A Brief History of Embroidery and it's Origins

So what is Embroidery and it's origins? Because Pargatzi Embroidery LLC are
professional embroiders, not professional writers we decided to add a selection of links for
your embroidery education and enjoyment.
The History of Embroidery and It's Modern Development
"Most people associate embroidery with a boring way to fill up a housewife's daily life. The
uninteresting procedure of producing a stitched picture on a cloth may seem to many
uninitiated a sheer waste of time. But, once you learn more about it, you may come to
discover how incredibly fascinating it is.
To begin with, embroidery has a long history, which dates back to more than 3000 years
B.C.It is probably the first form of art, as man has used decoration with aesthetic purposes
as early as the invention of the needle and thread themselves. What is more: you may not
be aware but actually embroidery was a man's not a woman's invention! In ancient
cultures from every part of the world, embroidery and needlework was regarded as a
priority only for the chosen and talented boys. The embroiderers-to-be had to study the
fine craft under the supervision of a master. It took them more than ten years'
apprenticeship until they were approved to practice on their own.
Embroidery has not only a long history. The most amazing fact is that it had evolved
simultaneously in almost every part of the world where people practiced sewing. Different
cultures formed different embroidery types. The development of needlework also
depended on the various materials used by a certain culture. The styles of embroidery,
which different nations invented, were passed on generations to generations and many of
them have survived till nowadays.
We know of the embroidery work practiced by the ancient Egyptians. It was done with
white threads on a white canvas. This embroidery is so sophisticated that even nowadays
the modern technologies have difficulty doing it the same way. Another type of finest
quality was the Chinese silk embroidery, known as the two-sided embroidery. It is
amasingly intricate and it takes years of hard efforts to complete. Also famous is the
"raised" embroidery, practiced in the 16th century. It is better known as the Elizabethan
embroidery. It involved stitching decorations like butterflies, leaves and other beautiful
designs with the usage of wool, leather and wood padding. Still popular today is the
Western European embroidery called crewel. This technique uses two-ply wool stitching
on linen twill and is practiced when making decorations on different household cloths,
such as counterpanes, wall hangings, draperies, chair coverings.
What strikes most in these embroidery styles is that they are incredibly difficult to produce
and many people lose their patience before completing one canvas. Nowadays,
embroidery has developed so far, that even the clumsiest novice can try and stitch
something beautiful by using computer software or high-tech sewing machines. That
makes things more pleasant for the new beginner. Despite the available technology,
artistic embroiderers prefer authenticity and still spend their time doing everything
themselves. The finest details cannot be produced by technologically-based machines,
because embroidery is most of all a kind of art, and all art needs its talented artists."
Article by Robbie Darmona [http://www.robbiedarmona.com]. Article
Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Robbie_Darmona
"The Bayeux Tapestry"
The Bayeux Tapestry is technically not a tapestry (tapestries are woven), but a huge band
of embroidered linen measuring 19.5 inches in width and 230 feet in length. Depicted on
what is now beige fabric in eight colors are dozens of scenes of the Norman
Conquest. The story it tells begins long before the Battle of Hastings, with Edward the
Confessor sending Harold Godwinson on a mission to France, and ends with the Normans
victorious at Hastings in 1066. There may have been more depicted, but the end of the
tapestry is missing. Decorative borders along the top and bottom display scenes from
fables, farming and hunting, and occasionally items related to the main story.

Origins and History of the Bayeux Tapesry: Known facts about the tapestry's creation
are few. It may have been comissioned by Bishop Odo (half-brother of William the
Conqueror), whose name is one of the few that appears in the work. It was probably
made at Canterbury in Kent, where Odo was Earl after the Conquest, and it was aparently
completed no later than 1092. A recent tradition has it that William's wife Matilda worked
on the embroidery herself, but there is no evidence to substantiate this. It has undergone
several restorations.
The first recorded mention of the tapestry is in 1476, when it was noted that it was used to
decorate the nave of Bayeux Cathedral in France. Except for two brief periods (once
during the Franco-German War and once during WWII), the tapestry has remained in
Bayeux since the Middle Ages, and it can be seen there today." Source:

History of Embroidery
Embroidery is the art of decorating fabrics by stitching designs with a needle and yarn. As civilizations
flourished people started incorporating other materials like metal strips, pearl, beads and quills in their
designs.
The use of embroidery to decorate clothes is as old as the sewing itself. With wear and tear in his clothes
man started mending his torn clothes with patches and used reinforced sewing techniques to make it
strong to ensure that the stitch didnt give in during rough use. It was at this time when man discovered
that the thread that he used for fastening clothes together and mending patches could also be used to
decorate and design it. During that period he used beads, stones, bones and seeds of various fruits as
decoration materials.

Initially embroidery was done by hand. The earliest samples of handmade embroidery are available from
ancient Egypt, Persia, China, India, Russia and England. Each country portrayed its own distinctive style
in designs based on its culture, history and traditions.
In 1964, a hunters fossil dating back to 30,000 B.C was found in Cro-Magnon, Russia. The fur clothing
along with his boots and hat were heavily decorated with handmade stitches of ivory bead
Chinese thread embroidery dates back to 3500 B.C which is still prevalent today. Chinese bead
embroidery dates back to 6000 B.C that had drilled shells stitched with decorative designs into animal
hides. At around 500 A.D, embroidery with silk thread along with precious stones and pearls was
practiced in China.
Even though we dont have samples, history records from ancient sculptures, paintings and vases dating
3000 B.C depict inhabitants from ancient Greece using thread embroidered clothing during that time.
Babylonians and Syrians used embroidered clothes during 400 B.C and 700A.D respectively.
Archaeological excavations reveal that during 400 A.D Empress Honorius used high standard thread
embroidery using pure gold to design her clothes.
During 1100s, 1200s and 1300s smaller seed pearls and beads gained popularity in stitching. By 1700
bead embroidery went beyond fabrics to layette baskets, court dresses and home furnishings.
In the Victorian era elaborate freehand stitching began to dwindle when the machine age started to
flourish. But at the same time bead embroidery gained popularity along with the new needlework
stitches.
Invention of fine steel needles along with the evolution of new techniques to manufacture smaller beads
and went drilling bead holes made beads a more common tool for embroidery. Even today thread and
bead embroidery can be found on ornamental wear and home furnishings across the world.
Embroidered clothing was also considered a symbol of wealth in ancient China and Japan. Many scenes
from history are often found embroidered in fabric. The most famous one is the231 feet long Bayeux
Tapestry that depicts the Battle of Hastings in 1066.
Machine embroidery emerged with the industrial revolution. It also brought in new varieties of yarn like
rayon apart from cotton and wool. Computers brought in embroidery software with digitized patterns to
finish the texture and designs in the clothing.

Even though technology has made embroidery work easy, but there has not been much change in the
materials or techniques in the history of embroidery that can be actually claimed as an advancement
from the primitive stage to the present.

HISTORY OF EMBROIDERY
Embroidery is the art or handicraft of decorating fabric or other materials with needle and thread or yarn. In this way, it
has been practiced for decades.
The origin of embroidery can be dated back to Cro-Magnon days or 30,000 BC. During a recent archaeological find,
fossilized remains of heavily hand-stitched and decorated clothing, boots and a hat were found.
In Siberia, around 5000 and 6000 B.C. elaborately drilled shells stitched with decorative designs onto animal hides were
discovered. Chinese thread embroidery dates back to 3500 B.C. where pictures depict embroidery of clothing with silk
thread, precious stones and pearls. Examples of surviving Chinese chain stitch embroidery worked in silk thread have
also been found and dated to the Warring States period (5 th-3rd century BC).
Embroidery and most other fiber and needlework arts are believed to originate in the Orient and Middle East. Primitive
humankind quickly found that the stitches used to join animal skins together could also be used for embellishment.
Recorded history, sculptures, paintings and vases depicting inhabitants of various ancient civilizations show people
wearing thread-embroidered clothing.
During the 1100's, smaller seed pearls were sewn on vellum to decorate religious items and from the 1200's through
1300's beads were embroidered onto clothing. By 1500 A.D., embroideries had become more lavish in Europe, as well as
other areas of the world. From this period through the 1700's elaborate thread and bead embroidery gained popularity.
Bead embroidery could be found on layette baskets, court dress, home furnishings and many other items.
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 were 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. The manufacture of machine-made embroideries in St.
Gallen in eastern Switzerland flourished in the latter half of the 19 th century.
The process used to tailor, patch, mend and reinforce cloth later fostered the development of sewing techniques, and the
decorative possibilities of sewing led to the art of embroidery. Elaborate freehand stitched thread embroidery began to
dwindle with the machine age of the 1800's when Art needlework and Berlin wool-work appeared on the scene. Berlin
wool-work, canvas thread embroidery, was popular through the 1870's only to be replaced in popularity by counted
cross-stitch of the 1880's, using square meshed canvas with stitch-by-stitch thread designs. With the introduction of
printed patterns in color, the need for counting each stitch was pass in many instances. Although elaborate freehand
thread embroidery was waning in popularity, bead embroidery was beginning its heyday along with the new needlework
stitches of the 1800's.
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.
Surface embroidery techniques such as chain stitch and couching or laid-work are the most economical of expensive
yarns; couching is generally used for gold work. 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.