Materials

Fabric: A strong, firm fabric of reasonable weight, or a lighter fabric that has been backed, e.g. with a medium weight linen or pre-shrunk calico.

Needle: Chenille No. 7, or crewel needle (dependent on choice of fabric & thread Honing Stone: Hone or lightly sand the shisha edges to ensure they are smooth before stitching.

Frame: Essential to have your fabric in a frame or hoop for shisha and metal thread embroidery.

Threads: Rajmahal Art Silks, Cords, Sadi & Metallics can all be used in shisha work to wonderful effect.

Tic Tac Toe Method in Pictures

As you go, experiments come to mind. Most stitches can be based on a shisha frame. The tension of your frame stitches is important as the frame will be pulled out towards the edge of the mirror by the decorative stitches. Firm tension allows less mirror to be displayed, less tension shows more mirror.

To decorate, bring thread to the right side and use the frame as a base to attach e.g. buttonhole, twisted chain, French Knots, cretan stitch, fly stitch......the only limit is your imagination.

There are lots of variations on frame techniques too, like using Rajcord to attach the shisha which can then be woven in a cord spiders web, or attach using metallics, or threaded sadi thread.