Decoration stitched into cloth, leather or another ground with thread or fine wire, by hand or by machine.
The Getty vocabulary defines embroidery as stitching decorative designs into cloth, leather, paper or other material with a needle and thread or fine wire, including machine-made imitations of handwork. Onisep, the French careers service, describes the process: the design is transferred through a poncif, tracing paper pricked along its lines and dusted with powder, and the cloth is stretched on a frame. Hand embroiderers work with a needle or the hook of Lunéville embroidery; machine embroiderers run embroidery machines, which may be computer-programmed. For couture, embroiderers also stitch gold and silver thread, sequins, beads, stones and feathers.
Appliqué forms the motif from cut pieces of material rather than thread, and a raised pattern woven into the cloth on the loom is brocade, not embroidery. The French Ministry of Culture counts embroiderers among the métiers d’art that work for couture houses, and names Lesage and Atelier Montex among the embroidery houses at le19M, opened by Chanel in Aubervilliers in 2021.
In job listings
In luxury listings embroidery is mostly development work: studio assistants place embroidered motifs on patterns, and product managers and developers run embroidery with specialist workshops and suppliers. Department stores also hire monogramming specialists to run multi-needle embroidery machines, and some boutiques personalize purchases with embroidery. Titles for hand embroiderers are rare. See current embroidery roles.
