custom embroidery

We knew we wanted the Master Bedroom of this Mountain Brook, Alabama home to be serene and monochromatic.  A custom designed tufted-linen headboard was the first step in creating a luxurious bed that blended peacefully with China White tinted venetian plaster walls.  From there, Paige had the idea to have standard bedding embroidered with a custom design.  She and Doug selected a beautiful linen coverlet and flanged shams from Three Sheets in Homewood, Alabama.

Once we had selected a rug (in this case a velvety antique oushak from Paige Albright Orientals) and drapery fabric for the space, it was time to turn our attention to the design of the embroidery.  Doug began by selecting a pattern from a book of historical decorative elements.

 

After scanning the image and converting it to greyscale, Doug began tracing over the design.  After several revisions, the design for the corners of the coverlet looked like this:

Once our client had approved the design, we sent it to an embroidery shop where Doug’s sketch was digitized.  The  resulting computer file was uploaded to an embroidery machine and then the design was stitched onto the bedding we’d purchased.

For the design of the pillow shams, Doug photoshopped the design of the coverlet corners into a larger cross-shaped element and again sketched over the pattern several times to refine the design.  The resulting pattern looked like this:

 

This drawing was again digitized and then stitched onto the shams, resulting in bedding that is completely customized and unique.  We’ll definitely be creating our own embroidery designs again.