Embroidery

Gold Embroidery

Embroidery is the art or handicraft of decorating fabric or other materials with designs stitched in strands of thread or yarn using a needle. Embroidery may also incorporate other materials such as metal strips, pearls, beads, quills, and sequins.

Types of embroidery

Cross-stitch embroidery, Hungary, mid-20th century

Embroidery is classified according to its use of the underlying foundation fabric. One classification system divides embroidery styles according to the relationship of stitch placement to the fabric:

• In free embroidery, designs are applied without regard to the weave of the underlying fabric. Examples include crewel and traditional Chinese embroidery.

• In counted-thread embroidery, patterns are created by making stitches over a pre-determined number of threads in the foundation fabric. Counted-thread embroidery requires an even-weave foundation fabric such as embroidery canvas, aida cloth, or specially woven cotton and linen fabrics. Examples include needlepoint and cross-stitch.

A second division classifies embroidery according to whether the design is stitched on top of or through the foundation fabric:

• In Surface embroidery, patterns are worked on top of the foundation fabric using decorative stitches and laid threads. Surface embroidery encompasses most free embroidery as well as some forms of counted-thread embroidery (such as cross-stitch).

• In Canvas work, threads are stitched through a fabric mesh to create a dense pattern that completely covers the foundation fabric. All canvas work is counted-thread embroidery.

History

The origins of embroidery are lost in time, but examples survive from ancient Egypt, Iron Age Northern Europe and Song Dynasty China.

Elaborately embroidered clothing, religious objects, and household items have been a mark of wealth and status in many cultures including ancient Persia, India, Byzantium, medieval England (Opus Anglicanum or "English work"), and Baroque Europe.

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Elizabethan embroidery styles include blackwork on linen and dense patterns worked in colored silk and metallic threads on velvet or other rich fabrics

See also

• Category:Embroidery (styles and materials)
• Embroidery stitches

• Art needlework
• Canvas work
• Counted-thread embroidery
• Free embroidery
• Machine embroidery
• Needlework

References

S.F.A. Caulfield and B.C. Saward, The Dictionary of Needlework, 1885.

Virginia Churchill Bath, Needlework in America, Viking Press, 1979 ISBN 0670505757

Readers Digest Complete Guide to Needlework, 1979, ISBN 0895770598.

External links

• Embroidery at Microsoft Encarta UK

Embroidery and needlework organizations

• Antique Needlework Guild
• Embroiderers Guild of America
• Royal School of Needlework