Decorating fabric with needle and thread, from a beginner's sampler to the Bayeux Tapestry, which is embroidery despite its name. Its stitches have been remarkably stable across centuries: the chain, blanket, running, satin and cross stitches of surviving ancient work are the same ones taught today. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
Facts
Earliest Evidence (Circa)Surviving chain-stitch embroidery in silk from Warring States period China, 5th to 3rd centuries BC 1 OriginThe single oldest surviving piece of embroidered cloth is Egyptian; the craft's own antiquity is otherwise judged by scattered, disputed fragments, among them a Migration-period garment from Sweden whose reinforced edges may or may not be decorative needlework rather than plain repair. One of the oldest complete embroidered works to survive at all is the Bayeux Tapestry itself, an embroidered cloth nearly 70 metres long depicting the events leading up to the Norman Conquest. 1 Embroidery
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FAQs
What is the Bayeux Tapestry?
An embroidered, not woven, cloth depicting the Norman Conquest, nearly 70 metres long.
Despite its name, the Bayeux Tapestry is embroidery, not woven tapestry: an embroidered cloth nearly 70 metres long depicting the events leading up to the Norman Conquest, and one of the oldest complete embroidered works to survive.
Connections
Associated With
Embroidery is named directly among the domestic-arts techniques craftivism draws on, and the article documents embroidered protest banners as a craftivist form.
Additional Source Craftivism (Wikipedia)Methods section, on domestic-arts techniques
Source Embroiderers' Guild (Wikipedia)
Parfilage, the historical practice of unpicking gold and silver thread for reuse, was performed on embroidered and lace textiles.
Source Visible Mending (Wikipedia)
Open Questions
Source Embroidery (Wikipedia)
Tools Used
Source Punch needle (Wikipedia)
Source Schiffli embroidery machine (Wikipedia)
Sources
1. Embroidery (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia Foundationen.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embroidery, Origins section
The earliest surviving embroidered cloth comes from Egypt.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embroidery, Historical applications and techniques section
One of the oldest complete embroidered works still in existence is the Bayeux Tapestry, an embroidered cloth nearly 70 metres (230 feet) long and 50 centimetres (20 inches) tall that depicts the events leading up to the Norman Conquest
View the Source Craftivism (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationAssociated With: Craftivism, Methods section, on domestic-arts techniquesQuote, Associated With: Craftivism, Methods section, on domestic-arts techniques
Much of the practice draws on techniques historically classified as the domestic arts, inclusive of sewing, quilting, embroidery, and other forms of handwork.
Punch needle (Wikipedia)
Tools Used: Punch Needle, Lead sectionQuote, Tools Used: Punch Needle, Lead section
A punch needle is a manual tool used for embroidery or rug making
Schiffli embroidery machine (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationTools Used: Schiffli Embroidery Machine, Lead sectionQuote, Tools Used: Schiffli Embroidery Machine, Lead section
is a multi-needle, industrial embroidery machine
Open Questions (1 open question)
Is the Migration-period Swedish textile's reinforced trim genuine embroidery or plain repair stitching?
The surviving Migration-period Swedish garment's reinforced edges could be read either as functional seam repair or as deliberate decorative embroidery, and no scholarly consensus resolves which.
What would resolve this A technical textile-conservation study of the stitching pattern, compared against known repair-stitch versus decorative-stitch conventions from the period.
textile conservationEmbroidery (Wikipedia)
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