What is crewel work or crewel embroidery? Most simply, it is embroidery on fabric that is done with a wool thread– a two-ply variety known as crewel– which gives the embroidery its name. I’ve been anxious to try it because it seems to be a fairly quick way to make some beautiful designs and it doesn’t seem any more complicated than regular old hand embroidery. While crewel work is often seen as an “old fashioned” type of embroidery, new crafters are proving that it’s a skill that is easy to update for modern sensibilities.
My interest was sparked by two things: first, a picture my mom’s friend made of some way cool mushrooms and secondly by a book I spied on Amazon called The New Crewel: Exquisite Designs in Contemporary Embroidery. The former was a gift and I love the colors and the retro feel. The latter I came across while looking for embroidery books and was intrigued by the cute, contemporary design on the cover which would be perfect for a pillow. Of course, Kyuuto! Japanese Crafts!: Woolly Embroidery: Crewelwork, Stump Work, Canvas Work, and More! also drew me in, but I think that’s because I have a passion for pretty much anything Japanese. Both appear to be pretty reasonably priced and have been added to my wishlist. At the rate I’m going, however, I won’t get around to pursuing any more types of crafts for quite some time.
Regardless, I thought I would check for some great examples of crewel work on the web and I found some that are whetting my appetite to try it out more than ever. Check these out:
By wine me up
By mary made me
by glazedangel
By kaorusato
By maybeemily
by blempgorf
by allygmail
by katiecanavan
by Klea
by pikipiki
No Comments