It is a design style, belonging to a certain period of history.Īnd the technique that surface embroidery is contrasted to: canvas work. This is a wide and varied list, and it has its confusing points! Jacobean embroidery, for example, is not a technique. So they can’t mean “surface” in the sense that the stitches are only “on top of” the fabric and don’t pass “through” the fabric.Īnd then, of course, there’s the list that apparently explains the definition: appliqué, art needlework, crewel embroidery, cross stitch, goldwork, Jacobean embroidery, stumpwork. After all, they say “decorative stitches.” Chain stitch is a decorative stitch. Laid work (like lattice filling patterns and the like) require stitches that pass through the fabric to hold the laid stitches in place.īut apparently they don’t really just mean laid stitches. The Wikipedia definition becomes problematic when we study it closely – especially these parts: “by use of decorative stitches and laid threads on top of the foundation fabric or canvas rather than through the fabric it is contrasted with canvas work.”ĭoes Wiki mean that surface embroidery is only on the surface, not through the fabric? Then how exactly do those decorative stitches and laid threads adhere to the fabric? The term “surface embroidery” doesn’t really stray far from that definition much, but we can narrow it a little further. (And then it got boring, didn’t it?) The Usual CircumstancesĪll that being said, for our purposes here, on a website devoted to hand embroidery, I think we can pretty much agree to talk about embroidery as we know it in its most usual circumstances: the embellishment of a ground of some sort with decorative stitching using a needle and thread. See the problem? If I say that embroidery is the embellishment of fabric with decorative stitching using needle and thread, I’d be taken to task with all the exceptions. What it boils down to, then, is that the only absolute Absolute today would be the notion of “decorative stitching” of some sort.Īnd this eventually leads us to a more abstract meaning of embroidery – the non-technical meaning, which just means “to embellish.” I might, for example, embroider a tale for you – that is, embellish a story.
![betty betty](https://i.pinimg.com/236x/b1/3a/a6/b13aa6a86ecb0958ce623aec9fa376d5--embroidery-design-embroidery-patterns.jpg)
It seems, then, that the parts of the definition that would still hold true are “with decorative stitching, using a needle and thread.”īut again, depending on what we’re embroidering and what we’re embroidering with, we might eliminate the needle, since other devices could be used to lead whatever you’re embroidering with through the holes on whatever you’re embroidering.Īnd we might even eliminate “thread” as an absolute, because you can use other manipulatable materials to embroider – like wire, rope, grass, wood strips, plastic strips, metal tubing, or… I don’t know… noodles. So the ground (or matter) being embroidered may not necessarily fit into the textile or fabric category – today, we often embroider other things besides fabric.
![betty betty](https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/StoAAOSwQy9cT~mN/s-l300.jpg)
I’ve embroidered on eggs, on wood, on plastic, on metal.
![betty betty](https://rukminim1.flixcart.com/image/352/352/kcgk1ow0/hair-accessory/s/h/f/betty-cooper-hairband-in-textured-blue-jersey-with-embroidery-original-imafthatscpgv495.jpeg)
Today, you can see a lot of other things besides fabric embroidered. What is Embroidery?Įmbroidery, in the traditional sense, is the embellishment of fabric with decorative stitching, using a needle and thread. Let’s chat about it a bit!īefore we define surface embroidery, I think it’s a good idea to explore the word embroidery. To a non-beginner, it still presents a few problems. To a beginner, that’s probably about as clear as mud.
![betty betty](https://embroideres.com/files/6515/3875/6128/Embroidered_cushion_with_betty_boop_love_design.jpg)
#Betty's original embroidery free#
The Wizard of Wiki goes on to explain: “Much free embroidery is also surface embroidery, as are a few forms of counted thread embroidery such as cross stitch.”Īnd then, a list of forms of surface embroidery is presented: appliqué, art needlework, crewel embroidery, cross stitch, goldwork, Jacobean embroidery, stumpwork. Wikipedia (which, next to Google, is apparently The Source of All Instant Knowledge) defines surface embroidery as “any form of embroidery in which the pattern is worked by the use of decorative stitches and laid threads on top of (their emphasis) the foundation fabric or canvas rather than through the fabric it is contrasted with canvas work.” While there are lots of terminology lists with short definitions out there, I’ve always found that the one-line definition of A Thing doesn’t always do that Thing justice.įor example, take the term “surface embroidery.” Terminology can be a huge source of confusion for beginning embroiderers, and even for stitchers who have been plying the needle for years. Grab your morning cuppa and let’s have a chat about surface embroidery!