Embroidered -- Popularized by Grandmothers

What is embroidered and embroidery? 

Anna Sui Embroidered Pom Poms Dress

Embroidery is the art or handicraft of decorating fabric or other materials with needle and thread or yarn. Embroidery may also incorporate other materials such as metal strips, pearls, beads, quills, and sequins.

A characteristic of embroidery is that the basic techniques or stitches of the earliest work?chain stitch, buttonhole or blanket stitch, running stitch, satin stitch, cross stitch?remain the fundamental techniques of hand embroidery today.

Machine embroidery, arising in the early stages of the Industrial Revolution, mimics hand embroidery, especially in the use of chain stitches, but the "satin stitch" and hemming stitches of machine work rely on the use of multiple threads and resemble hand work in their appearance, not their construction.

Free embroidery at a glance 

Free embroidery is the term for any embroidery which is not regulated by the weave of the canvas, i.e. the opposite of counted-thread embroidery. It is a form of surface embroidery.

Examples of free embroidery techniques and styles: Applique, Art needlework, Bayeux Tapestry, Crewel embroidery, Cutwork, Jacobean embroidery, Quaker Tapestry, Stumpwork, and Whitework embroidery.

Counted-thread embroidery at a glance 

A Common Thread Embroidered Tunic

Counted-thread embroidery is any embroidery in which the fabric threads are counted by the embroiderer before inserting the needle into the fabric. Evenweave fabric is usually used; it produces a symmetrical image as both warp and weft fabric threads are evenly spaced. The opposite of counted-thread embroidery is free embroidery.

Among the counted-thread embroidery techniques are:
*Assisi
*Bargello, or Florentine work
*Blackwork
*Canvas work
*Cross-stitch
*Hardanger
*Needlepoint
*Drawn thread work

Surface embroidery at a glance 

Lauren Moffatt Embroidered Long Dress

Surface embroidery is any form of embroidery in which the pattern is worked using decorative stitches and laid threads on top of the foundation fabric or canvas rather than through the fabric; it is contrasted with canvas work.Reader's Digest Complete Guide to Needlework. Much free embroidery is also surface embroidery, as are a few forms of counted-thread embroidery such as cross stitch.

Forms of surface embroidery include:
*Applique
*Art needlework
*Crewel embroidery
*Cross stitch
*Goldwork
*Jacobean embroidery
*Stumpwork

Examples of surface embroideries include: *Bayeux Tapestry; *Quaker tapestry.

Canvas work at a glance 

Canvas work is a type of embroidery in which yarn is stitched through a canvas or other foundation fabric. Canvas work is a form of counted-thread embroidery. Common types of canvas work include needlepoint, petit point, and bargello.Reader's Digest Complete Guide to Needlework.

Machine embroidery at a glance 

Tibi Fairytale Off Shoulder Gown with Embroidery

Machine embroidery is now so heavily utilized for product branding, corporate advertising, uniform adornment and also for personal sewing and craft projects by hobbyists that the word "embroidery" is now generally more readily associated with forms of Machine Embroidery than any of the more traditional forms of "Hand Embroidery".

There are two main types of Machine Embroidery. The first "Free Motion Sewing Machine Embroidery", involves using a basic zigzag sewing machine. The second "Computerized Machine Embroidery" involves using an embroidery machine or sewing/embroidery machine.