This intricate and colourful piece was created by Mafalda de Moura Barreiros. Currently the lead on embroidery applications and digitising at thread-colouring technology company Coloreel, she also works on freelance projects in her spare time
The concept…
The idea came about after chatting with a friend about an exhibition that showcased huge posters related to Asian food and culture. I started looking into it and even created some embroideries that resembled the posters, but then I thought it would be nice to have a wearable piece we could showcase in our showroom.
I was then inspired by a bunch of illustrations to create this, but had a real issue deciding when it was completed, so some elements were added at the end.
In total there were four extra digitised files that contained the top and bottom lines that frame the dragon.
The embroidery also includes Madeira’s Polyneon and Frosted Matt threads
The walkthrough…
I created the file using Wilcom and Coloreel Studio, and stitched it on a Tajima TMEZ in combination with a Coloreel on-demand thread-dyeing machine.
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Although most of the colours come from the Coloreel unit, I combined it with some Madeira threads too. I used Polyneon for some of the block colours such as black, grey and white, and used Frosted Matt for some of the peach details.
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From the Coloreel I used a variety of effects, gradients for the body, and the noise effect for most of the details around the head. Using a total of 25 different tones, I attempted multiple colour combinations on Coloreel Studio until I was satisfied with my choice.
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The main file was already quite big, with 113,739 stitches, so I decided to add some fabric appliqué to cover some of the areas without making it too heavy. I used two different ones: a silk satin blue and a cotton twill in black that was placed in the face of the dragon to give it its base colour. This was stitched on a blank overshirt, also in cotton.
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It probably took me a couple of hours to digitise mostly because of the size and to make sure the order was running smoothly. Otherwise these are fairly simple stitches, mostly satin, tatami and run stitches, and I used the hand stitch effect around the face for a more organic look.
Visit Mafalda’s online portfolio
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