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The oldest surviving embroideries are Scythian, dating back to between the 5th and 3rd centuries BCE. However, other civilizations also have long traditions of the craft. Roughly from 330 CE until the 15th century, for example, Byzantium produced embroideries lavishly ornamented with gold. 

And while ancient Chinese embroideries have been excavated dating from the T'ang dynasty (618–907 CE), the most famous examples from that region are the imperial silk robes of the Ch'ing dynasty (1644–1911/12).

In India embroidery was also an ancient craft, but it is from the Mughal period (from 1556) that numerous pieces have survived, many finding their way to Europe from the 17th to the 18th century through the East India trade.

From the 16th century, Turkey produced elaborate embroideries in gold and colored silks with an impressive repertoire of stylized forms such as pomegranates, the tulip motif eventually predominating.

The Greek islands in the 18th and 19th centuries produced many geometric embroidery patterns, which differed from island to island, with those of the Ionian islands and Scyros showing Turkish influence.

The 10th-century stole of St. Cuthbert, embroidered in gold thread and preserved in Durham Cathedral, is the earliest surviving work of English embroidery.

The Crusades transmitted motifs of Saracenic art (such as pairs of confronting stylized animals), further reinforcing Byzantine influence in Europe and initiating heraldic embroidery.

In 1561 Elizabeth I granted a charter of incorporation to the Broderer's Company. It was a further step in the development of secular embroidery, already apparent in Henry VIII's reign.

Sixteenth-century English and French embroidery, in fact, were closely related, both tending to adapt engraved designs for their needlework patterns.

At the time, embroidery was becoming an amateur craft rather than a profession, a change that was even more visible in the 17th century.

The fashion for crewel work, or worsted (wool) embroidery, dates largely from the 17th century, as does needlepoint, or canvas work. Samplers, used to record stitches and designs, became mainly decorative after the appearance of pattern books.