Tambour beading

(tambour beading source)

As most of you will be starting to pick up on, I have a bit of an obsession with intricate decoration and couture techniques. I suspect that spending a couple of hours googling could get almost anyone hooked, but that's just my opinion.

One thing that I know I have to try is tambour beading. It's a really expensive decoration if you're going out to buy it, not something you stick on everything, but it's very popular for wedding dresses when every woman has an excuse to buy something posher than she ever would otherwise.

It has a long history in India and China but has been widely adopted and maybe a bit co-opted in Parisian haute couture and that's how I heard about it

(tambour butterfly source)

I had done a search for the word couture on  thesewingforum.co.uk and turned up someone asking about 'bead embroidery'. Some of the lovely people on the site who seem to know everything sometimes told her it was tambour and pointed her to a few videos, and I followed along for the ride.

Have you ever seen a crafted item that's so well made and beautiful it makes you a little sick with envy? That's kind of how I'm feeling right now. There are some mind blowing examples of this stuff out there, especially if you look at Asian bridal gowns, and it makes me wand to dish out the money I need for supplies right this instant.

Sad to say, that isn't in my budget right now. I'm a bit skint and shelling out for a tambour beading handle (£10.60), some tambour hooks (£3.95 each), and even the cheapest stand for my embroidery hoops, isn't going to happen this month. I don't even know if I'd like it (though I can guess pretty confidantly).

For now I'll just have to watch youtube videos and dream.