crewelwork

American  

[kroo-uhl-wurk] / ˈkru əlˌwɜrk /

noun

1. decorative embroidery done with crewel yarn on cotton or linen, using simple stitches traditionally worked worked in floral or pastoral designs.

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Etymology

Origin of crewelwork

First recorded in 1860–65; crewel + work

Example Sentences

The vocabulary I brought to them had accreted organically, from books I read — “wizening” from D. H. Lawrence; “ayah” from Frances Hodgson Burnett; “crewelwork” from Jane Austen.

From New York Times

His poems sometimes feel like adjuncts of his stories, evincing a fiction writer’s delight in details that exist outside the crewelwork of storytelling; crumbs, one-offs, outtakes.

From The New Yorker

He recognizes versions of things he knows from home: a Kashmiri crewelwork carpet on the floor, Rajasthani silk pillows on the sofa, a cast-iron Natraj on one of the bookcases.

From Literature

But for sheer pleasure, there was a long ivory shearling coat with black Moroccan crewelwork.

From New York Times

With the hands that had never handled anything rougher than crewelwork she chose her grip along the tough ladder of looped lianas.

From Project Gutenberg