Robes de Coeur
  • Blog
  • Quilting
  • Clothing
    • Menswear
    • Womenswear >
      • Self-Made Patterns
      • Commercial Patterns
    • Hats
    • Miscellany
  • About
  • Blog
  • Quilting
  • Clothing
    • Menswear
    • Womenswear >
      • Self-Made Patterns
      • Commercial Patterns
    • Hats
    • Miscellany
  • About

Crewelwork Pillow (2012)

12/14/2017

1 Comment

 
When I was a small child, someone gave me a crewel kit, partly sewn already.  It was a hive of bees, with bees buzzing all over the place, and flowers.  There were instructions teaching each stitch.  I enjoyed sewing it very much... in fact, it probably started my love affair with needle and thread.  But I didn't like the pattern... I was not a fan of orange, and this kit was one of those 1970's shades of orange... Anyway, the kit came to me half-started and left me half-finished. 

Years later (2012), I was moving to a wilderness area with limited internet access and decided to bring some handwork with me.  I found online a beautiful crewel kit in the Jacobean style, ordered it, and waited. 
Picture
Crewel embroidery on a curtain, c. 1696, Victorian & Albert Museum T.166-1961. Via Wikimedia Commons.
Aaaand waited.  After a few months, I complained to the seller, contested the charge on my credit card, and generally made a stink.  Then the darn thing showed up!  Sometimes you just have to be the squeaky wheel! 
Doing crewel embroidery was just as fun as I had remembered!  There was a free-ness to it that I enjoyed, as opposed to the counted cross-stitch my mom and sister favor.  The colors and textures of the thread were pleasing, and the way the stitches can be built up to give the work dimension always excited me.  Plus, the wide variety of stitches was interesting.  Once I finished the pattern, I used some scrap fabric (old table napkins) to make the back of a pillow case, and made a pillow to fit inside.  The whole project was handwork because I had no sewing machine. 
Picture
Picture

EMBROIDERY TYPES

There are many ways of categorizing embroidery, such as by materials, by region of origin, by similarity of appearance or technique...  One method looks at how the embroidery relates to the fabric, and yields three types: free embroidery; counted embroidery; and needlepoint.  Free embroidery, or surface embroidery, has the design applied to the surface of the fabric, as a decorative element.  The thread relates to the fabric much as paint relates to a canvas: by sitting atop it.  Crewelwork is free embroidery.  Counted embroidery is where the stitches are metered by counting over a certain number of threads on the base cloth, for even size and shape.  Not only are you counting the threads of the fabric (made easier by even-weave cloth like aida cloth), you are also counting the stitches you make, to make regular designs or to follow a pattern based on a grid.  In counted embroidery, the thread relates to the fabric like a child relates to a hopscotch court: by using it to determine where to jump and how far.  Needlepoint is when the entire surface of the base fabric is covered, thus creating a new, heavier fabric.  In the not-so-distant past, plain cotton fabrics were often covered with elaborate needlepoint designs and then used as pillow fronts and chair cushions.  You'll see them often at thrift stores and antique markets.  I recently saw one such chair at a friend's house, and she didn't believe me when I told her it was hand embroidered: she thought that was just the fabric!  In needlepoint, the thread relates to the fabric like a flood relates to the ground beneath it: it saturates it, covers it, and erases all memory of the original!

NOWADAYS

Nowadays I still enjoy embroidery, but haven't done it in a while.  Instead, I do needlelace, which has similarities to embroidery.  Like my crewel kit, a piece of needlelace starts with a line-drawing of a pattern, and I can fill it in pretty much freehand, using a variety of stitches and combinations, even building it up for dimension.  Like needlepoint, needlelace depends on the whole surface of the pattern being covered thoroughly, but differs in that when it's done, the pattern is taken away, and the embroidery hangs together with no base at all.  There's a tag for Lacemaking on this blog so you can see my work. 
1 Comment
hamza shahbaz link
10/29/2023 11:13:37 am

this website is more then more greate for fashion

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Karen Roy

    Quilting, dressmaking, and history plied with the needle...

    Sites I Enjoy

    The Quilt Index
    r/Quilting
    Wonkyworld

    Categories

    All
    1910's
    Alteration
    Antique
    Dyeing
    Embroidery
    General
    Hand Sewing
    History
    Lacemaking
    Mending
    Menswear
    Millinery
    Modern Elizabethan
    Musing
    Other Sewing
    Philippians 4:8
    Project Diary
    Quilting
    Regency
    Retro
    Self Made Pattern
    Self-made Pattern
    Terminology
    Victorian
    Vintage

    Archives

    April 2025
    March 2025
    December 2024
    March 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    August 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017

    RSS Feed

Blog

Quilting

Clothing

About

Copyright Karen Roy
​© 2017-2024