I do lots of different hand work and I tend to concentrate on one for a while and then move to another. Recently I picked up my punchneedle embroidery again and I thought I would repost some blogs about this type of embroidery.
Punchneedle embroidery is an area of small loops ‘punched’ into tightly woven fabric with embroidery thread. The difference between this and other embroidery is that there is only one stitch, a hollowed needle is used and the design is worked from the back of the fabric.
It has been around for a very long time. In fact the samples of the needle were found in ancient Egypt and were made of hollow bird bones. It has been very popular in Russia which is why it is sometimes known as Russian Punchneedle. When a Russian group known as the Old Believers migrated to the US they brought along this form of embroidery.
It is actually very easy to do, as I mentioned there is only one stitch. Projects tend to be small so they are finished quickly. It is rather soothing to do because it is very repetitive. And there are very few rules.
So how do you do it? Once you have the needle threaded (that tends to be the most difficult thing to learn) you ‘punch’ the fabric from the wrong or back side of the fabric. The needle is then just barely pulled out of the fabric to move it forward and another punch is made. This then means that the design is printed on the wrong side of the fabric but the loops show up on the front of the fabric and that is how the design is developed.
No knots are needed to keep the thread in the fabric. The loops stay in because of the friction of the thread and the fabric and when the fabric is released from the hoop, it goes back to an original state and tightens around the loops, which is why you need tightly woven fabric known as weaver’s cloth.
Here are some examples of punch needle embroidery.
The next couple of weeks we will look at the supplies and technique of punch needle.
©2018, 2021 Cheryl Fillion
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