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

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 • Nov. 2, 2015

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

From New York Times • Feb. 17, 2011

While past and present American art is its chief concern, Art in America often ranges to such diverse subjects as Japan's "Gutai Group," crewelwork as art, fakes and forgeries.

From Time Magazine Archive

The long, straight crewelwork panels in elegant earth tones are perfectly posh and play off the palette of the furniture.

From Time Magazine Archive

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 "The Namesake" by Jhumpa Lahiri