Today I’m exploring a fascinating dimension of embroidery you might not always consider; in fact, I believe it’s often overlooked, and yet it offers such power.

I’m talking about scale.

Embroidery is frequently imagined as something small and delicate, nestled in a hoop or stitched onto clothing, and that’s all well and good.

But by turning embroidery into something monumental or, conversely, something tiny, an artist can help create a sense of dynamism in their work.

I recently saw a beautiful piece of street art stretching across a wide expanse of new building work.  What was it, and why was I so captivated?

It was a long, narrow depiction of intricate white lace, painted or stencilled onto a newly-built wall along a busy street.

There was contrast, pattern, texture, and, best of all, scale, because it must have been over four metres long and around 75cm high.

Suddenly, that white lace had the power to hold my attention, and from memory, it was laid over existing graffiti, which made it even more interesting to me.

Yet, small can be attention-grabbing too, fitting into tiny spaces and requiring technical skill to produce captivating results that touch the heart and soul.

So, in this episode of the Stitch Safari Podcast, I’m diving into the world of dynamic embroidery yet again, but through the lens of scale.

Often underestimated, this crucial aspect of the relationship between artwork and how we perceive it hinges on the influence and impact of its size.

Psychologically, size can be used to manipulate our emotions and create spatial illusions while evoking reactions within the viewer.  Suddenly, size becomes extremely important.

This one is a fascinating topic, so join me as I uncover the hidden power of scale and the profound ways it can mould our perception of the world around us.

I’ll be exploring the vastness of large-scale works, but also the intimate whispers of miniature embroidery.  Best of all, I’ll be investigating how scale changes our experience of embroidery, how artists are pushing its boundaries and why size really matters when it comes to embroidered and stitched textile art.

Before I begin, I think it’s important to understand that scale and size in art refer to two different things.  Size refers to the actual physical dimensions of an object, whereas scale refers to its relative size compared to another object.  Both these points of reference are important in our art, but both are vastly different.

Susan Brandeis, in her wonderful book, The Intentional Thread: A Guide to Drawing, Gesture and Colour in Stitch, published by Schiffer Publishing Ltd., in 2019, writes this about scale: ‘Very large marks offer a bold, even sassy scale of expression that is routinely available to painters, often men, but seldom embraced by stitchers, often women.  If you are so inclined, embroidery’s heritage of ‘ladylike’, sedate and restrained expressions can be discarded for a bolder and brassier practice.’

Faye Hall, writing for The Open College of the Arts UK, states that she often discusses the idea of exploring scale with her students, maybe to explore working a technique at a smaller, more intricate scale, or to do the opposite, making the work larger.  She believes it’s easy to stick within the limitations of your sketchbook or remain firmly within your comfort zone, but suggests it may be beneficial to investigate the possibilities of creating work at different scales.  She goes on to write this: ‘However else will you know the true possibilities of your media, or to make that informed decision that one particular scale or proportion works best?  The choice of scale in a textile-based application, such as embroidery, is absolutely pivotal to the final aesthetic and visual language of the piece if used, even if it’s only applied in a small section.  The selection of yarn weights and thicknesses, the length of your stitches, and the surface area covered are all considerations to be made, and all involve scale of some kind.  What happens when you combine yarn weights?  When you vary stitch lengths?  When you mix hand and machine embroidery?  What would happen if you took thick yarn and stitched it in a very small space?  Embroidery very much blurs the boundary between pattern and drawing, and can so often be a good choice of technique to apply to emphasise or create line, to create surface detail and pattern, or to explore colour.’

Even Mary Corbet, writer and founder of Needle’nThread, wrote a post about considering the scale of your embroidery project.  In it, she discusses establishing perspective, noting that the choice to upscale a motif or design can be quite impactful.  If you use the same materials, you’ll need a considerable amount of them. However, if you scale those materials up to match the design more closely, you won’t use as much.  Then there’s the question of colour and shading.  With more space, there’s the opportunity to utilise more colours for shading gradations. Finally, technique comes into play.  Larger areas can take padding techniques, whereas smaller spaces cannot.  So by changing the scale, the possibilities also change.  Different materials and different techniques can be applied to scaled-up or scaled-down motifs – and that makes for infinite variety.

See how interesting embroidery can be when you really take the time to analyse how to utilise its possibilities?

Canvas Prints Australia posted a very interesting article in 2023, titled ‘The Power of Art: How Size Influences Perception’.  It states: ‘While the content, style and subject matter of art have long been subjects of study and debate, one often overlooked aspect of art’s influence is its size.  The dimensions of an artwork play a pivotal role in how it’s perceived, experienced, and emotionally resonates with viewers.  Whether towering over us or intimately small, the size of an artwork can shape our feelings, thoughts and the way we interact with it.’

Did you even realise that there is a relationship between size and emotion?

Now it’s time to define scale.  Scale refers to the relative size of objects or elements within a composition, helping to establish relationships between parts of the artwork while influencing our perception of it.

Artists can use scale to create a sense of importance, create perspective, or evoke emotions by manipulating size in relation to surroundings.

Larger artworks often demand and capture attention because they exude a sense of dignity and impressiveness.  They evoke feelings of wonder and awe.  Smaller works tend to create a more personal and intimate connection, referencing feelings of intimacy and personal connection.

Scale can also be used as a conceptual tool referencing the relative size or magnitude of a phenomenon, object or process from micro-perspectives to broad macro-views, and therein lies a great tool for abstraction.

An artist who understands this dynamic between size and emotion can harness emotional power in their work.

So how does scale affect the way we experience embroidery, and how can an embroidery artist utilise this in their work?

• Scale influences the viewer’s experience, the story the work tells and our perception of detail and intricacy.
• Large or monumental artworks create an immediate sense of drama and impact, communicating a grand public narrative; you can’t help but take notice because gigantic forms draw attention immediately.  It excels at being seen.
• Small or miniature works, though, foster a sense of delicate beauty and mindfulness, allowing for intricate details that can capture surprising textures on a small surface, inviting further exploration.  They captivate, inviting you to explore their subtleties and the craftsperson’s skill.
• Scale also creates visual hierarchy, emphasising importance through size.  Ancient Egyptian art often depicted pharaohs as larger than surrounding figures, symbolising their elevated status.

As an artist, what’s the story you’re trying to tell and which size would be most appropriate to help do that?  Should it be intimate and small or public and large, demanding a different kind of viewer engagement?

But the choice of scale will also impact other elements, such as stitch length and density, how the stitch is perceived and executed.

Thread weight and thickness become crucial design choices too – all influenced by the choice of scale.

But there’s also a vast creative potential lurking within the use of scale, and this is where things become very interesting indeed.

Dramatic shifts in scale create contrast – another dynamic element used in embroidery.  This can be as powerful as a change in colour or texture.

Working with differing scales allows artists to explore different media, helping them understand the full aesthetic and visual language of the media they use, leading to more informed design decisions.  Refer back to Faye Hall’s comments earlier.

Plus, artists can use scale as a tool to expand their narrative possibilities.  Think of small diary-like journal entries, then think of huge, large-scale written texts.  What is it you want to say?  Should it be large or small?  Choices, choices.

Be aware, though, that some challenges and opportunities arise when scaling up from working on small to room-sized installations.

• If too few stitches are added to a scaled-up design, gaps may appear between stitches, making the embroidery look sparse.
• But, too many stitches may lead to a bulky, bunched-up and uneven appearance.
• Fine details may become distorted as the original stitch structure was not designed to be large-scale.
• A change in scale may require a rethink of stitch techniques – thin running-stitch lines may become a thicker satin stitch, or once solid areas may now require filling stitches.
• Some stitches are simply not practical in a scaled-up design.  Satin stitch snags easily when worked either too long or too wide.
• Reducing stitch size can also cause problems, especially when working by machine.  There may be tension issues resulting in tedious and frequent thread breaks.
• Trying to maintain fabric tension over a larger expanse becomes more difficult as fabric slips, buckles, warps and puckers.
• Scale will affect material choices, such as threads, fabrics and stabilisers – all offering different tension properties.

Put simply, selecting the appropriate materials and techniques for either scaled-up or scaled-down projects will help maintain the integrity of the original design.  Fear not, there’s always a solution.

Some believe that working large means that the intimacy in the embroidery is lost.  I believe otherwise.

Intimacy is a quality in either hand or machine embroidery that’s built through careful, thoughtful design work, skilful execution and by using a personal connection to the work to create something meaningful.  I keep saying this – design has to be meaningful to the maker, regardless of size.

How can you create intimacy in larger embroideries?

• Vary stitch textures to create a rich, tactile surface quality.
• Layering adds depth, dimension and visual interest to the work.
• Manipulate stitch density and colour for perspective and vary stitch direction and angle to create form, texture and visual interest.
• Use colour blending and vary stitch density to draw the viewer’s eye and prevent monotony.
• Exaggerate the details to engage the viewer.

What about that sense of intimacy in smaller embroideries?  How can you achieve that?

• Use subtlety, complexity, layering and textured stitches to give a sense of depth.
• Use a variety of threads, such as silks or metallics that offer tactile richness, subtle sheen and texture variation.
• Work with shorter thread lengths for greater control.
• Mix stitches to create a variety of textures and stitch densities.
• Pay attention to every detail.
• Use the negative space to enable focus on the central embroidered elements.

I believe all those suggestions make a lot of sense, but when we think about embroidery, it traditionally sits within a certain domestic or bodily scale.  Think hoops, garment making and church altar cloths.

Let’s now investigate how contemporary artists are expanding those self-same traditions.

• Artists now embroider onto unexpected surfaces such as plastic, wire and wood, transforming them into unique canvases of opportunity.
• Mixed media is often combined with other media, such as painting and collage, to create complex, layered artworks.
• There’s a move beyond small, decorative embroideries to large, immersive and sometimes interactive installations.
• Embroidery is a perfect medium for conceptual art, able to explore themes of identity, culture and environmental issues.
• Artists are using embroidery to challenge traditional views on embroidery.
• Some artists have integrated digitised machine embroidery into their work.
• Artists are now far more open to sharing personal experiences and beliefs via the medium of embroidery.

And when we think of public installations where embroidery becomes part of the urban space, is this an innovation?

Well, no.  The Bayeux Tapestry is around 70 metres long by 50cm high and was highly likely made to hang around the nave of the then newly consecrated Bayeux Cathedral.  Not bad for an 11th-century embroidery.

The Tentmakers of Cairo still exist and make appliqued hangings and textiles featuring intricate patterns and vibrant colours, deep with historical and cultural links.  Historically, these textiles were made to adorn ceremonial tents of Egyptian dynasties.

Now we have people such as the Spanish artist and set designer Raquel Rodrigo, who transforms urban architecture by using oversized cross-stitch embroidery, fusing craftsmanship with street art, and the effect is pure magic.  Stitched over wire mesh using a thick yarn, the work is installed onto facades, fences and other urban surfaces.

While the work mimics the traditional style of many cross-stitch floral embroidery patterns, this is on a much grander, almost monumental scale.

What Rodrigo has achieved is a fusion of old-world craftsmanship and contemporary visual techniques, capturing nostalgia to create bold public art.  And I love it.

Other examples of public embroidery installations include:

• Public collaborative work to stitch embroidered messages to create a monument.
• Inviting visitors to join public embroidery workshops that then contribute to a themed artwork.
• Environmental art where embroidery is worked onto a dissolvable fabric to create a temporary thread sculpture of strong yet fragile stitches.
• Culture-based installations worked in partnership with organisations fostering community connection through shared stitching and culture exchange.

Many of these immersive experiences can be found in museums, public spaces and urban environments such as parks.

But what this really achieves is to promote and keep the ‘human touch’ visible, resulting in an emotional impact of awe and an immersion of the senses.

Here are some examples of contemporary artists who work on a larger scale in their textile art and embroidery.

• Alice Kettle, British embroidery artist.
• Nancy Crow, American quilter.
• Antigone Lentzos, British embroidery artist.
• Bella May Leonard, British embroidery artist.
• Louise Gardiner, British embroidery artist.
• Katerina Marchenko, Ukrainian embroidery artist.

Okay, we’ve done large.  Now, what about small embroidery art?

Look no further for historical examples than books.  Yes, as early as the 13th century in England and Europe, books were bound in cloth and often embroidered, even including the spine.

Flowers, foliage, sacred emblems, royal portraits, arabesques, heraldry and biblical scenes and figures adorned these beautifully worked books.

An exquisite embroidered bookcover worked by May Morris, very much in the naturalistic style of her father, William Morris, is held in the Bancroft Library at the University of California, Berkeley.

Chinese hair embroidery dates back much further to the Tang dynasty, 618-907, where each strand was used as thread.  Other historical examples include miniature samplers and accessories.

More contemporary examples include brooches, rings and micro sculptures.

Working small must be challenging to the eyes and the body, requiring a high level of technical skill.  But within small work is a huge emotional impact – that of intimacy and preciousness.

Contemporary artists who work on a much smaller scale include:

• Almost every embroiderer who works on a yearly journal embroidery works tiny motifs in colourful threads.
• The current trend of making embroidered Hoop Art would include small-scale embroidery.
• Salley Mavour, American embroiderer.
• Amanda Cobbett, British embroidery artist.

Embroidery can be both a spectacle and a secret, juxtaposing grand narratives against gentle whispers, but it’s up to the artist to manipulate and provoke reactions within us, such as reverence, curiosity, tenderness or shock through their use of scale and their technical skill.

Take a photocopy of a small piece of your embroidery, then blow it up, or vice versa with a larger work, and shrink it down.  Do you notice a different reaction within yourself to the embroidery as a whole, or the stitches themselves?

I believe I’ve proven that scale is about impact.  Visual and emotional.  But what this episode highlights is the utter versatility of embroidery.  It can be vast or almost microscopic.  Commanding or almost hidden, and both carry weight and importance relative to the artist’s concept and theme.

Embroidery shows that size is not a limitation, it’s an opportunity. Take notice of how scale changes your perspective and begin to experiment within your own creative practice.

Remember, in dynamic embroidery, whether your stitches are vast or small, let them always carry your meaning and your story.

Thanks for staying on till the end. This episode was a bit of a marathon, but it was worth it.