Essential Information & explanations, latest texts & monographs on
Embroidery.
Embroidery
Embroidery is an ancient textile art which uses strands of embroidery floss or wool to create a picture in thread on canvas, linen or other cloth. It forms a part of needlework.
Embroidery uses various stitches and combinations of stitches. Each embroidery stitch has a special name to help identify it, and although they are mostly simple to execute, when you put them together the results can be extremely complex.
- back stitch
- blanket stitch
- as the name implies, an edging stitch to prevent fraying, but also decorative.
- chain stitch
- cross-stitch (or X-stitch)
- couching
- Attaching a thread to a piece of fabric by sewing it on. Specialist couching stitches: Pendant couching, Bokhara couching, Square laid work.
- fly stitch
- Looped stitch, suitable for either repeat or random patterns.
- Holbein stitch
- knots:
- bullion knots
- Used as filling stitch or in a line. Worked by twisting thread around the needle.
- French knots
- lazy daisy stitch
- running stitch
- stem stitch
- Used for lines and stems, but also used as an infilling stitch.
- whip stitch
- Specialist stitches such as the Quaker stitch used on the Quaker tapestry
Embroidery has traditionally been used to decorate clothing and household furnishings including table linens, tray cloths, towels and bedding, but you can literally embroider anything as long as it is made out of an evenly woven fabric and can be held firmly in the hand or in a special embroidery hoop or tapestry frame. The art of hand embroidery is a painstaking and laborious process, but today garments are often decorated with machine embroidery instead.
There are many different styles of embroidery, often with regional variations. Cross-stitch is both an embroidery stitch, and a style of embroidery.
Some embroidery styles include:
Embroidery has also been used as a form of art and for decoration, through the creation of embroidered or cross-stitch samplers, tapestries, wall-hangings and other works of textile art. Some types of patchwork also incorporate embroidery as a form of extra decoration.
Today some artists, eg. Annemieke Mein, use machine and/or hand embroidery to create beautiful and original pieces of textile art.
One of the world's most famous pieces of embroidery is the Bayeux Tapestry.
Other notable embroideries on public display:
The Royal School of Needlework is often involved in the design and/or execution of major embroidery works.
Famous embroiderers
Beryl Dean
Kaffe Fassett
Ann Macbeth
This article is adapted from from Wikipedia All Wikipedia article text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License
Beaded Embellishment: Techniques & Designs for Embroidering on Cloth by Amy C. Clarke
Embroidery Machine Essentials: How to Stabilize, Hoop and Stitch Decorative Designs by Jeanine Twigg
Embroidery Machine Essentials: Basic Techniques: 20 Designs and Project Ideas to Develop Your Embroidery Skills (Jeanine Twigg's Companion Project Series) by Jeanine Twigg
Elegant Stitches: An Illustrated Stitch Guide and Source Book of Inspiration by Judith Baker Montano
Metallic Thread Embroidery by Jacqueline Friedman Kreinik
Silk Ribbon Embroidery by Ann Cox
The Needlepoint Book : A Complete Update of the Classic Guide by Jo Ippolito Christensen
Ribbon Embroidery : With 178 Iron-on Transfers by J. Marsha Michler
Silk Ribbon Embroidery: Designs and Techniques by Ann Cox
Three-Dimensional Applique and Embroidery Embellishment: Techniques for Today's Album Quilt by Anita Shackelford
Mary Thomas's Dictionary of Embroidery Stitches by Mary Thomas
101 Needlepoint Stitches and How to Use Them : Fully Illustrated with Photographs and Diagrams by Hope Hanley
Interweave's Compendium of Finishing Techniques: Crochet, Embroidery, Knitting, Quilting, Weaving by Naomi K. McEneely
Bead Embroidery by Valerie Campbell-Harding
The Ehrman Needlepoint Book by Hugh Ehrman
|