To those of us who have been stitching
for many years, crewel embroidery is probably the best known sharp
needle embroidery. Who among us has not heard of Erica Williams,
stitched one of her kits, or perhaps even taken a class from her?
I first encountered crewel work in my college library at Mount Holyoke
?there were four, large, wing-backed chairs upholstered in crewel
in the main reading room that had been hand-stitched by some alumnae
women. Too much time on their hands I think. For those of
you who are not sharp needle fans, Elizabeth Creedon, one writer I
came across in my research said, ‘I've been known to say repeatedly
that the name [crewel] surely refers to the effect of the sharp needle
on your fingers while stitching.?/font>
History
Technically, crewel refers to the
type of 2-ply wool that was used to stitch the embroidery. Over
the years, crewel has come to describe the technique of wool surface
embroidery on linen or twill fabric. Crewel is thought to have
originated in the east (Persia or Turkey), then to have made its way
to Egypt, Greece, Rome and finally to England with the Roman
conquests. As we heard from Carole Lake at the fundraising
luncheon, Mary Queen of Scots was an avid embroiderer, and most of her
work was done in the crewel or Jacobean style. I came across a
quote in the Erica Wilson book listed in the resources section below
from Mary Queen of Scots where she tells how she spent her
days?’all day she wrought with her Nydill, and that the diversity
of the colors made the Worke seem less tedious, and continued so long
at it till veray Payn made hir to give over.?/font>
Prior to the 16th century,
almost all embroidery was stitched for ecclesiastical purposes only.
But in the 16th century the steel needle was invented and a
period of great opulence in embroidery began, with masses of
embroidery done for homes and personal use for the first time.
At about the same time, England granted a charter to the East India
Trading Company and began trading with India and importing beautiful
cotton hangings known as paramours. They featured extravagant
designs of twining trees with fantastic motifs of flowers, fruits,
birds and animals, all dyed with bright dyes on the cotton.
English noblewomen were fascinated by these hangings and began to
employ embroiderers to copy these designs in wool on linen as bed and
wall hangings, valences and petticoat decorations. The idea of
the sampler originated with this embroidery as books on embroidery
were very rare at this time and designs were passed from household to
household via the sampler. The most popular motifs were the Tree
of Life design, taken from the Indian paramours; the Elizabethan
scroll design with flowers and leaves entwined by stems and vines; and
the Wavy Border, a wavy border enclosed within straight lines
In the late 17th century,
American women were finally able to find a few moments of spare time
for embroidery and took up crewel to beautify their homes and persons.
Many of their embroideries of the 18th century can be seen
in museums today, and attests to the popularity of crewel embroidery.
These works are more light-hearted in design and include less stylized
animals and plants. There are rabbits and squirrels and
chickens, grapes and fruit from the orchard, and pine trees in their
embroideries ?all reminders of how close to the land the American
woman was.
As with many styles of embroidery,
crewel work done by hand faded in popularity as machines were able to
do similar work much quicker. There was a resurgence of crewel
work, and especially the designs, by William Morris at the end of the
18th century, and then again in the 1960’s when women
revolted against housework and once again discovered hand embroidery.
Crewel Technique
Crewel embroidery is surface
embroidery, usually on linen, stitched with wool. A wide variety
of stitches is used ?the Erica Wilson book lists more than 60
stitches in the pieces that she features in her book. Outlines
of the designs are drawn or stamped on the linen and then rendered
with the wool. Because many long stitches are used, crewel
work is generally done on a frame or in a hoop. And since this
is The Sharp Needle column, crewel is stitched with a
sharp needle. Designs range from historic reproductions of
Jacobean motifs, to landscapes and fanciful critters. A common
thread to all the designs is the abundance of shading in the
stitching.
