"Washington Crossing the Delaware”: on the wall by the door, copy of it done in thunder-and-lightning crewels by one of the young ladies – work of art which would have made Washington hesitate about crossing..."

It is easy for traditional methods of embroidery to be forgotten as modern technology takes over our lives and newer forms of stitching are invented. Crewel embroidery is an example of an embroidery technique that has been passed down from great-grandmothers to the daughters of today’s generation.

There are records of the word ‘crewel’ that go as far back as the 13th century. It is thought to have originated from the East long before that, however, and spread to Egypt, Greece and Rome, finally reaching England with the Roman conquest. Crewel embroidery was any embroidery technique using fine worsted yarns and is used today to refer to the design of the period. While some may think that the name has something to do with the pain inflicted by a sharp needle while stitching, past usage for the word ‘crewel’ included tent stitch and cross stitch both of which require the use of a harmless tapestry needle. In fact, crewel comes from the Jacobean word “krua” which means wool.

In 1600, painted cottons called palampores were introduced to England when Queen Elizabeth signed the charter for The East India Company to open up trade with the Far East. Designs for these palampores evolved from simple patterns depicting the Tree of Life – a stem rising from mounds or hills – into elaborate trees with multiple flowers and leaves, eventually growing into fantasy bed hangings with extravagant oversized leaves, birds and animals. Crewelwork during this period was extremely heavy because the designs were used to decorate walls or beds and had to keep out cold drafts. The most common stitches were chain, stem, long-and-short, straight, satin, French knot, running, feather and herringbone. Dominant colours were greens and blues, with small amounts of yellow or muted shades of red. This is the most significant and memorable style of crewelwork from the 17th century.

As time went by, crewelwork became more graceful – lighter and even intricate – especially when it was introduced to America in the 18th century. The growing of flax was mandatory in some original American colonies during the 16th century and because everyone was involved in the annual task of preparing flax for weaving, professional weavers began weaving linen threads at 6 pence a yard.