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How to distinguish between fine Suzhou embroidery products and ordinary embroidery?
Fine Suzhou embroidery works have much higher quality in almost all aspects compared to ordinary Suzhou embroidery products. All fine embroidery works are designed by artists with senior or higher titles. The embroiders also have to pass certain qualification to perform the needlework for fine embroidery. Whereas for ordinary embroidery, the designs are often fixed and mostly copies of some widely circulated patterns. And there is no requirement on the qualification of the embroiders.
For material used, all silk floss used in a fine embroidery work must be custom dyed according to the specific design. One main color often is required to have 6 to 7 shades during the dying process. Ordinary embroidery uses ready-made silk threads and shades are limited to 3 to 4 colors at most. For fine embroidery, one silk floss will be divided into 12 thinner strands to be used in embroidering (a 1/12 floss is called "yi si," i.e. one thread) in order to achieve the smooth and natural look of the color and texture the design theme requires. Embroiders of ordinary work will only divide the thread into two.
When a fine Suzhou embroidery work is placed side by side with an ordinary embroidery for comparison, it is easy to find that fine embroidery has much richer color and more natural color variation than the ordinary one. Each fine Suzhou embroidery is a piece of art and often one of the kind. Many Asian art-lovers regarded these works as very high quality collectibles. | 
