 Appliqué work was popular in the Tudor era , especially for large @-@ scale works such as wall hangings . In Medieval England , rich clothing had been bequeathed to the church to be remade into vestments ; following the dissolution of the monasteries at the Reformation , the rich silks and velvets of the great monastic houses were cut up and repurposed to make hangings and cushions for private homes . Shapes cut from opulent fabrics and small motifs or slips worked on fine linen canvas were applied a background fabric of figured silk , velvet , or plain wool and embellished with embroidery , in a style deriving from the later , simpler forms of Medieval work . 
