Hand-guided machine embroidery is a skill used in couture dressmaking where the embroiderer creates a design and then embroiders it onto the fabric free-hand, using the needle of the sewing machine like a paintbrush.
It takes a huge amount of practice and concentration to get it right and the result is a subtle painterly finish unique to the artist's style. It is rarely perfect and utterly unlike digital embroidery which is used for things like logos. You can imagine the difference betwen the two like printed text vs. hand calligraphy.
Never Seen the Jungle (framed)
Original hand-guided machine embroidery. Sold in a black wooden floating frame.
The background:
The first major piece of embroidery I made was a hand stitched jungle inspired by Henri Rousseau's jungle paintings. I've always loved his work and continue to be drawn towards making jungle scenes with a chaos of colours and shapes. Apparently he had never seen a jungle before (or any of the animals for that matter) and picked up most of his inspiration from natural history museums and botanical gardens. “When I step into the hothouses and see the plants from exotic lands, it seems to me that I am in a dream.”