Mary Linwood (1755–1845) was an English needle woman who exhibited her worsted embroidery or crewel embroidery in Leicester and London and was the school mistress of a private school. In the 20th century, Mary Linwood Comprehensive School was named in her honour. In 1790, she received a medal from the Society of Arts.

Crewel embroidery, or crewelwork, is a type of surface embroidery using wool. A wide variety of different embroidery stitches are used to follow a design outline applied to the fabric. The technique is at least a thousand years old.