Just seen your video and fully understand your frustration. I do medieval reenactment and demonstrate different types of medieval embroidery. A few years ago I got really fed up with people saying “this lady is doing tapestry “ when I was doing the embroidery and often this was said by people who actually do needlepoint! I then decided to set up an example of tapestry to show the difference. I took a photo of some millefleurs from a 15th century tapestry in the V&A and transferred the basic outline onto a warped loom and started weaving…. It is so difficult, I really admire your skill and also that of the medieval weavers whose detail and shading is so intricate. I was also fascinated that the medieval weavers (all male) actually wove the design from the back only and that the design was turned through 90’ so that the top of the design is actually to one side!

On the eve of 2022, I watched this again! Still relevant and important. Thank you again, Michelle.

Loved this explanation you made it all very clear no faffing around ,great!

How great to hear the history. There is also the confusion of calling anything hanging on a wall a Tapestry but this was a great clarification about how needlepoint is confused with tapestry.

Terrific video! Great that you emphasized that each medium is wonderful but different. A video about "weaving" would be a good addition. Thank you!

Present time: March 2024. I would love to learn tapestry, maybe the next lifetime. I do embroidery, cross stitch & needlepoint. I love when people say: "I don't embroider, I just cross-stitch". The look on their faces when I say, "cross stitch is an embroidery stitch" Priceless. So, I do understand the difference between tapestry & needlepoint. Thank you for educating us on this fine, almost gone, true art. Thank you again.

I really appreciate you clarifying the difference with history and correct terminology! So refreshing. The majority of people online still don't know what weaving tapestries means. I've seen a bunch of articles confidently state "tapestry uses tent-stitch while cross stitch uses x-stitch", while showing photos of genuine tapestry weaving. It's confusing to people who are new to any of the art forms. When I tell people I weave tapestries, they always imagine a form of embroidery. It's like saying playing the guitar is the same as playing a harp because they both have wood and strings. Thanks for this video. Really satisfied a part of me that wanted to gatekeep the traditional meaning of tapestry haha :)

Thank you, Michele, for this great clarification of these fiber art techniques. As one with a passion for all fiber arts, it’s good to understand all the terminology to keep these wonderful conversations in clear and honest historical authenticity. So much to learn, so little time!

I'm a new weaver, just starting, and this was fascinating! I had always known "tapestries" to be "giant embroidered wall hangings in castles", and so was also definitely wondering at the connection there! Thanks so much for this video, and I'll be looking around the channel for more!

Just stumbled upon your channel learning how to do this amazing art.. Thank you for sharing. Can't wait to Binge watch your channel.

This is the first video I’ve seen of yours and I immediately subscribed!!!

Thank you Michelle, you explained this really well, with some interesting information too. I am right with you on this.

That is fascinating. Thank you for exposing it so clearly. I will now refer to my needlepoint projects the correct way. ❤

Great video! I'd love to see a comparison between hand weaving or wall hangings and tapestry. Sometimes there seems to be a very fine line. Your explanations are so clear and without judgement, thank you!

Great education. Really enjoyed the correct terms and your knowledge. Also thanks for the inclusive thought process. We all just love fibers !

Hi, I love this! I think another factor in the confusion between the two is the Bayeux Tapestry, so named by men who saw a textile wall hanging and went "yeah that's a tapestry" when it's really an embroidery.

😄Lol, Carol King made an album back in I think 1970/71, called Tapestry, with a photo on the front of needlepoint! I do needlepoint, embroidery, counted cross-stitch, and tapestry, and weavings! I too wish "they" would get it right, seriously it is not difficult to tell them all apart!💁‍♀️😁

Thanks for clarifying! heading over to your needlepoint video now. Thanks! 👌🏽💜

Nicely explained Michelle!

Thanks for explaining this, I do cross stitch and then saw kits using tent stitch called "tapestry". At other times they were described as "needlepoint" I bought a kit but wondered what is it I'm doing?? I now know I have bought a needlepoint kit! 😊

Thank you for this! Your desings are great by the way 💚

Thank you so much I absolutely loved your video ♥️ I am a needlepoint artist, and you are so right! I cannot wait to see you do a weaving video I am super excited and interested to see how you do it! It is far too complicated for me but I think it is absolutely stunning !

Great information and well explained. I have been a compulsive Needlepointer for about 50 years never heard of these two one an art form the other a most relaxing form of therapy. I have become a subscriber!

I really agree & wasn’t aware of this at all. Thank you and I’d love to see more videos explaining to people the difference in woven wall hangings and tapestry weaving. I did those wall hangings which took a day or two to learn. I found tapestry weaving & thought it would be so easy to learn. I was very foolish. This is an more of an art form that requires understanding in design, color, precision & design. Since 11 I’ve learned everything fiber art that I know exists & I’ve never had to do anything other than watch tutorials a few times to learn then. This takes so much more devotion, practice & is now becoming a part of my identity. I have, after so many years of learning so many fiber arts crafts, finally found the challenge & nuance I was looking for all along. It’s become such a passion that after I became somewhat comfortable with the techniques, I can express myself more accurately than ever before. Thank you for the video & I’m a devoted fan of your. I appreciate your unique style & teaching me that it’s okay to weave designs that might be what people don’t expect from a tapestry weaver. I’d love to know where your inspiration comes from or where your general aesthetic first came to you. ❤

Actually, you explaining the difference helps me correctly search for the proper lessons! Thank you for the clarification.

Wow. That was a breath of fresh air. Totally agree with you. Go, you! :)

Thanks, just stumbled on this! I've been calling my needlepoint work tapestries 😬, so I'll correct that! It was pure ignorance, had no idea :)

Excellent, so informative. Thank you

So funny, I click into this video thinking you are comparing tapestry needle with I thought needlepoint is sharp needle. Now I know what tapestry really is. Thanks for the clear explanation, learn something new each day.

Thank you for this video. It cleared some misconceptions

Omg finally!! So glad you put this out there! I do needlepoint and not tapestry. Never understood why the terms got interchangeable. I love both, but I don’t practice both.

This is very interesting, thank you!

Wow! I had no idea and completely understand your frustration - will never call it the wrong name again. I do cross stitch and would be too old to learn to create tapestry but not too old to appreciate it. Totally unassociated but I love the colour of your hair - all the tones and highlights, that must take nearly as long to do as the tapestry! (OK, maybe not that long but quite a while)

Hello, thank you so much for your explanation of terms. It was so enlightening and easy to follow. I'm Irish living in the UK and on both sides of 'the pond' we use the terms incorrectly (or so I've now come to realise from your video). If I may add a wee comment to this .... the using of the term tapestry, when actually it is needle point, sounds much nicer and has that vintage/heritage ring to it. Probably why it's still used incorrectly today. I'm very new to 'needle point' and referred to it as tapestry. I love the term tapestry and it's recognised as a craft here where I live. It's wonderful to have gained this insight and thank you, but..... I'll still call it tapestry (even if only to kid myself 😂😘). Clare x

I know this video is three years old but thank you for explaining this! If you look up tapestry there are websites who literally say tapestry is needlepoint. We should respect different mediums by calling them by their names❤

Thanks for the info on the video!!!!

Thank you for the clarification. I’ve been trying to find tapestry on Instagram and everything which comes up is needlepoint. I thought surely tapestry can’t be that easy…turns out it’s not! 😂

To find your video the search terms were tapestry vs needlework. The video result right below yours was "Introduction to Tapestry and Needlepoint: Stitching Techniques" by DMC. Instead of saying tapestry, they should have used canvas work as well as canvas needles, instead of tapestry needles, it might have come about because the wool used for canvas work was the same as the one used by weavers.

Thank you, we need all arts to clear up language usage. Great tutorial.

Great explanation Michelle.

Would 100% attend workshops run by you, Michelle...! 👍 In meantime, would be super interested to hear your origin story with regards to your tapestry work. 😁

Hiya! Did you ever do a video on weaving vs tapestry? I do neither (I’m primarily a knitter, but dabble in other stuff for fun). I came upon your video trying to learn the difference between the different needlepoint methods, so this was fascinating! I did always assume medieval tapestries were woven, but never knew there was a difference between regular weaving (?) vs tapestry.

Thank you! I thought I was going nuts. I only know how to embroider so I was seeing all these crazy 'tapestry' stuff and thought I was calling it the wrong name.

I'm a stickler for using the correct term and knew at the back of my mind the difference between tapestry and needlepoint, except, I thought, like many words, the Americans had their own vocubulary using 'needlepoint' and I continued to call it tapestry as I thought it was the English way. For instance, they don't have the word 'prawn', calling everything of that food group 'shrimp' from shrimps, prawns, scampi etc. If you want to upset a scuba diver, refer to their footwear as 'flippers' instead of 'fins'. One of my pet peeves is using 'castle' as a noun in chess, whereas it's a verb. The correct term for the chesspiece is 'rook'. To castle is to use a special move to get the rook into the centre of the board quickly and to put the king behind a protective wall of pawns (not 'prawns'). And as a musican, I really hate it when people, who should know better, say: "Rise to a crescendo." A crescendo is an Italian term for a rise in volume. The correct term is "Rise to a climax" or similar. And don't get me started on 'Personal Idenification Number number' (PIN number). Sorry, please forgive an old man for rambling. I use needlepoint as therapy for essential tremor and I'm still learning. My first attempts are dogs' breakfasts, I can assure you. Thank you for clarifying the names for the two art forms.

Finally, someone says the truth! I've never liked calling needlepoint tapestry, or cross stitch needlepoint. It plays havoc with the search engines when you're looking for a new painted canvas project.

My impression is that at some point the word "tapestry" started to become a generalized word for a fabric wall hanging, which does a great disservice to the amount of work that goes into a tapestry vs needlepoint or embroidery.

Absolutely agree, both beautiful techniques but not the same thing

Thanks❤

In the states it's embroidery with many different forms like cross stitch and etc. . That may because you have many native tribes like the Navajo's making rugs and blankets and in many cases you can watch the artists creating their pieces. I've also watched videos of artists from Africa, Iran, China and many other countries creating pieces for generations so I no their is a big difference between the two forms of story telling.

Hi, i know this is an old video. But i just want to know how you consider (or sort) the kinds of fiber arts work that younger craftees tend to do, like friendship bracelets, or alpha knots techniques. Because they are weaving the fabric out of those knots, some make really big pieces, but the composition are built of pixels like crossstitch. I discovered your channel a few days ago when i started to consider playing around with tapestry/weaving, and its been great learning from your experience!!

I don't know much about tapestry or needlepoint (I'm recently getting into threads and doing my first cross stitch project ever (as a gift) and struggling to start embroidery) but even as an outsider it's pretty apparent what is and isn't tapestry from the few videos I've seen of both needlepoint and tapestry.

I am very interested in what you say. Needlepoint is often done from a chart and is decorative. Tapestry craftspeople often use a caricature behind the frame with their chosen design which is not dissimilar to the charts used by needlepoint stitchers. Like your weaving, doing tapestry from a chart requires skill and patience. The Bayeux Tapestry is embroidered and that is decorative and a wall hanging. Weaving produces a utilitarian end product where as tapestry is decorative. Tomayto - tomato

Goodonya Michelle. Yes, it annoys me too when my daughter says her tapestry is coming on (it’s a nice cross-stitch) and that’s after I’ve sent her a pic of my latest actual tapestry in process on the loom! Tapestry kit - complex but possible, surely. Given the sett and a cartoon, one could supply the various wools with maybe 10% wastage?

thank you explaining . I always called it tapestry because that's what the craft shops call it i was told many moons ago its tapestry because it stitched with wool . i will start calling it needlepoint x

As an interpreter being called "translator" all the time, I understand the frustration. However, it's better to just relax, because people won't change...

I've stitched a couple of cushions over the years and I never understood why the kits were called tapestry rather than needlepoint. I always thought of tapestry as being woven rather than stitched but when I asked an experienced stitcher she was adamant that it was tapestry not needlepoint. If I can do needlepoint it's a craft but I think that tapestry is a true art.

I’m looking for needlepoint Christmas stocking kits. Do you sell them?

this has been a surprise for me, I came to this video looking for references of a tapestry kit from a Morris & Co pattern; wondering if the only difference between tapestry and cross stitch was the use of wool. Now my question has become more existential: should I learn to do the real tapestry? 🤯

it is the people of the UK who refer to needlepoint as tapestry, i.e. Ehrman Tapestry is all needlepoint kits

I agrée because I have been trying to find a tapestry shop or school and they all claim to be tapestry but it’s not what I’m looking for.

Do you sell needlepoint Christmas stocking kits?

What do you think guys? Please leave a comment!

interesting.

thanks for clarification but its still hard to find the right thing online bcz its still missused outside this video 😅

Surely this depends where you are, in the uk tapestry kits are sold.

Most needlepoint kit designers who describe their work as tapestry do so because leaving it off would remove a key search term used to find their products. It might be annoying but once the majority of people ascribe a meaning to a word, that’s what it now means, regardless of what it used to mean, and a totally normal linguistic change over time. A toilet, after all, used to be a piece of finely woven cloth, and look at it now 😆

I agree with you. It's annoying when people don't use the correct terminology for a craft! My pet hate is when people say they are Knitting but doing Crochet. 😒

Would you mind defining tapestry? Please

Tapestry can also be defined as textile art displayed in a hung orientation. That “textile” can be generated through weaving, but also via embroidery, needlepoint or any number of other needlework techniques. A notable case in point is the Bayeux Tapestry. Just because it is an embroidered work as compared to the Apocalypse Tapestry which is a woven work still doesn’t negate its classification as a tapestry by art historians. The term tapestry has a functional inference. It’s genre can be classified as embroidery, needlepoint, woven, etc. Certainly it requires more training to execute a woven or embroidered tapestry design than a charted needlepoint tapestry, however it still doesn’t negate the fact that the latter is still a tapestry.

Today I came across a video from a competitive floral design concern that calls one of their subdivisions "tapestry"--AAAAARRRGGGGGHHHH!!!!!!!

Hmm, sounds a bit like gatekeeping and the age old adage of separating art from crafts

Calling needlepoint 'tapestry' is like calling embroidery cottons 'silks' or calling floor vinyl 'lino' or calling cotton bedsheets 'linen'. It's incorrect, confusing, deceptive, and an insult to everybody's intelligence. People need to use technical terms correctly to have any sort of meaningful communication.