"Naxiu cut velvet" insole is a folk handicraft in Linyi area. It is said that this embroidery method is a kind of Shu embroidery, which originated in Meng Lianggu at the junction of Mengyin County and yinan county, Linyi, and is widely circulated in Linyi. Na embroidery, also known as "needle embroidery", is consistent with the embroidery method of Na sole, that is, from one side of insole to the other, the stitches are not oblique or crooked, and both sides are consistent. The so-called velvet cutting is to cut the embroidered insole from the middle with a sharp knife to get two completely symmetrical insoles with the same color but different directions. The cut cotton thread naturally forms "velvet" Because the production process includes wiring embroidery, splitting and opening, it is named "embroidery scissors".

The manufacturing process of Naxiu velvet-cut insole is complicated, and its working procedures are roughly as follows:

First, the preparation before embroidery

1. Punching:

First, use white flour to make paste. The specific method is: put a bowl of water in the pot, then put some noodles in the pot, put them on the fire to boil, and let them cool for later use. Punching is to glue the remaining pieces of cloth together to make a whole piece of cloth. In the process of bonding, it should be placed flat on the table to ensure smoothness. Don't expose stamps to the sun, be sure to dry them, so they won't wrinkle easily. After the seal is dried, cut the sole sample directly according to the shoe size.

2. Making base fabric:

Generally, after the sole sample is made with a seal, the base cloth should be made according to its size. Base cloth, that is, a single layer cloth with 2-3 layers on the sole sample, is designed for warmth and comfort.

3, looking for interlining:

Interlining, that is, the cloth that wraps the bottom sample and the bottom cloth. There are no restrictions on the material and color of the interlining, as long as it can be wrapped. But most of them will use the same color cloth, mostly white or red.

4. Prepare tools:

Everyone who embroiders insoles always has his own needle and thread in front of him. It is filled with needles, threads, needles, scissors, knives, needle cones, thimbles, chalk, ballpoint pens, copy paper, various types of needles, shoe flowers and so on. These are all necessary tools for embroidered insoles.

5, looking for shoes:

This is the engineering drawing of embroidered insole. Shoe flowers, commonly known as "shoe patterns", are mostly handed down from the older generation. Everyone takes what they need and learns from each other. Only a few smart people can make their own shoes.

6. Prepare gauze:

Prepare gauze piece, the length of which is greater than that of insole, which is the auxiliary material of embroidered insole. In the past, sacks were used to hold grain. Because the sack is thick and dense, it is laborious and laborious to embroider, so the gauze is changed.

Second, the production process

1. Wrap the sole sample and the base cloth with the interlining, then draw out the edge with a fine needle thread, and press the irregular edge of the interlining to the bottom, and the bottom pad of a pair of shoe pads will be baked. The color of the thread used for wrapping should be the same as that of the interlining, so that it looks flat and clean.

2. Use a ballpoint pen to copy the shoes with copy paper to the bottom pad wrapped with interlining. In the process of copying, dot matrix printing is used, that is, intermittent points are pointed out with the pen tip to describe the sample spectrum. The advantage of dot matrix printing is that if there are mistakes, they can be corrected easily without any big traces of modification.

There are many kinds of shoes and flowers. Animals include dragons, phoenixes, magpies, goldfish, butterflies, cats, horses, cranes, chickens, tigers, penguins, ducks and mandarin ducks. Chinese characters: Xi, happiness, blessing, meeting in 2008, fate, century-old harmony, longevity, etc. Plants: gourd, peach, pomegranate, peony, chrysanthemum, lily, morning glory, rose, calla lily, plum blossom, tulip, etc. No matter what kind of shoes, it is mainly for good luck. For example, magpie's visit to plum indicates the coming of happy events; Red leaves convey feelings and indicate the girl's love; Phoenix plays peony, which means auspiciousness; Embroidering a mighty tiger means that the people who use it are as mighty, brave, dare to think and do, and have the demeanor of a king.

Generally, there is no single pattern in the shape of shoe flowers. It consists of two parts, one is the main mode and the other is the auxiliary mode. For example, if the main pattern is duckling, more flowers and plants will be embroidered in the blank to enrich the upper. The small pattern of this fitting needle properly fills the blank of the mat surface and makes the mat surface full and substantial.

3. Fix the wrapped two bottom pads on two groups of gauze sheets with the same thickness with several stitches with large span. After fixing, fix them back to back with thread. The thickness of gauze determines the thickness of insole fluff. Usually three or four pieces of gauze are used. The thickness of each insole and gauze piece must be the same. Different thickness, the cut fluff will be uneven.

4. Hand embroidery.

(1) edge wrapping, that is, two circles of iron wire are wound around the edge of the bottom pad. For the sake of beauty, the color of the thread is different from that of the bottom of the back plug.

(2) plug the bottom. First, plug the place without pattern with colored lines, which is the background color. In the process of embroidery, it should be accepted in the order of outside first and then inside, and embroidered around the insole. The width of a needle is very small, and the needle spacing is also very small. Its purpose is to be strong and durable.

(3) Start embroidering patterns. The first step is to draw the outline of the pattern with colored lines. Use a combination of lines and choose according to everyone's preferences. However, the lines of the hook edge should be distinguished from the lines of the plug pattern, otherwise the embroidery will be inconspicuous and lose its aesthetic effect. Step 2, fill the inside of the pattern with colored lines. It is still necessary to circle embroidery according to the principle of first outside and then inside. If this principle is not followed, the density of embroidery will be large or small, sparse and uneven, which will affect the quality. It takes about a week to embroider a pair of shoe pads, and three days if it is fast.

(4) In the process of embroidery, the most difficult thing to grasp is "needle embroidery", and the embroidery methods on both sides must be consistent. That is to say, when inserting the needle, it must be inserted vertically, otherwise the stitches on the other side will be irregular, so it cannot be carried out. In this process, besides all kinds of embroidery needles, thimble is an indispensable tool. Thimble, mostly iron, round, with many regularly arranged pits, usually worn on the middle finger of the right hand. Because the thickness of the insole and gauze is relatively large, it is not strong enough to poke by hand, so when the needle can't poke in, the needle nose will be pressed against the concave point, and the needle will be easily inserted into the insole.

5, cut the insole.

After the insole is embroidered, the most critical link is to cut the insole. The tool used is very simple, just a art knife. At the joint where the two insoles and gauze pieces are fixed together, cut them slowly with a utility knife. When cutting, the force should be even, the knives should be aligned and careful, otherwise it will be uneven. Therefore, people who are very good at embroidery are not necessarily good at knife work. It takes about twenty minutes to cut a pair of shoe pads.

Naxiu cut velvet insole is a kind of traditional handicraft with craftsmanship, comfort and health care function, which has strong national customs and local flavor. This kind of embroidered velvet insole is made of pure cotton cloth and processed through many processes. Its needle angle is exquisite, the pattern is simple and natural, the color is gorgeous, the appearance is generous, and it has high ornamental and collection value. It is also very practical. Thick hair can not only remove sweat and odor, but also massage various acupoints on the soles of feet, which is beneficial to health care.

In the past, in Linyi area, this embroidered velvet insole was a girl's token of love. Matchmakers usually bring a pair of insoles embroidered by girls. When he arrived at the man's house, he first took out the insole to show the ingenuity of the girl's needlework. On the wedding day, the dowry list of the bride's family must include the kind of Naxiurong insole with a century-old harmony and a full house of children and grandchildren. Nowadays, Naxiu cut velvet insole has become the best gift for relatives and friends because of its comfortable, durable and beautiful characteristics.