Embroidery Explanation

The way my mom calls it (as probably as the way my grandparents) is Gobelin (Hebrew: גּוֹבְּלֶן) or in plural Gobelins (Hebrew: גּוֹבְּלֶנִים). However, I decided to choose an actual (or formal) word of “Embroidery” instead of a word that comes from a family name.

The explanation:

The are several terms in the textile and art industry regarding the art or craftsmanship of a fabric. Simply put, what is the difference between “Embroidery”, “Weaving”, “Gobelin” and “Tapestry”. The core difference is how it is being made or created. Weaving creates the fabric and image simultaneously on a loom (or in other words, technique where the image is created as the fabric itself is being made), and historiology and to be strict, is being used to describe the craftsmanship in the manner of the design but mostly the surface, material and structure. Moreover, it is being used as an umbrella term for large-scale, image-based woven wall hangings. As a result, it can be simply described as “true tapestry” is a weaving.

Embroidery (and Gobelin) are stitched over a pre-existing fabric or canvas, meaning it is the art of decorating an existing piece of fabric with stitches. The term Gobelin originates in Europe – “tapestry” comes from Romance languages like French, Italian, and Spanish. However, in Eastern and Northern Europe, these woven textiles are usually called “Gobelins.” This name comes from the renowned 17th-century French royal factory, the “Gobelins Manufactory” (French: “La Manufacture des Gobelins”, Paris), which produced the world’s finest artistic tapestries using historic high-warp looms.

The story of this factory started from the Gobelin family. They were a family of yarn dyers who moved on to producing fabrics using the technique named after them, began in the 15th-century. The head of the family, Jehan Gobelin (died 1476), found a unique way to dye fabrics, and his heirs developed a factory for weaving tapestry (knowns as “Gobelin”) that became famous for their quality and made them rich. Tapestry carpets were so spectacular and in great demand that other weaving houses began to attribute the name ‘Gobelin’ to their products as a sign of quality and beauty. ‘Gobelin’ thus became a generic name, and the terms ‘Gobelin’ and ‘tapestry’ are synonymous. This factory operates within a government (formerly, royal) framework to this day.

In conclusion, when speaking about a robust creation of fabrics, the term “weaving” (“true tapestry”) is the correct term to use. Embroidery when speaking about the needlework on an existing fabric. While the terms are often used interchangeably in modern crafts like needlepoint, they represent fundamentally different ways of working with thread and cloth.

Thereby, to my understating there is no broader term and sub-terms but each term has different meaning and/or comes from different source of origin. The way they should be used (In true and in a historical perspective) and the way the actually being used today, differ. Usually, “Weaving” when making a fabric, “Embroidery” when creating a design (art) on present fabric. “Gobelin” and “Tapestry” are synonyms to “Embroidery”.

Last updated: Jul 10, 2026