Embroidery and various types of stitching Embroidery (French embroidery is probably originally a Germanic word) is a craft, a textile technique, where you sew on fabric or other soft (or hard with pre-drilled holes) material using a needle. Other decorative objects such as beads, leather, blankets or plastic materials such as sequins can be used. The purpose of embroidery is purely decorative; you want to make the fabric more beautiful. Embroidery is a time-consuming craft that requires a lot of patience. Traditionally, embroidery has primarily been aimed at decorating everyday objects such as furniture and clothing, although embroidery has also appeared as free art in the form of embroidered wallpaper (compare woven wallpaper) and textile art in many different forms. Bound embroidery, such as cross-stitch embroidery, is embroidered in a grid pattern, one is bound to the boxes. Other stitches are called free embroidery and there are hundreds of different types of stitches. In both varieties one can work with or without so-called "model".