Embroidery
Embroidery is the art of using stitches as a decorative feature in their own right
There are many styles of embroidery 
and countless stitches in use by embroiderers around the world, but they are all variations of three basic kinds – flat, knotted and linked & looped.
In January 2011 I was lucky enough to experience an illustration of this, when I spent a week in Jaipur learning Indian embroidery from the women working at Anokhi, a company which has been working with skilled craftspeople in rural villages for 40 years to keep traditional textile skills alive. The stitches we used were all familiar, but were worked in particular designs and patterns which can be exclusive to a certain village, or can denote status or bring good luck to the wearer.
Join a workshop and make a sampler of stitches in the morning, including a mixture of the three basic kinds – satin, stem, split, chain, fishbone, French and bullion knots, buttonhole, herringbone, etc. In the afternoon get started on a design printed on linen using some of the stitches learnt in the morning. Take your embroidery with you to finish off at home.
Follow-on workshops take place intermittently for those wishing to move on to more complex stitches, or covering a particular style of embroidery, such as Blackwork.
