CHAPTER ELEVEN

Embroidery

Decorating a piece of cloth with yarn stitched onto its surface is as old as sewing itself. The stitches used to hold pieces of garment together, be they skin or cloth, could form a decoration in themselves as well as performing a fundamental function. Embroidery has been used for pure decoration as well as serving religious and symbolic meanings.

Richly embroidered cloth has served the purposes of celebrating marriages, births, christenings and death. Death perhaps has had the longest history of embellished fabric being used for ceremony. The cross-over from the living state to one that is a universal mystery requires special care and preparation.

The household trappings that make life warmer and more comfortable, carpets, bedding, curtains and the like have always attracted by the need for decoration. Weaving and dyeing and printing onto fabric is one way to achieve these results but embroidery offers a chance to sit still and contemplate or relax while the hands move in a repetitive motion bringing colours and motifs to life.

Women have dominated the domestic embroidery scene but it is wrong to think that embroidery is only a female pursuit. Men tended to undertake professional embroidery just as they often performed professional weaving and knitting.

Embroidery exists in all parts of the world in many different forms and it arose in the American continent independently of its rise in Asia and Europe in the same way asspinning and weaving of wool and cotton did.

There are regional designs, motifs and colours but many embroidery stitches are common to all. There are some that can be traced along the ancient trade routes often originating in China or India and spreading slowly west, usually via the Arab countries into Spain and then the rest of Europe.

The basic stitches used in embroidery have not changed dramatically over the centuries; the biggest innovation to the craft being machines that will do the embroidery automatically for commercial purposes and machine embroidery being made by individual artists. This latter group use domestic sewing machines, they remove or lower the feed teeth, the effects that can be achieved are wide ranging.

One of the historically significant embroideries is the Bayeaux Tapestry illustrating the Battle of Hastings. It was embroidered by Saxon women, probably using English wool. Inspired by the Bayeaux Tapestry, two hundred Quakers drawn from eight countries made their own enormous embroidery showing the history of the Quaker community, from its inception in the Seventeenth Century to modern day. It took almost nine years to complete even with the large workforce. The piece is currently on view at the Quaker Meeting House in Kendal, Cumbria.

A traditional occupation for girls who were to become good housewives was to embroider samplers. These were cloths to showcase the stitches they had mastered. The children often began this task as early as four or five years old. They would be required to make several samplers during their childhood as their skills developed.

Wattle Flat, The Escarpment, by Judy Wilford.

Scarlet Robins, the Nesting, by Judy Wilford.

Texts from scripture were popular embroidery projects with flowers and other decorative motifs.

Quilting

Quilting is not an embroidery technique though it will often employ embroidery as its own surface decoration. Quilting is the piecing together of small shapes of different fabrics to make a new, whole fabric. The idea was born out of necessity. When clothing or furnishings wore out there was always good fabric left that seemed to good to throw to the rag-and-bone-man.

Old Indian made quilt.

Quilt by Kaffe Fassett.

Needlepoint in blue and white by Kaffe Fassett, photo courtesy of Kaffe Fassett’s Studio.

Needlepoint cushion by Kaffe Fassett, photo courtesy of Kaffe Fassett’s Studio.

The old garments were cut into shapes and stitches together. The fabric made in this way was nearly always used for bed coverings. Overtime distinctive patterns and motifs cropped up and quilting was not just about using up leftovers but creating objects with their own intrinsic value.

After the patchwork was complete the quilt was backed with a solid piece of plain fabric such as calico and a layer of wool batting sandwiched between the two. To keep it all in one piece a design was stitch in a plain thread through the layers to form a pattern that resembled embossing.

Canvas Work

Canvas work, also called needlepoint, is embroidery worked on an open weave canvas with a thickish yarn so the holes are filled with the yarn. Wool is the usual medium for this embroidery technique. It was used for years to make beautiful upholstery for chairs and lounges, fire screens and bed hangings.

Kaffe Fassett, a leading UK textile designer has been instrumental in bringing the art back into fashion.

Eastern Scrub Wrens, Judy Wilford.

Embroidery Stitch Glossary

Back stitch: a simple outline stitch. Make a stitch and then take the needle back half a stitch and push through fabric to form next stitch.

Backstitch.

Blanket Stitch: and buttonhole stitch. Bring the needle out on the base line (say the edge of the blanket) take the needle and insert at upper line and bring back out at base line making sure the thread is held under the needle. The stitch forms a back-to-front L shape. It is a good stitch to finish a raw edge with as the base thread forms a protective line. This is the way buttonhole stitch is made but the stitches are very close together to prevent fraying.

Blanket Stitch.

Bokhara couching: is a filling stitch. A satin stitch is laid down and then small diagonal stitches are made regularly along the thread to hold it in place.

Bokhara couching.

Bullion stitch: is a knot stitch. The needle is inserted into fabric and brought out a distance from the first stitch. Thread is wrapped around the needle several times and the needle pulled through them to form a knot.

Bullion Stitch.

Chain stitch: is a looped stitch and can be used for outline work or filling. A stitch is made and the thread held under the needle and secured by the making of another stitch.

Chain stitch.

Cross stitch: a row of stitches is made with a diagonal slant. A second row is made crossing the ones previously made. Alternatively the crosses can be completed individually.

Cross stitch.

Daisy stitch: is a form of chain stitch in which the stitches sit individually to form a daisy flower.

Daisy stitch.

Eyelet holes: firstly a line of running stitches just in from the hole to be embroidered. Make small satin stitches from the running stitches to the edge of fabric. The stitches are next to each other.

Eyelet holes.

Feather stitch: is a form of open chain stitch.

Feather stitch.

French knots: are small raised knots that add texture to embroidery and are very effective when used in clusters.

French knots.

Running stitch: is the most basic of embroidery stitches involving a simple in and out technique. It is probably the oldest stitch ever used.

Running stitch.

Satin stitch: is a filling stitch. Stitches of a certain length are placed immediately next to each other to create a flat plate of colour.

Satin stitch.

Stem stitch: is the next stitch up from running. A solid line is created by the running stitches being filled by a back stitch.

Stem stitch.