cutwork, in fabric, designs obtained by cutting out pieces of a length of material and either filling the spaces thus created with stitches or joining the pieces themselves together by connecting bars of thread. In Europe the technique of filling the spaces with stitches originated in the 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries in Italy and preceded needle lace; it continued as an embroidery technique. In Elizabethan times, ruffs were often decorated in cutwork.