Crewel embroidery: a beginner's guide

Embroidery worked in fine wool, usually on linen twill, with flowing Jacobean-style designs.
- Crewel means embroidery in wool; with other threads it's surface embroidery.
- It became fashionable in 17th-century England, used on bed curtains and covers.
- William Morris and the Arts and Crafts movement revived it.
- Common stitches: stem, chain and split for lines; satin and long and short for fillings.
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An Introduction to Crewel Embroidery (6:17)
By CrewelWork · Open on YouTube
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Sources
All checked 1 November 2026. We read these; we did not test the products ourselves.