Canvas Embroidery

Chair cover, early 18th century, England. Embroidered in wools and a little silk on canvas ground. Chair cover, early 18th century, England. Embroidered in wools and a little silk on canvas ground. Copyright Victoria and Albert Museum, London, acc. no. T.120M-1956.

Canvas embroidery is a form of counted thread embroidery, in which decorative stitches are worked on a canvas ground to create a dense pattern that covers much of the ground material. There are various forms of canvas work such as Berlin wool work and Florentine work.

Canvas embroidery was especially used as a soft furnishing for bed valances, rugs and pillows. In the late eighteenth century, canvas embroidery was an accepted pastime for ladies (one of the fancy works).

Also known as: canvas work; carpet work; needlepoint embroidery; tapestry embroidery; tapestry work

Sources:

  • THOMAS, Mary (1936). Mary Thomas’s Embroidery Book, London: Hodder and Stoughton, p. 36.
  • TORTORA, Phyllis G. and Ingrid JOHNSON (2014). The Fairchild Books: Dictionary of Textiles, 8th edition, London: Bloomsbury, p. 96.

GVE

Last modified on Wednesday, 31 August 2016 10:31
Published in General embroidery
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