Metal threads are used to produce goldwork embroidery. It's an ancient method that dates back to a time when expensive textiles and threads travelled from East to West along the appropriately named Silk Road. It's had a resurgence in recent decades.

The metal thread in gold work plays with light and adds wonderful features to the embroidered design while also stiffening the fabric.

Gold work was invented around 2000 years ago in Asia, and many examples can be seen all over the world. It has been used for magnificent church vestments and art embroidery for ages. Gorgeous examples may be found in the tombs of ancient Egyptian pharaohs and countries like Italy, Babylon, Greece, India, and Persia, as well as on the beautiful dresses of Chinese and Japanese emperors, a testament to the countries' skilled handicrafts linked to their hidden silk-making past. In mediaeval Europe, gold work became highly popular.

The term Opus Anglicanism, or English Work, was coined in the 13th century to characterize the sumptuous embroidery made in England with silk, gold, and silver thread. It was brought to European courts and cathedrals, where it was used to decorate vestments and hangings to inspire awe and devotion.

To achieve distinct effects in gold work, a variety of threads are employed. They've never been fashioned of gold, and they're usually a mix of metals.

• Passing. The most popular thread is made up of a thin metal strip twisted around a cotton or silk core.
• Thread in Japanese- It's a cheaper alternative to passing because it's a bright, synthetic thread that won't tarnish.
• Knit. It's a tiny wire coiled around a triangular needle to give it a gleaming faceted texture, and it's available in a variety of textures, including brilliant check, wire check, smooth, and rough.
• Rococo, as well as the Crinkle cordonnet. These threads have a wavy or kinked appearance and are formed of the wire firmly wrapped around a cotton core.
• A thread for couching- It's a core thread wrapped in a fine metal thread, and it's wavy in appearance.

Coaching is a goldwork embroidery method in which a metal thread is spread across the fabric's surface and then secured with little stitches of a different yarn, usually fine silk. A tool called a stiletto is employed to help position the threads and produce the holes needed to pull them through.

Goldwork is an embroidery technique that involves the use of metal threads or threads with metal leaves coiled around a regular textile thread. It's treasured for the way light reflects off of it. Even whether the threads are imitation gold, silver, or copper, the phrase "goldwork" is used. The metal wires used to construct the threads were never fully gold; instead, they were frequently gold-coated silver or other less expensive metals, and even then, the "gold" contained just a small percentage of genuine gold. The majority of metal threads come in silver, copper, and gold, with others coming in different colours.