While on my journey to Master Craftsman in Crewel, I recently became acquainted with the “King of Crewel.” That would be King James I for you historians. This 17th century royal helped usher in the era of crewel embroidery known as Jacobean—a popular style of crewelwork that is having a resurgence more than 400 years later. Quite the influencer!

I first became interested in this particular style of English crewel embroidery several years ago when I discovered the marvelous design work by embroidery specialist Phillipa Turnbull of The Crewel Work Company. My rendition of Phillipa’s Scottish Play is pictured in the lower left corner, and my own adapted Jacobean design is pictured just above it, in the upper left corner.

The Jacobean Era

Allow me to share a bit of my research with you. The term Jacobean is derived from the Latin Jacobus and refers to King James 1 of England (that’s him pictured above, top right). His reign (1603-1625) is replete with important and historic moments. He was the first of the Stuart monarchs, and the first king to unite the thrones of Scotland and England. King James put the full weight of the crown behind world travel and exploration. He founded the Virginia Company, filling the history books with the likes of Captain John Smith, Pocahontas, and the settlers of Jamestown, the first enduring English settlement in the New World.

King James ushered in a period of great artistic, intellectual and cultural activity: Shakespeare was at the top of his game. Francis Bacon added to the great strides made in scientific reasoning during the era. James himself commissioned the King James Bible, which made the holy scriptures available to the masses and helped to standardize the English language. But for the needle artist, the hallmark of King James’ reign is likely the popular embrace of what has become known as the Jacobean style of embroidery and crewel design.

Jacobean Crewel: Form and Function

Recognizable by its distinctive motifs—exotic flowers, twisting vines, fanciful folded leaves, rolling hillocks, and unusual birds, insects, and beasts—the Jacobean style did not spontaneously appear when King James assumed the throne. As one embroidery historian writes, “Examination of old embroideries gathered from all parts of the world shows that each individual specimen, every flower and bud, is a development of some existing form, and is not an original creation, invented, as some appear to think all designs are, upon the spur of the moment.”

Indeed, the Jacobean style evolved from centuries of design, a natural progression from what came before, especially the Elizabethan style, its immediate predecessor. As Mildred J. Davis noted in her book, The Art of Crewel Embroidery, the pattern trends closely identified with crewel embroidery (particularly Jacobean style crewel), were clearly discernible as one era melted into the next. For example, both Elizabethan and Jacobean styles feature the same motifs described above. Elizabethan designs, however, are more delicate, whereas Jacobean styles are bold and heavily stitched, with intricate patterns that nearly cover the grounding fabric.

Function, too, is an important distinction between Jacobean and Elizabethan style embroidery. Elizabethan embroidery was used chiefly to adorn clothing, while Jacobean designs were used primarily for household textiles, like bed hangings, curtains, cushions and upholstered furniture (see remaining photos above). Instead of the lightweight grounding fabrics and finer threads suitable for apparel embroidery, crewel work applied to textiles demanded more substantive materials, like twilled linens and sturdy wool yarns.

It is important to note that the terms Jacobean and crewel are not synonymous — a common misunderstanding. Crewel is a type of surface embroidery that is worked in twisted wool. Designers can work Jacobean style in a number of mediums in addition to wool, such as silk, cotton or gold thread.

Jacobean Crewel: Colors and Stitches

Though few textiles from the Jacobean era have survived, several archived pieces provide an understanding of the preferred color palettes and stitch choices of this era. Common color choices included indigo, dark blue-green, emerald, pale blue-green, yellow-green, yellow, orange-buff, yellow-brown, fawn, red-brown, sepia, chocolate and carmine (crimson). Popular stitches included coral, stem, herringbone, knots, split, satin, and feather.

For my study in Jacobean crewelwork, I selected several of the drawings showcased in Ada Wentworth Fitzwilliam and A.F. Morris Hands’ Jacobean Embroidery: Its Forms and Fillings Including Late Tudor as inspiration for my adapted Jacobean crewel design. Specifically, I incorporated the following elements: violas (Op III, plate 5), hanging rose (Op III, plate 6), foxgloves (Op III, plate 7), folded leaf (Op VIII, plate 21), and butterfly (Op VIII, plate 25). Previously stitched designs from Crewel Work Company inspired many of the other motifs, including the acorns and oak leaf (symbolic of the Stuart dynasty), berries, and hillocks.

For the latest details about my Master Craftsman in Crewel journey, follow me on Instagram at @embroideryartisan.