Crewel embroidery and its types
Crewel embroidery and its types
Crewel embroidery, or Crewelwork, is a type of surface embroidery using wool. A wide variety of
different embroidery stitches are used to follow a design outline applied to the fabric. The
technique is at least a thousand years old.The origin of the word crewel is unknown but is thought
to come from an ancient word describing the curl in the staple, the single hair of the wool. Crewel
wool has a long staple; it is fine and can be strongly twisted. Modern crewel wool is a fine, 2-ply
or 1-ply yarn available in many different colours.
Crewel embroidery is of two types:
- a) 1-ply Embroidery: It uses 1-ply woolen yarn which is cheaper but less durable than 2-ply wool.
1-ply embroidered fabrics are therefore cheaper than 2-ply embroidered fabrics. 1-ply wool embroidery
covers larger surface area per stitch when compared to 2-ply embroidery.
- b) 2-ply Embroidery: Employing 2-ply woolen yarn for embroidery, it costs more than 1-ply and is more
durable. The resulting fabric is costlier in comparison to 1-ply embroidered fabrics. Also, 2-ply
wool embroidery has a lower surface area per stitch therefore accomodating more colors in a pattern
as compared to 1-ply.A finer form of crewel embroidery using cotton thread instead of wool is
worked on apparels like jackets, shawls, sarees, salwar kameez, etc.