Embroidery (Fr. broderie) is the art of producing ornamental patterns by means of needle-work on textile fabrics, leather, and other materials which can be sewed over. The art is closely allied to tapestry-work, which is in fact intermediate between embroidery and weaving. The essential distinction is that, while embroidery is always worked upon an already woven texture, the basis of tapestry is a series of parallel strings or cords forming a kind of warp, to which the various coloured yarns required for the pattern form the weft; and thus the cloth-making and the building-up of the pattern are one operation.
The art of embroidery, arising out of the universal craving for ornamentation, may be said to be coeval and co-extensive with the use of clothing and furniture. It is practised with interesting and characteristic variations by the rudest tribes; and it is held in high esteem by the most gifted and highly cultured of nations. That it was early practised in oriental nations we have abundant evidence. It is most probable that the coat of many colours bestowed by Jacob on his favourite Joseph was a triumph of needlework, as looms at that period were capable of producing simple striped and checkered patterns only. Remains of Egyptian embroidery, as ancient as the days of Jacob, exist still; and of the art as practised by the early Egyptians Sir J. Gardner Wilkinson remarks, 'the many dresses painted on the monuments of the 18th dynasty show that the most varied patterns were used by the Egyptians more than 3000 years ago, as they were at a later period by the Babylonians, who became noted for their needlework.' The knowledge and skill acquired in Egypt by the Israelites enabled them to embroider the elaborate priestly robes and tabernacle furniture, 'the cherubim of cunning work,' 'the pomegranates of blue and of purple and of scarlet,' and the other needlework enumerated in the Book of Exodus. The 'goodly Babylonish garment' secreted by Achan at Jericho was probably an example of Babylonian skill in needlework; and indeed the frequency of allusion to embroidery in Scripture, as well as in the works of classical writers from Homer downward, testifies to the high appreciation and importance of the art in early times. Then, as in later ages, the triumphs of the art were reserved for priestly robes and for temple adornment.
The knowledge of artistic embroidery came to Europe from the nations of the East, where the art had its early home, and where it still is most largely appreciated and practised. To the Greeks and Romans it came from Phrygia, whence at Rome the embroiderer was known as phrygio, and gold embroidered work was called auri-phrygium, from which we have the ecclesiastical English term orphrey. It was in medieval times that the embroiderer's art attained its greatest perfection in Europe; and it is remarkable that the most highly appreciated examples of work were of English origin. The finest existing specimen of medieval embroidery—the Syon Cope, now in South Kensington Museum—is English work of the 13th century. It is richly charged with scriptural subjects, and carries the armorial bearings of several of the most illustrious English families of the period. In historical interest, however, this cope falls far behind the Bayeux Tapestry (q.v.). Under the influence of the Oxford movement, and along with a revival in church architecture and glass-painting, has come a great revival of church embroidery as applied to altar-cloths, vestments, banners, &c.
Practically, embroidery is divided into two distinct classes of work: (1) that which embraces all kinds of artistic needlework done by the hand; and (2) the manufacturing industry which includes all embroidery done by machinery, and also such hand-needlework as is done on the large scale by following patterns mechanically impressed on the fabric to be ornamented.
In art embroidery the materials employed are fine coloured worsted yarns called crewels, tapestry wools, embroidery silks, gold and silver threads, spangles, and plates or discs of metal. There may also be used portions of feathers, the elytra of beetles, pearls, and precious stones; but these find their place principally in oriental embroideries. The textile basis may be any cloth, but the fabrics principally used are stout makes of linen, silks, satins, velvets, and flannels. Small work is done without any special mounting, but for elaborate designs the fabric is fitted and tightly stretched on a frame. The variety of embroidery stitches is considerable, and must vary with the nature of the outline to be formed and the texture or subject to be imitated; and colours have, of course, to be carefully varied according to the necessities of the design when a coloured pattern is being worked. The principal stitches are the stem stitch, the satin stitch, the knotted stitch, the button-hole or blanket stitch, the chain or tambour stitch, the feather stitch, and the cushion or Berlin-work stitch, all of which may be best learned from practical manuals. In frame-work, 'couching' is largely employed, which consists in laying lengths of thread on the surface, and securing them by stitches through the cloth brought up at various points, variety of effect being obtained by the different disposition of these securing stitches. A distinct class of embroidery consists of appliqué or cut work, in which designs of different materials and colours are cut out and sewed down on the surface of the fabric to be ornamented. Inlaid appliqué consists of cutting precisely the same pattern out of two different fabrics, and inserting the one into the cut space in the other.
In its purely mechanical side, the embroidery trade embraces several distinct sections, of which may be enumerated (1) white embroidery, known also as Swiss or Scotch sewed work, for which work the muslin or other fabric is printed with a pattern made up of holes of different dimensions, which are either cut or punched out, and their edges sewn over with a button-hole stitch; (2) embroidery in gold, silver, and coloured silks, for official costumes, civil and military, badges, &c.; (3) embroidery in crewels, or other coloured wools, coloured silks, &c., mostly done for furniture decoration, such as borders of tablecovers, &c.; and (4) there may be included ornamental braiding with braids of various colours, principally for ladies' costumes. To a great extent these various kinds of embroidery can be worked by one or other of the machines which have been devised for embroidering. The first successful embroidery machine was that invented by M. Josué Heilmann, of Milhansen, patented in England in 1829. With Heilmann's machine, or the modifications of it which have since been introduced, one person can guide from 80 to 140 needles working simultaneously, and producing so many repeats of the same design. The details of the construction of the machine are complex, but the principle of its action may be easily understood. The needles, with their eyes in the middle, are pointed at each end, so that they may pass from both sides of the work without being turned. Each needle is worked by two pairs of artificial fingers or pincers, a pair on each side of the work, and these grasp and push the needle through from one side of the work to the other. A carriage or frame connected with each series of fingers does the work of the human arm, by carrying the fingers to a distance corresponding to the whole length of the thread. The frame then returns to exactly its original place, and the needles are again passed through to the opposite set of fingers, which act in like manner. Were the work which is mounted in a frame to remain stationary, the needles would thus pass merely backwards and forwards through the same hole. But the frame is mounted to move in every direction, and according to its motion stitches varying in length and in direction are made corresponding to the lines of the design. The motion of the frame is governed by a pantagraph machine (see PANTAGRAPH), the free end of which, moving over an enlarged copy of the design, moves the frame at each successive stitch into the position required for the production of the various repeats of the pattern. Embroidery patterns, in a variety of knotted, tambour, and other stitches, and ornamental braiding, are now very largely done by means of the Bonnaz machine, the invention of M. Antoine Bonnaz, first patented in Britain in 1868. This apparatus is in appearance and construction like the ordinary sewing-machine, but in place of a needle, it is furnished with a hooked looper which passes down through the work and brings the thread up from below, looped around it to make a knotted stitch on plain for the ordinary tambour stitch. It is further provided with a universal feed-motion, so that with the utmost ease the work can be guided to follow the lines of the most intricate and sharp-turning pattern. A modification of this machine, invented by M. E. Cornely, is in extensive use for ornamental braiding.
The following works may be consulted: Caulfield and Saward, Dictionary of Needlework (1881); E. Glaister, Needlework ('Art at Home' series, 1880); Gay et Dupont Auberville, Catalogue des Broderies au Musée des Arts Decoratifs (Paris, 1880); L. Higgin, Handbook of Embroidery, edited by Lady Marian Alford (1879); Drawings of Ancient Embroidery, by Mrs Mary Barber (1881); Lefebure's Embroidery and Lace (Eng. trans. 1888).