Traditionally, crewelwork—a type of dense wool embroidery, often done on a sturdy linen ground—is known for its elaborate patterns, from flowers and foliage to Jacobean tree of life motifs and even pictorial narratives. (One of the earliest embroidered masterpieces, the 11th-century Bayeux Tapestry, depicts the Battle of Hastings across 58 scenes and 76 yards of linen!) Crewel was especially popular in 17th-century England and the American colonies; in the latter, where wool was scarcer and usually colored with natural dyes, airier designs that revealed more of the background fabric became the norm.
Schumacher’s exhilarating Modern Botanical Embroidery—inspired by a midcentury Scandinavian design—puts a modern twist on a circa-1810 English Regency wing chair from Dienst + Dotter.
Pieter EstersohnEventually eclipsed by finer materials such as silk and lace, wool crewel faded in popularity until the Arts and Crafts movement in the late 19th century sparked a new reverence for handwork, a sentiment that reemerged in the 1960s and ’70s. Today, we’re once again craving its tactile, handwrought beauty. “There is something so simple and homespun about crewel, yet at the same time, it’s very elegant and charming,” says designer Todd Romano, who uses it for upholstery and curtains, and likes to hang tree of life embroidered panels as art.
Schumacher’s Sissinghurst Crewel shows off the dramatic persona of this 1740s Swedish Baroque wing chair from Dienst + Dotter.
Pieter Estersohn
With meandering vines and stylized flowers stitched in ivory wool, Sissinghurst Crewel has a modern simplicity.
Pieter EstersohnWhether rendered as classical whitework or trippy Technicolor Edens in the style of Josef Frank, these rich fabrics make a statement. At photographer Pieter Estersohn’s 1830s Greek Revival house in upstate New York, we paired refined Gustavian and English antiques from Dienst + Dotter with lush crewel upholstery, showcasing both the furniture’s shapely silhouettes and the fabrics’ ebullient craftsmanship. Works of art themselves, they also complement abstract paintings by Estersohn’s late mother, Betty Estersohn—proof that crewel can traverse centuries, generations, and styles with ease.
Like a cheerful greenhouse in winter, Crewel Garden— a 1960s-inspired chain-stitched floral from Schumacher—brightens a c. 1760 Gustavian armchair from Dienst + Dotter.
Pieter EstersohnTHIS ARTICLE ORIGINALLY APPEARED IN VOLUME 19 OF FREDERIC MAGAZINE. CLICK HERE TO SUBSCRIBE!
