Superb Lyrebird

Raised Embroidery

*** LEVEL 3 ***

Superb Lyrebird is an exciting project if you have some prior experience with Raised Embroidery and are looking for something slightly more challenging to further develop your skills.

The idea for the Superb Lyrebird was born during a workshop where a participant asked if I would do an Australian animal. My initial answer was that I was unlikely to be stitching koalas or kangaroos but then we got talking about birds. The Superb Lyrebird is a ground dwelling bird native to Australia. It is a rather insipid looking bird, until it opens out its magnificent tail of long, white airy fronds flanked by a pair of large, magnificent lyre-shaped feathers.

The Superb Lyrebird is embroidered onto pale mint green silk fabric using stranded silks, fine metallic thread and highlighted with gold spangles and glass beads. The dimensional bird is created using a variety of techniques, such as padded needlelace, embroidered slips, woven picots and wired shapes for the large, lyre shaped tail feathers. Wire edged leaves and a highly padded raised stem band branch add dimension to the foliage.

The detailed instructions and diagrams will help guide you step by step through the project.

I hope you will get as much pleasure embroidering your Superb Lyrebird as I did.

Happy Stitching, Anna