Crewel embroidery
Encyclopedia
Crewel Embroidery, or Crewelwork, is a decorative form of surface embroidery
using wool
and a variety of different embroidery stitch
es to follow a design outline applied to the fabric. The technique is at least a thousand years old. It was used in the Bayeux Tapestry
, in Jacobean embroidery
and in the Quaker tapestry
.
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 or 1-ply yarn available in many different colours.
(like canvas work
), but a style of free embroidery. It was in the 17th Century, its heyday, and now traditionally worked on a closely woven linen twill ground "Jacobean linen twill" fabric
, typically linen
or cotton
. This linen is part of the design and many stitches allow the sight of the linen through and around the design. More recently commercially made crewel is being made on Matka silk
, cotton velvet
, rayon
velvet, silk organza, net fabric and also jute
. A firm fabric is required to support the weight of the stitching. Special crewel needles
or [sewing needle] are required, with a wide body, large eye and a sharp point.
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 air 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 or stipple brush 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 stylized 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:
Crewel embroidery was, in the past, embroidered to create elaborate and expensive bed hangings and curtains. Now it is most often used to decorate cushions, curtains, clothing and wall hangings. Recently several other items such as Lamp Shades, Handbags, have been added to ever growing list of crewel home furnishings. A Tambour Work technique is also used for creating chain stitched rugs, and is sometimes referred to as crewel work.
Unlike canvas work, crewel embroidery requires the use of an embroidery hoop
or frame on which the material is stretched taut and secured prior to stitching. This ensures an even amount of tension in the stitches, so that designs do not become distorted. Although nowadays, crewel and free embroidery is generally executed with a small portable hoop, early embroidery was executed on large free standing frames. Such free standing frames were common parlor furniture in most homes. The rectangular canvas mount could tilt and pivot over so that the needleworker could also access the back of the canvas with ease.
Embroidery
Embroidery is the art or handicraft of decorating fabric or other materials with needle and thread or yarn. Embroidery may also incorporate other materials such as metal strips, pearls, beads, quills, and sequins....
using wool
Wool
Wool is the textile fiber obtained from sheep and certain other animals, including cashmere from goats, mohair from goats, qiviut from muskoxen, vicuña, alpaca, camel from animals in the camel family, and angora from rabbits....
and a variety of different embroidery stitch
Embroidery stitch
In everyday language, a stitch in the context of embroidery or hand-sewing is defined as the movement of the embroidery needle from the backside of the fabric to the front side and back to the back side. The thread stroke on the front side produced by this is also called stitch...
es to follow a design outline applied to the fabric. The technique is at least a thousand years old. It was used in the Bayeux Tapestry
Bayeux Tapestry
The Bayeux Tapestry is an embroidered cloth—not an actual tapestry—nearly long, which depicts the events leading up to the Norman conquest of England concerning William, Duke of Normandy and Harold, Earl of Wessex, later King of England, and culminating in the Battle of Hastings...
, in Jacobean embroidery
Jacobean embroidery
Jacobean embroidery refers to embroidery styles that flourished in the reign of King James I of England in first quarter of the 17th century....
and in the Quaker tapestry
Quaker Tapestry
The Quaker Tapestry consists of 77 panels illustrating the history of Quakerism from the 17th century up to the present day. The idea of Quaker Anne Wynn-Wilson, the tapestry has a permanent home at the Friends Meeting House at Kendal, Cumbria, England....
.
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
Embroidery thread
Embroidery thread is yarn that is manufactured or hand-spun specifically for embroidery and other forms of needlework.Threads for hand embroidery include:...
has a long staple; it is fine and can be strongly twisted. Modern crewel wool is a fine, 2-ply or 1-ply yarn available in many different colours.
Description of the technique
The crewel technique is not a counted-thread embroideryCounted-thread embroidery
Counted-thread embroidery is any embroidery in which the fabric threads are counted by the embroiderer before inserting the needle into the fabric...
(like canvas work
Canvas work
Canvas work is a type of embroidery in which yarn is stitched through a canvas or other foundation fabric. Canvas work is a form of counted-thread embroidery...
), but a style of free embroidery. It was in the 17th Century, its heyday, and now traditionally worked on a closely woven linen twill ground "Jacobean linen twill" fabric
Textile
A textile or cloth is a flexible woven material consisting of a network of natural or artificial fibres often referred to as thread or yarn. Yarn is produced by spinning raw fibres of wool, flax, cotton, or other material to produce long strands...
, typically linen
Linen
Linen is a textile made from the fibers of the flax plant, Linum usitatissimum. Linen is labor-intensive to manufacture, but when it is made into garments, it is valued for its exceptional coolness and freshness in hot weather....
or cotton
Cotton
Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective capsule, around the seeds of cotton plants of the genus Gossypium. The fiber is almost pure cellulose. The botanical purpose of cotton fiber is to aid in seed dispersal....
. This linen is part of the design and many stitches allow the sight of the linen through and around the design. More recently commercially made crewel is being made on Matka silk
Silk
Silk is a natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be woven into textiles. The best-known type of silk is obtained from the cocoons of the larvae of the mulberry silkworm Bombyx mori reared in captivity...
, cotton velvet
Velvet
Velvet is a type of woven tufted fabric in which the cut threads are evenly distributed,with a short dense pile, giving it a distinctive feel.The word 'velvety' is used as an adjective to mean -"smooth like velvet".-Composition:...
, rayon
Rayon
Rayon is a manufactured regenerated cellulose fiber. Because it is produced from naturally occurring polymers, it is neither a truly synthetic fiber nor a natural fiber; it is a semi-synthetic or artificial fiber. Rayon is known by the names viscose rayon and art silk in the textile industry...
velvet, silk organza, net fabric and also jute
Jute
Jute is a long, soft, shiny vegetable fibre that can be spun into coarse, strong threads. It is produced from plants in the genus Corchorus, which has been classified in the family Tiliaceae, or more recently in Malvaceae....
. A firm fabric is required to support the weight of the stitching. Special crewel needles
Sewing needle
A sewing needle is a long slender tool with a pointed tip. The first needles were made of bone or wood; modern ones are manufactured from high carbon steel wire, nickel- or 18K gold plated for corrosion resistance. The highest quality embroidery needles are plated with two-thirds platinum and...
or [sewing needle] are required, with a wide body, large eye and a sharp point.
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 air 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
Chalk
Chalk is a soft, white, porous sedimentary rock, a form of limestone composed of the mineral calcite. Calcite is calcium carbonate or CaCO3. It forms under reasonably deep marine conditions from the gradual accumulation of minute calcite plates shed from micro-organisms called coccolithophores....
or pounce
Pounce (calligraphy)
Pounce is a fine powder that was sprinkled over wet ink to hasten drying prior to the invention of blotting paper. The powder was prepared from substances such as finely ground salt, sand, or powdered soft minerals such as talc or soapstone...
material is then forced through the holes onto the fabric using a felt pad or stipple brush 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
Jacobean embroidery
Jacobean embroidery refers to embroidery styles that flourished in the reign of King James I of England in first quarter of the 17th century....
featuring highly stylized 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 stitchChain stitchChain stitch is a sewing and embroidery technique in which a series of looped stitches form a chain-like pattern. Chain stitch is an ancient craft - examples of surviving Chinese chain stitch embroidery worked in silk thread have been dated to the Warring States period...
and split stitch - Satin stitchSatin stitchIn sewing and embroidery, a satin stitch or damask stitch is a series of flat stitches that are used to completely cover a section of the background fabric...
es 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
- French knots are commonly used in floral and fruit motifs for additional texture
- Laid and Couched Work
- Long and Short "soft shading"
Crewel embroidery was, in the past, embroidered to create elaborate and expensive bed hangings and curtains. Now it is most often used to decorate cushions, curtains, clothing and wall hangings. Recently several other items such as Lamp Shades, Handbags, have been added to ever growing list of crewel home furnishings. A Tambour Work technique is also used for creating chain stitched rugs, and is sometimes referred to as crewel work.
Unlike canvas work, crewel embroidery requires the use of an embroidery hoop
Embroidery hoop
Embroidery hoops and frames are tools used to keep fabric taut while working embroidery or other forms of needlework.-Hoops:An embroidery hoop or tambour frame consists of a pair of concentric circular or elliptical rings. The larger ring has a tightening device, usually in the form of a metal...
or frame on which the material is stretched taut and secured prior to stitching. This ensures an even amount of tension in the stitches, so that designs do not become distorted. Although nowadays, crewel and free embroidery is generally executed with a small portable hoop, early embroidery was executed on large free standing frames. Such free standing frames were common parlor furniture in most homes. The rectangular canvas mount could tilt and pivot over so that the needleworker could also access the back of the canvas with ease.
External links
- www.crewelwork.com - dvd of how to embroider crewel stitches, useful hints and designs, help from an expert historic British crewel specialist.
- youtube "crewel work" free dvd download of Long and Short Stitch
- http://www.crewelfabricworld.com/2008071920/Crewel-Fabric-World.Home/crewel-embroidery-history-tools-and-videos.html- Feature about the history and current state of crewel work, with video of the making of Crewel Embroidery commercially from start to finish
- How Crewel – Feature about the history and development of crewel work, with photographs
- Celticstitchery.com – Historically themed Crewel kits