Appliqué Work

method of creating ornaments or depictions by means of sewing or gluing onto fabric, paper, and the like various pieces of some material (such as fabric, paper, fur, and straw) which is of a different color or texture from the background. The term also refers to ornaments or depictions, created by such a method, which possess a special relief quality. Appliqué is one of the oldest methods of decorating clothing and is still employed at the present time among many peoples. A high degree of artistic craftsmanship was already characteristic of the earliest examples of appliqué which have been preserved—saddles from the Pazyryk burial mounds (fifth to third centuries B.C.)—as well as of Old Russian shrouds, altar cloths, and other products of church needlework dating from the 12th to 17th centuries.