The embroidery that changed my life

Olá! Nineteen years ago I had no idea that my life would become intrinsically related to embroidery. I was a university professor beginning my career and no way I could think that embroidery would come into my life as it did… But there was a premonitory sign… I designed my wedding dress and at that time I decided I would like it to be hand embroidered, in a simple way, using color (not only white) and inspired by “Daisies” – in Portugal, Margarida is used to name a girl (Margaret) and to name the flower (daisy). Every detail was special for me. And I wanted it exactly as I imagined, full of meaning…

It was not an easy choice… Above all it was a lonely choice… My mother would have preferred to have a richer embroidery. Maybe in gold or silver, or at least in a brilliant white… Absolutely not in yellow and green!! The owner of the “embroidery house” was a very respectful lady, heiress of the most famous “Maison de couture” in the North of Portugal… No way she wanted to have her work related to something that could be named as “simple”… She showed me so many samples trying to change my mind… But I wanted daises in yellow and green… As I knew we had to reach a compromise I decided, in order to make it “richer”, that they could use little beads but only if they did not shine!! And they could create the pattern… Always assuring: daisies in yellow and green.

And as it often happens, compromise took us further. At the end all of us were happy with the result.
This week, celebrating 19 years of this special embroidery, I picked the dress to take some photos. And I felt that it is not out of fashion because it was not meant to be in fashion but rather to be full of meaning…

And now, with my older daughter named Margaridaand embroidery “living” in my daily life, I’m sure that my wedding dress was really full of meaning and that it had foretelling powers…

No doubt... that piece of embroidery changed my life! And I would love to know if there is such an important piece of embroidery in your life...

*this post was meant to be published last week...