Thai biscornu with orchid cross-stitch decoration

A biscornu is a small, octagonal, stuffed ornamental

pincushion A pincushion (or pin cushion) is a small, stuffed cushion, typically across, which is used in sewing to store pins or Sewing needle, needles with their heads protruding to take hold of them easily, collect them, and keep them organized. Pincus ...

. It is usually made out of Aida cloth or

linen Linen () is a textile made from the fibers of the flax plant. Linen is very strong and absorbent, and it dries faster than cotton. Because of these properties, linen is comfortable to wear in hot weather and is valued for use in garments. Lin ...

, sewn from two square sheets of cloth (forming the top and bottom of the cushion) in such a way that each corner of one square is hemmed to the middle of a side of the opposite square. The term "biscornu" comes from the French adjective ''biscornu'', which means irregular, skewed, or odd.

Embroidery Embroidery is the art of decorating Textile, fabric or other materials using a Sewing needle, needle to stitch Yarn, thread or yarn. It is one of the oldest forms of Textile arts, textile art, with origins dating back thousands of years across ...

hardanger Hardanger is a traditional district in the western part of Norway, dominated by the Hardangerfjord and its inner branches of the Sørfjorden and the Eid Fjord. It consists of the municipalities of Ullensvang, Eidfjord, Ulvik and Kvam, and is ...

, and/or

cross-stitch Cross-stitch is a form of sewing and a popular form of counted-thread embroidery in which X-shaped stitches (called cross stitches) in a tiled, raster graphics, raster-like pattern are used to form a picture. The stitcher counts the threads on a ...

are used to decorate the top and bottom of the cushion. A

button A button is a fastener that joins two pieces of fabric together by slipping through a loop or by sliding through a buttonhole. In modern clothing and fashion design, buttons are commonly made of plastic but also may be made of metal, wood, or ...

is typically secured in the center of the cushion to give a small depression on the top.

Bead A bead is a small, decorative object that is formed in a variety of shapes and sizes of a material such as stone, bone, shell, glass, plastic, wood, or pearl and with a small hole for threading or stringing. Beads range in size from under 1 ...

s, tassels and other objects can decorate the biscornu. They are typically able to fit in the palm of your hand. The name is derived from the French adjective, '' biscornu'', meaning skewed, quirky or irregular. Mathematically, two squares joined together in the pattern of a biscornu will form the boundary of a unique

convex polyhedron In geometry, a polyhedron (: polyhedra or polyhedrons; ) is a three-dimensional figure with flat polygonal faces, straight edges and sharp corners or vertices. The term "polyhedron" may refer either to a solid figure or to its boundary su ...

, by Alexandrov's uniqueness theorem.. In the case of a biscornu, this polyhedron is a flattened square antiprism, with ten faces: two smaller squares (diagonally inset into the squares from which the shape is formed) and eight

isosceles right triangle A special right triangle is a right triangle with some regular feature that makes calculations on the triangle easier, or for which simple formulas exist. For example, a right triangle may have angles that form simple relationships, such as 45°� ...

s (the corners of its original squares) around the sides. However an actual biscornu will have a somewhat more rounded shape than this polyhedron.

References

Embroidery {{textile-arts-stub

See also

References