TEXTILE TALES
Crewel fabrics have adorned interiors for over 1,000 years and today renewed appreciation sees hand-stitched designs adding tactility and elegance to many homes
Defined as surface embroidery using wool yarn, the earliest record of the word ‘crewel’ dates to 1494*, yet such hand-stitched embellishment dates to at least 1,000 years ago. The Bayeux Tapestry – which some believe was crafted in the 1070s – is widely seen as the earliest surviving example of crewel.
From the medieval period, crewels were worked by women in their own homes, but also by professional embroiderers who created the likes of wall panels, bed hangings, door curtains and coverlets for warmth and decoration. By the Tudor era, skill in elaborate needlework was viewed as a sign of piety and diligence among daughters of gentry and nobility, while the work of professional embroiderers became formally assessed from 1561 when The Worshipful Guild of Broderers was granted its first charter by Queen Elizabeth I. By the 17th century, professional embroiderers in Britain were almost exclusively male.
Jacobean Legacy
The Jacobean Period (1603-1625) represents one of the pinnacles of crewel in Britain. Designs, which might feature 20 or more types of stitch, were increasingly influenced by the Tree of Life and biomorphic motifs of imported textiles – especially Indian chintzes.
‘Jacobean crewelwork has its own sense of scale – leaves can be very big or very small all within one piece. Many original panels feature little hillocks with animals roaming within them. Designs might feature small stags yet comparably much larger birds – particularly peacocks – within trees in the same scene. Birds often look huge in scale to the branches they sit on, and on one trunk you might find a mix of fruits, flowers and leaves not specific to that tree – but this is all part of the fun of Jacobean design,’ explains Dr Susan Kay-Williams, chief executive of the Royal School of Needlework.
Throughout the 17th century, many crewels were monochrome or bicoloured blue/green, blue/brown or green/brown. ‘This was partly, of course, due to the limitation of available dyes. Designs were generally drawn out and then transferred to a ground cloth with the “prick and pounce” technique. This involved pricking through the drawn design, laying it on taut fabric tensioned on a large frame, and carefully rubbing the pounce – a powder originally made of pulverised charcoal and cuttlefish – through the pinpricks onto the cloth below. The maker would carefully lift the design sheet, blow away loose pounce and use a paintbrush to infill between the
