Here are the gold embroidery threads and supplies for goldwork, the hand embroidery used on church vestments, altar frontals and banners. Metal threads are not stitched through the cloth like floss: they are laid on top and held down with small stitches, usually in silk, a method called couching. Only the thread ends go through to the back of the work.
Threads to couch: smooth and wavy passing thread, colored passing in six colors, Japanese gold thread (imitation and burnished), gilt and Grecian twists, rococo, flatworm and check thread. Purls to cut and sew on like beads: rough, smooth and bright check purl, wire check and bullion. Outline threads: pearl purl in gilt and in silk-wrapped colors, silk facette gimp, jaceron and lizardine. Plus tambour thread, faconnee, milliary, and fine gold, silver and copper wires.
Two tools are here too: a mellor for laying and shaping metal threads, and beeswax for your couching silk. For couching gold we recommend Au Ver a Soie 100/3 in color 240 or 241, as our listings note. Pair your threads with a slate frame and our linen twill.
Questions makers ask about goldwork thread
What is passing thread used for?
Passing thread is a metal thread made to be laid on the surface of the fabric, usually in pairs, and couched down with small stitches in fine silk. Only the ends go through the cloth, plunged to the back. Use it for outlines, filled shapes and lettering on stoles, chasuble orphreys and altar frontals.
What is the difference between pearl purl, rough purl, smooth purl and check purl?
Rough, smooth and check purls are hollow coils of fine wire. You cut them into short pieces and sew them on like beads, with the needle passing through the center: rough purl is matte, smooth purl is bright, and bright check purl is faceted so it sparkles. Short chips of check purl sewn at different angles over felt padding are a classic way to fill a small shape. Pearl purl is different: a firm coil that reads as a row of tiny beads. You stretch it slightly and couch it along a line, the stitches slipping between the coils, which is why it is the outline thread.
Is gold embroidery thread made of real gold?
Some of it is. Threads with Gilt in their name are copper with a thin plating of real gold, about half a percent gold in the plating as our listings note, and over the years they take on a patina and darken. Gilt purls are coils of that wire; gilt passing, twists, rococo and flatworm wrap it around a fiber core, which is silk on our fine #4 passing. The Japanese gold threads, bright and burnished, are a metallic foil wrapped around a thread core and contain no gold, and the threads sold as non-tarnish and the colored passing are not gilt either; the non-tarnish ones are made to keep their color.
What do I need to start goldwork embroidery?
A first piece needs only a few threads: a spool of passing thread or a pack of Japanese gold for lines, a length of pearl purl for outlines, and a purl or two to cut into chips. Add Au Ver a Soie 100/3 silk to couch with (color 240 or 241 matches gold), beeswax for the silk, linen twill stretched on a slate frame, and a mellor to lay and shape the metal.
What is Japanese gold thread?
Japanese gold thread is a fine metallic foil wrapped around a thread core. It lies flat and is couched down like passing thread, usually in pairs. Imitation Japanese gold is the brightest and contains no gold. Burnished Japanese thread has a soft matte finish and comes in gold and silver.
