Fabric Focus: It's a Crewel, Crewel World

Crewel fabric, sometimes called crewelwork or crewel-embroidered fabric, is a hand-embroidered decorative fabric made with wool yarn on a firm cotton, linen or jute base. Velvet and silk are also used, though less commonly. Crewel fabric patterns are typically graphic, bold and colorful renditions of foliage, flowers or wildlife. The Tree of Life is a standard motif.

Crewel has been around about a thousand years and its roots are worldwide, having ties to India, Greece and Mongolia, among others. Today, most crewel is made in northern India in the Kashmir Valley. It reached its heyday in 17th century England and was popular during the Jacobean period for bed drapery and wall hangings.

While crewel never went out of style, it seems to be gaining popularity again. Learn more about this venerable handicraft and where you might want to use it in your home.


Crewel Versus Chainstitch

The terms “crewel” and “chainstitch” are often used interchangeably, but there is a difference. For simplicity’s sake, we’ll use “crewel” to describe both, but it’s good to know the distinction.

Crewel is an embroidery design on top of a base fabric, which serves as the background of the design. The design is the only portion embroidered onto the fabric, as shown in the previous image of the curtain. Crewel embroidery can use a variety of different stitches.

Chainstitch, on the other hand, is an all-encompassing design in which chainstitching covers the entire base fabric — design and background. The background is typically a solid color, yet is still stitched onto the fabric. Here, on this sofa pillow, you can see the beautiful texture of the allover chainstitch embroidery in the light.


The Many Looks of Crewel

Though rooted in tradition, today’s crewel is easily at home among various genres, from formal and contemporary to eclectic and exotic.

This living room designed by Anne Michaelsen is a testament to crewel’s adaptability. “There are wonderful crewels out on the market now, from the very traditional to more modern interpretations,” Michaelsen says. “Crewel has a great range of color and pattern, which can be used to enliven a space or pull a whole room together. It can give a contemporary space an historical reference, as it has a timeless appeal.”



Bed drapes and bed coverings are a traditional use of crewel fabric. This bed uses a crewel with a subdued palette and softer design to create a restful environment with a gentle nod to history.


Don’t think you need a baronial castle to make crewel fly in your home. Glasgow furniture and accessory designer Niki Jones creates these pillow covers that pay homage to artists Sol LeWitt and M.C. Escher. Bold and graphic, they work perfectly in any modern setting.


Where to Use Crewel

Pillows are an easy choice for a touch of crewel, but consider the following applications if you want to feature one of these lovely patterns on a grander scale.

Window drapery. If you’re over boring, neutral solid drapery panels, consider using a crewel fabric. With large, curvy, nature-themed designs, they will undoubtedly be the focal point of your room. Crewel usually has a number of different colors in it, so it’s easy to pull a bunch of color schemes for seating and accessories from the drapery. On the plus side, crewel fabric is hefty, and if it stopped drafts in medieval castles, it will certainly help keep your house better insulated.


Rugs. My foray into the world of crewel started with a crewel (chainstitch) rug, similar to the one shown here. It’s the same as the fabric but backed with a heavy duck. Twenty years on, mine is in great shape and I still love it. Because the stitches are dense, crewel rugs are very durable for normal foot traffic.

However, if you have kitties who like to scratch everything in sight, this probably isn’t a good choice for you. When vacuuming, be sure to use only suction to remove surface dirt. A beater bar will agitate the yarns and make them pill or possibly break. Always have a professional area rug cleaner familiar with handmade rugs clean a crewel rug.


Upholstery. The stunning crewel upholstery fabric on these side chairs makes this bedroom memorable. If you’re trying to create balance, as with this pair of chairs, you’ll want the pattern to work not only on each chair, but also between the two as a sort of dialogue. So be sure to think about how the fabric is going to lay out on the pieces. On these chairs, the sinuous vine motif curves toward the right on one chair and the left on the other, so it almost creates an invisible loop connecting the two chairs.

Because crewel pattern repeats tend to be large, you’ll probably have to order extra fabric, depending on your application. A professional upholsterer can determine your yardage requirements. This fabric is called Baron Crewel from Thibaut and has a 36-inch vertical by 54-inch horizontal repeat.

See how to work with an upholsterer


Although crewel is quite durable, it’s most appropriately used on smaller secondary pieces, such as chairs, rather than your main sofa.

Because it has some substance to it, crewel is a great fabric to finish off with tape and hefty decorative nailheads, as in this example.


Cost

The cost of crewel varies quite a bit. Michaelsen says high-end crewel runs between $100 and $500 a yard. However, you can also find crewel for about $50 a yard. The difference depends on the quality of the fabric and where you’re buying it. Fabric houses like Lee Jofa, where this blue and white crewel is from, tend to stock large quantities of fabric in controlled dyelots, which works well for larger projects. Smaller importers tend to have limited yardage available.


Printed Alternatives

If you like the look of crewel but don’t have the lifestyle or budget for something handmade, there are a lot of printed fabrics on the market that resemble crewel. The fabric on these pillows and window seat cushion is printed with a crewel-inspired design.

See more fabric stories: Chintz | Ticking Stripe | Velvet | Grain Sacks

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