Embroidery by Ania Margoszczyn

I love to wander around with my camera, and usually all my blogposts are about places I visit, but this time I'll tell you a bit about something else.

I am a big fan of all kinds of handmade stuff, I follow dozens of painters, knitters, jewellery makers, and I usually I also like to try everything myself (although I don't have much talent for any of those crafts). Last year when I lived in Budapest, I came across the work of an amazing japanese embroidery artist Yumiko Higuchi. My first thought was - I would love to have something made by her, and then I thought - I'd love to try embroidery too! So I went to the nearest sewing shop, found a hoop and some floss (which was actually not that easy, as I had to learn all the tricky names in Hungarian), and that's how it all started.

The following weeks I had my small embroidery set always in my bag, the weather was lovely, so usually when I had some free time between classes I went to a park near my university and embroidered a bit. My first attempts were mostly with floral motifs, but I had also lots of fun trying to embroider small creatures or landscapes, like when I went to lake Balaton. You can just simply embroider anything you can think of, that's probably the best part. (and buying new colours of floss, that's great too ;))!

I must also admit it was a perfect timing to start such hobby. Hungary has an amazing embroidery tradition, it is definitely the most characteristic element of their folk art, you'll notice this quickly in any of the souvenir shops. Those who'd like to see more, should definitely visit e.g. the Museum of Ethnography, with their large collection of traditional embroidered clothes, and then go and look for some beautiful unique pieces on Budapest's fleamarkets.

Hope I gave you some inspiration, and proved that really anyone can do it. If you'd like to see some amazing modern embroidery, be sure to check the artists above, or just browse the embroidery hashtag on instagram on pinterest, it's an endless source of inspiration! (p.s. the postcard I embroidered on the second photo was designed by a polish illustrator Maria Dek, you should check her too! :)) Have a creative autumn! Love, Ania.