What exactly is thread painting?

Question

I've heard of thread painting.  It sounds fun, but what exactly is it?

Answer 1

To me, thread painting is the use of diffent colors and perhaps weights of thread, stitched on a surface to create shading or the effect of painter's brush strokes.

For example, if I am making a wallganging with flowers or leaves,  I have the choice of leaving the flowers and leaves 'posterized' - no shading, or of creating and more natural or artistic 'painting' by blending shadows and highlighted areas with appropriately shaped rows of colored stitching.  The latter technique is what I call thread painting.