Crewel embroidery is an embroidery technique which is at least a thousand years old. It was used in the Bayeux Tapestry, in Jacobean embroidery and in the Quaker tapestry.
The word crewel comes from an ancient word describing the curl in the staple, the single hair of the wool. Crewel wool has a long staple; it is fine and can be strongly twisted.
The crewel technique is not a counted-thread embroidery (like canvas work), but a style of free embroidery.
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