How to use the canetille?

Has embroidery gone out of fashion? Not at all! This creative leisure activity has never been so trendy! On our clothes, our accessories, in our home decor and even on our jewelry, we take pleasure in embroidering light patterns and bright, tangy colors to personalize our wardrobe or our home.
And to the delight of embroiderers, there are many different kinds of embroidery: ribbon embroidery, cross-stitch embroidery, Lunéville embroidery, embroidery with cannetille...

Do you know what cannetille is? It's a soft, hollow thread made up of a wire wound on itself to form a tube. With its helix shape, it looks a bit like a spring. There are two types of cannetille :

• smooth cannetille for uniform results.
• curly cannetille for a more imaginative look.

Traditionally gold or silver, cannetilleis now available in all colors, with matte, glossy or sparkling finishes.

Although they often go hand in hand, don't confuse cannetille with jaseron. Jaseron is also a tubular wire wound into a tight spiral. The difference is that it's a rigid thread. It's used to embroider the outlines of the patterns, which are then filled in with cannetille.

Cannetille and jaseron are used to create the gold embroidery technique. This is a very old embroidery technique performed with a needle. It was once reserved for prestige pieces. It was used to embellish military, ecclesiastical or royal ceremonial garments, theatrical costumes, flags...
Today, this technique has been modernized and widely democratized. It is even highly prized in haute couture, for small accessories and decorative objects.

You can embroider it like a bead! Astonishing, isn't it? With a pair of scissors, delicately cut it into small pieces into which a thread can be threaded. The resulting fragments are then embroidered with a needle on a taut fabric using an embroidery drum.
Unlike conventional embroidery, the threads do not pass through the fabric. They lie on the backing and are held in place by stitches made with a thread. Many techniques are used to apply jewelry cannetille: couching, bare gold and padding.
All kinds of materials can be used as backing, including silk, organza, leather, velvet, felt and suede....

Cannetille embroidery requires a lot of practice and patience. Once you've mastered the art, you'll be able to create beautiful brooches, embroidered jewelry and other fashion accessories. And the results are simply breathtaking!
Want to give it a try? We'll show you how to make embroidered brooches with our three different models: a pretty heart for romantics, a bird for those who love freedom and a mouth-watering ice cream for gourmets.

What about you? Have you ever made embroidery with cannetille? Would you like to show us your DIY creations? At Perles & co, we love to see what you're up to, so feel free to share the results on our Facebook and Instagram pages.