Embroidery Definitions — definitions of embroidery techniques, stitches and needlework terms from Apparel Search
Crewel embroidery, or crewelwork, is a decorative form of surface embroidery using wool and a variety of different embroidery stitches to follow a design outline applied to the fabric. The technique is at least a thousand years old and was used in the Bayeux tapestry, in Jacobean embroidery and in the Quaker tapestry. Modern crewel wool is a fine, 2-ply yarn with a long staple, strongly twisted, available in many colors.
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The origin of the word crewel is unknown but is thought to come from an ancient word describing the curl in the staple, the single hair of the wool. Crewel wool has a long staple; it is fine and can be strongly twisted. Modern crewel wool is a fine, 2-ply yarn available in many different colors.
The crewel technique is not a counted-thread embroidery (like canvas work), but a style of free embroidery. It is usually worked on a closely woven ground fabric, typically linen or cotton. A firm fabric is required to support the weight of the stitching. Special Crewel needles or Chenille needles are required, with large eyes and sharp points.
The outlines of the design to be worked are often screen printed onto the fabric or can be transferred to plain fabric using modern transfer pens, containing water soluble ink, or iron-on designs applied using transfer sheets. The old fashioned "pinprick and chalk" or "prick and pounce" methods also work well. This is where the design outlines on paper are pricked with a needle to produce perforations along the lines. Powdered chalk or pounce material is then forced through the holes onto the fabric using a felt pad in order to replicate the design on the material.
Designs range from the traditional to more contemporary patterns. The traditional design styles are often referred to as Jacobean embroidery featuring highly stylised floral and animal designs with flowing vines and leaves.
Many different embroidery stitches are used in crewelwork to create a textured and colorful effect. Unlike silk or cotton embroidery threads, crewel wool is thicker and creates a raised, dimensional feel to the work. Some of the techniques and stitches include:
Outlining stitches such as Stem stitch, Chain stitch and Split stitch
Satin stitches to create flat, filled areas within a design
Couched stitches, where one thread is laid on the surface of the fabric and another thread is used to tie it down. Couching is often used to create a trellis effect within an area of the design.
Seed stitches, applied randomly in an area to give a lightly shaded effect
Crewel embroidery is most often used to decorate cushions, curtains, clothing and wall hangings.
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| The above article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (Crewel embroidery - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia). 9/5/06 |
Thread material is not a detail in embroidery; it decides the surface. Crewel wool is thicker than silk or cotton embroidery thread, so every stitch stands higher, catches light differently and covers ground faster — the raised, dimensional feel named in the definition. A satin-stitched leaf in wool is a padded-looking shape; the same leaf in silk is a smooth sheen. Designers exploit that texture deliberately, mixing flat satin areas against couched trellis, scattered seed stitch and rope-like stem stitch so that a single-color passage can still be read by touch and shadow. The firm linen or cotton ground is part of the system: a loose weave would pucker and sag under the weight and pull of dense wool stitching.
Because crewel is free embroidery, every piece begins with a transfer problem: the outline exists on paper and must appear on fabric. The prick-and-pounce method served for centuries — prick the paper design along its lines, lay it on the cloth, and force powdered chalk through the holes with a felt pad, leaving a dotted copy to stitch over before the chalk brushes away. Screen printing, iron-on transfer sheets and water-soluble transfer pens do the same job today with less skill and less forgiveness: a printed outline is fixed, while a pounced outline could still be adjusted by hand. Traditional designs in this transferred-outline tradition are the Jacobean patterns of stylised flowers, animals, flowing vines and leaves, and crewel's common destinations — cushions, curtains, clothing and wall hangings — are all objects where a bold wool design at furnishing scale makes sense.
Crewelwork's materials impose their own housekeeping. Wool is vulnerable to clothes moths in storage and to fading in strong light, and the linen ground and wool stitches respond differently to washing, so historic crewel hangings are conservation-cleaned rather than laundered. In their working lives those hangings earned their keep — bed curtains and wall hangings in wool embroidery insulated draughty rooms as well as decorating them — and the density of wool stitching that creates crewel's raised texture also made the finished cloth heavier and warmer than the ground fabric alone.
No. The crewel technique is not a counted-thread embroidery like canvas work; it is a style of free embroidery. The design outline is applied to the fabric — screen printed, transferred with pens or iron-on sheets, or by the older prick-and-pounce method — and the stitches follow that outline rather than a counted grid.
Crewelwork is usually worked on a closely woven ground fabric, typically linen or cotton, firm enough to support the weight of the stitching. Crewel or chenille needles are required, with large eyes to carry the wool and sharp points to pierce the ground cleanly.
Outlining stitches such as stem stitch, chain stitch and split stitch define the design; satin stitches fill flat areas; couched stitches lay one thread on the surface tied down by another, often as trellis; and seed stitches scattered in an area give a lightly shaded effect. Together they create the textured, colorful, raised effect that distinguishes wool work from silk or cotton thread work.