Folk embroidery (Guo Xiuying folk embroidery, Su Mingying folk embroidery), a traditional art project in the second batch of representative projects of Huai'an municipal intangible cultural heritage. Historical origin "Folk embroidery" is a traditional folk handicraft in my country. The embroidery works of Guo Xiuying in Qingpu District, Huai'an City and Su Mingying in Hongze County are mainly tiger-head shoes. In the Han Dynasty, there was already a custom of painting tigers on the door on New Year's Eve in my country, which opened the precedent for Chinese folk New Year paintings. Later, the folk custom of painting tigers to ward off evil spirits and protect the house became a tradition among the people and has continued to this day. After a long time and after being enriched with culture, the image of the tiger has been symbolized from complex to simple: exorcising evil spirits and praying for blessings, this is the folk connotation of the image of the tiger. Because tigers are endowed with the meaning of exorcising evil spirits and warding off disasters, the ancients often used tiger faces to decorate objects. The folks regarded tigers as the patron saint of children, and let children wear tiger-head shoes, tiger-head hats, and sleep on tiger-head pillows. The image of the tiger is shaped to be both majestic and clumsy and cute, implying that children can grow up to be strong and lively. Content and characteristics The tiger-head shoes works by Guo Xiuying in Qingpu District, Huai'an City and Su Mingying in Hongze County are mainly made of cotton and wool fiber fabrics. There are many processes, including paste scraper (Huai'an dialect, meaning to make a jacket), cutting patterns, binding edges, laying soles, sewing soles, making uppers, embroidering tiger faces, and sewing along the shoe mouth until the uppers and soles are sewn together. A pair of tiger-head shoes is basically completed, but it still needs to be decorated. After the tiger whiskers are tied and the straps are sewn, it is considered a success. The patterns selected or designed are generally based on auspiciousness and peace. The basic process is as follows: Pasting scraps (making 袼褙): 袼褙 is a thick piece of cloth made by pasting waste cloth together in multiple layers with paste. It is basically used as the sole and is an essential raw material for making tiger-head shoes. The sole and upper are made of it. First, you need a flat, crack-free wooden board, then brush a layer of flour-cooked paste on the board, and paste a layer of waste cloth. If it is a piece of scrap cloth, you should pay attention to the edge docking and paste it flat to prevent the sole or upper from being uneven. Then brush another layer of paste and paste a layer of cloth. Generally, 35 layers are required. After pasting, put it in a ventilated place to dry, and peel it off to make 袼褙. Cutting samples: First, use the sole sample as a mold and cut the 袼褙 used for the sole. Generally, 34 layers are used for one sole. To make a pair of tiger-head shoes, 68 pieces of 袼褙 need to be cut continuously. Then, stack the two soles together and sew them with a thick hemp rope. This is the prototype of the sole. Binding: The cloth strips used for binding are about two centimeters wide and lighter in color, mostly light-colored fabrics. Pay special attention when cutting the cloth strips. Do not cut along the texture of the fabric, but cut at a certain angle to the fabric grain, otherwise the cloth strips will be narrow and easy to get off the thread. When binding, follow the direction of the sole and wrap the cloth strips around the sole evenly and smoothly. The width of the cloth strips on both sides is consistent, which is considered to be a good job. Laying the sole: Like binding, it is for the beauty of the sole. First, lay two layers of rags on the side of the sole, and then lay a layer of pure color soft cloth. In this way, the sole is full, powerful, beautiful and generous. The last layer of soft cloth should be slightly larger than the sole. When sewing, fold the edge of the cloth inward to make it slightly smaller than the sole, and then sew it with fine and even stitches. Sewing the sole: After the sole is laid, you can start sewing the sole. The thread should be in sharp contrast with the sole color, but also in a coordinated color. The color thread is usually a thick thread twisted together with multiple strands of thin threads. Because the sole is relatively thick, a needle and awl are often used when sewing the sole. The needle and awl make holes, the large needle guides the thread, and the thread is pulled and tightened in one go. The thread can also be sewn into various shapes, including oblique arrangement, cross flower, diamond, and various patterns that can be imagined. Making the upper: The upper is also made of the sling. Use the upper pattern as a mold to cut out the approximate shape of the upper on the sling. Generally speaking, an upper is made of two slings of exactly the same size and shape. After the upper is cut, simply sew it together with the pattern, and then carefully cut and remove the excess part. Note that the back and front of the upper should be left a little wider, about 0.5 cm wider than the pattern, so as to facilitate the final sewing. The gap being cut now is the dividing line between the front tiger face part and the back shoe upper. After sewing them together, these two small pieces will form a tiger face. Then cut the upper surface and lining according to the pattern. The upper surface is mostly satin, red or green, with bright colors; the upper lining is made of cotton cloth, which is soft, comfortable and elegant in color. Use paste to stick the cut surface and lining to the tunic. The position should be aligned and the sticking should be smooth. Only the back half of the upper surface can be cut, and the front half can be left unpasted, because this part will be the tiger face in the future. After pasting and drying, cut the entire upper neatly. Embroidering tiger face: The tiger face has a shoe face style passed down by ancestors. The clever folk artists have memorized it by heart. They can easily cut a vivid shape, or they can design the shoe face pattern according to needs. Put the cut pattern on the cloth used to embroider the tiger face, trace the shape with a pen, and then start embroidering. Generally, the tiger face is embroidered from the tiger nose first, followed by the eyebrows, eyes, mouth, teeth and the character "王" on the forehead. Finally, the edge is outlined with golden silk thread, and the whole tiger face is more beautiful. The tiger face is the most colorful part of the whole tiger-head shoe. A few strands of colored silk threads turn into a lively tiger face in a blink of an eye, with a snow-white peach nose, black tiger eyes, and a pink lotus face, which is really adorable. With the changes of time and the changes in the regions of circulation, the facial shape has become rich and colorful, including mother and child tigers, unicorn tigers, tigers with the character "王", sparrows and tigers, etc. Many other small animals are added to the tiger face, such as butterflies, dragonflies, magpies, etc. There are many kinds of patterns, all depending on personal vision and preference. Cut the embroidered tiger face into the same shape as the front half of the upper, and then put the tiger face on the upper in combination with the hemming. The cloth strips used to wrap the tiger face are basically the same as those used to wrap the sole, but can be narrower. Put the tiger face on the front of the upper, i.e. the upper tiger face, and then put the edging strip on top of the tiger face, align the edges, and sew the three together. When sewing, follow the direction of the tiger face and sew it up in order, including the two tiger ears. Then turn the strip down and sew it again. This time, the needle should not be pierced on the strip, but on the fabric embroidered with the tiger face. In this way, the stitches cannot be seen from the front, and the tiger-head shoes are considered to be exquisite and authentic. Covering the shoe mouth: Covering the shoe mouth is actually the part of the upper reserved for the shoe mouth. The same method is used to carry out the edging treatment, so that the shoes look neat, beautiful and generous. In this way, the entire upper part is ready. Upper upper: After the sole and upper are fully prepared, they need to be sewn together, i.e. the upper. First, fold the tiger face at the front of the upper in half and sew it. Then sew the part reserved for the tiger face close to the front of the upper. When putting on the upper, start from the front tiger face, the stitches should be evenly tied, and the thread should be pulled tight. You can also fold the bottom edge of the upper inward a little to make it easier to pierce the hole. Putting on the upper requires the cooperation of a needle awl, hemp rope and a large needle, the needle awl pokes the hole, the large needle leads the thread, and then the thread is pulled and the rope is tightened in one go. When both sides are put on to the middle, measure the back of the upper and sew it up, and then continue to put on the upper. Tie the tiger whiskers: The tiger whiskers are made of colored wool. First, choose a small strand of wool that matches the color of the tiger-head shoes, take a small strand of about six or seven strands, wrap it around your fingers a few times, cut it off and tie it on both sides of the tiger's mouth, and trim it into a pompom shape. The tiger-head shoes will immediately add a little spirit. When the child puts on the tiger-head shoes and walks, the tiger whiskers made of these two pompoms will tremble up and down, which is very cute. At this point, the tiger-head shoes are complete. In addition to the simple tiger face shape, tiger-head shoes are also embroidered with other patterns, such as goldfish, lotus, rabbit worshiping the moon, longevity characters, butterflies, bees, lilies, and Ruyi, etc. There are also tiger-head pillows and tiger-head hats. There are many details in the production of tiger-head shoes. For example, three 1 cm long root-shaped colorful silk threads are embroidered on the bottom of the embroidered tiger-head shoes worn by babies, indicating that the child will take root and live long, land steadily and have roots, and will not fall. "Three roots" represent "blessings, wealth, and longevity". Four root hairs must not be made, because there is a folk saying that "people have three and ghosts have four". Some shoes are embroidered with a green onion pattern on the bottom, indicating that the child is smart and safe; and because "cong" and "chong" are homophones, a green onion pattern also means that disasters will be eliminated. Butterfly tiger-head shoes represent beauty, and bee tiger-head shoes represent diligence and sweetness. No matter what kind of decoration, it represents people's good hopes for the future. "Folk embroidery" combines folk art, folk knowledge and traditional handicraft skills, and has high ornamental value, practical value and collection value. (No pictures yet, welcome to provide.) (No pictures yet, welcome to provide.)