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Goldwork (embroidery)


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Goldwork , Spain, 20th century
Goldwork , 19th century
Old pattern of a traditonal Nordic Sami peoples metal embroidery collar, Åsele in Sweden. Silver or Pewter tread is most commonly used for the Folk Costume embroidery
Applied gold cord and embroidery. Portrait of Henry VIII by Holbein c. 1540

Goldwork is the art of embroidery using metal threads. It is particularly prized for the way light plays on it. The term "goldwork" is used even when the threads are imitation gold, silver, or copper. The metal wires used to make the threads have never been entirely gold; they have always been gold-coated silver (silver-gilt) or cheaper metals, and even then the "gold" often contains a very low percent of real gold. Most metal threads are available in silver and sometimes copper as well as gold; some are available in colors as well.

Goldwork is always surface embroidery and free embroidery; the vast majority is a form of laid work or couching; that is, the gold threads are held onto the surface of the fabric by a second thread, usually of fine silk. The ends of the thread, depending on type, are simply cut off, or are pulled through to the back of the embroidery and carefully secured with the couching thread. A tool called a mellore or a stilleto is used to help position the threads and create the holes needed to pull them through.

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[edit] History

Goldwork was originally developed in Asia, and has been used for at least 2000 years. Its use reached a remarkable level of skill in the Middle Ages, when a style called Opus Anglicanum was developed in England and used extensively in church vestments and hangings.[1] After this period it was also used frequently in the clothing and furnishings of the royalty and nobility throughout Europe, and still later on military and other regalia.[2] Goldwork is currently a fairly uncommon skill, even among embroiderers who work in other free embroidery styles; it is now most commonly used for the highest-quality church vestments and art embroidery. It has always been reserved for occasional and special use only, due to both the expense of the materials and the time to create the embroidery, and because the threads - no matter how expertly applied - will not hold up to frequent laundering of any kind.

[edit] Types of metal thread

A variety of threads exists, in order to create differing textures.

Passing is the most basic and common thread used in goldwork; it consists of a thin strip of metal wound around a core of cotton or silk. For gold thread this is typically yellow, or in older examples orange; for silver, white or gray. This is always attached by couching, either one or two threads at a time, and pulled through to the back to secure it. When multiple threads must be laid next to each other, a technique called bricking is used: the position of the couching stitches is offset between rows, producing an appearance similar to a brick wall. This same type of thread is used in making cloth of gold.

Japan thread, sometimes called jap, is a cheaper replacement for passing, and is far more commonly used in modern goldwork. It appears nearly identical, but rather than a strip of metal, a strip of foil paper is wrapped around the core.

Detail of embroidered antependium, Ghent, 1660.

Buillion or Purl is structurally a very long spring, hollow at the core; it can be stretched apart slightly and couched between the wraps of wire, or cut into short lengths and applied like beads. This thread comes in both shiny and matte versions.

Jaceron or Pearl purl is similar to buillion, but with a much wider piece of metal used in making it, such that it looks like a string of pearl-like beads when couched down between the wraps of metal. Lizerine is a very similar thread.

Freize or Check purl is again similar, but the metal used is shaped differently, producing a faceted, sparkly look.

Faconnee or Crimped purl is almost identical to buillion, but has been crimped at intervals.

Rococco and the similar Crinkle cordonnet are made of wire tightly wrapped around a cotton core, with a wavy or kinked appearance.

Milliary wire is a wire core wrapped with finer wire.

Plate is a strip of metal a few millimeters (1/8") wide; often this is used to fill small shapes by folding it back and forth, hiding the couching stitches under the folds.

Flat Worm or simply Oval thread is a thin plate wrapped around a yarn core and flattened slightly. This is used like plate, but is considerably easier to work with.

Twists or Torsade, threads made of multiple strands of metal twisted together are also sometimes used, some of which, such as Soutache, sometimes have different colored metals or colored non-metal threads twisted together. These are either couched like passing, with the couching thread visible, or with the thread angled with the twist to make it invisible.

In addition, paillettes or spangles (sequins of real metal), small pieces of appliqued rich fabric or kid leather, pearls, and real or imitation gems are commonly used as accents, and felt or string padding may be used to create raised areas or texture. Silk thread work in satin stitch or other stitches is often combined with goldwork, and in some periods goldwork was combined with blackwork embroidery as well.

[edit] Or nué

Hood of a cope worked in the or nué technique

Or nué is a special technique invented in the 15th century, wherein many threads of passing or Japan thread are laid down parallel and touching. By varying the spacing and color of the couching stitches, elaborate, gleaming images can be created. This is not uncommonly used to depict the garments of saints in church embroidery.

[edit] See also

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Levey, S. M. and D. King, The Victoria and Albert Museum's Textile Collection Vol. 3: Embroidery in Britain from 1200 to 1750, Victoria and Albert Museum, 1993, ISBN 1851771263
  2. ^ Lemon, Jane, Metal Thread Embroidery, Sterling, 2004, ISBN 071348926X


[edit] References

  • Sally Saunders, Royal School of Needlework Embroidery Techniques, Batsford, 2006 ISBN 978-0713488173 (paperback edition; hardcover editions were published previously but are now out of print)
  • Krenik[1] - a major supplier of goldwork threads; see the real metal threads category, and Japan thread under the metallic threads category
  • Berlin Embroidery[2] - a supplier of goldwork threads, kits, and lessons, with extensive informational pages and many images
  • Lemon, Jane, Metal Thread Embroidery, Sterling, 2004, ISBN 071348926X
  • Levey, S. M. and D. King, The Victoria and Albert Museum's Textile Collection Vol. 3: Embroidery in Britain from 1200 to 1750, Victoria and Albert Museum, 1993, ISBN 1851771263
  • Practical articles on basic goldwork techniques and couching with colour are available from textile artist Ruth O'Leary[3]


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Embroidery


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Traditional embroidery in chain stitch on a Kazakh rug, contemporary.

Embroidery is the art or handicraft of decorating fabric or other materials with needle and thread or yarn. Embroidery may also incorporate other materials such as metal strips, pearls, beads, quills, and sequins.

A characteristic of embroidery is that the basic techniques or stitches of the earliest work—chain stitch, buttonhole or blanket stitch, running stitch, satin stitch, cross stitch—remain the fundamental techniques of hand embroidery today.

Machine embroidery, arising in the early stages of the Industrial Revolution, mimics hand embroidery, especially in the use of chain stitches, but the "satin stitch" and hemming stitches of machine work rely on the use of multiple threads and resemble hand work in their appearance, not their construction.

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[edit] Origins

Detail of an embroidered silk gauze ritual garment. Rows of even, round chain stitches are used both for outline and to fill in color. From a 4th century BC, Zhou era tomb at Mashan, Hubei province, China.

The origins of embroidery are lost in time, but examples survive from ancient Egypt, Iron Age Northern Europe and Zhou Dynasty China. Examples of surviving Chinese chain stitch embroidery worked in silk thread have been dated to the Warring States period (5th-3rd century BC).[1]

The process used to tailor, patch, mend and reinforce cloth fostered the development of sewing techniques, and the decorative possibilities of sewing led to the art of embroidery.[2] In a garment from Migration period Sweden, roughly 300–700 CE, the edges of bands of trimming are reinforced with running stitch, back stitch, stem stitch, tailor's buttonhole stitch, and whipstitching, but it is uncertain whether this work simply reinforces the seams or should be interpreted as decorative embroidery.[3]

The remarkable stability of basic embroidery stitches has been noted:

It is a striking fact that in the development of embroidery ... there are no changes of materials or techniques which can be felt or interpreted as advances from a primitive to a later, more refined stage. On the other hand, we often find in early works a technical accomplishment and high standard of craftsmanship rarely attained in later times. [4]

English cope, late 15th or early 16th century. Silk velvet embroidered with silk and gold threads, closely laid and couched. An example of fine English embroidery. Art Institute of Chicago textile collection.

Elaborately embroidered clothing, religious objects, and household items have been a mark of wealth and status in many cultures including ancient Persia, India, China, Japan, Byzantium, and medieval and Baroque Europe. Traditional folk techniques are passed from generation to generation in cultures as diverse as northern Vietnam, Mexico, and eastern Europe. Professional workshops and guilds arose in medieval England. The output of these workshops, called Opus Anglicanum or "English work," was famous throughout Europe.[5] The manufacture of machine-made embroideries in St. Gallen in eastern Switzerland flourished in the latter half of the 19th century.

[edit] Classification

Japanese free embroidery in silk and metal threads, contemporary.

Embroidery can be classified according to whether the design is stitched on top of or through the foundation fabric, and by the relationship of stitch placement to the fabric.

In free embroidery, designs are applied without regard to the weave of the underlying fabric. Examples include crewel and traditional Chinese and Japanese embroidery.

Cross-stitch counted-thread embroidery. Tea-cloth, Hungary, mid-20th century

Counted-thread embroidery patterns are created by making stitches over a predetermined number of threads in the foundation fabric. Counted-thread embroidery is more easily worked on an even-weave foundation fabric such as embroidery canvas, aida cloth, or specially woven cotton and linen fabrics although non-evenweave linen is used as well. Examples include needlepoint and some forms of blackwork embroidery.

Hardanger, a whitework technique. Contemporary.

In canvas work threads are stitched through a fabric mesh to create a dense pattern that completely covers the foundation fabric. Traditional canvas work such as bargello is a counted-thread technique.[6] Since the 19th century, printed and hand painted canvases where the painted or printed image serves as color-guide have eliminated the need for counting threads. These are particularly suited to pictorial rather than geometric designs deriving from the Berlin wool work craze of the early 19th century.[7][8][9]

In drawn thread work and cutwork, the foundation fabric is deformed or cut away to create holes that are then embellished with embroidery, often with thread in the same color as the foundation fabric. These techniques are the progenitors of needlelace. When created in white thread on white linen or cotton, this work is collectively referred to as whitework.[10]

[edit] Materials

Phulkari from the Punjab region of India. Phulkari embroidery, popular since at least the 15th century, is traditionally done on hand-spun cotton cloth with simple darning stitches using silk floss.
Laid threads, a surface technique in wool on linen. The Bayeux Tapestry, 11th century.

The fabrics and yarns used in traditional embroidery vary from place to place. Wool, linen, and silk have been in use for thousands of years for both fabric and yarn. Today, embroidery thread is manufactured in cotton, rayon, and novelty yarns as well as in traditional wool, linen, and silk. Ribbon embroidery uses narrow ribbon in silk or silk/organza blend ribbon, most commonly to create floral motifs.[11]

Surface embroidery techniques such as chain stitch and couching or laid-work are the most economical of expensive yarns; couching is generally used for goldwork. Canvas work techniques, in which large amounts of yarn are buried on the back of the work, use more materials but provide a sturdier and more substantial finished textile.[9]

In both canvas work and surface embroidery an embroidery hoop or frame can be used to stretch the material and ensure even stitching tension that prevents pattern distortion. Modern canvas work tends to follow very symmetrical counted stitching patterns with designs developing from repetition of one or only a few similar stitches in a variety of thread hues. Many forms of surface embroidery, by contrast, are distinguished by a wide range of different stitching patterns used in a single piece of work.[12]

[edit] Machine

Commercial machine embroidery in chain stitch on a voile curtain, China, early 21st century.

Much contemporary embroidery is stitched with a computerized embroidery machine using patterns "digitized" with embroidery software. In machine embroidery, different types of "fills" add texture and design to the finished work. Machine embroidery is used to add logos and monograms to business shirts or jackets, gifts, and team apparel as well as to decorate household linens, draperies, and decorator fabrics that mimic the elaborate hand embroidery of the past.

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Gillow and Bryan 1999, p. 178
  2. ^ Gillow and Bryan 1999, p. 12
  3. ^ Coatsworth, Elizabeth: "Stitches in Time: Establishing a History of Anglo-Saxon Embroidery", in Netherton and Owen-Crocker 2005, p. 2
  4. ^ Marie Schuette and Sigrid Muller-Christensen, The Art of Embroidery translated by Donald King, Thames and Hudson, 1964, quoted in Netherton and Owen-Crocker 2005, p. 2
  5. ^ Levey and King 1993, p. 12
  6. ^ Gillow and Bryan 1999, p. 198
  7. ^ Embroiderers' Guild 1984, p. 54
  8. ^ Berman 2000
  9. ^ a b Readers Digest 1979, p. 112-115
  10. ^ Readers Digest 1979, pp. 74-91
  11. ^ van Niekerk 2006
  12. ^ Readers Digest 1979, pp. 1-19, 112-117

[edit] References

  • Berman, Pat (2000). "Berlin Work". American Needlepoint Guild. http://www.needlepoint.org/Archives/01-01/berlinwork.php. Retrieved on 2009-01-24.
  • Caulfield, S.F.A., and B.C. Saward (1885). The Dictionary of Needlework.
  • Embroiderers' Guild Practical Study Group (1984). Needlework School. QED Publishers. ISBN 0890097852.
  • Gillow, John, and Bryan Sentance (1999). World Textiles. Bulfinch Press/Little, Brown. ISBN 0-8212-2621-5.
  • Lemon, Jane (2004). Metal Thread Embroidery. Sterling. ISBN 071348926X.
  • Levey, S. M. and D. King (1993). The Victoria and Albert Museum's Textile Collection Vol. 3: Embroidery in Britain from 1200 to 1750. Victoria and Albert Museum. ISBN ISBN 1851771263.
  • Netherton, Robin, and Gale R. Owen-Crocker, editors, (2005). Medieval Clothing and Textiles, Volume 1. Boydell Press. ISBN 1843831236.
  • Readers Digest (1979). Complete Guide to Needlework. Readers Digest. ISBN ISBN 0-89577-059-8.
  • van Niekerk, Di (2006). A Perfect World in Ribbon Embroidery and Stumpwork. ISBN ISBN 1-84448-231-6.
  • Wilson, David M. (1985). The Bayeux Tapestry. Thames and Hudson. ISBN 0500251223.

[edit] External links

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Drawn thread work


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Linen towel with drawn thread work accented with embroidery in stem and satin stitch.

Drawn thread work is a form of counted-thread embroidery based on removing threads from the warp and/or the weft of a piece of even-weave fabric. The remaining threads are grouped or bundled together into a variety of patterns. The more elaborate styles of drawn thread work use in fact a variety of other stitches and techniques, but the drawn thread parts are their most distinctive element. It is also grouped as whitework embroidery because it was traditionally done in white thread on white fabric and is often combined with other whitework techniques.

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[edit] Styles

Linen handkerchief decorated with three rows of hemstitching.

[edit] Basic Hemstitching

The most basic kind of drawn thread work is hemstitching. Drawn thread work is often used to decorate the trimmings of clothes or household linens. The border between hemstitching gone fancy and more elaborate styles of drawn thread work isn't always clear.

[edit] Needle-weaving

This relatively easy type of drawn thread work is created by weaving (or darning) the embroidering thread into the barelaid warp or weft threads to create patterns of light-colored threads and dark openings in the drawn-thread cloth. Needleweaving is most often used for decorative borders. It is nearly always used in combination with other types of embroidery stitches. Together they create a complete design and, historically, in ethnic embroidery, distinctive embroidery 'styles'.

Also known as "needle-darning".

[edit] Poltava-style drawnwork
This section has multiple issues. Please help improve the article or discuss these issues on the talk page.

In Ukrainian and some other Slavic languages, merezhka is the general term for "drawn-thread" work. "Merezhka", pronounced roughly /mereʒka/, includes all types of drawn-thread work including those mentioned in the paragraphs above.

In recent years (199(?)-2005), the term "myreschka", a variant of "merezhka", began to be used in some circles[citation needed] for a specific Ukrainian drawn-thread technique that is traditionally used in the central lands of Ukraine, esp. in the regions of Poltava and Kyiv, and areas along the Dniepro (Dnieper) River, and some have come to call it "Poltava-style" merezhka. The technique has its own descriptive name in the Ukrainian language, which might be translated into English as "layerings".

The technique for doing Poltava-style 'layerings'-merezhka basically involves withdrawing sets of parallel threads of weft while leaving others in place, then using the antique hem-stitch (called "prutyk") and this special "layerings" technique to create both the openwork 'net' and the design of embroidering threads upon the "withdrawn" part of cloth. The designs which can be created in this way can be simple and narrow, or as complex and wide (high) as any one-colored embroidery design.

"Prutyk" (may also be spelled "prutik") is the bunch (switch or stick) that is created when you pull together each bunch of three threads together using hem-stitch. In Ukrainian, "prutyk" is simply another name for 'simple hemstitch' (i.e.: "merezhka-prutyk"), or it can mean each tiny 'bunch' in the hemstitching.

[edit] Other drawn-thread

A form of double-drawnwork, where both warp and weft are removed at regular intervals, consists of wrapping the remaining threads into "bundles", using embroidery thread to secure them, thus creating something similar to a net. Then embroidery threads are woven in patterns into that net using needle weaving or needle darning. The result is a pattern of the design in white (or colored, depending on ethnic region) embroidery on the "openwork" background of netted cloth.

[edit] Cutwork

[edit] Hardanger

Main article: Hardanger embroidery

Hardanger embroidery is a style of drawn thread work that is most popular today. It originally comes from Norway, and there from the traditional district of Hardanger. The backbone of Hardanger designs consists of satin stitches, in geometrical areas both warp and weft threads are removed and the remaining mesh is secured with simple weaving or warping, or with a limited number of simple filling patterns. The designs tend to be geometric, if they include flowers or such they are very stylized due to the nature of the technique. Hardanger never includes Buttonhole stitches, except for securing the edges of a piece of fabric. It is usually executed using rather coarse fabric and thread.

[edit] Ukrainian cutwork

Much like Hardanger, Ukrainian cutwork belongs to the category of 'cut-and-drawn' work, since, unlike 'merezhka' (drawn-work), threads of the ground cloth are cut both vertically and horizontally, and thus create specifically larger cut-work openings in the body of the fabric, when compared with drawn-work. The Ukrainian word for cutwork embroidery is vyrizuvannya (pronounced veree-zoo-van-nya - translates into "cutwork"). There are several styles of Ukrainian cutwork, one of which closely resembles Hardanger cutwork.

[edit] Needlelace and Drawn-thread work

Reticella lace is a form of embroidery in which typical techniques of needlelace are used to embellish drawn thread work. It was first used in 16th century Italy. Needlelace evolved from this when the lacemakers realized that they can do the same things without any supporting fabric. High quality reticella is done with thread almost as thin as sewing silk. Ruskin lace is in fact a near-modern form of it. Warp and weft threads are removed, and the remaining threads are overcast with buttonhole stitches, as in needlelace.

Another embroidery style that combines drawn thread work with needlelace techniques is Hedebo from Denmark, which originates from the area around Copenhagen and Roskilde. It uses techniques that are clearly distinct from reticella and traditional Italian neddlelace on the one hand and Hardanger on the other. It does make extensive use of buttonhole stitches, but they are done slightly differently than in Italian embroidery.

[edit] Modern use

 This section does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed. (July 2007)
This section is written like a personal reflection or essay and may require cleanup. Please help improve it by rewriting it in an encyclopedic style. (December 2007)

Today, the most popular style of drawn thread (cutwork) is Hardanger. It was known in all Europe at least since the early 20th century, but it was only one style among many others. After it was made popular in the 1980s by some enthusiasts it became a craze. It is easy enough that hobby embroiderers can learn it from written instructions only and produce intricate pieces in a reasonable amount of time. The patterns available today are of course adapted to meet every possible modern taste.

About 1995, Ukrainian Poltava-style merezhka (cut-and-drawn work) was popularized by fabric companies and European stitching magazines who used the spelling "myreschka" (see discussion page). This was well received by the public because it was "new" and is a relatively quick and easy technique. Interest in learning "myreschka"(sic) continues in English-speaking parts of the world, but has not become as popular as Hardanger work.

At least in Germany, traditional fancy hemstiching is becoming somewhat popular again. Even (modernised) reticella patterns and how-tos make it into popular magazines, although they are really challenging for the occasional embroiderer.

Drawn thread work and needlelace are also used in creative freestyle embroidery. But creative drawn thread work is often done in a seemingly haphazard way that hasn't much in common with traditional counted thread embroidery.

[edit] References

  • Thérèse de Dillmont, Encyclopedia of Needlework
  • Tania Diakiw O'Neill, Ukrainian Embroidery Techniques 1984 USA
  • Nancy R. Ruryk, ed, Ukrainian Emboidery Designs and Stitches 1958 Canada
  • Yvette Stanton, "Ukrainian Drawn Thread Embroidery: Merezhka Poltavska" 2007 Australia

[edit] External links


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