Brazilian dimensional embroidery is a textured surface embroidery. It uses rayon, Z-twisted threads of different weights and amounts of metal twists, as well as a variety of colours, to construct three-dimensional designs that are sewn onto a piece of cloth. Details are embroidered directly onto the cloth.

My blog about Brazilian dimensional embroidery. Mostly.

Hello ladies :-) It's been a while since I made a contribution to this fantastic forum filled with ideas, suggestions and tips. I am busy working on...

Sorry! Couldn't resist that old "farmer joke" ... Out Standing in Her Field ...of Flowers. I got so over-excited about how pretty this looked after I washed out all of the blue ink and I wanted to share it with you. This is one of my new Millefiori Brazilian dimensional embroidery designs ... Field of Flowers. I stitched it with EdMar's rayon floss in color #227 (Pale Sea Green) on white Trigger cloth (which is the same as Blazer poplin that we all use for our B.E. designs) I used over 4 skeins of Iris, a few strands of Lola and even fewer strands of Ciré. I also had some size 11/o seed beads that I sprinkled in here and there. Well, I'm going to stitch it into a small art quilt later today and will post a picture along with the pictures of the finished Hummy Art Quilt that I completed. I think I've made everyone wait long enough! But I was so excited about how pretty this design looked (even though it is fairly "busy") that I wanted to share a photo of the embroidery .... outstanding in its "Field of Flowers!"

My blog about Brazilian dimensional embroidery. Mostly.

This is the American Beauty Rose: Brazilian dimensional embroidery stitched with 100% rayon Z-twist floss from EdMar Co. It's my original Millefiori design #965. I'm sharing it today because it's a variation of the traditional bullion rose that has been around forever -- the same Bossa Nova Rose that I stitched the other day. (By the way, that flower might have looked nicer on its bed of leaves if I'd added another round of bullions and made it a bit larger!) Here is a close-up photo of my American Beauty Rose: You can see that, where the traditional bullion rose's bullion stitches start OUTSIDE the previous bullions, for this rose, I started each bullion INSIDE the previous one and put a bit more space between. Well, of course, it needed "background". So, for each petal (the flat "petals" on the fabric), I worked a batch of long-and-short buttonhole stitches over bullion padding at the edges. This is the Raised Buttonhole Stitch I've written about previously where the loops of the buttonhole stitches are raised slightly to rest on top of the underlying bullion. Here's a diagram: And here's a picture, sort of . . . If you hold the embroidery at eye level, you'll see the petals are slightly above the fabric. I use this technique quite often, so if you have any of my books (me = Rosalie Wakefield), shown here on my website, you'll be able to read about this handy-dandy dimensional technique in more detail. By the way, that pretty little purple flower is something I named a "Punctuation Plant" after a combination bullion/cast-on stitch called "The Comma." Here's another picture: So, just remember, all of these original B.E. flowers, such as the bullion or Bossa Nova rose, can be played with, moved around, experimented with, until you see what you can discover that's a bit different. It's called playing with your floss, and in Brazilian dimensional embroidery it's known as having fun -- and that's exactly what we do! Rosalie

My blog about Brazilian dimensional embroidery. Mostly.

Well, maybe not that new. But new to some, so I'll make a little tute here. These LadyFlowers are "Becky, Bertha and Bubbles". Becky, Bertha and Bubbles are all stitched with the same technique - a drizzle I have named "Braided Lace". I have the instructions for these little LadyFlowers and almost 80 others in my book, My LadyFlowers by Rosalie Wakefield. Here's a picture: I know, I know... *sigh*. Sounds familiar. I advertise and then I advertise some more. That's partly the reason for this blog, but the bigger reason is that I like to talk about Brazilian dimensional embroidery and am always willing to teach/share the things I've discovered. While I'm advertising, you can read more about the book, My LadyFlowers, on my website, here. All of the LadyFlower designs/patterns in the book will fit those little 2.5" frames, and are traceable patterns. However, you can tell from looking at the picture above that all you need are a dot for the drizzle and a spray of lazy daisy leaves and some beady or French knot curves and you'll have a design ready for your favorite wearable item or a crazy quilt, or a fabric postcard for a friend -- anywhere you can poke a needle! I know you are more interested in learning about the Braided Lace Drizzle, so I'll tell you how to do it. I'll show you, too, with pictures as I write, since many of us are visual learners. (And you can always drop me a note if you have questions). You're all familiar with the basic drizzle, right? Thread your needle, come up through the fabric, unthread your needle, and start applying thread. Finish by re-threading the needle and going back down through the fabric and out. If you'd like to see a picture, please visit our BDEIG website. We have a "getting started" page that contains all of the basic stitches with diagrams and directions. Here. (Look around while you're here - there are freebie designs and lots of other good information, including all of the new Seminar 2013 classes, plus you can join the guild and learn even more!!!) Back to work. Braided Lace You need: Two darners Two strands Lola (100% rayon Z-twist floss, from EdMar Co.), or your favorite floss weight. Needle Threader Pincushion for Drizzles Thread a darner with Lola. (Repeat for the second strand.) Knot each end of a Lola strand separately (or just center one strand of Lola so that the fabric bite is approximately 1/8"). Bring the threaded needles up through the fabric, unthread needles. Re-insert the 2 darners, point down, about 1/8" apart into the pincushion. Like this:  You'll double cast on 18 times (this is 36 cast-on loops total, 18 alternating, on each side). Work as follows: With your left hand, cast on over the right needle. With your right hand, cast on over the left needle. (The floss will cross in front) Like this (I did this a couple of times using different floss colors ...): After you have cast on 18 sets of loops (or 36 times, total), your Braided Lace Drizzle will look like this: See that pretty braided center vein? By the way (if you are "arranging" colors, the loops on the left side of the drizzle will be your flower "petals"). The right-size loops are 'gathered' into a tight center -- you'll see what I mean in a minute. OK. After those loops are all on your needles, you will thread ONE needle: Thread the left-side floss into the right needle. Thread the right-side floss into the right needle. Like this: or this: Now ...and very carefully so nothing pulls out, push that threaded right-side needle a little deeper into your pincushion: ...and always holding your floss loops against the needle (so nothing loosens or gets all wonky), carefully pull out that left-side (unthreaded) needle. Now you have only one needle, the right-side threaded needle. See? (I went and neatened up my fingernails as soon as I got finished here ...) OK. Finish the drizzle by pushing the right-side needle down through the fabric a little deeper into the pincushion. Remember to slip a pin or needle into the outer two floss loops so they don't twist and kink and knot for you (it's really hard to undo these with only one free hand...). Here's what I always do: Oh, oops. Don't let these colors confuse you. I stitched this flower twice - you'll see in a minute. On the above picture, the red loops were cast onto the left-side needle. This is just a better picture, trying to show you about the pin through the two outer loops to prevent kinks and knots. On the earlier photo, the blue loops were on the left-side needle. OK? I guess I'd better show you: As an interesting side note, the Braided Lace technique is a "reversible" stitch. I'll talk more about that in a minute. First, let's finish the drizzle. Pull the drizzle down snug to the fabric and the needle all the way through to the backside. Slip one of the strands of Lola out of the needle eye (you can use this long floss tail to knot off by hand later if you want). With the one remaining threaded needle, come back up through the fabric at the base of the drizzle, or right next to where you started. Pull this threaded needle all the way through. With the tip of this threaded needle, guide the outer drizzle loop/edge/center braid of the drizzle to around in a circle to meet the beginning to the end and pull down snug. You'll have what looks like a circular flower with the blue loops forming the flower 'petals' (red loops in the flower pictured just below). Finishing: And done: By the way, if you don't like your "joins", you can tuck them beneath another flower, or you can use any green, come up from the center and make 2-3 long bullions or cast-on stitches to give an impression of calyxes. As a "technical" note, when you are using Z-twist floss and double cast-ing on, you'll notice the right-side loops "untwist" slightly, or flatten out (the reason why Z-twist bullions are wrapped clockwise). [Perle Cotton is S-twist, by the way, and for those who do not have access to Z-twist floss, just reverse the procedure.] I pretty much speak in "Z-twist". When these right-side loops 'flatten out', you'll see that they sort of tuck into each other and make a nice, smooth center for your flower. That's it: Braided Lace! Braided Lace looks different on one side than the other. When I cast on with the blue loops on the left needle, these will make 'petals'. If I cast red loops over the left needle, I'll have red 'petals'. As I mentioned earlier, this stitch is reversible and you can flip the drizzle so the 'petals' will tuck under, or you can position the drizzle so that the 'petals' pop up. Pretty both ways! See: At the top of this post, you'll see that Bertha, Becky and Bubbles are kicking up their skirts and enjoying themselves. If you prefer the more demure LadyFlower "Garnet", let those left-side loops rest against the fabric, or even tuck them under with your needle. The picture below introduces you to the LadyFlowers, "Amber, Opal and Garnet": I have lots of more advanced techniques in my book, My LadyFlowers, if you have already learned the basic Brazilian embroidery stitches and are feeling adventurous. Always remember, too, that if you are trying to follow my instructions and something different comes out of your needle, just give it a name and continue - you have created a new design! Be sure to drop me a note, either in the comments below or by email, if you have any questions at all. I really LOVE Brazilian dimensional embroidery. Can you tell? Rosalie

Well, maybe not that new. But new to some, so I'll make a little tute here. These LadyFlowers are "Becky, Bertha and Bubbles". Becky, Bertha and Bubbles are all stitched with the same technique - a drizzle I have named "Braided Lace". I have the instructions for these little LadyFlowers and almost 80 others in my book, My LadyFlowers by Rosalie Wakefield. Here's a picture: I know, I know... *sigh*. Sounds familiar. I advertise and then I advertise some more. That's partly the reason for this blog, but the bigger reason is that I like to talk about Brazilian dimensional embroidery and am always willing to teach/share the things I've discovered. While I'm advertising, you can read more about the book, My LadyFlowers, on my website, here. All of the LadyFlower designs/patterns in the book will fit those little 2.5" frames, and are traceable patterns. However, you can tell from looking at the picture above that all you need are a dot for the drizzle and a spray of lazy daisy leaves and some beady or French knot curves and you'll have a design ready for your favorite wearable item or a crazy quilt, or a fabric postcard for a friend -- anywhere you can poke a needle! I know you are more interested in learning about the Braided Lace Drizzle, so I'll tell you how to do it. I'll show you, too, with pictures as I write, since many of us are visual learners. (And you can always drop me a note if you have questions). You're all familiar with the basic drizzle, right? Thread your needle, come up through the fabric, unthread your needle, and start applying thread. Finish by re-threading the needle and going back down through the fabric and out. If you'd like to see a picture, please visit our BDEIG website. We have a "getting started" page that contains all of the basic stitches with diagrams and directions. Here. (Look around while you're here - there are freebie designs and lots of other good information, including all of the new Seminar 2013 classes, plus you can join the guild and learn even more!!!) Back to work. Braided Lace You need: Two darners Two strands Lola (100% rayon Z-twist floss, from EdMar Co.), or your favorite floss weight. Needle Threader Pincushion for Drizzles Thread a darner with Lola. (Repeat for the second strand.) Knot each end of a Lola strand separately (or just center one strand of Lola so that the fabric bite is approximately 1/8"). Bring the threaded needles up through the fabric, unthread needles. Re-insert the 2 darners, point down, about 1/8" apart into the pincushion. Like this:  You'll double cast on 18 times (this is 36 cast-on loops total, 18 alternating, on each side). Work as follows: With your left hand, cast on over the right needle. With your right hand, cast on over the left needle. (The floss will cross in front) Like this (I did this a couple of times using different floss colors ...): After you have cast on 18 sets of loops (or 36 times, total), your Braided Lace Drizzle will look like this: See that pretty braided center vein? By the way (if you are "arranging" colors, the loops on the left side of the drizzle will be your flower "petals"). The right-size loops are 'gathered' into a tight center -- you'll see what I mean in a minute. OK. After those loops are all on your needles, you will thread ONE needle: Thread the left-side floss into the right needle. Thread the right-side floss into the right needle. Like this: or this: Now ...and very carefully so nothing pulls out, push that threaded right-side needle a little deeper into your pincushion: ...and always holding your floss loops against the needle (so nothing loosens or gets all wonky), carefully pull out that left-side (unthreaded) needle. Now you have only one needle, the right-side threaded needle. See? (I went and neatened up my fingernails as soon as I got finished here ...) OK. Finish the drizzle by pushing the right-side needle down through the fabric a little deeper into the pincushion. Remember to slip a pin or needle into the outer two floss loops so they don't twist and kink and knot for you (it's really hard to undo these with only one free hand...). Here's what I always do: Oh, oops. Don't let these colors confuse you. I stitched this flower twice - you'll see in a minute. On the above picture, the red loops were cast onto the left-side needle. This is just a better picture, trying to show you about the pin through the two outer loops to prevent kinks and knots. On the earlier photo, the blue loops were on the left-side needle. OK? I guess I'd better show you: As an interesting side note, the Braided Lace technique is a "reversible" stitch. I'll talk more about that in a minute. First, let's finish the drizzle. Pull the drizzle down snug to the fabric and the needle all the way through to the backside. Slip one of the strands of Lola out of the needle eye (you can use this long floss tail to knot off by hand later if you want). With the one remaining threaded needle, come back up through the fabric at the base of the drizzle, or right next to where you started. Pull this threaded needle all the way through. With the tip of this threaded needle, guide the outer drizzle loop/edge/center braid of the drizzle to around in a circle to meet the beginning to the end and pull down snug. You'll have what looks like a circular flower with the blue loops forming the flower 'petals' (red loops in the flower pictured just below). Finishing: And done: By the way, if you don't like your "joins", you can tuck them beneath another flower, or you can use any green, come up from the center and make 2-3 long bullions or cast-on stitches to give an impression of calyxes. As a "technical" note, when you are using Z-twist floss and double cast-ing on, you'll notice the right-side loops "untwist" slightly, or flatten out (the reason why Z-twist bullions are wrapped clockwise). [Perle Cotton is S-twist, by the way, and for those who do not have access to Z-twist floss, just reverse the procedure.] I pretty much speak in "Z-twist". When these right-side loops 'flatten out', you'll see that they sort of tuck into each other and make a nice, smooth center for your flower. That's it: Braided Lace! Braided Lace looks different on one side than the other. When I cast on with the blue loops on the left needle, these will make 'petals'. If I cast red loops over the left needle, I'll have red 'petals'. As I mentioned earlier, this stitch is reversible and you can flip the drizzle so the 'petals' will tuck under, or you can position the drizzle so that the 'petals' pop up. Pretty both ways! See: At the top of this post, you'll see that Bertha, Becky and Bubbles are kicking up their skirts and enjoying themselves. If you prefer the more demure LadyFlower "Garnet", let those left-side loops rest against the fabric, or even tuck them under with your needle. The picture below introduces you to the LadyFlowers, "Amber, Opal and Garnet": I have lots of more advanced techniques in my book, My LadyFlowers, if you have already learned the basic Brazilian embroidery stitches and are feeling adventurous. Always remember, too, that if you are trying to follow my instructions and something different comes out of your needle, just give it a name and continue - you have created a new design! Be sure to drop me a note, either in the comments below or by email, if you have any questions at all. I really LOVE Brazilian dimensional embroidery. Can you tell? Rosalie

This is a picture of one of my newest Millefiori Brazilian dimensional embroidery designs, #993 "Field of Flowers" made into a little art quilt. I wrote about it yesterday on this web log. It's another idea for stitching the original design which you can see on my "in-progress" website if you'd like to read more. (I have a "list" -- I have dahlias and 4 new roses to plant in my garden on this beautiful sunny Oregon afternoon, and then I will finish my design instructions and seminar class prep materials -- and THEN I'll finish my website.) "Field of Flowers" has a BRAND NEW stitching idea for a stitch we all know and love and I'm going to teach it at the BDEIG Seminar in Portland, Oregon, this June but promise to share it with everyone here and also in the August issue of The B.E. Wrap-Up (BDEIG quarterly newsletter). About this little art quilt ... I was so proud of how it turned out that I showed it to my hubby last night. He said it was really nice, and he wondered "where the rest of it was". He asked if there aren't more pieces to attach like a "real" quilt. I tried to explain what an ART quilt was, but the concept escaped him; I think he figures you have to be a really tiny person to get the full benefit of any "quilt". Since you are all probably zooming your web page to 150% or 200% to see the quilt up close, I thought you might enjoy some of the detail photos. The large B.E. flower is a gladdy that I designed ages ago, and has a nice concept for dimensional embroidered petals -- buttonhole stitch over a framework of bullions for three petals, plus 3 additional "low dimensional" petals buttonhole stitched on the background fabric. --and a realistic leaf idea -- Brazilian outline stitch (Z-twist floss held below the line of stitching) for prominently-veined leaves. Here are more detail pictures (I resized everything and hope it isn't too large to open easily): I named that one a "Delft Rose" because of the leaf pattern. It's another version of the original B.E. cast-on flower, but stitched with a slight difference and two rows of petals. The next picture has a Darwin Hybrid Tulip: . . .and the last picture just some detail to show that most of the embroidery on this design is fairly simple: ...and, because I couldn't resist teasing -- yes, the new stitch is somewhere on one of these pictures. Stay tuned! Oh - before I forget -- here's another idea for stitching the Field of Flowers design. It would make a beautiful box cover for one of the new "flower boxes" they sell at Michaels Craft Stores, or it would also look pretty on wearable items: Remember, I mentioned TWO little art quilts at the top of this message. Well, these are pictures of the Little Hummy Art Quilt that I started writing about back in January. You can double-click the link or you can look at that "cloud" of words over there on the right of this blog and double click "Hummy Art Quilt" for the in-progress story. Also double click Art Quilt for the start of the embroidery story. First of all, I want to give total credit and a big thank you to the original quilt designer, Patricia Cox, whose original appliqué pattern of 12" blocks translated itself nicely to Brazilian dimensional embroidery with the pieces resized to about 3" x 4". I felt this was an excellent way to show some of the techniques used for B.E. as well as showcasing her beautiful quilt design. This was my favorite hummy flower to stitch - probably because it also includes beads with the dimensional embroidery: Without further interruption, here is the finished Hummy Art Quilt, and close-up detail of the stitchwork: ...and detail photos: This is the back of the quilt. My friend Mary, who is A True Quilter, suggested that quilters in the Pacific Northwest march to their own stitch-drummer and can put whatever we want on the backs of our quilts. So I did. This picture also gives a better idea of the colors I used for borders, sashing, binding (or whatever it is called...). I hope you enjoyed this journey with Brazilian dimensional embroidery on my little art quilts. Finishing the crazy quilt I started ages ago will be on my list very soon! Now I'm off to get those dahlias into the ground and soak up some Oregon sunshine! Rosalie

Now and then, I get e-mail inquiries about Brazilian Embroidery – either from newcomers who are looking for learning resources for Brazilian Embroidery or from stitchers looking for supplies. I was glad to receive an e-mail not long ago from Pat Kamperschroer, who is the newsletter editor for the Brazilian Dimensional Embroidery International Guild (BDEIG). ...

In the interest of forming "good" habits, I'm trying to post notes about Brazilian embroidery on a regular basis. This is the "Fuzzy Flower" --it's from my Millefiori design #857 "Crazy Quilt Pillow". Have you ever tried Cire or Nova for your turkey work? It's wonderful! Because it isn't so tightly twisted, it ravels to nice, lovely, smooth fuzz. I didn't use it here, but I once made a design called "My Dolly" and used Nova for her hair. I made really long loops, snipped them before dunking her in the bathtub (to remove blue lines) and when she came out her hair looked like I had hot-ironed it. If you stitch the "Fuzzy Flower", I'd recommend giving Cire a try. By the way, I don't do traditional Turkey Work. I do something called a Knotted Turkey Stitch where I tie a knot in my floss (accidently on purpose). When the knot reaches the fabric, there is a loop on top. Voila~~ Turkey Work! If you put enough of these really close together, they won't pull out. Back to Fuzzy. To finish this flower, I just made double cast-on stitches on each side to look like a pod, and I tacked the double cast-on on one side only. Here's a picture of the finished design (part of the Crazy Quilt Pillow): If I stitched this again, I'd try Cire. And now, a message from my garden. ... Remember those rhodies I bought at the Rhody Field Clearance. Here's the pretty pink one: And not to be outdone, the red peony outside my kitchen window is just screaming for attention: Of course, when I went to the garden center, I just couldn't leave the most beautiful flowers there, so I brought one or two of them home. I bought this planter JUST because I loved the color combination of #134 and #207 (and didn't have to worry about color bleed, for sure!) Tucked in with these yellow daisies and purple petunias were some lovely #114 and #007 callibrachoa flowers: This geranium in "Go Big Red" Nebraska colors (my husband will be soooo happy...) is also from the garden center: And my final two flowers on this post, now also in bloom in my garden, are a Korean Lilac shrub and one of my iris. Couldn't you just fall into that #070 lilac and die a thousand happy deaths? The flowers are small and the bloom time is short, but it looks really pretty this year. Here's the iris: ...and with all of this lovely Oregon rain, everything is just bursting into bloom. I'm originally a Flatlander (Nebraska, 10" of rain a year), so you probably won't hear me very often complain about Oregon's rain (40" per year), or even Oregon Mist which is actually "wannabe" rain. Rosalie

Well, maybe not that new. But new to some, so I'll make a little tute here. These LadyFlowers are "Becky, Bertha and Bubbles". Becky, Bertha and Bubbles are all stitched with the same technique - a drizzle I have named "Braided Lace". I have the instructions for these little LadyFlowers and almost 80 others in my book, My LadyFlowers by Rosalie Wakefield. Here's a picture: I know, I know... *sigh*. Sounds familiar. I advertise and then I advertise some more. That's partly the reason for this blog, but the bigger reason is that I like to talk about Brazilian dimensional embroidery and am always willing to teach/share the things I've discovered. While I'm advertising, you can read more about the book, My LadyFlowers, on my website, here. All of the LadyFlower designs/patterns in the book will fit those little 2.5" frames, and are traceable patterns. However, you can tell from looking at the picture above that all you need are a dot for the drizzle and a spray of lazy daisy leaves and some beady or French knot curves and you'll have a design ready for your favorite wearable item or a crazy quilt, or a fabric postcard for a friend -- anywhere you can poke a needle! I know you are more interested in learning about the Braided Lace Drizzle, so I'll tell you how to do it. I'll show you, too, with pictures as I write, since many of us are visual learners. (And you can always drop me a note if you have questions). You're all familiar with the basic drizzle, right? Thread your needle, come up through the fabric, unthread your needle, and start applying thread. Finish by re-threading the needle and going back down through the fabric and out. If you'd like to see a picture, please visit our BDEIG website. We have a "getting started" page that contains all of the basic stitches with diagrams and directions. Here. (Look around while you're here - there are freebie designs and lots of other good information, including all of the new Seminar 2013 classes, plus you can join the guild and learn even more!!!) Back to work. Braided Lace You need: Two darners Two strands Lola (100% rayon Z-twist floss, from EdMar Co.), or your favorite floss weight. Needle Threader Pincushion for Drizzles Thread a darner with Lola. (Repeat for the second strand.) Knot each end of a Lola strand separately (or just center one strand of Lola so that the fabric bite is approximately 1/8"). Bring the threaded needles up through the fabric, unthread needles. Re-insert the 2 darners, point down, about 1/8" apart into the pincushion. Like this:  You'll double cast on 18 times (this is 36 cast-on loops total, 18 alternating, on each side). Work as follows: With your left hand, cast on over the right needle. With your right hand, cast on over the left needle. (The floss will cross in front) Like this (I did this a couple of times using different floss colors ...): After you have cast on 18 sets of loops (or 36 times, total), your Braided Lace Drizzle will look like this: See that pretty braided center vein? By the way (if you are "arranging" colors, the loops on the left side of the drizzle will be your flower "petals"). The right-size loops are 'gathered' into a tight center -- you'll see what I mean in a minute. OK. After those loops are all on your needles, you will thread ONE needle: Thread the left-side floss into the right needle. Thread the right-side floss into the right needle. Like this: or this: Now ...and very carefully so nothing pulls out, push that threaded right-side needle a little deeper into your pincushion: ...and always holding your floss loops against the needle (so nothing loosens or gets all wonky), carefully pull out that left-side (unthreaded) needle. Now you have only one needle, the right-side threaded needle. See? (I went and neatened up my fingernails as soon as I got finished here ...) OK. Finish the drizzle by pushing the right-side needle down through the fabric a little deeper into the pincushion. Remember to slip a pin or needle into the outer two floss loops so they don't twist and kink and knot for you (it's really hard to undo these with only one free hand...). Here's what I always do: Oh, oops. Don't let these colors confuse you. I stitched this flower twice - you'll see in a minute. On the above picture, the red loops were cast onto the left-side needle. This is just a better picture, trying to show you about the pin through the two outer loops to prevent kinks and knots. On the earlier photo, the blue loops were on the left-side needle. OK? I guess I'd better show you: As an interesting side note, the Braided Lace technique is a "reversible" stitch. I'll talk more about that in a minute. First, let's finish the drizzle. Pull the drizzle down snug to the fabric and the needle all the way through to the backside. Slip one of the strands of Lola out of the needle eye (you can use this long floss tail to knot off by hand later if you want). With the one remaining threaded needle, come back up through the fabric at the base of the drizzle, or right next to where you started. Pull this threaded needle all the way through. With the tip of this threaded needle, guide the outer drizzle loop/edge/center braid of the drizzle to around in a circle to meet the beginning to the end and pull down snug. You'll have what looks like a circular flower with the blue loops forming the flower 'petals' (red loops in the flower pictured just below). Finishing: And done: By the way, if you don't like your "joins", you can tuck them beneath another flower, or you can use any green, come up from the center and make 2-3 long bullions or cast-on stitches to give an impression of calyxes. As a "technical" note, when you are using Z-twist floss and double cast-ing on, you'll notice the right-side loops "untwist" slightly, or flatten out (the reason why Z-twist bullions are wrapped clockwise). [Perle Cotton is S-twist, by the way, and for those who do not have access to Z-twist floss, just reverse the procedure.] I pretty much speak in "Z-twist". When these right-side loops 'flatten out', you'll see that they sort of tuck into each other and make a nice, smooth center for your flower. That's it: Braided Lace! Braided Lace looks different on one side than the other. When I cast on with the blue loops on the left needle, these will make 'petals'. If I cast red loops over the left needle, I'll have red 'petals'. As I mentioned earlier, this stitch is reversible and you can flip the drizzle so the 'petals' will tuck under, or you can position the drizzle so that the 'petals' pop up. Pretty both ways! See: At the top of this post, you'll see that Bertha, Becky and Bubbles are kicking up their skirts and enjoying themselves. If you prefer the more demure LadyFlower "Garnet", let those left-side loops rest against the fabric, or even tuck them under with your needle. The picture below introduces you to the LadyFlowers, "Amber, Opal and Garnet": I have lots of more advanced techniques in my book, My LadyFlowers, if you have already learned the basic Brazilian embroidery stitches and are feeling adventurous. Always remember, too, that if you are trying to follow my instructions and something different comes out of your needle, just give it a name and continue - you have created a new design! Be sure to drop me a note, either in the comments below or by email, if you have any questions at all. I really LOVE Brazilian dimensional embroidery. Can you tell? Rosalie