Canvas work

Canvas work is a type of embroidery in which yarn is stitched through a canvas or other foundation fabric. Canvas work is a form of counted-thread embroidery. Common types of canvas work include needlepoint, petit point, and bargello.

Canvas work is a canvas embroidery, often made with yarns of different colors. The canvas fabric is a streaky gauze cloth with equal threads. The channel fabric is completely covered with embroidery thread. Stitches can be cross stitches or half-cross stitches. The pattern can be printed as a drawing on a canvas, or on a piece of paper, from which it is embossed with the yarns of the fabric.

A Canvas work stitch is an embroidery stitch that is often used to fill large surfaces. The stitch can cover the entire pattern, but is sometimes made as separate stitches, with space between them.

Canvas work can be made on canvas, a fabric that looks coarse so that it is easy to count where the cross stitches should be. Sometimes the pattern is pre-printed with an embroidery pattern. You can also work from a paper pattern. Various embroidery fabrics are available.

Aida is a widely used pattern. It consists of 5 wires warp and 5 strands, making the holes through which the needle can be inserted clearly visible. Experienced embroiderers like to use linen “evenweave” embroidery because it gives a finer result. Embroidering on linen fabric is slightly more difficult because the threads of the fabric can shift relative to each other.

Canvas work are also often used in brand patches. In doing so, the underlying pattern usually remains visible.

History
Early canvas work or needlepoint used tent, continental or basketweave stitches, with each stitch covering one canvas intersection.

Bargello, first developed in Europe, uses colors and stitches across multiple canvas intersections to create motion and patterns. Modern methods have incorporated crewel and other embroidery stitches to add depth and differences not only by shading but by texture.

A lot of channel work was done in Finnish homes in the 1950s, especially in the form of canvas – printed animal or landscape-related pictures and art reproductions.

Method
Often for a canvas work is done with split side. This is a yarn that consists of six loose threads. For embroidery this is split into two or three parts, so that each thread consists of three or two loose threads. This creates a nice full cross stitch.

Each individual canvas work consists of two slanted stitches that cross each other. It can be embroidered in vertical and horizontal rows, but also in diagonal. The best result is achieved if all cross stitches in one workpiece are made in the same way, so that the top stitch always points in the same direction. There can be made a cross stitch in two ways, with the upper stitch from top left to bottom right, or from top right to bottom left.

To keep the embroidery flat, the pattern is stretched in a hoop.

Contemporary materials
Several types of embroidery canvas are available: single thread and double thread embroidery canvas are open even-weave meshes, with large spaces or holes to allow heavy threads to pass through without fraying. Aida cloth or Hardanger fabric can also be used for canvas work, and plastic canvas is used in craft projects.

Canvas is measured by the number of squares per inch or centimetre.

In canvas work the stitches may completely cover the canvas. Newer methods will use the canvas as part of the pattern.

Yarns vary from knitting yarns and tapestry wools to pure silk, synthetic, or metallic threads. Fine ribbons, plastic thread, raffia and string can also be used in canvas work.

Source from Wikipedia