Come and join them at the library to learn 'Chicken Scratch' embroidery, a form of lace embroidery on gingham. Chicken Scratch is fun and suited to any level of embroiderer, but, due to its simple nature and pleasing results, it's an especially nice technique for beginners and even for children.

Kits will be available for anyone who would like to join in and learn Chicken Scratch embroidery on the day. Chicken Scratch is very vintage and very now!

Why is this technique called chicken scratch? One theory, according to Embroiderers' Guild member Christine Harris, is that the main stitch looks like a chicken's track and that the technique started during the Great Depression when a woman wished she could add lace to her plain gingham dresses.

There is a story told among embroiderers about how the technique got its unusual name. It is said that a woman only had some floss to work with, so she set about to figure out how to create a lacy look. When her husband asked what she was doing, she told him she was adding lace to her dress. His reply was said to be that it looked a whole lot like chicken scratches.

Chicken scratch is also called Amish embroidery, depression lace, and snowflake embroidery, and is typically stitched on gingham fabric.

However it got started, it was a very popular technique in the 1930s to 1950s in the United States and is enjoying a revival today.

The Ararat Branch of the Embroiderers' Guild of Victoria holds monthly meetings and hosts many other embroidery related activities. From beginner to expert, from cross-stitch to Japanese, embroidery of all kinds is explored, enjoyed and shared with others.

Anyone of any age is welcome to come to the library next Tuesday March 31 from 10.30am until 2pm to learn this fun embroidery technique.