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.
A characteristic of embroidery is that the basic techniques or
stitches of the earliest
work—
chain stitch,
buttonhole or blanket stitch,
running stitch,
satin
stitch,
cross stitch—remain the
fundamental techniques of hand embroidery today.
Machine embroidery, arising in
the early stages of the
Industrial
Revolution, mimics hand embroidery, especially in the use of
chain stitches, but the "satin stitch" and hemming stitches of
machine work rely on the use of multiple threads and resemble hand
work in their appearance, not their construction.
Origins
The
origins of embroidery are lost in time, but examples survive from
ancient Egypt
, Iron Age Northern
Europe and Zhou Dynasty China
.
Examples of surviving Chinese chain stitch embroidery worked in
silk thread have been dated to the
Warring States period (5th-3rd century
BC).
The process used to tailor, patch, mend and reinforce cloth
fostered the development of sewing techniques, and the decorative
possibilities of sewing led to the art of embroidery. In a garment
from
Migration period Sweden,
roughly 300–700 CE, the edges of bands of trimming are reinforced
with running stitch, back stitch, stem stitch, tailor's buttonhole
stitch, and whipstitching, but it is uncertain whether this work
simply reinforces the seams or should be interpreted as decorative
embroidery.
The remarkable stability of basic embroidery stitches has been
noted:
Elaborately embroidered clothing, religious objects, and household
items have been a mark of wealth and status in many cultures
including ancient Persia, India, China, Japan,
Byzantium, and
medieval
and
Baroque Europe.
Traditional folk techniques are passed from
generation to generation in cultures as diverse as northern
Vietnam
, Mexico
, and eastern
Europe. Professional workshops
and guilds arose in medieval England
. The
output of these workshops, called
Opus Anglicanum or "English work," was
famous throughout Europe.
The manufacture of machine-made embroideries in St. Gallen
in eastern Switzerland flourished in the latter
half of the 19th century.
Classification
Embroidery can be classified according to whether the design is
stitched
on top of or
through the foundation
fabric, and by 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 and Japanese embroidery.
Counted-thread embroidery
patterns are created by making stitches over a predetermined number
of threads in the foundation fabric. Counted-thread embroidery is
more easily worked on an
even-weave
foundation fabric such as embroidery
canvas,
aida cloth, or specially woven
cotton and
linen fabrics
although non-evenweave linen is used as well. Examples include
needlepoint and some forms of
blackwork embroidery.
In
canvas work threads are stitched
through a fabric mesh to create a dense pattern that completely
covers the foundation fabric.
Traditional canvas work such as bargello
is a
counted-thread technique. Since the 19th century, printed
and hand painted canvases where the painted or printed image serves
as color-guide have eliminated the need for counting threads. These
are particularly suited to pictorial rather than geometric designs
deriving from the
Berlin wool work
craze of the early 19th century.
In
drawn thread work and
cutwork, the foundation fabric is deformed or cut
away to create holes that are then embellished with embroidery,
often with thread in the same color as the foundation fabric. These
techniques are the progenitors of
needlelace. When created in white thread on white
linen or cotton, this work is collectively referred to as
whitework.
Materials
The fabrics and yarns used in traditional embroidery vary from
place to place.
Wool,
linen, and
silk have been in use
for thousands of years for both fabric and yarn. Today,
embroidery thread is manufactured in
cotton,
rayon, and
novelty yarns as well as in traditional
wool, linen, and silk.
Ribbon embroidery uses
narrow ribbon in silk or silk/
organza blend
ribbon, most commonly to create floral motifs.
Surface embroidery techniques such as chain stitch and
couching or laid-work are the most economical of
expensive yarns; couching is generally used for
goldwork. Canvas work techniques, in which large
amounts of yarn are buried on the back of the work, use more
materials but provide a sturdier and more substantial finished
textile.
In both canvas work and surface embroidery an
embroidery hoop or frame can be used to
stretch the material and ensure even stitching tension that
prevents pattern distortion. Modern canvas work tends to follow
very symmetrical counted stitching patterns with designs developing
from repetition of one or only a few similar stitches in a variety
of thread hues. Many forms of surface embroidery, by contrast, are
distinguished by a wide range of different stitching patterns used
in a single piece of work.
Machine
Much contemporary embroidery is stitched with a
computerized embroidery machine using patterns
"digitized" with embroidery software. In machine embroidery,
different types of "fills" add texture and design to the finished
work. Machine embroidery is used to add
logos
and
monograms to business shirts or
jackets, gifts, and team apparel as well as to decorate household
linens, draperies, and decorator fabrics that mimic the elaborate
hand embroidery of the past.
Notes
- Gillow and Bryan 1999, p. 178
- Gillow and Bryan 1999, p. 12
- Coatsworth, Elizabeth: "Stitches in Time: Establishing a
History of Anglo-Saxon Embroidery", in Netherton and Owen-Crocker
2005, p. 2
- Levey and King 1993, p. 12
- Gillow and Bryan 1999, p. 198
- Embroiderers' Guild 1984, p. 54
- Berman 2000
- Readers Digest 1979, p. 112-115
- Readers Digest 1979, pp. 74-91
- van Niekerk 2006
- Readers Digest 1979, pp. 1-19, 112-117
References
External links