Perforated paper is a

craft A craft or trade is a pastime or an occupation that requires particular skills and knowledge of skilled work. In a historical sense, particularly the Middle Ages and earlier, the term is usually applied to people occupied in small scale pr ...

material of lightweight

card Card or The Card may refer to: Common uses * Plastic cards of various types: **Bank card **Credit card **Debit card **Payment card * Playing card, used in games * Printed circuit board, or card * Greeting card, given on special occasions Arts an ...

with regularly spaced holes in imitation of

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 ...

canvas Canvas is an extremely durable Plain weave, plain-woven Cloth, fabric used for making sails, tents, Tent#Marquees and larger tents, marquees, backpacks, Shelter (building), shelters, as a Support (art), support for oil painting and for other ite ...

. It is also sometimes referred to as ''punched paper''. Perforated paper is most commonly embroidered with

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-like pattern are used to form a picture. The stitcher counts the threads on a piece of eve ...

motifs and borders. Typical uses for such items include ornaments to decorate Christmas trees, bookmarks and greetings cards. It is also used in larger sized sheets to embroider motto sayings to frame and display on the wall. Since the paper is of a heavy weight, it does not require a hoop or frame when stitching. Perforated paper is manufactured in a number of different colours and is typically sold as 14-count A4 size sheets. The ''count'' refers to the fact that there are 14 holes/perforations per linear inch.

History

This material, known as ''Perforated card-board'' at the time, first became available in the 1820s as plain sheets used for the creation of bookmarks and small mottoes and sayings, often taken from the

Bible The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) originally writt ...

. By the 1870s the Victorian craze for this inexpensive and versatile craft material was at its peak. The invention of new printing processes made the pre-printing of mottoes and bookmarks on the perforated paper possible. These items were extremely popular and original examples, in good condition, can still be found today. The Victorian fad of embroidering mottoes on perforated paper died out around 1910 and was virtually lost as a needleart until recently being rediscovered. Perforated paper as we know it today was invented by Justin Ruble of Pennsylvania.

External links

Perforated Paper Needlework

Embroidery equipment Paper art {{textile-arts-stub

History

See also

External links