso Lai, Style Office Manager at Ricamificio ESSEMME, a Tuscan company specializing in embroidery and special workmanship.
“The first thing to look at is definitely the elements that make up the embroidery. If it is thick materials, and the embroidery develops in height, it is definitely done by hand: the distance between the foot and the pantograph can be adjusted in height only up to a certain point, beyond which you have to intervene by hand”.
If, on the other hand, the embroidery develops in width and the pattern is dense, it is possible that it was done by machine. When the design does not include spaces, in fact, the machine is able to compose the design hiding the fact that all the work is done on the same side, and therefore the thread necessarily passes visibly from one point to another.
“Even if the points are distant, it is still possible to cut the thread by hand once the design is complete, or, alternatively, stop the machine at each point, thus without having the connection from one point to the other. However, this would involve extra manual work and consequently a cost, not only economic but also in terms of production time”, explains Lai.
Modern machinery and new generation materials also allow us to replicate processes that might seem exquisitely manual, such as those in raffia. There is a yarn, produced by CIEFFE Filati, with which it is possible to obtain the effect of natural raffia.
"Here the discriminant is above all in the thickness of the embroidery thread: these threads are in fact thin, while the natural raffia embroidered by hand also has thick threads. To replicate it, it is possible, compatibly with the design, to beat the thread several times, so as to obtain an effect very similar to that which would be obtained manually".
In short, almost everything is doable with automatic machines, which are particularly useful especially if you need to guarantee the precision of a pattern on a large portion of fabric. The limits are linked above all to the thicknesses and types of designs, which can certainly be circumvented thanks to tests and tricks, always considering costs and opportunities.
