The art of creating a tapestry originates in the work of the ancient peoples of various countries and religions. It was formed and developed over the course of several centuries from simple woven carpets to collectible works by famous masters who created works using special technologies, zealously guarding and transmitting them in generations from father to son or from master to students. It is customary to call a tapestry a hand-woven carpet or with the help of special equipment, which has a pattern applied by interlacing of multi-colored threads, where a picturesque or ornamental composition is created with stitches.
The main function that was assigned to the tapestry carpets was to protect the premises from drafts and frosts. A strong woven base and a voluminous woolen layer of stitches of multi-colored threads made it possible to keep heat and coziness well in the stone walls of ancient houses and castles. The tapestry art or design was widely used later, with the development of production technologies and the need of a person to surround himself with beauty.
Themed Tapestries
From the Middle Ages to almost the present day, when creating a tapestry, masters tried to adhere to the manufacture of products for placing one, specific topic. This trend in creativity allowed us to create unique ensembles that support the style of decor and preserve a single image. The ensemble included not only trellises for walls, curtains, canopies, canopies, pillowcases, bedspreads also continued the design theme. Tapestry paintings were distinguished by a special technique of execution, unusually accurately reproducing images in color, supplementing it with a volume that allows emphasizing beauty and originality. Such work was carried out mainly on order, had a high cost due to the complexity of weaving, and not everyone could afford it. The tapestry wall paintings in the genre of monumental painting were often ordered by the royal court. They served as decoration in the royal chambers of palaces and estates.
Non-woven tapestry as one of the elements of painting
During the development of the tapestry production technology, the craftsmen came up with numerous tricks and methods for applying stitches, with the help of which pictures that are amazing in their beauty and quality are created. These include both the method of lint-free one-sided tapestry or trellis, and a special technique - non-woven tapestry, or carpet technique. Its result is a canvas with one-sided soft pile of different lengths. It allows using colored woolen or silk threads to create voluminous picturesque paintings. Many master artists are convinced of the advantage of colored thread or wool when applying it to the fabric with a needle compared to paints and brushes in works performed on canvas.
Materials and tools suitable for carpet tapestry
Non-woven tapestry is a widespread technique for making original interior decorations. The technique does not require any special skills, patience or great difficulty in working. This method is more often used in home needlework, so materials that are easy to find in any household are suitable for making a tapestry with your own hands :
- Thick fabric.
- Rigid frame for fixing the canvas, buttons or nails.
- Special hollow needles for carpet non-woven tapestry with different lengths and with different inner diameters.
- Woolen yarn or threads of wool, silk or linen of various colors.
- Scissors, mesh or carbon paper, sketch image.
Using these simple tools, you can make a tapestry of any size with various artistic images and decorative orientation.
Non-woven tapestry base
The technique of non-woven tapestry is the application of stitches with a special needle on the wrong side of the fabric base. The result is a colorful picture with a soft pile and volumetric contrast on the front side. As a basis for such work, strong fleecy canvases with harsh material, such as a collar, are best suited. An ideal option is a linen cloth with loose interweaving of fabric fibers, allowing free passage of a thick needle, but at the same time holding the thread tightly enough.
The color for the fabric base under the tapestry must be chosen dark. In carpet weaving, the light base is often visible between the loops, giving the product an untidy appearance, while the dark one helps to avoid such troubles, regardless of the color of the thread of the created image. In any case, making a non-woven tapestry using the carpet method, one must adhere to the quality of the stitches. The loops formed by them should fit snugly to each other, providing sufficient elasticity to the pile of the product.
How to prepare the foundation
For high-quality image execution, a drawing is applied to the canvas of the tapestry base. This allows you to preserve the accuracy of the image without deformation, especially if the picture is not copied, but transferred to scale. It is convenient to do this using carbon paper, copying the image with a pencil, and then transferring it to the fabric, circling the outline on the back of the paper with a hard object. But if the picture is large, then a simple copy may not be enough.
In order to enlarge the image evenly and without distortion, it is best to use a grid. It will help to transfer the picture in small parts from the sketch to the base fabric, without changing its basic parameters. The pattern transferred to the fabric can be painted in the desired colors for the convenience of applying stitches in color. If the elements in the tapestry image are large, then they can be transferred to the fabric using paper or cardboard, having previously cut them and created patterns of the desired size.
How to choose nonwoven tapestry needles
The carpet technique with which tapestry rugs are made can be made with a special needle. Such a needle allows you to leave a loop of a given size in the canvas base for non-woven tapestry. It is a hollow needle with an internal diameter corresponding to the given parameters, cut off at an angle by an end, at the tip of which a hole has been made for the free movement of the thread. As a rule, a hollow needle is attached to a pen of one form or another, which is convenient to hold in your hand when performing stitches that create a pile on the front side of the fabric.
Needles can be of different diameters and lengths, which can be additionally adjusted by stops. This design allows for a change in the length of the pile made by stitches. For the manufacture of one tapestry, different needles with different diameters can be used. The more threads used in the manufacture of products, the brighter and more voluminous the created tapestry paintings look.
Carpet threads
Since non-woven tapestry is carpet technique, products made using this technology are often decorative in nature. Therefore, the threads for the work can be anything from thick woolen to silk or gold and silver. When performing work, it is important to consider the texture of the selected thread. The artistic volume in a non-woven tapestry depends not only on the thickness of the thread, but also on the degree of torsion and composition, and a stable coloring of the material will help to avoid fading of the colors in the finished product.
Convenient web fixation (non-woven tapestry needle technique)
You can fix the canvas on a rigid frame after drawing a sketch. As the material for the frame, you can choose both metal and wood. Its dimensions must be taken into account, based on the size of the drawing applied to the base. The frame should slightly exceed the dimensions of the image that will be produced with its help. If, after tensioning the warp, the edges of the pattern will come into contact with it, then it will be impossible to sew stitches with a needle.
The frame can take the form of a hoop, which is convenient to hold in your hands, or it can be placed on a stand with legs of different lengths. It’s very convenient to work on creating a tapestry on such a frame stand. It can be placed in a specific place, specially prepared for creative work. At the same time, if the legs of the stand are decorated in a certain decorative style, then the whole structure will be beneficial to complement the interior of the room.
Beginning of work. Stitching Methods
Before embroidering the image, you need to prepare the needle for work. To do this, select the thread with which embroidery will begin. Non-woven tapestry can include yarns of different diameters, so you must consider this when working. You need to thread the thread through the hollow handle and needle, and then thread it into the hole on the tip. Next, you need to determine the length of the pile on the front side of the tapestry and adjust the needle to the desired loop length with a retainer.
There are two ways to sew stitches:
- Line method. Represents a parallel arrangement of stitches from top to bottom, and then up. Screeds are superimposed strictly in the given sequence and fill the entire canvas from left to right.
- Contour method. It consists in the application of stitches along the contour of the color segment. In this case, the needle section is placed along the direction of movement, the direction of which goes from top to bottom in a spiral tapering to the center.
When using the needle, do not leave a thread too long to prevent tangling. If the work of embroidering the segment is completed and you need to change the thread, then, having completed the final puncture, you need to remove the needle and cut the thread, leaving a tip whose length should not be less than one centimeter.
End of work. Tapestry shape fixing
After applying embroidery to the warp fabric, the tapestry must be removed from the frame to secure the stitches, and the edges should be sewn. In order for the manufactured tapestry to serve for many years, it is necessary to apply pre-prepared PVA glue to the wrong side. The glue is diluted with water, and then with the help of a sponge they impregnate the mat, well smearing the stitches from the wrong side and preventing the solution from seeping to the front side. The mat carefully treated with glue needs to be dried well by stretching it on a flat surface to fix the desired shape. When the glue dries, it will firmly fix the stitches and prevent the villi from falling out. In conclusion, it remains only to process the edge of the tapestry crochet - and the product can be considered complete.