Embroidery may be defined in a general way as an ornamentation of textiles by means of the needle.
This being the case, one ought to expect from it something different from what can be attained by weaving, or something which cannot be done so well or so readily by that means.
Some of the earliest forms of embroidery were, it is evident, direct copies of woven patterns, but these were quite appropriately placed, either on material which did not lend itself happily to being woven into patterns, or where the surface so decorated was too small to be worth while weaving; or again, where the ornamental material (such as gold and silk) was too precious to be lost on the under-side of the work, as would be the case in all woven work wherever the ‘ground’ shows between the patterns.
The superiority we expect to see in needlework as compared with woven decoration consists chiefly in three points:—
1. The more harmonious gradation of colour.
2. The absence of mechanical repetition of pattern.
3. Freedom of line in the drawing.
It is this very freedom from mechanical restraint in all these three respects of colour, design, and treatment which has proved such a pit-fall to the unartistic English needlewoman.
Much of the beauty of the foreign peasant work is due to the restrictions imposed by their traditional style and limited range of colour.