Time Travel: The Noble Family

Chapter 123: Chapter 53: Embroideress_3

Embroidery Lady Mah had already been reminded by the Steward Mother to take extra care of the Second Young Lady and Third Young Lady, as both were legitimate daughters who had not previously touched needle and thread.

Upon her arrival, Embroidery Lady Mah didn’t immediately start teaching the ladies how to embroider. Instead, she began with the history of embroidery: “Su embroidery, Hunan Embroidery, Guangdong Embroidery, and Shu Embroidery are collectively known as the ‘four famous embroideries’, in addition to others like Beijing embroidery, Lu Embroidery, and Bian Embroidery. What I will be teaching you is Su embroidery, which primarily focuses on set needlework. The threads should be connected without showing any needle traces. It often uses three to four different threads of similar or neighboring colors to create a natural gradient effect in the colors. At the same time, when depicting objects, it’s good at leaving ‘water ways’; that is, leaving a line void in the transitions of shades in objects, making the layers clear and the pattern contours neat.”

After explaining, Embroidery Lady Mah brought out a piece of embroidery she had completed earlier and described the characteristics of Su embroidery to the four young ladies, then told them how to match different types of colored threads to achieve the effect they wanted.

Yueyao listened with great interest, not expecting Mr. Mah’s explanation of embroidery to be like the explanation of a beautiful work of art, which was indeed very rare.

After speaking once, Embroidery Lady Mah asked the four, “Did you understand?” If they did, she would continue to teach. If not, she would explain again.

Seeing that no one else spoke up, Yueyao said on her own initiative, “Mr. Mah, I understood.” Actually, the matching of colored threads is essentially the same as color mixing in painting; the principle of obtaining the desired colors is the same, and while there are differences, they don’t stray from the fundamental essence.

Embroidery Lady Mah asked the other three, including Yueying, who were too embarrassed to admit their partial comprehension, as doing so would amount to confessing their own foolishness.

Yuehuan had a strong interest but also felt worried. She hadn’t even touched simple cross-stitch in modern times; could she really learn such complex Su embroidery? Therefore, she felt quite aggrieved when Yueyao said she understood it, thinking, ‘Sister, you understand, but I don’t!’

Seeing that no one objected to continuing, Embroidery Lady Mah said that her main goal had been to deepen everyone’s impression of Su embroidery; whether they really understood was not a big problem, as the key was still in the kung fu of embroidery: “Su embroidery has its own unique style—its patterns are elegant, the designs are ingenious, the embroidery work is meticulous, the needle techniques are lively, the colors are refined, and the embroidery skills must exhibit the characteristics of being ‘flat, neat, harmonious, bright, smooth, and even’.” She paused before asking, “Do you know what ‘flat, neat, harmonious, bright, smooth, and even’ mean?”

Yuebing muttered under her breath, ‘If I knew that, I wouldn’t need you to tell me.’

Seeing that the three young ladies were speechless, Yueyao replied, “‘Flat’ refers to the embroidery being smooth; ‘neat’ refers to the edges of patterns being tidy; ‘fine’ refers to the use of delicate needles and fine thread; ‘dense’ refers to the compact arrangement of thread without showing needle traces; ‘harmonious’ suggests the colors are well chosen; ‘bright’ means the colors are dazzling and distinct; ‘smooth’ refers to the silk texture smoothly rounding out; ‘even’ signifies that the lines are finely and uniformly spaced. Mr. Mah, did I get that right?”

Embroidery Lady Mah was somewhat surprised, “Has Third Young Lady learned Su embroidery?” If she had not learned, how could she be so familiar with it?

Yueyao smiled softly, “I studied it for a few days when I was in Jiangnan, and I developed an interest in Su embroidery, so I know a little, but it’s really just the basics.”

Embroidery Lady Mah nodded slightly, acknowledging a modest child, “Third Young Lady is correct. Additionally, Su embroidery products come in a comprehensive variety: categorized into double-sided and single-sided embroidery. The common needle techniques used in Su embroidery include Neat Needle Technique, Scattered Set Embroidery, Applying the Needle Technique, Solid and Void Needle, Random Needle Technique, Point Stitching, Stabbing Gauze Embroidery, Connecting Needle Technique, Rolling Needle Technique, Dazi Stitch, Twisted Buttonhole Stitch, Collected Set Embroidery, Straight Snatch Embroidery, Reverse Snatch Embroidery, and more…”

Yueying and the others were confused, but Yueyao was listening with eagerness.

Embroidery Lady Mah said with a smile, “These techniques will be taught to you one by one in the future.” She liked to introduce the things to be learned first and then, during the teaching, go through each one slowly—this was her teaching style.

After Embroidery Lady Mah had finished speaking, Yueyao asked, “Mr. Mah, some highly skilled embroiderers can recreate the scenes from paintings onto embroidery, making them look exactly the same. Have you seen any?” Yueyao had heard before that some embroideresses were able to convert famous paintings into embroidery pieces, making them appear as real as the actual paintings, as if they had transferred the scene from the canvas onto the embroidery.

Embroidery Lady Mah laughed, “It’s true. There is an embroideress in Jiangnan who has been involved in embroidery for more than 30 years. She can copy paintings into embroidery pieces, creating embroidered landscapes that distinguish distance, pavilions with a sense of depth, figures with a lively view, and flowers and birds with an affectionate and graceful posture.” Of course, the pieces embroidered by this embroideress have all become heirlooms; one couldn’t even dream of buying them, much less see them, for they have been collected by others.

Yueyao nodded repeatedly after hearing this. Yuebing rolled her eyes beside her, knowing full well that Yueyao had never so much as handled a needle and thread, yet now she seemed to understand so much.