Youmeng Liu’s Art: The Illusion of Edible Embroidery

Want an English breakfast with a sunny-side-up fried egg or a turkey and mushroom pie with Yorkshire pudding for dessert? Well, Youmeng Liu will serve them to you. The only catch is you can see and touch them but you cannot eat them! Why? Because she is no chef and her food items are her embroidered pieces of work that are unbelievably realistic.

Liu’s journey as an embroidery artist started after she graduated from the London College of Fashion (LCF) with an MA in Fashion Artifact. So great were her creations that she was shortlisted for showcasing her work in Italy as a finalist for International Talent Support (ITS). Not only this, she was also a finalist at the prestigious Hand & Lock Embroidery prize in 2019.

It was probably this kind of recognition that prompted this China-born British artist to focus on edible items. Why edible items? Because she wanted to create artwork that common people could relate to and what better subject than edible items! Although embroiders from times immemorial had been using the needle and thread, the new crop of artists has devised unique ways to keep this ancient technique alive and Liu is one of them.

Liu creates these utterly realistic embroidered edibles by delving into the characteristics of every food item and infusing her emotions into them. It is her feelings that are perceived by her audiences. The iciness of an ice cream cone, the juiciness of a slice of orange, the crispness of butter shortbread and the like is totally relatable by all who view her works.

It was a decade back that Liu got fascinated by thread and needle and took up embroidery as a hobby. Her love for this art took her to Dali, a Bai minority region in China, where she saw locals using punch needle that produced embroidery in a single carpet-like layer. She simply loved this technique and mastered it. She went on to develop her own unique and complex 3D punch needle style. In this, she adds multiple layers on the base fabric by using a custom-made needle, and silk and cotton threads, without any felting. The multiple layers give a 3D effect to the embroidery that she trims and sculpts by means of scissors to obtain a realistic and complex finish.

Asked about the difficulty embroidering her edibles pose, she states on The Sun website, “They are all so difficult to make. The whole English breakfast took over three months. Every piece has intricate detail, so they are all so difficult to make.” Giving the example of her toast artwork, she says, “The toast piece took around three weeks and I used unbranded silk threads to express the different parts of a toast. The edge is crispy and darker compared to the more softer inside.”

Liu’s aim is to create over 300 embroidered tasty treats and she plans to showcase her works in galleries around the world. She is also looking for collaborations with other brands.

Close-up view of embroidered toast, showing the toasted edges and softer middle, achieved through careful layering and shading of silk threads.

Realistic embroidery of an ice cream cone, showcasing the texture of the cone, all made from fabric.

Exquisite embroidery depicting a slice of turkey pie with mushrooms, accompanied by a Yorkshire pudding, all rendered in thread with lifelike textures.

A detailed embroidery of a traditional English breakfast, featuring a sunny-side-up egg, sausage, and toast, all crafted with threads to look astonishingly real.

An embroidered slice of orange, capturing the juiciness and vibrant color of the fruit, with threads mimicking the segmented structure.

Youmeng Liu Embroidery

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