Origins of Home Embroidery
The exact date, origin and reason for creating the first piece of embroidery is not known. One of the earliest pieces of embroidery ever found dates between 200 B.C. and 220 A.D. It is a silk embroidery of a dragon and phoenix on a silk background. The piece was found in an ancient Chinese tomb in the state of Chu. Another early piece is a 4th century Roman Egypt embroidery of a woman made from wool on wool linen.
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Silk
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The Chinese domesticated silkworms as early as 5000 years ago. The silk was spun into strands and used for weaving cloth prior to using silk as an embroidery medium. Silk was used only in China for many years. It was an exclusive commodity that was not shared. Silk embroidery is still widely used in China. The four oldest and most famous Chinese embroidery pieces are referred to as the Xiang, Shu, Yue, and Su.
Wool
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Wool was a standard embroidery thread used as early as the 1st century. Fragments of a wool embroidered crewel face of a warrior was found near North Mongolia. The Bible refers to altar clothes, curtains and hangings that were adorned with crewel work.
The word crewel or cruell means strands for wool. Any type of stitch could be used on a piece of fabric. The piece of embroidery was considered crewel work as long as it was made with wool. Today's meaning of crewel depicts what types of stitches are used to create a piece of embroidery.
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Linen
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The traditional fabric used for embroidery was a type of linen. Linen provided a weave that was tight yet separated easily for thread insertion. Cotton twill weave went into widespread use in the 18th century. Both of these materials were hand woven and had a slight diagonal rib and a smooth surface. The combination of the diagonal rib and smooth surface created an excellent contrast for embroidery.
Function
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Embroidery was grouped into two categories during the 16th century. The categories included household articles and costumes. Household articles included pillows, cushions, table covers, curtains and/or tapestries, small panels and large panels used for hanging. The costumes included jackets, cloaks, mittens, gloves, caps, sleeves, tunics and headdresses.
Embroidery as Art
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Prior to the advent of machine embroidery in the 19th century, hand embroidered pieces were used to tell stories. They were seen as works of art and displayed proudly.
Machine Embroidery
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The 19th century brought about many changes in the way individuals viewed embroidery. The introduction of machine embroidery and mass reproduction took the novelty out of hand embroidered pieces. Although the art of embroidery was still practiced during the 19th century, it was more in a revival stage in the form of samplers done in crewel work or cross stitching.
The samplers had a pictorial reference, a formal verse most generally from the Bible, artist's name and age, date, formal motifs, border and the alphabet.
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References
Resources
- Photo Credit embroidery image by Maksim Shebeko from Fotolia.com
