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needlepoint

/ˈnidlˌpɔɪnt/
IPA guide

Other forms: needlepoints

Needlepoint is a traditional art form that's done with thread on thick fabric. If your grandmother has a pillow with "Home Sweet Home" stitched on it, it's probably a work of needlepoint.

When you do needlepoint, you use various colors of a thick thread or an even thicker yarn, stitching it through a stiff material with an open, grid-like weave. Using a pattern or your own design, your needlepoint creation might, for example, be a portrait of a cat you can on the wall or make into a pillow. Another type of needlepoint is lace that's made with a needle — this is the earlier meaning of the word, from the mid-1800s.

Definitions of needlepoint
  1. noun
    embroidery consisting of allover embroidered canvas resembling tapestry
    see moresee less
    types:
    gros point
    needlepoint embroidery done with large stitches
    petit point
    needlepoint done with small stitches
    type of:
    embroidery, fancywork
    decorative needlework
  2. noun
    lace worked with a needle in a buttonhole stitch on a paper pattern
    synonyms: point lace
    see moresee less
    type of:
    lace
    a delicate decorative fabric woven in an open web of symmetrical patterns
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