Picture This by Elisabetta Sforza

1st June 2018

The digital camera has revolutionised the way we capture life here on Earth. There are now more photographs being taken every single day, than existed in total less than 30 years ago. Yet despite this exponential increase in photos, it seems the art of displaying and showing physical prints of our precious memories is being lost… until now.

Elisabetta Sforza has created the most beautiful keepsake for those of us who prefer to admire our photos in print, rather than just on a computer screen.

‘Picture This’ from Inspirations #98 is a wonderfully ornate, hand-crafted and embroidered zig-zag photo album. This ideal home for treasured photographs is made using folded water-colour paper pages stitched together along one edge and book ended with a silk back cover and an exquisite stitched front cover.

Featuring Elisabetta’s trademark raised satin stitch work in combination with some bullion and cast on stitch roses, threadpainted elements and a pulled thread inlay, Picture This is the perfect keepsake for wedding, christening, anniversary photos etc.

We especially like Elisabetta’s use of honeycomb filling stitch to create a wonderfully subtle, elegant background for the high-relief oval.

This pulled thread technique creates a pretty lattice as the tension of the pulled stitching causes the vertical stitches to lie on the diagonal.

To complete the album, twisted cords, finished with decorative tassels, are used to tie it all together at the sides.

The album as shown in the magazine holds 12 prints, 15cm x 10cm (6” x 4”) in size, and as the pages are folded in half and then bound with stitching, you can easily add or remove pages to suit.

If you are looking to create a unique gift for an upcoming special occasion, Picture This is definitely worth considering as the construction is quite straight forward and both the amount of stitching and level of difficulty is not overly onerous.

Who would have thought putting together a photo album would become old fashioned? That said, there are plenty of things the modern era is ‘re-discovering’ and as there is nothing quite like presenting your precious photos in a beautiful hand-crafted album, we think a project like Picture This is new fashion in the making.