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EMBROIDERY

Portrait of a Ladv in an Embroidered Dress. XVIth Century.

EMBROIDERY

A COLLECTION OF ARTICLES ON SUBJECTS CON- NECTED WITH THE STUDY OF FINE NEEDLE- WORK, INCLUDING STITCHES, MATERIALS, METHODS OF WORK, AND DESIGNING, AND HISTORY, WITH NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS AND COLOURED PLATES OF MODERN WORK. EDITED BY MRS. ARCHIBALD H. CHRISTIE

JAMES

LONDON

PEARSALL

MDCCCCIX

II o«j

& CO.

All rights reserved

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INTRODUCTION

THE many possibilities of decorating fabrics by the simple means of needle and thread have always exercised an irresistible attraction. The art of Embroidery is almost prehistoric ; from the earliest times until the present day there has never been an epoch when it has not been more or less in vogue. Whether it will ever again attain to such a marvellous height of perfection as it did in the thirteenth century is a difficult question to decide, but one to which we should not like to give a negative answer. In the early part of the last century the art was perhaps less alive than at any other period of its history, but since then there has been an evident movement in the direc- tion of its revival, and there is every reason to hope that this movement will prove persistent.

Our present object is to interest people of to-day in Embroidery, and to encourage a good type of work. It is common know- ledge that England has in the past been especially famous for Embroidery. In spite of the fact that other countries also excelled in it, Opus Anglicanum, as it was named in the Middle Ages, was much sought after,

and precious examples of this famous English work still remain stored up in museums and sacristies throughout Europe. For example, in France the Cathedral Church of St. Bertrand de Comminges, a small village at the foot of the Pyrenees, preserves in its sacristy two magnificent copes of English work. In Spain there is the Daroca Cope in the museum at Madrid, and others at Toledo and Vich. In Italy there is an especially rich store, Bologna, Pienza, Ascoli- Piceno, Rome, and Anagni, all possessing wonderful copes most probably of English origin.

An examination of any of these vestments will afford sufficient evidence of the grandeur of the work done in past centuries, but the skill and labour involved in embroidering them is not so generally realised. Ten years of continuous work would be rather an under-estimate than an over-estimate of the time required to carry out the Cope of the Passion at St. Bertrand de Comminges. It contains over a hundred figures, arrayed in beautiful coloured draperies, sixty quadrupeds, and about thirty birds of brilliant plumage, no two of which are alike. The figures and

EMBROIDERY

birds are surrounded with interlacing palm branches and other foliage. At the junctions of the branches the quadrupeds are placed in crouching attitudes. The background is a work of art in itself. It is entirely couched over with fine gold thread, in a peculiar stitch which gives somewhat the effect of a rich brocade. The pattern, which it exhibits simply by means of a change ot direction in the working thread, is a geo- metrical diaper, composed of small barbed quatrefoils touching each other, inside each of which is an heraldic eagle, lion, or horse. Every detail and line of the whole work exhibits the most consummate draughtsman- ship both of pen and needle. This descrip- tion may give some idea of the kind of work done during the greatest period of the art of Embroidery. The high-water mark has never again been reached, but there have been other periods remarkable for different kinds of needlework.

Embroidery is a wonderful art, capable ot high and varied achievements, but also cap- able of giving pleasure by quite simple work. To appreciate fully its varied scope, it is necessary to become acquainted with work of all nationalities and of all periods. A large part of the work executed in the past has in course of time disappeared, but how universal Embroidery was once in church and palace we can see in the descriptions of it which abound in the inventories of cathedrals and the wardrobe accounts of royal persons. What a picture ot fine work is conjured up by the following extracts, taken from the Inventory of Christ- church, Canterbury,* drawn up in the year 1563 —

"Item, a cope of clothe of goldewtpomegarnettes and roses with orpheras embrodered wt pearle, in the L. Archebusshoppe his kepinge.

Item, a cope of grene silke wt roebuckes and orpheras embrodered with archaungells.

Item, a curteyne of whyte sarcenet with stories.

Item, a cope of sattene wt ymages and braunches

* Inventory of Christchurch, Canterbury, by J.

with vine trees and orpheras embrodered wt nedelworke.

Item, a cope wt horses and trees embrodered.

Item, two copes with pheasauntes and the orpheras embrodered.

Item, a cope of velvet embrodered wt gryfFons and orpheras of nedelworke.

Item, an albe of grene damaske embrodered with beastes of gold their homes licke a sawe."

Such descriptions as these, taken more or less at random from amongst hundreds of others, show how alive with interest, how full of fancy and imagination, art then was. The spelling even seems to share the romance of the time, and adds a glamour to both the Archebusshoppe and his nedelworkes !

The literal meaning of the word fancy work rightly describes the kind of work we have been dealing with, but the term, if it once had that meaning, has become a misnomer. The reason for the decline in the fine art of needlework is not any lack of good materials, colours, or implements to work with, for these are of wider range and of as good quality as ever they were. The type of work which is attempted is often wrong, there is too much striving after easily won effect, and too much attempted realism. Embroidery, to be attractive, should show that the worker has taken an interest in planning it and carrying it out, for wise ex- penditure of time always adds to its value. Designing is not so much a lesson to be learned, like the dates of the Kings of England, as an inherent capacity needing development and training, but which it is infinitely better not to train at all than to train wrongly.

Let us not forget that the main object or all Embroidery is to give pleasure in some way, to charm the eye or to delight the mind, and that this is the principal reason for its existence. It is the pleasant task of the embroideress to deal with nothing but what is of beauty and interest ; in taking the monotony out of plain fabrics, Embroidery Wickham Legg and W. H. St. John Hope.

EMBROIDERY

takes its place amongst the great arts which do the same for the monotony of life. To fulfil this object and to please should not be a difficult matter, since the materials and methods employed offer such excellent oppor- tunities for refined and sympathetic drawing, and for the arrangement and display of fine colour.

The plan of this work, which will appear in successive parts, is as follows. There will be practical discussion of stitches, methods of work, designing and draughtsmanship. From time to time there will be articles upon subjects of general interest connected with Embroidery, its history, materials, etc. There will be illustrations of fine embroideries, such as are to be found in our national museums, with notes explaining the traditional methods of treating all kinds of subjects and details. These notes may be of use to those who cannot easily obtain access to the stores of art collected in such places.

Designing will be discussed from the point of view of giving practical help to those who wish to plan out their own designs. We can- not too strongly urge the embroideress to make from the commencement an effort to design, as well as to execute, her work. The in- terest which naturally arises from watching the development of an original idea, no matter how simple it may be, is so much greater than that of copying another's, that the attempt once made will almost certainly be continued. It is, however, necessary to be able to draw a little and to know some or

the rudiments of design, in order to be able to put down even a simple composition on paper. For those who have not these accomplishments the only alternative is to procure prepared designs. In each number there will be several coloured reproductions of designs for embroidery, taken from actually worked examples, for the reader, who is not a designer, to use. Each coloured plate will be accompanied by a detailed description ot the method in which it has been worked, and no stitch will be employed that has not previously been explained in one of the articles upon stitches. It should therefore be a per- fectly straightforward matter to work the designs from the plates.

In one way or other our aim must be to produce interesting work of a high standard of excellence, and thus help to keep alive the tradition of our country's pre-eminence in this once famous art. It is not necessary that all should engage upon works of such magnitude as Syon Copes or Bayeaux tapes- tries. The smallest and most humble effort can show evidence of thought and care having been bestowed upon it. Work done in the right way will repay by giving real pleasure in its execution, even if it brings no other reward, for we can perhaps hardly hope to aspire to the honour bestowed on a certain Catherine Sloper, who was buried in the cloisters of Westminster Abbey in 1620, with this simple inscription upon her gravestone : " Exquisite at her needle."

G. C.

PLATE I. A LETTER-CASE WITH DESIGN OF A FLOWERING TREE

THE embroidered satchel, illustrated in Plate I, can be used as a wall pocket, or, folded and fastened, as a case for letters, or for any like use. It is not a new idea to treat articles of this kind as subjects for embroidery ; very pretty semainiers, probably of French origin, worked on fine canvas in cross or tent stitch, may be seen in museums. The reproduction is slightly smaller than the original, which measures about seven inches by eleven. The ground material is a fairly coarse white linen, upon which the pattern is worked in brightly coloured "Mallard" floss silk. The edge is finished off with a binding of gold braid, upon which several lines of ornamental stitching are placed. From a technical point of view this is a particularly straightforward piece of work, owing to the fact that only one stitch is employed throughout the design. This stitch is simple to work and economical, since the greater part of the silk is upon the surface.

The design is symmetrical, and takes the form of a conventional fruit tree trained against a wall. There is a main central stem, with branches springing out on either side, and distributing themselves evenly over the space to be decorated. Here we have chosen to grow several kinds of flowers upon one stem, a licence quite allowable in em- broidery gardens, for it permits the play of fancy, and the variety thus produced is a distinct advantage. It is difficult to define what liberties may or may not be taken in this direction, but good taste almost intuitively settles the question. For instance, no one would ever think of making a stem grow thicker towards the apex, as it would

be too great a violation of natural law, and, above all, would not be pretty. To graft different flowers upon the same tree is quite a different matter, and adds variety to a design which otherwise would be lacking in interest. Another point that may be noted, is that it is necessary, in transforming a garden tree into an embroidery tree, to alter the proportions of the different elements. For instance, the flowers and leaves are very large when compared with the stem. It is evident, however, that this is a necessity, for it would manifestly be impossible to represent in needlework the minute detail of a photograph of a tree. The lettering is placed in the centre, not for the sake of information, but to give contrast and thus avoid too much sameness throughout the design. One of the advantages of hand work, as opposed to machine work, is that change, which is fre- quently desirable, is quite easy to arrange. In machine embroidery, which nowadays becomes quite a dangerous competitor, at least to second-rate hand work, variety is not quite so easily produced, nor indeed in woven fabrics. We do not mean, however, to say that variety is always good, for there may be something very fine in monotony and repetition.

The stitch employed throughout the design is double back stitch, for the explanation of which see fig. 3. In this stitch the thread is carried across from side to side of the space to be covered, the needle picking up the material upon the edges alternately. It is very adaptable, easily turning a corner, contracting or expanding in width as may be necessary. To get the effect required in this design it is necessary to take small

PLATE I

A LETTER CASE. [For particulars sec page 30.)

EMBROIDERY

stitches, closely packed together, which is contrived by taking up a very small piece of material with the needle each time. That prevents the edge looking broken and undecided. Another point to be careful about is to well cover the traced line every time the needle picks up the material, for with this stitch the undertracing is more liable to be exposed than with some others.

The colouring of the work is very well suggested by the reproduction. The glossiness of the silk and the brightness of the gold cannot help being lost in translation, but otherwise the colour is very truly rendered. It should be noted that the ground fabric of the original is a pure white, which it is not possible to reproduce ; it would be difficult to substitute a better ground, as all colours gain in value upon white.

The stem is worked entirely in one shade, a cool dark brown. At the base, where the width is greater, the stitch is worked in exactly the same way as in the narrower part, but it is taken to and fro across a wider area. The leaves are worked in two shades of bright green. Both shades are used upon almost every leaf, one side being of the lighter colour and the other of the darker one, so the stitch has to be worked in two separate lines, each tapering towards the point. A few of the smallest leaves are worked in only one shade, and therefore with a single line of stitching, exactly as shown on the leaf in fig. 3.

The yellow flowers are worked in two shades of bright yellow, and each has, in some part or another, a touch of black to emphasise an outline or some other detail. The circular flowers in the centre panel are worked petal by petal from the centre out- wards ; half-way out the thread is changed to the deeper colour. The mode of working the others is fairly evident in the reproduc- tion. The red flowers are worked sometimes in only one shade of deep red, and sometimes in two, the centre being either black or yellow. The stitch is worked from the

centre outwards, as a rule, with continual adaptation to the shape to be filled. The deeper shade of red is used for the worms, with which the birds are busy. The blue flowers in the two upper panels are worked with all the three shades of blue in use. In the lowest panel, the blue flower, self coloured, is worked in the deepest shade of blue. The most satisfactory way of working this flower is to run a line of stitching round the cir- cumference, breaking the line of stitching for each separate petal, and then to fill in the inner part from the centre outwards. The letters are carried out in the deepest shade of blue, the stitch worked just as in any other part of the design, and adapted to the shade to be filled. Particular care should be taken here not to lose the character of the lettering. The three birds, of which the uppermost appears to be the proverbial early bird, are worked in the three shades of blue, the darkest shade at the top and the lightest undermost ; the feet are in black, the eyes in black with a white line round, and the beaks in the deepest shade of yellow. When the embroidery is completed, each separate piece, with clean damp blotting- paper underneath, should be pinned out quite flat upon a board. The work should be left in this position for some hours with a weight on the top, which is a mild form of ironing that is very often desirable as a finish, even if quite unpuckered. This done, there remains only the making up. The back piece, and each of the two front pieces, must have a lining tacked to it. The two small flaps will probably be lined with white silk or fine linen, but what is placed behind the back piece will depend upon the use to which the finished object will be put. If it is to be used as a folded letter-case, it is important to place upon the back some material suitable for an outside covering, such as a figured or plain silk. If it is to be used as a wall-pocket, it should be backed with a fairly stiff material, in order to make the whole more rigid. When the

EMBROIDERY

linings arc all tacked into place, and the pockets also temporarily fixed in position, the next thing is the placing of the binding all round the edge. Gold braid may be used for binding the edges, but it is not at all essential ; a ribbon would be easier to manipulate and would do equally well. The edging, whatever it may be, must first be doubled in half and flattened, and then tacked on all round the outside of the case just as in any other kind of binding. The orna- mental lines of stitching are next worked all round, to fix the binding firmly in position. Two lines of chain stitching are taken all round, the inner one of the deepest blue colour, the outer one of the darker shade of green. Then a line of buttonhole stitching in black is worked all round the outside, taking alternately two long and two short stitches. In and out of this, all the way round, two lines of dark blue silk, each composed of double thread, are darned in such a way as to form a kind of chequer

pattern. The binding across the top of the pockets has a single line of chain stitching along it, in the deepest shade of blue. This ornamental edging could easily be simplified if the worker wished.

The Mallard floss which is used for the working is a rather coarse, loosely twisted silk. It is very suitable to employ for this stitch, but if a finer thread is desired, Twisted embroidery, " Filo-Floss," or Filoselle could be substituted. The two last-named silks would have to be used with two or three strands threaded in the needle, otherwise the ground would not be completely covered.

The silks used in carrying out this design are the following :

Blues . shades Nos. 2of, 2od, 20b, about 2 skeins of each.

Crimsons ,, Nos. 41a, 44 Yellows. „ Nos. i86d, 186I1 Greens . ,, Nos. 85, 86 Drab . shade No. 3of Black . „ No. 82 White . „ No. 70

„ 1 skein of each.

„ 1 skein of each.

„ 1 skein of each.

„ 2 skeins, part of 1 skein. 1 strand only.

G. C.

STITCHES— I

SATIN STITCH-CHAIN STITCH— DOUBLE BACK STITCH— FRENCH KNOT— STEM STITCH— BUTTONHOLE STITCH

THE subject of stitches is always particularly interesting to workers, and without doubt it is useful to have at service all the various methods of expression that have gradually been accumu- lated. Stitches are the means of expression in embroidery, and the variety among them allows plenty of choice in the selection of those most suitable for each special pur- pose. Some are intrinsically beautiful, others serve rather to show to advantage the beauty of the thread ; for different kinds of thread different stitches are the best exponents. In the great variety that exists there lies a danger, namely the possibility or using too many kinds in the same piece of

work, and it is frequently wise to make use of only one, or at most very few, for an entire subject. Whilst it is quite possible for one to execute many stitches perfectly and yet be a second-rate embroideress, on the other hand it is not necessary to know more than three or four in order to be able to execute the finest and most intelligent work. The best English embroidery that has ever been wrought was carried out in two, or at most, three stitches. These were : for the gold thread, a peculiar form or couching ; for the silk threads, split stitch, which is similar in appearance to chain stitch ; and, as an occasional addition, satin stitch.

EMBROIDERY

When choosing a stitch or method it is necessary to consider what characteristics it should possess. Durability is one of the best, as work that is worth the doing is worth preservation. Suitability for the use to which the object will be put is another im- portant point, for what is entirely right for one purpose may be quite unsuitable for another; for some uses a stitch may be allowed to be long, and comparatively loose, but for many others it must be short and firm. Economy may be a necessary con-

Fig, i

sideration, and some stitches take much more thread than others in the working, because they leave as much of the thread upon the under as upon the upper surface. One of the most important points in making the choice is the kind of thread with which it is to be carried out, for the same stitch may look worthless in a fine soft thread, though quite effective in a coarse one, and vice versa. But knowledge on this subject can best be attained by practical experience.

SATIN STITCH

Satin stitch, one of the simplest and most straightforward, is not necessarily the easiest in execution, since it requires very perfect technique in order to look well. It is done either in the hand or in the frame, but for very careful work the help of the latter is required. It is useful for showing silken thread to advantage, as the long stitches, lying flat and close together upon the ground, catch the light and reflect it prettily. Fig. i shows the working of the stitch in progress. It is usual to carry it obliquely across the area to be filled, but this is not obligatory. It will be noticed that there is as much silk at the back as upon the front of the material, but this must be, in order to make the work lie evenly and regularly upon the surface. When perfectly worked, the stitches should lie closely, one beside the other, in parallel lines, and special care must be taken with the line that is formed at either side by the beginning and end of the stitch, as with bad workmanship that portion may appear irregular and weak ; but to reach perfect execution in this respect is a matter of care and practice.

Satin stitch is prettier when worked quite flat than when raised by a padding underneath. As a matter of fact all padded work is of doubtful taste ; there is perhaps something about it which suggests over-realism. The best type of embroidery is obtained by the decoration of a flat surface by means of pattern and colour ; raised work can well be left to the wood carver, sculptor, or worker in gesso, for the embroideress can get on better with- out it.

A good many of the ordinary stitches can be treated like those used in canvas embroidery, and be worked according to the web of the fabric, that is to say by counting the threads of the warp and woof. Satin stitch worked so makes a pretty variation. This method of working gives a peculiar effect which is often pleasing. When working in this way

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EMBROIDERY

upon linen, it is necessary to choose a material with a regular mesh, otherwise the various forms would be ill drawn. The advantage of using linen for the ground, instead of canvas, is that the background need not be worked.

CHAIN STITCH

Chain stitch is one of the best known, most commonly used, and most durable of

Fisr. 2

all. Its special beauty lies in the re- gularity and evenness of the working, but with all this it should not look mechanical. That is one of the points in which the sewing machine cannot compete with handwork. The machine can do quicker and more regular work, get perfect technique and fair colour ; but still the effect is mechanical, so let us carefully guard one of the few points in which we still have supremacy. Chain stitch can be used in many different ways, for working a solid, or semi-solid, filling, or for carrying out lines, or it can be used in de-

tached stitches. It is a most useful line stitch, especially for fine curved lines, which need good drawing; even when used for a filling it is often wise to keep up this " line " character. This can be effected by following round the shape of the area to be filled with lines of stitching, commencing with the outline, and sometimes, in order to emphasise the line characterstill further, the rows of stitching can be worked in at least two contrasting shades, a method frequently employed in

Fig. 3

old work. When a form is required to be only partially filled, two or three lines of chain stitch, in contrasting colours, round the edge are quite sufficient, though some- times, in the case of a leaf or flower, a centre vein or a mass of French knots may be added. Chain stitch can be used upon canvas to carry out a pattern, like cross stitch work, the lines of stitching being taken across from side to side either vertically or horizontally, the pattern being displayed by changing the colour of the thread. This resembles knitted work when finished ; but

EMBROIDERY

the method is not so suited to the character of the stitch we are discussing as the one more usually employed. The working of the stitch is explained in fig. 2, where it is being employed upon a curved stem.

Chain stitch is much used in Indian, Chinese, Persian, and in fact in all oriental work. It is frequently employed with wonderful effect over very large pieces. A tambour frame and a kind of crochet hook are probably used in the production of such pieces, for the tambour frame is of Eastern origin, and this latter is a much more rapid method of execution than the ordinary needle.

DOUBLE BACK STITCH

Double back stitch may not be so well known as some others ; it is, however, a most useful one and quickly and easily worked. It can be used in conjunction with other stitches, or employed for an entire piece of work, as, for instance, in Plate I. It can frequently be seen in Turkish and other Eastern embroideries, occasionally for the carrying out of large hangings, in which case coarse woollen thread is employed. In fig. 3 the stitch is shown in progress upon one leaf, with another, completely worked, immediately underneath. A piece of material is picked up with the needle (as shown in the diagram) first on one side, then on the other of the area to be covered, and the thread is so carried to and fro across it. The stitches should not be picked up exactly opposite each other, each succeeding one should be half its length ahead of the last one opposite. The correct working of the stitch forms a double line of back stitches on the reverse side of the material. Some- times the stitch is worked with these back stitches upon the surface, and the crossing- over threads underneath. This is just as easily done, and forms a pretty variation to use upon muslin or similar material, for then the crossing stitches upon the back show partly through.

FRENCH KNOTS

Fig. 4 shows a French knot in process of making, and some completed ones beside it. French knots first occur on Western embroidery in the late thirteenth century and were probably derived from the East. The Chinese, whose work is very ancient and

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has hardly changed at all in the passage or time, make great use of knots. French knots are in frequent request for many purposes ; they suggest stamens well, and so are usually employed for the centres of flowers, as in this diagram ; the knots in the centre form a pleasant contrast to the working of the petals, which would usually be carried out in flat stitching. A decorative line, made by arranging a row of these knots, separated by just the space taken up by one, might be placed on the inside of a border or of a leaf carried out in outline. The making of the knot needs more explanation than the diagram affords. After bringing the thread through the material, hold it, with the

EMBROIDERY

thumb and finger of the left hand, at about the distance of an inch from the commence- ment, then make the point of the needle encircle the held thread twice, and return it through to the back, very close to the point where it came out. This will draw the thread through the twist that was formed upon the needle, and fix a small knot upon the surface of the material. The knot is made bigger or smaller according to the number of twists formed upon the needle. French knots, to be effective, should be well made, and they are most perfectly executed in a frame, for then both hands are free for the manipulation.

STEM STITCH

Stem stitch, known also as crewel or outline stitch, is illustrated in fig. 5. It

Fig- 5

makes a firm, fine line better than any other stitch, and is constantly employed for that purpose. Slight variations are possible in working it, which are dependent chiefly upon the quantity of material picked up each

time, and on the direction in which the needle is taken through it — that is to say, whether obliquely or straight ; the more obliquely it is drawn through, the wider the line of stitching is. A particularly regular way of working stem stitch, is to pick up the material in such a way as to form a line of back stitching upon the under surface. For working a fine stem a single line of stitching would be employed, for a thicker one, several lying closely beside one another, and these lines often vary in shade or colour. Stem stitch is used in this way as a filling for other than line forms, such as leaves or flowers, numerous examples of which can be found upon seventeenth-century wool work hangings. The stitch is frequently employed as an outline to various solid fillings, when it is worked with the thread upon the right-hand side of the needle, as this makes a more regular, and less jagged, line than working with the thread on the left-hand side. It is correct to work it either way.

BUTTONHOLE STITCH

In embroidery, buttonhole stitch is applied to a great variety of uses. For such purposes as the outlining of forms, edges, fillings, or backgrounds it is constantly in request. There are several slightly varied methods of working it. The usual way is illustrated in fig. 6, where it is being employed for outlining a berry, whilst another, completed, can be seen to the right. The firm edge, caused by the looping of the stitch, makes it very well adapted to purposes of this kind. It can, if desired, be worked more openly than here shown, and small variations of many kinds can be made by different arrangements of spacing ; e.g. three together and then an in- terval, or some such other simple change as would produce another result. It is better to keep the firm edge out of sight when the stitch is used as a close filling. In order to do this, each succeeding row of stitches is worked over the heading of the last row. This is a particularly attractive way to work

10

EMBROIDERY

a solid filling ; an example of its use thus can be seen in Plate IV upon the flowers and leaves. There it is worked in small stitches,

Fig. 6

placed close together, each being taken over the heading of the last row, and also over a laid line of silk. This laid thread is run close to the heading of the last row, and it is a good plan to add it, as it makes the work more solid in appearance and fills up

any little gap that might otherwise allow the ground to peep through. A similar and quicker way of working a filling of this kind, is to lay several strands of thread, in- stead of one, and then work the buttonholing more openly, but otherwise in exactly the same manner, over both heading and laid threads. An open buttonhole filling is worked in the way last described, but with the laid threads omitted. The stitches can easily be arranged by means of spacing to form such simple patterns as a net or a chequer. Backgrounds can be very prettily decorated by covering them with a network of buttonholing, treating it exactly as just described. It is not necessary when using buttonhole stitch as a filling, always to take it through the ground material, for it is often worked with the needle entering the material only at either end of the line.

A solid line of buttonhole stitching is often employed to finish off the edge of a piece of work. A simple way to make this band more interesting is to run lines of thread of a contrasting colour in and out along its length, in darning fashion. By these means pretty little patterns, not unlike those used for narrow lines of wood inlay, can be produced. For example, a chequering might be planned like the border to the letter-case in Plate I, or a simple counterchange pattern, like those frequently seen upon the borders of Persian carpets. G. C.

PLATE II. AN OBLONG TABLE-CENTRE DECORATED WITH MICHAELMAS DAISIES

AN embroidered table-centre is illus- trated in Plate II. The actual size of the original is nineteen inches long by fifteen inches wide. It is worked with " Filo-Floss " silk, on a white linen ground in several shades of pink and green, and two of dull purple.

In designing, the use of the object is the first thing to be considered, and demands certain restrictions. The position a table- centre occupies requires that it shall look well from all points of view. As there is usually a vase or similar ornament in the centre of it, a great amount of work at this

II

EMBROIDERY

point is unnecessary, and the interlacing knot, formed by the termination of the stems, is more in keeping than an elaborately worked flower would be. From this knot the main lines of construction formed by the stems meander over the ground, and gain value from their recurrence at regular intervals. The shorter stems of the leaves branch from these main lines.

A certain natural convention, enforced by the limitations of material, has to be observed, and care taken that the stitches, which are the means of expression, should be used to the utmost advantage and no attempt made to conceal them. These limitations must be acknowledged in embroi- dery as in all other crafts. Hence the more highly shaded forms of flowers and leaves, which are possible in painting, are often better not attempted in needlework, though a certain amount of shading is admissible — on the drapery of figures, for instance. In the best work the decorative principle of shading is always followed, and it is introduced mainly for the sake of variety in colour, care being taken that the whole is kept pure and brilliant and that it does not become dull, as it would if black, or brown, were used for the shadows.

The plant chosen for this design is the Michaelmas Daisy, the flowers of which grow very thickly at the top of the stems. This natural habit of the flowers gives a suggestion which is taken advantage of, and they are all kept to the outer edge, forming a natural border. The flowers are treated quite simply, many of the petals being omitted in order to avoid confusion, a kind of simpli- fication which was invariably observed during the best periods of art. The aim of good design is to maintain the chief feature of the plant and to ignore accidents which do not possess any value. This has been done in the present subject, and the flowers as arranged form an excellent contrast to the remainder of the space, over which the stems and leaves are evenly distributed. In the living plant the leaves are small and grow closely on

12

the stems, but art steps in where nature is too prolific, fewer of them are used, and the leaves are enlarged, an amendment which renders them more suitable for embroidery, lessening the amount of time and labour which would be entailed if they were worked exactly as they appear in nature.

In working this table-centre five stitches are employed : satin, chain, stem, French knots, and double back stitch. The petals of the flowers are worked in double back stitch with double thread in pale shades of pink, with French knots for the centres. The buds are worked in the former stitch, in deeper shades of pink. Satin stitch is used in the calyxes of the flowers. The interlacing knot, and the stems, are done in stem stitch with double thread, whilst the leaves are worked in chain stitch, with single thread, in varying shades of green. The shades in the con- ventional veining run from light to dark green, beginning at the base, and the outline changes in shade to match the veining.

The corner, which is left between the outside border and the oval outline of the flowers, is filled in with an irregularly curved line, worked in stem stitch, with single thread, and taking small stitches. Theborder itself is madewith two rows of open buttonhole stitch, indoublethread,inthedarkpurple. Sixstrands of bright green are subsequently threaded through each row of buttonholing, using a large needle with the blunt end foremost. Finally, a line of stem stitch, in double thread, in the dark purple, is worked outside the outer row of buttonholing, and pink French knots are dotted along the inner margin.

When the embroidery is finished, the work, if at all puckered or creased, must be well stretched and pressed under a weight. It should then be lined with some thin soft silk of the same colour as the ground, or a pale shade of green. This design might be carried out very prettily with quite a different colour scheme, white silk forming the ground, with the petals of the flowers and buds worked in two shades of a golden

PLATE II.

PART OF A TABLE CENTRE.

(For particulars see page 30.)

EMBROIDERY

yellow, and with a dark shade of purple for the French knots in the centres of the flowers. The stems and leaves would be in green. Another way would be to have a yellow ground, and to work all the flowers and buds in white, with the French knots in yellow. In white it would make a useful tray-cloth, but if used for this purpose the ground should be white linen and not silk. The design might be made an interest- ing centre for the cover of a table, with the

addition of drawn-thread work and lace, to form a rectangular shape. It could also be used simply as a mat on a sideboard, worked on linen.

The shade numbers of the " Filo-Floss " silks used in the piece reproduced in the coloured Plate are the following — viz :

Purples Nos. 1205? and 120a . about 2 skeins of each. Greens Nos. 178c, 178c!, 178c . ,, 1 skein of each. Pinks Nos. 163d, 163c, about 2 skeins of each; 163b, 3 skeins.

M. SCHOLFIELD.

DESIGNING— I. FLORAL DESIGNS

THE dancing figure of Spring in Botticelli's picture the " Primavera" is robed in an embroidered gown, the decoration of which very happily typifies not only the gaiety and freshness of that lady herself, but also a great phase of design. Strewn upon a white ground are a number of plants, bearing many coloured blossoms. Each is complete in itself and isolated from its neighbours. A certain amount of balance is preserved over the whole design by keep- ing the numerous units of about the same dimensions, and they are placed with due regard to order, producing that effect of monotony without which dignity can hardly exist.

The silks used by the embroideress seem naturally to suggest flowers. She may almost claim floral designs as exclusively her own property, for her brightly coloured materials give facilities for imitating blossoms and leaves with a fidelity to which workers in less delicate materials can never attain. Indeed, it is to embroidery that we naturally turn for the great examples of this type of design, the origin of which has been traced to China — the land of silk. The technical processes of the art do not demand the rigid repetition of identical elements, and so as much variety as is consistent with the exi-

gencies of pattern may be introduced. In the embroidered hangings of the Far East, twelve feet or more in height, the formal arrangement of the design is often reduced to a minimum, or is at first sight quite absent. But careful examination shows that the great trees, whose branches seem to sweep in so unrestrained a manner over the surface, in reality bear their blossoms in a remarkably orderly fashion — so much so, that were the stems, which serve to disguise this regularity, removed, we should often find the design resolve itself into a plain ground spread over with flowers of great similarity to one another and with such considerable exactness of arrangement, that something very much akin to the pattern upon the dress in Botticelli's picture would be the result.

It is a fairly simple matter to compose designs of this type, the quality of which will steadily improve with practice, experi- ment, criticism of the results of finished work, and comparison with fine examples. The embroideress has but to commit to memory the appearance of certain of her favourite plants, and embroider them ; a process which will be greatly facilitated by carefully drawing them from nature if she is a draughtswoman, or by trying to do so if she is not, remembering the Irishman who

J3

EMBROIDERY

did not know that he could not play the fiddle, because he had never tried ! The embroideress who has learned some stitching,

Fig. 7

which is drawing with a needle, is often able to draw with a pencil better than she imagines.

Having drawn a plant, it will be necessary, perhaps, to make a second drawing, clearing it up by rearranging leaves and stems that cross each other and obscure the general growth, until a design something like that shown in fig. 7, a flower from the robe of Spring, is the result. The old botanical and gardening books with coloured plates, pub- lished by Curtis, Sowerby, and many other less famous authors in the last years of the eighteenth and the beginning of the nine- teenth centuries, afford excellent models for plant drawings for embroidery, and are fairly easily procured. Several plants, which are

14

to be the units or elements with which the designs are to be built, should be drawn in this way, care being taken that they are of about equal size and have a certain amount of likeness to one another — although the necessity for this depends upon the use that is to be made of them. A simple exercise is to rule two series of crossing diagonal lines at regular intervals over a piece of paper, producing a number of diamond- shaped spaces, into which the plant drawings can be traced. A single plant may be used, leaving several blank spaces around it, two may be placed alternately over the whole surface, or any other similar arrangement that suggests itself may be adopted. A design of quite another type could be made by placing four flowers one in each corner of a rectangular space, pointing either towards

Fig. 8

the margin or the centre, in which a fifth flower, or group of flowers, could be arranged. A great deal of character can be imparted to simple designs, such as these, by means 01 a careful choice of the plants used. There is the tender poetic design of spring flowers, the full luxuriant growth of summer plants — designs, in fact, for the round of the seasons,

EMBROIDERY

each one of which would have a distinct and interesting character of its own.

The root of the plant may sometimes be included in the design, forming a happy little decorative finish to a floral element. More frequently, however, only parts of a plant are used, instead of the whole of it. A single blossom, or a series of alternating blos- soms, may be ar- ranged regularly over the ground, with long or short stems as the case demands ; these stems can be quite plain or each bear one or more leaves, or perhaps a bud also. Several sprigs of different flowers may be arranged in groups, as in a formal bouquet, and these groups repeated as elements over the design. In many old designs the bouquet idea was carried still further, and whole baskets of flowers were represented, usually as the central ornament of a design. An example of this is given in fig. 9.

Small twigs of foliage cut from trees can

be used in the same way as the flower sprigs. The whole surface to be decorated might be spaced off into squares, and each em- broidered with a piece of oak, elm, beech, or some such foliage, spread out as in fig. 8. All sprigs should, at least in the first attempts in this design, conform to a common arrange- ment — that is, following the ex- ample given, each should spring from the lower left-hand ex- tremity of the square diagonally to the top right- hand corner, and bear a couple of secondary branches. Many variationsare pos- sible ; should the heavy green ap- pearance of a design so covered with foliage not be desired, it is easy to leave the surrounding squares plain, or to occasionally substitute a piece of a flowering shrub, such as a rhododendron, azalea, or peony, the white or coloured blossoms of which would brighten up the whole.

A. H. Christie.

15

PLATE III. A TRAY-CLOTH WITH A CONVENTIONAL BORDER IN BLUE AND GOLD

PLATE III illustrates an embroidered tray-cloth, the size of the original beingeighteen by twenty-seven inches. The design forms a running pattern round the cloth and repeats on half its own size. Variety has been given to the shapes of the flowers, and the worker can vary them still further by devising other fillings ; but in order to give the necessary balance, they should either all be worked in outline or, as an alternative, all with solid stitching.

Much may be learned from old work about different treatments for fillings ; many of the old coverlets in the Victoria and Albert Museum are full of interest, and well repay careful study. Inspiration for work can often be gained from them, and the simple stitches used in English wool-work are well adapted to the purposes of a subject such as this.

The purpose to which the object is to be put generally decides what stuff it is to be worked upon, but the material should rarely be much in evidence. White linen is a good ground for a tray-cloth. The texture should be neither very coarse nor very fine, in order to show to best advantage the Twisted Embroidery Silk with which it is worked. A linen without starch or dress in it is always best, and, if a hem- stitched border is to be used, it is well to choose a material in which the threads draw easily. A hem-stitched border is a satisfactory way to finish off a linen cloth, and it could be used to advantage in the present case.

The colour scheme chosen is one of blue and yellow, the yellow running through the border in curved bands, and the flowers being treated entirely in two shades of blue.

The stitches used, are double back, buttonhole, chain, stem, satin, and French knots, for the explanation of which see the article on stitches.

16

In beginning a piece of work, instead of making a knot, the thread should be run along the material, passing back again through itself, and then carried through to the front. The description of the working of the flowers commences at the right-hand end of the top line, and continues from right to left, and down the left-hand side : the flowers are named alphabetically.

For flower A, close buttonhole stitch in pale blue has been used round the outline of the four petals, chain stitch in dark blue for the pointed calyx, and dark blue French knots for the centre.

Flower B has its outside pointed petals in double back stitch, with three inside petals in buttonhole, all in the pale blue silk ; the two forked stamens are in dark blue satin stitch, and the base has the same colour and stitch.

Flower C has a pale blue stem stitch out- line, with a solid dark blue centre in French knots.

Flower D has a chain stitch outline in pale blue — dark French knots in the centre, and also three detached knots in the centre of each petal.

Flower E has its seven petals worked in double back stitch in pale blue, French knots in dark blue filling the centre. The small corner flower F has pale blue outside petals in buttonhole stitch, with a central dark blue petal in double back stitch.

Flower G is outlined in pale blue stem stitch, with three French knots, in the same colour, placed close to the outside edge, and a centre of dark blue French knots.

Flower H has a chain stitch outline in pale blue, one dark French knot being placed in each petal and a solid dark base in satin stitch.

Flower I has its five petals outlined in pale blue buttonhole stitch, and dark blue French knots in the centre.

PLATE III

A TRAY CLOTH.

(For particulars see page 30.)

EMBROIDERY

Flower J has an outline of pale blue in double back stitch, one French knot being used in the centre of each petal, in dark blue.

Flower K has a pale blue outline in chain stitch, the same stitch being employed again in dark blue to give the pointed calyx, and French knots in dark blue in the centre. Four small detached chain stitches, in pale blue, decorate the centre of each of the four petals.

Flower L has its petals filled solidly at the ends with pale blue buttonhole stitch, and thinner stem stitch lines attach them to the satin stitch centre of dark blue. Stem stitch, French knots, and satin stitch are again used to suggest the stamens.

Flower M is outlined in stem stitch, has a solid centre in French knots, and three detached knots, in dark blue, in the alternate petals.

Flower N has its three large pointed petals in double back stitch in pale blue, with two small semi-circular petals be- tween in dark blue buttonhole stitch, and a circular satin stitched base in dark blue.

Flower O has a chain stitch outline in pale blue, French knots in dark blue filling the centre.

Flower P, filling the corner, is worked in

buttonhole stitch, with two petals in pale, and one in dark blue.

The leaves, scrolls, and stem are all worked in outline stem stitch. A touch of brightness is given to the colour by a line of open double back stitch in yellow, filling in the thickened stem at regular intervals.

The variety of the fillings in the flowers takes away any monotony that there might otherwise be. An alternative scheme of varied, brightly coloured flowers with green leaves, worked on white linen, would look well ; or possibly a colour scheme could be devised in keeping with the china placed upon the tray. It would be quite possible to use this design for a table centre, working it upon a different ground — such as satin, silk, or fine linen. Floss silk of varied colours could be used, blue and pink alternately for the flowers and bright greens for the stems and leaves, simple stitch forming the border line instead of the hem stitching. Or again, the design might be adapted for a running border and used for the decoration of some part of a dress.

The Twisted Embroidery Silks used in carrying out the work are the following

Dark blue Pale blue Yellow .

No. 45, about 7 skeins, Nn. ai. 1

No. 42, No. 9 ib, „

F. M. Lake.

A SIXTEENTH-CENTURY EMBROIDERED

JACKET

T

HE frontispiece, a reproduction from an oil painting, is a portrait of

Margaret, wife of Francis Laton of Rawdon, who was born in the year 1 579 and died in 1662. The beautiful embroi- dered coat which the lady wears, of which only a portion can be seen in the picture, is still in existence and in so excellent a state of preservation that the colour of the em- broidered work is at the present time brighter even than the painted representation of it.

Both treasures are in the possession of Colonel J. Headlam, to whose kindness we are in- debted for permission to examine the em- broidery and also to reproduce the picture. Fig. 1 o is an outline drawing of half of the front of the jacket, and fig. 1 1 represents a detail. These, with the help of the frontispiece, give a fair idea of the whole. The back is embroidered in the same style as the front, and it is, perhaps, more beautiful, for there the work extends over the entire

l7

EMBROIDERY

surface, without a break such as is caused by the necessary division down the centre of the front.

The design is composed of free scrolling stems from which are thrown off flowers and leaves of many different kinds. Snails, caterpillars, butterflies, brilliantly feathered cockatoos and crested birds so curious that it is difficult to name them, occur at in- ervals over the decorated space. Golden tendrils frequently twist out from the stems, and finally little silver-gilt circular spangles are dotted over any portion of the ground that is left vacant. Just the right finish to the embroidery is given by the lace edging, which is made up of gold and silver thread woven together into a simple pattern.

In the sixteenth century all arts reflected the prevailing spirit of romance. The de- signs for embroidery were full of imagina- tion, variety, and pretty surprises. Look at the fantastic mixture of flowers, birds, butter- flies and other insects displayed upon this coat ! Add to the attractiveness of the design its execution in various brightly coloured silks, leaves shading quite happily from blue through green to salmon-pink, a golden plaited stem curving in and out binding all together — we have in this example of English embroidery a beautiful and characteristic piece belonging to that interesting period.

The flowers are of all colours and of many kinds; indigo blues, yellows, reds, and pinks show off to advantage such flowers as honey- suckle, carnation rose, pansy, fritillary, and others of so fanciful a character that we can turn them into our own special favourites. There is some art shown, quite legitimately in needlework, in now and then leaving something to the imagination, and not always tying down the observer to actualities. Most of the flowers have centres of gold thread arranged in a wheel shape ; these are made by first laying metal threads loosely across, arranged like the spokes of a wheel, and then darning round and round them in and

18

out until the required space is filled in. The larger petals of the flowers, after being finely worked in various solid fillings, are further decorated over the embroidered surface with dotted stitches in silver thread, which can be clearly distinguished in the frontispiece, though they are more noticeable there than in the actual embroidery. The prevailing colour of the leaves is green, some are blue and green, others blue, green, and yellow ; at the tips sometimes pink replaces yellow. The birds and the insects are of all the colours of the rainbow, brighter even than other parts of the work ; but each creature is characteristic of its kind.

The stitches employed throughout the work are fine and close. All the solid fillings can be traced to some kind of looped stitch (see figs. 6 and 1 2) worked similarly to needlepoint lace fillings. Stem stitch (see fig. 5) is used to vein the leaves after they are worked. The stem, for which rather coarse gold thread is employed, is worked in an ingenious inter- lacing stitch which, when completed, resembles a plait. In the frontispiece its character is quite distinguishable, the painter having copied it very faithfully. This stitch, commonly seen in Elizabethan work, is particularly suitable for metal thread. On this jacket, besides being used for the stems, it is also worked over the seams to both hide and decorate them. The small tendrils which break out from the main stem are worked with the same gold thread, but in chain stitch (see fig. 2). For the birds, insects, and some of the flowers a specially interesting form of filling is employed, which will be, by sight at least, familiar to any one acquainted with embroidery of this date. It is a fancy looped stitch, which, when it covers a surface, produces a close, regular network apparently formed of tightly knotted interlacing diagonal lines. A stitch like this, which makes a pattern in the working, is almost always decorative and attractive. This particular fancy filling, and

EMBROIDERY

Fig. 10

19

EMBROIDERY

the plaited stitch mentioned above, will be described in some future article upon stitches. In all the solid fillings in this piece of work, the needle enters the material only at the edges of the spaces that are filled. A neat device is often employed in order to prevent the necessity of taking the needle actually into the material at any point whilst working the filling. A preliminary line of either chain or stroke stitch is run round the outline of the space to be filled, and the needle, upon reaching the edge of the shape, is taken into this prepared outline instead of through the material. This method tends to make the solid filling still more flat and regular than it would otherwise be.

The fillings of the leaves are worked in buttonhole stitch, by a method somewhat like that employed for the flowers in Plate IV. A line of silk is thrown straight across the leaf from side to side,and a row of ordinary button- hole stitches worked over it. In the succeed- ing rows the stitches are taken over both the laid thread and the heading of the previous row, and so do not enter the material except at the extremities of each line. The stitches are not placed close beside each other ; the laid thread can be distinctly perceived between each one and the next. Fig. 12 is

a diagram explaining the working of this filling. A line of chain stitch is worked first round the outline of the shape, a square in this case. Next the thread is brought through the material in the centre of the chain stitch, at the right-hand top corner. It is taken horizontally across the form, and looped into the chain stitch on the opposite side, but not necessarily into the material. It is then in position to work the first row of buttonhole stitching over the laid thread, and into the chain stitch line at the top. At the end of the line the same process is repeated. It will be noticed that only half

20

the chain stitch line round the edge is visible, and that it forms a neat finish to the filling; it can be, and often is, of a difFerent colour from the other part. This method is to be recommended and it is much more rapidly executed than when the stitches are placed touching each other, as they sometimes are. When a change of colour is necessary for

Fig-. 11

shading the leaf, the stitch is continued in the same way but with different-coloured thread in the needle. The veining of the leaves, carried out in stem stitch, is worked in a well-contrasted shade on the surface of the solid filling, a pale green being the colour usually chosen. The chain stitch outline of each leaf is of the same colour as the filling. The material upon which all this lovely embroidery is placed is a fine white linen, slightly toned by age. The verbal descrip-

EMBROIDERY

tion of all the gay colour may sound dis- tracting, but the effect of the whole is a fine glow of colour, enhanced by the con- stantly repeating and encircling golden stems.

The lady's skirt, coloured red in the picture, has a light buff-coloured pattern upon it. Whether it is embroidered or woven is difficult to decide, but it certainly is of an entirely different make from the jacket. The book, held in the hand, is a bright red. The zouave or cape worn over the shoulders is either black or of some very dark colour, and its presence is almost to be regretted, as it hides much of the embroidered work. The beautiful lace ruff is a very characteristic item of the dress of this period. One would not imagine a ruff even of this size to be very comfortable, but we read that they grew to such enormous dimensions that a lady in full dress was obliged to feed herself with a spoon two feet long, and that sumptuary laws were made, by which ruffs were reduced to legal size. The lace of which this one appears to be made is similar to those illustrated in many pattern books of the period.

At the present time there are in existence many examples of embroidered articles of dress which date from the sixteenth cen- tury. It was a period especially famous for general embroidering of articles of daily use, and of dress in particular, al- though as long as the art of embroidery has existed it must always have been more or less employed for the enrichment of personal attire. Costume in Henry VIII. 's reign and throughout Elizabeth's was re- nownedly extravagant. In all probability the energy of the professional embroiderer, being diverted from ecclesiastical objects owing to the developments brought about by the Reformation, was poured with greater force into this channel. Such a combination of circumstances is sufficient to account for this period being specially famous for em- broidered dress. The Countess of Wilton, in her entertaining book " The Art of Needle-

work," gives an interesting account of the embroidery of the sixteenth century. All the smaller articles of costume, such as gloves, handkerchiefs, and pockets, were em- broidered ; even boots did not escape this attention, for they were fashioned of fine linen, embroidered with figures of birds, animals, and antiques. Henry VIII. 's "hand- kerchers ': were edged with gold, silver, or fine needlework, and we know from portraits and descriptions how magnificent his apparel was. It is evident that the people followed in suit rather too close for the royal liking, for the King several times passed laws regu- lating richness of costume by the rank of the wearer ; " none under the degree of knight might decorate their shirts with silke, gold, or silver." The costume of the time of Eliza- beth's accession was splendid, and it gradually grew so very extravagant that, as in Henry's reign, laws were passed regulating the rich- ness of dress by the rank of the wearer.

" That none under the degree of a Countess wear cloth of gold or silver tissued, silke of coulor purple.

Under the degress of a knight's wife, velvet in gownes, cloakes, savegardes or other uppermost garments. Embroidery with silke."

English queens and princesses from Saxon times down to the present day have fre- quently been famous for embroidery, and that Elizabeth takes rank amongst them is evident, for there are interesting examples of her work in existence. If we can believe the accounts of the number of dresses in her possession, a whole mansion or a suite of rooms at least must have been devoted to their storage. However, in times earlier than these, royal ladies were even more extravagant, for the Lady Rashidar, daughter of the Khalif El-Mu'izz, died at Cairo in the eleventh century leaving a wardrobe of twelve thousand dresses of different colours, just four times the number reputed to have belonged to Elizabeth.

21

EMBROIDERY

The student of embroidered dress can often find much that is interesting in pic- tures. In the collection at Hampton Court galleries alone there are many examples of this period, for it was also the day of famous portrait painters. The sight of these pictures, with the beautiful embroideries and lace ruffs in which ladies of the sixteenth cen- tury were painted, makes one regret that

embroidered dress is not more in fashion now. A return to the stiff" ruff is hardly to be desired, but there is every reason to encourage the undertaking of an embroidered dress or other piece of work, something worthy, like the embroidery in the frontis- piece, to be treasured up by descendants for generations to come.

G. C.

PLATE IV. A VEST AND CUFFS DECORATED WITH TRAILING CAMPANULA

AN embroidered vest and cuffs are illustrated in Plate IV. With the scheme of colour suggested they could be worn with either a white or a blue costume. The reproduction is slightly reduced in size ; in the original the width across the top of the vest at its widest point is nine inches. The ground material is a fine semi-transparent linen-batiste ; an ordinary linen might be substituted, as it would beeasier to work upon, but the finer material gives a more dainty appearance to the embroidery. The work is carried out in " Filo-Floss " silk in delicate colours. The silk is used with two strands threaded in the needle almost through- out the work, the exception being in the case of the stems and tendrils, which are stitched with single thread. The vest is of the usual V-shaped pattern, chosen as being most likely to suit all tastes and requirements. The cuff" is triangular, and intended to be used turned over, so it could be applied to any variety of undersleeve that happened to be in fashion. The line of green leaves, running diagonally across the plate on either side, marks the outer edge of the cuffs. The inner edges might be finished off in some way suitable to the style of the sleeve, using perhaps a minutely pleated frill, or a piping of blue to match the embroidered flowers.

22

To carry out the embroidery as it appears in our illustration is not difficult ; there is, however, a fair amount of work in it, for the stitching is fine and the forms are solidly filled. Alternative and simpler methods of working the design are described at the end of this article.

The design is symmetrical, and is based on the trailing campanula. The flower is treated quite conventionally and several liberties are taken with it, in order to make it prettier for its present purpose. Purple berries and tendrils, which do not naturally grow on harebell stems, are intro- duced to add interest to the design and colour scheme. The band of pale blue, running in zigzag fashion across each flower, gives variety in colour ; a device of this kind is often more decorative than naturalistic shading, though both ways are quite admissible and give the requisite variety.

Two stitches only are used in executing the work, buttonhole and chain, for the explanation of which refer to figs. 2 and 6. The chain stitch is worked in the usual way, but the buttonhole stitch, when used upon the flowers and leaves, is treated rather like a lace stitch, each succeeding row of stitching being worked over the heading of the previous row. This method, quite a common one, of working buttonhole stitch

PLATE IV.

AN EMBROIDERED VEST AND CUFFS.

(For particulars sec page 30.)

EMBROIDERY

gives it a peculiar and interesting character. It has somewhat the ribbed effect of woven work, and there is also a little mystery to the uninitiated as to how it is done, though to those in the secret it is simplicity itself. The ribbed lines, caused by the method of working, in this case follow the shape of the flower ; the same method can be em- ployed in straight lines across any area, but lines following, and thus emphasising, an outline are more decorative.

The description of one flower will suffice, as all are worked to the same pattern. For the petals two shades of an indigo blue are employed, sufficiently distinct in tone to show a decided contrast to each other. For the stamens a pale golden yellow is used. To commence working, two strands of the deeper shade of blue are threaded in the needle and a preliminary line of silk is run round the circumference of the base of the flower, extending as far up either side as is required for the first band of darker blue (for which see the coloured Plate). This line should be run so as to pick up as little material as possible, in order to let the thread lie mostly upon the surface. It should be arranged to finish at the left-hand end, for the next process is to work a line of close buttonhole stitching (which is more easily done from left to right) over this laid line, and at the same time pick up a very small piece of the material with the needle at each stitch. The heading of the stitch should be towards the centre of the flower; the lines of stitching are worked from the base upwards, the flower being held so that the stamens point more or less directly towards the worker. The first row of stitching being completed, another preliminary line of thread is run along close to it, but not extending quite so far up. The button- holing is then worked over this laid line, and at the same time over the heading of the first row of stitching, one stitch being placed between each one of the previous row. Next, a third line, still shorter in

d*

length, is worked in exactly similar fashion ; and last the small triangular-shaped piece in the centre, which ends, at the apex, with a line composed of only two buttonhole stitches. Whether a line is longer or shorter, curved or straight, it is always carried out in exactly the same way, by first laying a line of thread and then working over it, and over the heading of the previous row when there is one. The needle is now threaded with two strands of pale blue, and a line of thread is run along the material close to the zigzag line that has been formed by the limit of the part already completed. The buttonholing is then worked over the laid line of thread and into the edge of the darker blue, though not always into the heading, as that is not possible. This first line of pale blue must be clear and firm, for it is much in evidence. The zigzag line in pale blue is repeated twice more, for the light band across the middle is composed of three rows of buttonhole stitching ; each time it is taken over a laid thread and the heading of the row before. To complete the bell of the flower, work three more lines of buttonholing in exactly similar fashion, but change the thread to the darker blue colour. In working the final row, care must be taken to make a nicely curved line, for this makes the upper outside edge of the flower; it is easily possible to humour the stitch a little, making it a little broader if necessary, to fill out to a requisite shape. The yellow stamens are worked with double thread in chain stitch. At the apex they are finished off by a couple of chain stitches, each arranged to point outwards, starting from the same base. The buds are worked in the same way as the flowers, the lines of stitching adjusting themselves to the required shape. The berries, which are of a purple colour, are worked with double thread, in buttonhole stitch worked in the ordinary way, but taken round in wheel fashion. That is done by making all the stitches enter at the same point in the centre of the berry,

23

EMBROIDERY

which naturally brings the line of stitching into circular form, as all the stitches are of the same length. The effect of all the stitches entering at the centre is to make a small perforation there, which improves the appearance. This perforation can be made larger by the use of a stiletto, either before or after the stitch has been worked round.

The stems and tendrils are worked in dark green silk, in a fine chain stitch with single thread. Stem stitch could replace it if preferred, but the former is particularly suitable for lines of this nature.

The leaves are worked with double thread, in two contrasting shades of green, the lighter in the middle, the darker on the outside. The requisite shades are obtained in this case by threading in the needle together two greens, of the same tone but of differ- ent kinds. For the lighter colour in the centre, a pale shade of grass green and of sage green are placed together ; for the darker colour upon the outside, two darker shades of the same two varieties. This plan of placing two distinct colours in the needle at the same time is occa- sionally useful to adopt in order to obtain a special tint.

The leaves are worked in buttonhole stitch, in fashion exactly like the flowers. Com- mence on the inside edge of a leaf and work a line of dark green along its entire length. Next to this, work a line of light green, but not letting it extend the entire length in either direction ; then a still shorter line of light green. To finish the leaf, work another line of the dark green from end to end. The outline on either side must be quite perfect; to obtain which it is necessary to adjust the

length of the inside lighter lines, and to vary them sometimes slightly in width.

For alternate methods of carrying out this design we suggest the following : An en- tirely different scheme of colouring might be arranged, such as yellow flowers, black berries, and purple stems. Another way of making a change would be to alter the stitches. Double back stitch might replace buttonhole for the flowers and leaves ; the former would be quicker and easier in execu- tion, even taking into account the possibility of having to add an outline in stem stitch. Roumanian stitch, which has not yet been described, would be particularly suitable for working both flowers and leaves in. It shows silk threads to advantage ; it would not take so long to work, and would need no outline. It would not be quite so durable, however, as the method already described. An absolutely simple way in which to carry out this design, and a quite effective one, would be to work it in outline in chain stitch, employ- ing clusters of French knots for the berries. Such a scheme in dull gold, or blue, or even white, would give a pretty light effect of tracery, quite suitable for dress embroidery. As to alternate silks, Filoselle could easily replace the " Filo-Floss," or Floss silk could be used instead, if the difficulty of dividing it and working with it is no objection.

The silks used in carrying out the design, as represented in the plate, are the following:

Dark blue No. 12a . . . about 5 skeins. Pale blue. No. 10 . „ 3 ,,

Greens /Nos" 48a' 49' I2Se'\ » ' skein \ 125c, 151 . j of each.

Mauve . No. 120V. . . about 2 skeins.

Yellow . No. 91b . . . „ 1 skein.

G. C.

24

SILK: ITS ORIGIN, CULTURE, AND

MANUFACTURE

THE Silk Trade exhibits, perhaps better than any other, the world- embracing complexity of modern industry. Drawing its supplies from regions as far apart as the interior of China and the Auvergne Department of France, with a continuous history stretching back into the remotest ages, employing tens of thousands of families of every diversity of race and language, it serves to bring before the mind the amazing organisation involved in what appear at first sight to be the simplest trans- actions. But apart from the almost romantic interest attaching to a study of the trade itself, it is of considerable importance to those who use silk for embroidery, or other purposes, that they should have some knowledge of its genesis and manufacture. The good artist or craftsman should have a technical knowledge of his materials, not only because it makes it so much more interesting to work in them, but also because it gives him the necessary insight into their possibilities and limits. It is not sufficient, for instance, that the designer should be able to make an intrinsically good drawing if it is not one that is suitable for perfect execution in the material for which it is intended. The aim, therefore, of the three or four articles of which this is the first is to give some account of the " life-history " of silk from the egg of the moth to the dyed and finished product, and incidentally perhaps of some of the other threads which are put to similar uses.

For the purposes of Embroidery the textile threads may be reduced to four : Silk, Linen, Cotton, and Wool ; several others exist, but it is unnecessary to treat of them here. Each

of these four has its special merits, but by common consent Silk is pre-eminent, since it is by the standard of silk that the others are appraised. Linen, for instance, is said to have a fine " silky " texture with great strength and durability, but it is neither as silky nor as strong nor as durable as silk itself. The merits of Cotton are its softness and pliability, yet silk is softer and more pliable than cotton, though the latter is admittedly supreme in one respect — that it is capable of being bleached to a purer white than either of the four, and has also a certain dryness of texture which no other thread can equal.

The history of silk, in both ancient and modern times, has been so well and fully written that there is no need to give more than the briefest outline of it here. A Persian legend attributes the discovery of the silk- worm to Job, and in his honour the method of culture which he is supposed to have initiated is still followed there ; but it would probably be more historically accurate to credit the Chinese with being the first who managed to rear silkworms and draw off their silk. The Emperor Hoang-Si, who lived 2600 years before our era, is said to have charged his consort to study the silkworm, and to endeavour to make use of the threads ; even to-day there remains in the neighbourhood of the Imperial Palace a street with a name which means " the street which leads to the place for the rearing of silkworms for the amusement of Queens and Empresses." An early edict, which is nothing if not laconic, shows how jealously the discovery was guarded. It runs : " Forbidden under pain of death to export the eggs of the silkworm."

25

EMBROIDERY

It was not, indeed, until the sixth century a.d. that two monks succeeded in bringing the eggs to Europe, when sericulture was estab- lished by the Emperor Justinian in the Pelo- ponnesus, since known as the Morea, from the quantity of mulberry trees (Latin, Morus) which grow there. Thence the industry spread into Sicily, and was subsequently in- troduced into France by the Popes during the Babylonish captivity in the fourteenth century. Little progress was made with it there until the reign of Henry of Navarre, nearly three centuries later, when the energy of one Olivier de Serres gave it a strong forward impulse. Under the regime of Colbert (1660) still further encouragement was given to the silk-farmers, but the revo- cation of the Edict of Nantes — " reassuring the religious, causing the wicked to tremble " — banished the Protestant families of the Cevennes, and changed the fortunes of the newborn industry. From then onwards, until the beginning of the nineteenth century, it had a chequered career, but we have not the space to follow it further here.

At the present day the silkworm is culti- vated in five principal centres, each of which, broadly speaking, produces a type of silk peculiar to itself, and readily distinguishable from the others.

First in quantity of production comes Southern Europe, where the industry is sporadically carried on in an area of which Broussa, in Asia Minor, is the eastern, and the north of Spain the western limit, the centre being the city of Milan, the greatest silk- market in the world. The two principal characteristics of the European product are that it is a yellow silk, the cocoon being of a pure golden yellow ; and, secondly, that the thread is finer and somewhat more even than either of the others, owing to the superior methods of cultivation and reeling in vogue. It is mostly used for upholstery and dress goods, specially as a warp for the latter, where evenness is the prime essential.

The next largest producer is Japan, which

26

yields a " white gum " silk, also fine and even but neither as fine nor as even as the European article. The cheap piece-silk made from it is known everywhere, and it is also largely used as weft in conjunction with other kinds. After Japan comes Northern China, the centre of the industry being Shanghai. Embroidery silks being principally made from China silk, it is worth while to examine its genesis and history a little more fully. The product is the whitest and firmest of any, and, despite the manifest shortcomings of an industry which is conducted on much the same lines to-day as it has been for the last four thousand years, it remains probably the best in the world. It is rather an interesting re- flection that the Chinaman generally excels in the few arts and industries to which he has ever applied himself; his porcelain, his ivories, or, to mention commoner things, his tea and his silk are each supreme of their kind. Are we to say that this is in spite of his old- fashioned methods, or because of them ? The quality of the silk ranges from what is known as " first order steam filature," commanding the very highest price, to the roughest and foulest imaginable. Unlike other cultivators, who describe their silk by the place of origin and size — Japans, for instance, being simply designated "No. i-i| Japan 13/15 denier," etc. — the Chinaman still calls his silk by his " chop," or trade mark, some hundreds of which chops exist, and are continually dis- appearing, reappearing, and often varying in quality to a bewildering extent. In each bale there is a small, roughly printed paper with a device of elephants, demons, lions, or what not, the quality being usually indicated by the colour. The " elephant chop," for instance, begins with a red elephant, after which comes a blue elephant, then a yellow one, a green one, and so on. Some of these chop tickets are most artistically executed, par- ticularly the " worm and leaf," " almond flower," and " paeony and phoenix." Most of the tussore, or wild-grown, silk used in commerce comes from China, although it is

EMBROIDERY

grown to some extent in India also. Tussore silk is dark brown in colour, and of a coarse, rough nature, the thread being from twice to four times as thick as any other, character- istics which are due to the fact of the worm feeding on the oak instead of the mulberry. In the raw state it has a peculiar pungent smell, though this is almost entirely removed in the process of dyeing, and entirely so if the silk is bleached.

The defects of China silk generally are, firstly, its irregularity, which is due to anti- quated methods of reeling ; and, secondly, the " nibs " and " gouts " which are found in all but the best chops. The thread can be cleared of these lumps in the consequent pro- cesses of manufacture if they are not too small in size or too many in number ; but if it is fine nib and the silk is full of it, the lot of the girl who subsequently has to rewind it is not an enviable one.

We need not dwell for long on the remain- ing two countries which produce silk. In the Canton district of Southern China a fairly fine yellowish-white silk is cultivated which, however, shows defects much to be feared by the manufacturer who subsequently has to deal with it — namely, " sleeziness " and " lack of bone." " Sleeziness " consists in the ex- istence on the thread of minute specks and excrescences only perceptible to the trained eye while the thread is in the raw state, but very visible after it has been dyed and woven. The expression " lack of bone," or " nerve," explains itself, and is shown in the limpness of the silk, which is consequently unsuited for the production of most high-class goods, with the exception of the various crapes, for which, as naturally limp and clinging fabrics, it is peculiarly suitable. Both the above defects are due to the fact that the culture is not carried on under conditions which are perfectly suited to it.

Of Indian silk no more need be said than that it is again a yellow-gum silk, similar in quality to Canton, and with about the same amount of " nerve " in it.

To resume then, silk is the product of the silkworm (Bombyx mori), and of the silk- worm only — afact which cannot be too plainly emphasised in view of the vagueness on the subject which exists in the public mind. Numerous attempts have been made to imitate and supplant it, and with varying degrees of success. Some have tried natural substitutes, such as nettle fibres and spiders' cocoons, and an experiment has even been made with the idea of drawing the silken fibre direct from the mulberry leaf, without its passing through the body of the caterpillar. Others, with much better results, have made artificial sub- stitutes, the cellulose fibre now so largely used for braids and ties being the principal one. The rival textile threads are also treated by various processes, of which mercerising is the best known, to make them resemble silk in certain respects. But the degree of their success is the measure of their inferiority, and whatever chemical science may produce in the future, hitherto Bombyx mori has held his own.

Most people have kept or seen silkworms, and so, whilst a detailed description of their appearance and habits is unnecessary, some account of their method of making the silk and spinning it may be of interest. The apparatus which secretes the silk in its semi- fluid state consists of two glands, from each of which a separate thread proceeds, called the " brin," and when united the " bave." At the point where these two glands unite there is a further pair of much smaller glands which yield a kind of varnish having a threefold use : firstly, it serves to unite the two brins into the bave so firmly that they can only subsequently be separated with the utmost difficulty and under a microscope ; secondly, it preserves the lustre of the silk; and thirdly, gives it the property of resisting the action of water. The united thread then passes from the two glands through a short canal terminating in a minute papilla situated just beneath the worm's lower lip, and pierced with a hole at the end. Through this hole the cater-

27

EMBROIDERY

pillar projects the silk in whatever direction he chooses.

The method of rearing the silkworm neces- sarily differs according to the climate. In China, when the leaves of the mulberry tree first show themselves, open boxes containing the seed are hung upon the branches at a little distance from one another. As soon as the eggs are hatched by the heat of the sun, the caterpillars begin to spread themselves over the tree, and upon it they undergo all their subsequent transformations. Finally, they hang their cocoons upon the twigs, and the rearer has only to gather them as they form, nor has he any other trouble in the meantime except to scare off the birds.

In Europe this method has proved a failure every time it has been tried, rain or the birds interfering to prevent the experiment being carried to a conclusion. Consequently a purely artificial system of rearing is followed, called the Dandolo method, after the name of its inventor. It this case the silkworm spends his whole life in a " magnanerie," or nursery, under cover, being fed with the leaves by hand, and finally given branches of broom to spin in. By whichever method the rearing is conducted, the history of the caterpillar stage is much the same. It lasts some fifty days, divided into five stages, each marked by a period of voracious eating, and each ending by the casting of a skin. On the critical day of their whole career, the seventh of the last stage, it is estimated that the silkworms produced from i gramme of eggs eat as much as four horses, and the noise in the magnanerie made by their mas- tication is like that made by heavy rain in the thick foliage of a tree.

Suppose the caterpillar has successfully

passed through the various crises and diseases to which he is subject — and in a normal year at least a fifth of them will have succumbed by this point — and supposing the montee, or climbing up to spin, has been accomplished, he at once sets to work. First, he extends in every direction the slender and gummy thread which comes from his mouth. These first threads, which form the bourre de soie, are the filaments which suspend the cocoon. This done, the real silken thread is next reeled out, and usually measures about eleven hundred yards in length. Some idea of its extreme fineness may be gathered from the fact that a single ounce weight of it, if un- rolled, would stretch for sixty miles. The time occupied in spinning is usually seven or eight days, and if allowed to proceed the caterpillar would rapidly shrivel to a chrysalis inside the cocoon, then turn to a moth, which in another fortnight or three weeks would eat its way out. But at this point man steps in and begins the first of the processes by which he transforms the sanctum of Bombyx mori into a thread of fabric for his own use. Before leaving the ingenious little spinner of the original thread and proceeding to trace its further treatment by the hand of man, we may pause a moment to marvel at the in- herited knowledge, the exquisite precision and delicacy of this humblest of creatures. To explain it all as individual instinct taxes belief too high, and we shall perhaps be ap- proximately nearer the truth if we put it that in this capacity the worm must be considered not as a worm but as the worm, an atom embodying the racial instinct, the principle which underlies, which never dies.

H. W. R.

28

A Piece of XIVth Century German White Linen Work

sea

SOME EXAMPLES OF THE USE OF CHAIN STITCH

THE qualities of adaptability, simplicity and durability, all of which most distinctly belong to chain stitch, have combined to make it universally em- ployed. It is adaptable to almost any kind of design, it can be worked in almost any thread, metal, wool, silk or linen, and it can be used equally well for outline, solid or semi-solid work, either in conjunction with other stitches or alone for an entire piece. In figure work, chain is about the best stitch for features or draperies, as no other draws with such precision. When carried out in a frame, a necessity for the kind of work just described, chain has to take the form known as split stitch. This produces prac- tically the same effect, though the execution of it is different. One of the difficulties which must be mastered by an embroideress is drawing by means of a needle and thread ; but she soon discovers what a delightful medium needle and thread are to work in, both for the pleasure and for the results obtained. Fig. 13 is a drawing of a flower solidly filled in with chain stitch. It is a detail from an Oriental masterpiece of this type of embroidery, a large coverlet, probably copied from a Masulipatam print. The design is

a tree, springing from a rock and bearing flowers of many different kinds. Gorgeous butterflies occur here and there upon it (see fig. 14), and a narrow but very lovely border runs round the margin. In the two details illustrated, the forms and the various markings are clearly shown by means of a contrast in colour and in the direction of the lines of stitching. In work of this kind great use should be made of these two points as otherwise it may become monotonous.

Chain stitch is frequently used for outline work, whether simple or elaborate. Fig. 16 is an example of an extremely simple but effec- tive piece of this kind. It forms part of an infant's christening robe, a piece of early nine- teenth-century English work. A double band of the design repeats down the front, and a single band runs round the base. It is worked in white on muslin. Many Indian embroideries afford fine examples of this elaborate outline work.

There are a good number of examples in existence of a very beautiful kind of work into the execution of which chain stitch entered largely. We refer to the well-known fourteenth-century white linen work of

29

EMBROIDERY

German origin, of which the frontispiece is an example. It is remarkable for the indi- viduality which characterises it, and for the boldness and simplicity of its design. The work is nearly always executed on a loosely woven linen in coarse linen thread, and the stitches employed are mainly varieties of chain and buttonhole. The frontispiece illustration

the more solid portions of the design the chain stitch changes into buttonhole, with which it is of course closely allied. Vari- ous details in the drawing are skilfully ex- plained by the arrangement of the lines and masses of stitching ; a narrow line of ground material is left clear in parts, in order to express some detail such as the belt round the man's waist, or the harness of the horses. These lines show with especially good effect when the work is seen against the light. In fact, the entire design seems arranged with

Fig- 13

is a detail from an altar-cloth band. It represents a man with an uplifted stick hold- ing in check three saddled horses ; below is a dog. The group probably illustrates an incident in some well-known story. The leafy scroll work surrounding the figures is carried out mostly in chain stitch worked in a double line (for a further explanation of which see fig. 22 and its description). For

* No. 1030, 1855, Victoria

3°

Fig. 14

that idea in view, for its beauty lies not in fine detail, but in bold outlines and well- arranged masses of solid pattern upon semi- transparent ground.

The bunch of variegated flowers illustrated in fig. 17 is an example of the use of chain stitch combined with others. The outline is in chain and the semi-solid fillings are of various other simple kinds such as satin, French knots, Roumanian, etc. It is a detail taken from a white table-cover of late eighteenth-century French work.* This bunch of flowers could be worked most prettily in colours in shaded embroidery.

Fig. 15 is a detail from the border of a very fine example of work executed and Albert Museum.

EMBROIDERY

Fig. 15

EMBROIDERY

entirely in chain. It is a coverlet from the Dutch East Indies and belongs to the seventeenth or eighteenth centuries.* The border, in the original about 16 inches in width, repeats in similar fashion to the portion illustrated all round the edge of the coverlet, the apparent irregularity of the design becoming regular by similarity and repetition. Two other animals and a ferocious black bull in the act of butting, luckily only

with rose red, the same colour being used for his antlers, and the body is filled in with a golden yellow. The large flower near the beast's tail has each petal outlined in pale pink and filled in with deep rose colour, whilst the four calyx-like leaves in the centre are worked in golden yellow. All the stems and some of the smaller leaves are outlined in dark myrtle green and filled with a very pale shade of the same. The long serrated

Fig. i 6

flowers, and a fierce open-mouthed tiger, recur along the border at regular intervals in the place of the stag.

The lines filling in the more solid portions of the design show the direction taken by the chain stitch fillings. These lines either follow the outline, so emphasising the shape, or explain the form, as in the case of the stag. Both drawing and colour are particularly refined. A brief description of the colours employed in the execution of the illustrated portion may be of interest to those who can- not see the original. The stag is outlined

* No. 256, 1899, Victoria

32

Fig. 17

leaves are similar to this with a line of gold colour added just inside the outline, the trefoil leaves are fancifully varied, some rose red with gold outline, others with one green lobe and two red ones, some blue and red, and so on. The colouring of the two large flowers near the base is similar to that of the other large flower. The ground material is a fine white linen.

Work carried out entirely in one stitch always gives a peculiar satisfaction. The great example of this is tapestry weaving, and Albert Museum.

EMBROIDERY

part of the marvellous effectiveness of which lies in the absolute similarity of texture obtained by working both background and pattern by one method. The large hangings

of Petit point work and the smaller pictures of the same work may be mentioned as other examples of the charm of simplicity and unity of method of execution. G. C.

PLATE V. A BAG WITH A DESIGN OF FLOWERS AND SCROLLING STEMS

PLATE V illustrates a bag embroidered with conventionally-treated flowers springing from undulating stems, which run diagonally across the surface. A repeating pattern of this kind is a very useful type of design, as it may be used for a great number of purposes. Like a woven fabric, that can be cut to any required shape, this kind of pattern would decorate a circle, a square, or any other form equally well, since having no limits it need conform to no special outline. If the worker wishes to use this design for a larger or smaller bag, all that is necessary is to extend or curtail it on the four sides, and then to add the borders at the top and base.

The back of the bag has a different and simpler ornament. The same borders as those upon the front run round the other side, and there is no further decoration upon it beyond a simple interlacing knot at the centre (see fig. 18).

It would have been possible, by certain adjustments, to have continued the pattern which is upon the front, round to the back without any apparent junction at the sides; but that would have entailed a good deal more work than as the pattern is now ar- ranged. The material of which the bag is made is a fairly coarse, loosely woven linen of a greyish white colour, and the embroidery is carried out in " Mallard " floss silk, in bright shades.

The curved lines of the stems and tendrils are worked in stem stitch (see Part I) in a dull purple. Whilst working them the

thread should be kept on the right-hand side of the needle, and small neat stitches should be taken in order to obtain flowing curves, which are especially necessary in working the tendrils. The leaves, which are all of about the same shape and size, are worked in double back stitch (see Part I).

Fig. i 8

This similarity of treatment of stem and leaf is necessary to give a certain unity to the whole, since the flowers all differ. Two shades of green are used for the leaves, a warm and a cool one, and they are used in regular alternation, undulating lines of either shade running upwards diagonally across the bag, from left to right.

33

EMBROIDERY

The colour follows the same undulating band arrangement as the two kinds of green leaves. In order to describe the working of each flower, we will name them alpha- betically, and we will begin with the red one, of which a single petal can be seen at the top right-hand corner, and continue in diagonal lines from left to right in a down- ward direction. Thus, the second to be described is the one in shades of blue with a gold centre, that is cut in half by the top border; the third is the full-blown carnation, and so on.

A. Petal, outlined in buttonhole in dark red, rilled in with satin stitch in pink. Centre, purple French knots.

B. Petals worked in buttonhole taken across from side to side, so that the heading forms a ridge between each petal and the adjoining one. Colour, two contrasting shades of blue used alternately. Centre, yellow French knots.

C. Each petal has a band of buttonhole next the centre in bright red, then a narrower band of the same stitch in pink, next to this a line of irregular chain stitch in bright red, and is finished off at the edge with a van- dyked band of buttonhole stitch in pink. A line of stem stitch in white separates each petal from the next. Centre, purple French knots.

D. Petals, outlined with a narrow edging of buttonhole in -dark blue, filled in with double back stitch in pale blue. Centre, pale yellow French knots.

E. Petals, outlined in stem stitch in pale yellow, filled in with double back stitch in deep yellow. Calyx filled in with satin stitch in bluish green, outlined with stem stitch in dark green.

F. Berries worked in buttonhole in dark blue, the stitches being taken round in a circular shape, and all entering at the same point in the centre. A deep yellow French knot decorates the outside of each berry.

G. The outer part of the petals is worked in buttonhole, in bright red, the inner part

34

in double back stitch in pink, and outlined with stem stitch in the same colour. Black stamens are placed between each petal, ter- minating in a French knot. Calyx worked in double back stitch in bluish green, out- lined with stem stitch in dark green.

H. Petals outlined with chain in pale blue, filled in with satin stitch in dark blue. Centre, yellow French knots.

I. Petals worked in buttonhole, in bright yellow.

J. Petals worked in double back stitch, in red and white alternately. Centre, purple French knots surrounding three yellow ones.

K. Petals outlined in buttonhole in pale blue. The star-shaped form is worked in satin stitch in white, over a preliminary stitch, laid lengthways. Centre, deep yellow French knot.

L. Outer edges of petals worked in satin stitch in bright red, inner part filled in with chain worked spirally round to the centre in shades of pink graduated to white. Centre, purple French knots. Calyx leaves worked in double back stitch in bluish green.

M. Bell-shaped flowers outlined at the back in stem stitch in dark blue ; inside this, and taken all round, a line of stem stitch in pale blue : then a line of chain in white, taken down the centre of each lobe. Two yellow French knots to each flower.

N. Petals outlined in stem stitch in deep yellow, filled in with double back stitch in pale yellow. Centre, purple French knots.

O. Petals outlined with two rows of stem stitch in bright red : inside this, two rows of the same in pink, filled in with double back stitch in white. Centre, purple French knots.

P. Bell-shaped flowers outlined in stem stitch in deep yellow, filled in with satin stitch in pale yellow.

Q. Flower outlined with a band of button- hole in dark blue : inside this, filling up to

PLATE V.

A BAG.

(For particulars see page 60.)

EMBROIDERY

the centre, three semicircular lines of button- hole in pale blue. Stamens worked in white satin stitch, over a preliminary line laid lengthways. Pale blue French knots, placed at intervals upon dark blue outer band. Calyx, worked in double back stitch in bluish green, outlined with stem stitch in dark green.

R. Berries outlined with buttonhole in pink, filled in with stem stitch, worked spirally round towards the centre in paler pink. Black French knots on the outside of each berry.

S. Petals outlined with stem stitch in dark blue, filled in with double back stitch in paler blue. Centre, white French knots, surrounding black ones, in the middle.

T. Petals worked in buttonhole in deep yellow.

U. Petals worked in buttonhole in two alternating shades of blue. Centre, purple French knots.

V. Petals in Roumanian stitch, the outer part in bright red, the inner part in white. Centre, purple French knots. Stamens formed by a line of open buttonhole worked round outside the French knots in pale pink.

W. Petals in double back stitch in two alternating shades of blue. Calyx in satin stitch in yellowish green, outlined with stem stitch in dark green.

X. Petal worked in buttonhole in bright red, the heading forming the outside edge.

The description of the upper border, which is worked in lines taken horizontally across, begins from its lower edge. First a line of chain in deep purple, next to this a line of double back stitch in the same colour. Then a line of chain in dark green worked in zigzag fashion. This is a variation from the common chain, each stitch being taken at an angle of 45 degrees to the border line, and at a right angle to the previous stitch. When working zigzag chain stitch, the end of each completed loop should be caught down with the needle just as it commences

F

the next stitch, thus fixing each loop firmly in position. A pale blue French knot is placed in each triangular space left by the working of the zigzag line. Next, a line of chain stitch in dark purple is worked, and finally a line of buttonhole to form the top edge of the bag. This last line is not worked until the bag is finished and made up, for it fixes the lining in place. Little orange- coloured buttonhole loops are worked at intervals along the top, to hold the tiny metal rings. These loops, or picots as they are sometimes called, are made by button-holing over a single thread of silk looped into the heading of the last row of stitching.

The working of the lower border is de- scribed from the top downwards. First a line of chain, then a line of double back stitch, both in the same dark purple. Next to this a line of vandyked Roumanian stitch (see fig. 19) worked in pale blue and green alternately, five stitches of each colour being taken in turn. Below this comes a line of double back stitch in dark purple, then a line of chain in dark blue. Next a line of double back stitch and one of chain, both in dark purple. A line of stem stitch in black finishes the border.

The interlacing knot at the centre of the back (see fig. 18) is worked in double back stitch, in a medium shade of yellow, and outlined on either side with a line of stem stitch in purple. The conventional flower in the centre is worked in dark blue ; it is outlined with stem and filled in with satin stitch. The calyx leaves are worked in double back stitch in deep yellow, whilst a French knot of the same colour marks the centre of the flower.

The bag can be lined with white silk, and finished off at the edges by a cord made of the same shades of purple and white as those in the embroidery. The cord is sewn on to the three sides, and also runs through the rings at the top, thus forming a handle.

35

EMBROIDERY

The following shades of " Mallard " floss are used in carrying out this design : —

Purple . . No. 268, about 5 skeins. Greens . . Nos. 1340!, 1341, 207c, about 1

skein of each. Blues . . . Nos. 2of, 20b, 2od, about 2

skeins of the lightest and

darkest shade, and 1 of the

middle shade.

White Black Yellows

Reds .

No. 70, about 1 skein.

No. 82, „ 1 „

Nos. 252, 255, 256, about 1

skein of each. Nos. 44, 41a, 40, about 2 skeins

of the darkest shade and 1

of each of the others.

G. C.

SAMPLERS AND DESIGNING

WE all of us remember little framed squares of work banished to out- of-the-way corners of the house, which we were told were samplers, in a tone which implied that they were wrought in the days of ignorance. I seem to have had the opinion that they were an inferior kind of picture which our grandmothers had to be content with before chromos and oleo- graphs and illustrated papers were invented. There came a later time when I thought they were rather pretty old things, and collected a sufficient number to give me an insight into their variety and yet resemblance in the use of frequently recurring elements. More recently still they have been made the subject, like everything else, of quite learned treatises, and much about them may be read in the interesting volume by Mr. Huish.

In devoting some time to a consideration of some of the best ways of opening up initiative in workmanship, — which now we usually call " design," — to young people, I have been brought again to an interest in the samplers from this other point of view, which really, I think, explains their origin and purpose. The sampler is properly a collection of several elements which would be useful to the girl and housewife in marking linen, and making borders, sprigs, and other common requirements of orna- mental needlework.

The earliest samplers I have seen are long, narrow strips, and have a far greater variety of stitches, letters and patterns. The later

36

ones tended more and more to neglect of this, their proper purpose, and became at last a means of teaching children texts and hymns, some of which were peculiarly melancholy, as the seeming experience of Mary Jones, aged 5, for it was a part of the tradition that they should sign their names and ages. One I have before me reads :

" From stately palaces we must remove, The narrow lodging of a grave to prove ; Leave the fair train, and the light gilded room To lie alone benighted in the tomb."

This is signed " Jane Brampton, aged 9 years, 1761." But all about are pretty little birds, baskets of flowers, daisies, lilies in pots, Noah's Ark trees, hearts, fleurs-de-lis, and other bright and amusing details, in which Jane probably took a healthy and hearty pleasure. Another, signed " Alice Wharam, 1735," has in the top left-hand corner Adam and Eve with the reference " Genesis, 3 chapter," and in the bottom right-hand corner the Virgin and the Angel, inscribed "The Salutation, Luke, chapter 1st." In the middle is an immense parrot ; in the bottom left-hand corner is a sort of poultry and rabbit farm, while in the top right- hand corner is a lady walking under a tree in which sings a bird. The rest of the ground is filled with fruit, flowers in pots, ducks and geese, cherubs and crowns, and so on ; and a peculiarity of this example is that the ground is wholly covered with silk stitching of a fair blue colour. The latest

EMBROIDERY

samplers I have seen are dated about 1840 or 1850, and I believe people have told me, but always shyly, " because you know samplers have gone out," that they themselves remember working them. I spoke above of design, a rather terrible and mysterious word, which has come much into use to frighten people into the idea that without a drawing from a shop they cannot enter upon a piece of work of their own. Now if we could get back a reasonable form of sampler once more, we should do much, I think, to reintroduce a reasonable view of what design in simple household arts has been in the past, and should be ; that is, the doing of work with some thought beyond the barely necessary, by selection, and variation from, well-known models. This, at all times, has been the largest element in forms of beautiful work-

manship. For it must be remembered that design concerns itself with workmanship, and there is not the least need to make preliminary drawings, if ways to pleasant adaptations and adjustments can be found without them. The modern sampler should consist of one or more alphabets, sets of figures, simple sprigs, and borders, and devices, such as could be re-used in various sizes, colours and combinations. If, beyond this, the child could be induced to paint with her needle one or two flowers from the garden, and her favourite pet, be it cat or bird, it would add enormously to her equipment, and give her the confidence to see that the embroidered dress, curtain, or counterpane is only a larger and more difficult form of sampler.

W. R. Lethaby.

STITCHES— II

ROUMANIAN STITCH— DOUBLE CHAIN STITCH— TRELLIS STITCH

IN the articles that will run through this publication, there will be no special grouping together of similar kinds of stitches. Those necessary for working out the coloured plates in each number will be given, unless they happen to have been previously described. Others will be added which, for one reason or another, may be thought desirable. Those to be discussed in the present number are Roumanian, Double Chain, and Trellis. The first named is in frequent request and therefore one with which every one should be familiar ; the second is not so well known, but it is simple and useful ; the third is a very attractive stitch and possibly new to present-day workers, though it was in quite common use in the late sixteenth and early seven- teenth centuries.

ROUMANIAN STITCH.

Roumanian, an easily executed and very adaptable stitch, can be used in various

ways either for fillings or for line work. Fig. 19 shows it in work upon the petals of a flower ; in the diagram, owing to the form of the petals, the stitches are drawn into a vandyke shape; a more usual method of treatment is to take them straight across in lines, as shown in fig. 20, but the stitch is practically the same in either case. Both these methods are commonly used; in that first described the opposing directions taken by the thread give the pretty effect of two shades of colour. In order to work Roumanian stitch, as shown in fig. 19, bring the needle and thread through at the top left-hand corner of the flower petal, insert it at the top right-hand corner, and bring it through again at the centre top point, which, in this case, is slightly lower than either of the sides. The thread must now be pulled through on the upper side of the stitch that has just been taken. Next, insert the needle immediately below the point where it last came through, and over

37

EMBROIDERY

the first part of the stitch just formed, in order to tie it down. Then bring the needle through to the surface again on the left-hand side of the petal, and immediately below the point where it originally started. It is now in position to commence the next stitch. In the diagram, the completed petal shows varied shades of colour, an effect which is easily produced by bringing a thread of the required shade through the material at the

_*

— -^

Fig. 19

right point. A chequering of two contrasting colours is managed in the same way, which is a very pretty method for working a flower. When the stitches are placed very close together, it is sometimes wise, when reaching the point where the thread comes through in the centre, to bring the needle up through the middle of the last tying-down stitch. This avoids any possibility of clumsiness at that point, and also makes an effective " chained " line down the centre. There is another slightly different way of working

38

the tying down, or second half of the stitch, this is to take it obliquely across the first half, as shown in fig. 21. This divides the completed stitch into three more or less equal parts, and avoids the distinct ridge down the centre, which it may at times be better to do. Worked in this way Roumanian stitch makes a particularly good filling for a large leaf or flower ; bands composed of it, often varying in shade or colour, are placed side by side until the surface is covered. Still another method of treating it is to space the stitches a little apart, and make the central tying-down part rather longer in order to connect the detached bars together. Worked thus it makes a good open filling for a leaf or flower, an

«BS*%SS8Sy*8W

Fig. 20

Fig. 21

illustration of which, in actual practice, can be seen in the flowers in Plate VI.

DOUBLE CHAIN STITCH

Chain, like all principal stitches, has many slightly varied ways in which it can be worked. We propose now to describe a way of working it in a double line. This is a useful and quickly worked variety, adapt- able to such details as broad stems, petals of flowers, or any similar form that requires a filling not absolutely solid. A very wide petal, if divided into sections, can be worked with it. The stitch can be executed in any thread, but is perhaps especially suited to the coarse kinds. Fig. 22 illustrates it worked upon both the petal and the stem of a flower. Slight alterations of the posi- tion in which the needle picks up the

EMBROIDERY

material give a different character to the stitch. In the diagram the stem is worked a little differently from the petal.

To carry out the petal illustrated in fig. 22, begin by working a single chain stitch at the apex, then work a second in the usual way, placing it towards the left side of the petal. Now take the needle again through the centre of the first stitch, but on the right-hand side of the second, and bring the needle through below in the usual way, but

Fig. 22

pointing towards the right-hand side of the petal. This process will have formed two stitches in a line with each other, both emerging from the centre of the first one. For the fourth, insert the needle in the centre of the second chain stitch, on the left- hand side of the stitch already there, and bring it through below (see the needle in the diagram). Repeat the stitch alternately on either side, making the needle, as it picks up the material, follow the outline of the petal. It is thus quite simple to follow out a gradually widening or narrowing shape.

The only difference in the working of the stem is that the stitches are not stretched out so wide apart and they are not placed quite opposite each other. Each successive one is placed a step beyond its neighbour. In the piece of white linen work illus- trated in the frontispiece much use has been made of this stitch. The reader, having first mastered it, may be able to discern in the stems, leaves and some other portions, several adaptations of it. She should also notice how easily it merges into buttonhole filling when the form becomes too wide for double chain.

TRELLIS STITCH

The stitch illustrated by the three diagrams in fig. 23 is suitable for solid fillings. Used as a line stitch it would be quite ineffective, but for a filling, either self-coloured, shaded, or with bands of contrasting colours, nothing could be prettier of its kind. It is not very difficult to work, but has the appearance or being rather a marvellous and intricate piece of stitching. Occasionally upon seventeenth- century samplers, and more frequently upon Elizabethan costume, this filling can be seen employed for the entire execution of details such as birds, snails, petals of flowers or acorns, and they are most charmingly effective. The filling is usually carried out in straight lines to and fro across the space, but it can be worked in curved, and even spiral lines.

The upper left-hand diagram in fig. 23 shows how to begin working Trellis stitch, a name adopted because we know of no other, and because it is descriptive of the effect (see the flower petals in Plate VII). The first process is to work an outline in chain stitch all round the form, whatever it may happen to be, bird, petal, or anything else, that has to be filled in. This is necessary because the stitches of the filling do not enter the ground material at any point, since at the commence- ment, finish, and each extremity of a line they are looped into the chain outline. In

39

EMBROIDERY

this and some other particulars the stitch re- sembles the fillings of needlepoint laces. A back or stroke stitch may be substituted for the chain outline, the difference between these and the chain being that they would be entirely hidden when the filling was com- pleted, whilst the chain stitching would be half in evidence, the part in sight forming an edging exactly like a line of stem stitch. The right-hand upper diagram shows how to begin the filling. The thread is brought

Fig. 23

through to the front at the required point in the centre of the chain outline ; but in the diagram, in order to explain the working more clearly, only a portion of the chain outline has been drawn, so the thread does not come up in the middle of it. The filling would usually commence at the left- hand top corner, because a stitch of this kind is more easily worked in the direction of left to right. The needle now passes the thread up through the adjoining chain stitch, exactly as illustrated in the figure.

40

The second diagram, that at the top right- hand corner of fig. 23, shows the second stage of the working, which is, the needle passingthethreadthroughthe loop just formed. The thread must now be pulled fairly tight, which will disclose that by the foregoing processes a small knot has been made, which takes a decidedly slanting direction. The same routine is repeated all along the line, a stitch being looped into each of the chain stitches. The lower diagram in fig. 23 shows how to continue at the end of the first line. A second row is worked, in the reverse direction, the stitches being looped into the row above. The diagram shows the exact point where the thread enters the first row and also how it is passed through the loop again, in the same manner as before, but in the reverse direction, which makes the second row of knots slant in the opposite way. There may be a little difficulty at first in finding the exact point at which to pierce the row above, but practice soon makes it quite simple. At the right place there is a small hole, just large enough to pass the needle easily, but at any other point the knot would form a serious obstacle. One stitch should be taken between each one of the row before. This is important, for the regular arrangement of the stitches, together with the alternating direction of the knots in the successive rows, gives the special inter- lacing character to the filling. When the last row has been worked it can be attached to the chain outline by a neat oversewing in fine thread of exactly the same colour as the filling. A novice attempting to work trellis stitch had better choose rather coarse thread for the trial, and avoid pulling the knots too tight. She should also be careful not to place them too close together, as that makes the execution more difficult. It is as well not to begin a new thread in the middle of a row, though it can be done if necessary. If it is done, however, the new thread should be run, for the start, into the under-part of the filling, not into the material. Sometimes when

EMBROIDERY

working shapes likepetals,that grow narrower towards the base, it becomes necessary to omit a stitch now and then, as otherwise the filling would not lie flat and even. These stitches should be decreased at either extremity of the line where possible, because there they will be less noticeable.

There are many ways of introducing slight variations in the working of this stitch. For instance, three successive rows may be worked all in the same direction and then three more in the reverse direction, which would result in a kind of chevron pattern, the successive rows of knots building up a pattern like that shown in fig. 24, which has been taken from an old sampler. The colour of the thread may vary with the

direction of the .N stitch if the pat- tern is required to be still more emphatic, as was the case in the sampler referred to, where the stitch was used as the filling of a conventional flower. This chevron makes a very pretty background for a small fine piece of work such as a card case. Many other slight variations in the working would produce new results ; the worker will probably experiment with some on her own account. We will describe just one other variation which is a most satisfactory way of dealing with the stitch. It can be made to form an excellent centre to a flower by being worked in spiral lines commencing from the centre and working round and round until the disc is of the required size, just as illustrated in the upper diagram in fig. 25. The lower diagram

Fig. 24

in the same figure shows the pattern which the knots build up when the stitch is worked in this spiral fashion. A centre to a daisy can most excellently be worked like this, using three shades of yellow ; in fact the result is quite comically like the real thing. It is very easy, by means of a change of colour in the thread, to introduce either shading or distinct bands of contrasted colours, such as black and gold, in successive rings. These centres can be worked on the actual flower, or they can be worked on a temporary ground and fixed in the centre of the flower when completed, a neat hemming round the edge to the base of the petals being all that is necessary to keep them in position. To work one of these centres begin by making a single chain stitch on the material, then work the first circle of knots into this chain and then continue round and round until the shape is of the necessary size. If it is worked on a tem- porary ground, release it by cutting the threads of the ground material, and then attach it to the flower. In order to keep the surface flat whilst working it is necessary, as the circle grows in circumference, to now and then add an extra stitch, that is, two into one hole instead of one. This spiral method of working the stitch can occasionally be seen on old work employed for the head of a bird, the eye forming the central point from which it is worked.

G. C.

4i

PLATE VI. A CUSHION COVER WITH A CIRCULAR DESIGN OF A FLOWERING TULIP TREE

THE embroidered Cushion Cover re- produced in Plate VI is worked in " Mallard " floss silk on a coarse stone-coloured linen. The illustration is reduced in scale, the original circular design measuring i o£ inches in diameter. The design is conventional, and is based upon the Tulip Tree, the forms being derived from an Indian pattern. The leaves are worked in grass greens and china blues. They are outlined in chain stitch, in the darker shade of each colour. The veins are done in the lighter tones of the blue and green in Roumanian stitch, worked openly so that the ground can be clearly seen between each stitch (see fig. 1 9 and the description, particularly the last paragraph). Care must be taken that the thread does not become untwisted, as an unsatisfactory effect will be produced if it is not kept tight. This can easily be avoided by turning the needle to the right occasionally as the thread is pulled out.

The berries are worked in dull gold in buttonhole stitch done in circular form, and small black French knots, made with three twists, divide these berries, thereby enriching the effect of the gold. The bunches of leaves are all worked in the same way, as an at- tractive simplicity is gained by such treatment. A little variety is introduced by the difference in the number of berries, which however are arranged with due regard to the even dis- tribution of the colour.

Stem stitch (see Part I) is used for the tendrils, in two shades of dull gold. A single line of the darker shade outlines either edge, and the centre is filled in with the lighter colour. The number of lines varies accord- ing to the thickness of the tendril.

The main trunk is outlined with black in

42

chain stitch. Next to this are two rows of chain in the darker drab colour. The centre of the trunk is filled in with more rows of chain in the lighter shade of drab. The lesser branches, leading from the trunk to the leaves, are outlined with chain in black, and filled in with stem stitch in dark drab.

The border, which is intended to be carried all round the edge of the cushion, is composed of five of the silks used in the central design. This embroidered band round the cushion could be omitted and a cord sewn on instead if preferred. If it is used it should be placed right on the edge of the cushion, close to the joining of the front and back. But it would be still more effective if lines of it were worked one on either side of the join. The middle band of Roumanian stitch is made up of dark china blue and grass green, alternating with narrow zigzags of black. Of the former colour there are six stitches and of the black, three. Either ride of this band is a chain-stitch line in the paler shade of grass green. On either side of these lines there is a variety of the chain, worked so as to form a " chevron " line (see the description on page 41). French knots, composed of three twists of silk, in the darker gold colour are introduced within each point to brighten the border.

An attractive material for working this cushion cover on would be Tussore silk, and when made up the edge might be bound with a coloured cord made from silks like those used in the design.

The following gi an alternative scheme of colouring on this material: — The leaves might be executed in four shades of dull gold, and the berries in black, brightened by French

PLATE VI.

A CUSHION COVER.

(For particulars see page 60.

EMBROIDERY

knots in red. The contrast of black and gold is always most effective. The stems, in that case, would look best in three dark shades of olive green, — the lighter shades of the same colour being used for the tendrils. The red should be introduced into the border, the width of which may be determined ac- cording to the taste of the embroideress.

The design is suitable for a wall pocket, or it might be adapted for a bed-spread or curtain, being repeated and placed at regular intervals, to form a " spot " pattern.

The following is a list of the quantities of each of the colours in " Mallard " Floss used in working the design : —

China Blue	No. 180a	about 3 skeins.
Grass Green	No. 178 No. 86		.. 2 „
Old Gold	No. 84 No. 103		» 2 „ » 2 „
Drab .	No. 99 No. 30b		, 1 skein. , 2 skeins.
»	No. 3od		, 1 skein.
Black .	No. 82		, 3 skeins.
(More would be required for working out the entire border.)
	D.	B.	Martin.

DESIGNING— II. CONVENTIONAL FLORAL

DESIGNS

BESIDES the naturalistic floral elements already described, floral work of another type is very largely used in embroidery designs. In this work the graceful elegance of growth, rich colouring, and most important general characteristics of plants are closely imitated, but the flowers used do not exactly represent individual specimens, or indeed actual species. The fact that a botanist would not be able to identify the particular flowers or foliage used in a design need not trouble the embroideress, for that in no way detracts from its decorative value. Study of the great schools of Design will furnish very many striking and beautiful examples of floral decoration which such a canon of criticism would condemn as irregular. The illustra- tions given in figs. 26 and 27, from two fine embroideries in the Victoria and Albert Museum, are examples of the kind of floral element in question. The first, from an eighteenth-century Persian cover, is repeated many times over the ground, set out in fairly close order. The second example, from an English hanging of about the same date, is repeated in order with two other sprigs of very similar design, forming a light, gaily coloured powdering of flowers over a white

linen ground. These are good examples of semi-naturalistic floral work, which has always been used in addition to forms carefully copied from nature.

Embroidery has a prominent place amongst the crafts which have been responsible for the introduction of new plants and flowers into the world of Art. The evolution of this semi-naturalistic flora is a very interesting study. Examination of old embroideries gathered from all parts of the world shows that each individual specimen, every flower and bud, is a development of some existing form, and is not an original creation, invented, as some appear to imagine that all designs are, upon the spur of the moment. All the fantastic and beautiful blossoms and leaves found decorating old embroideries have been the natural products of circumstances which have been at work, in all kinds of decoration, producing very similar results. It will be interesting to trace the development of some of these " conventional " floral forms, as they are called, for study of them, apart from its historical value, has a most direct bearing upon the everyday work of the designer, often enabling the worker to understand and appreciate results which though due to the

43

EMBROIDERY

working of decorative principles might be regarded as extravagant eccentricities.

The first stage towards purely conventional floral work is marked by those elements in which natural flowers are arranged in an unnatural way. The reason for this type of ornament is easy to understand ; a few flowers of pleasant, contrasting colours are often found grafted on to a plant of another

Fig. 26

species, which without them would have rendered the design, of which it forms part, somewhat insipid and dull. In a familiar border scheme we find bunches of totally dissimilar flowers and leaves, which have absolutely no natural relation to one another, issuing in regular order from a stiffly designed waving line or central stem. This produces a very ornate design, common in embroideries. The waving central stem-line

44

of the border would naturally suggest vine, ivy or some creeping plant as foliage suitable for the scheme, but the effect of any of these, appropriate enough in some cases, would in others be much too heavy and monotonous. So the designer strips ofF the unnecessary leaves and grafts on little bunches of gay flowers that will suit the requirements of the case.

A certain amount of the modification of the forms in naturalistic floral designs is

Fig. 27

due to the difficulty of exactly representing them by means of needle and thread. The various materials and methods used in all kinds of decoration tend to introduce some degree of formalisation or simplification of detail into every design. Modifications of naturalistic drawing due to this cause are commonly found in all crafts ; weaving, embroidery, carving and inlaying will each produce a characteristic rendering of the

EMBROIDERY

same original ; and in the same way each embroidery stitch will interpret a given de- sign with a certain individuality. Formali- sation has a tendency to increase as a design is passed from hand to hand and copied. The irregularities of growth, position and so forth, carefully imitated by the original worker and reproduced in the first few versions, are gradually eliminated as remem- brance of the natural forms becomes less distinct. Difficult to understand and re- present without reference to a model, they soon come to be rendered very imperfectly and regarded as defects of workmanship. The stimulus afforded by the desire of accurately representing nature, lost when actual contact with nature has been inter- rupted, is replaced by a desire to attain strict accuracy of workmanship, design, symmetry, and so forth.

There is no reason why one craftsman should not borrow the good things of another. It has been done continually in the past, with the happiest results ; for many designs have thus reaped the advantage of the con- centrated thought of various groups of decorators instead of that of one group alone. The fine designs used jointly by the tile and pottery painters, silk weavers and embroiderers of Persia and Syria afford excellent examples in point. In the process of transferring a design from one craft to another conventionalisation proceeds at a much increased pace, since the formalised product of one set of tools and materials becomes the basis of a second similar modi- fication. Designs so borrowed are sometimes deliberately adapted to new requirements. Carelessness in drawing and bad memory are two additional factors of great importance in producing new conventional elements, but the designer cannot be recommended to cul- tivate these expedients.

Designs formed of unnatural rearrange- ments of naturalistic foliage are easily contrived so long as the designer carefully explores and

makes use of the resources which Nature so lavishly provides. But, when a design requiring elements of the semi-naturalistic type is attempted, it is equally necessary to study the conventional flora which already exists. The notebook must contain sketches not only of flowers and leaves from the garden, but also of specimens from plates, tiles, woven and printed textiles. A set of

Fig. 2i

highly formalised flowers drawn from the patterns of some ancient silk brocades is given in our final illustration (fig. 28). There is no need to attempt to produce elements of striking originality ; it is better to take those which present themselves and make intelli- gent use of them with such slight adapta- tions and changes as the necessities of new conditions demand.

A. H. Christie.

45

PLATE VII. A D'OYLEY EMBROIDERED WITH SPRIGS OF ESCHSCHOLTZIA

IN Plate VII an embroidered d'oyley is illustrated, the original being six and a half inches square. The flower repre- sented is the rose and white Eschscholtzia ; so perhaps the colourings of the rest of the set might be chosen from other varieties of the same plant, such as the orange, pale yellow or carmine.

The basis of the design is simple. Four little cuttings of the flower are placed to- gether in such a way that their main stems form a circle. From these stems spring slender stalks, each bearing a blossom which is supported on either side by a feathery leaf. The embroidery is executed on a fine white linen ground in " Filo-floss " silk in three shades of pink, two of green, two of brown, pale purple, black and white. The stitches used are stem, double back, chain (for which see Part I) and trellis (see fig. 23). A more delicate effect would be obtained if fine semi-transparent linen or batiste were used instead of the ordinary linen as illustrated. Such a material would make a very dainty d'oyley, but would be a little more difficult to work upon.

The flowers are worked in a stitch which has been descriptively named " Trellis." The reproduction scarcely does it full justice perhaps, for it is unusually attractive, and, strange to say, not nearly so difficult to execute as its appearance suggests, though it is rather a close stitch to work in a fine thread. The worker would be well advised to try to embroider the flower exactly in the same way as it is done in the colour plate, but in case she may not wish to attempt anything new, other methods are suggested further on.

To begin working one of the flowers, a strand of the deepest shade of pink is threaded

46

in a needle and doubled in halves. All the flowers and leaves in this example are carried out with a two-fold thread. The manipula- tion is often easier when a single thread is doubled than when two strands are threaded into the needle together. Each petal must first be outlined with chain stitch, in working which care must be taken that the material does not pucker, for when one is executing any small circular shape in chain it is very easy to draw up the material.

It is a good plan to outline all the sixteen petals before commencing any of the fillings, for the completed petals are then more likely to be of the same size. When these are finished, the fillings are the next process. Before working them to the directions, it is necessary for the worker to master the description of trellis stitch on page 39, and it may be well to carry out a simple trial piece with coarse thread as there suggested. To begin the filling, thread the needle with a double strand of the deepest shade of pink, and bring it through at the top left-hand corner of a petal, in the centre of one of the chain stitches. Work five rows of trellis stitch to and fro, alternately from left to right and from right to left. Next, in the medium shade of pink, work four more rows of the stitch, and then four more rows in the palest shade, allowing the lines to take a slight curve, as that will make the shading more pleasing and true to nature than if they were taken absolutely straight across. Fill in the remainder of the petal with the same stitch in pure white. Finally, in order to strengthen the edge, work a line of stem stitch in the deepest shade of pink round the outside of each petal. This, however, can be omitted at the worker's will. The centre of the flower has five French knots,

PLATE VII.

A D'OYLEY.

[For particulars see page 60.)

EMBROIDERY

in pale purple, arranged in the form of a cross. Outside these a small circle is worked in chain stitch in single black thread and, in order to give the requisite square shape to the centre, four single chain stitches in black are worked over the circular line, each one pointing towards a corner.

The feather-like leaves are worked in double back stitch with double thread in two shades of green, the central portion in the darker, and the branching outer por- tions in the lighter shade. The drawing of these forms should be refined and clear, for if they become at all clumsy the crisp char- acter will be lost. This means that small neat stitches must be taken exactly on the traced lines. The main stem, which is the part forming the circle, is filled in with chain stitch in single thread. First the out- lines are worked in black, very close against them on either side, a line of chain is run in brown, and along the centre a line of the pale shade of brown. The flower stalk is first outlined in chain stitch in the darker green; its centre is then filled in with double back stitch, using the darker brown towards the base and the lighter brown near the flower.

The d'oyley is finished off round the edges with a simple fringe, made by fraying out the material of the ground. At the base of

the fringe a line of stitching is worked in order to secure the frayed edge and to draw the fringe into little detached bunches. This process, which should be carried out before the fringe is cut and when only a few warp threads have been withdrawn, will be familiar to any one who knows the simplest drawn thread work.

Some alternative methods of working the flower petals would be (a) to execute them in shaded crewel stitch, in the way some- times called " painting with the needle." [b) They might be worked in distinct bands of satin stitch in successive shades of colour, (r) They might be carried out in chain stitch, in concentric lines gradually becoming lighter towards the centre. As an alternative silk Filoselle can replace the " Filo-Floss," if preferred. " Stout Floss " silk might well be substituted ; in fact the prettiest effect of all would be obtained by working in that make upon fine batiste.

The silks used in carrying out the d'oyley are as follows : —

Pinks	. Nos. 163]!, 163d
Greens	. Nos. 178c, 1780!
Browns	. Nos. 123, 124
Purple	. No. 120
White	. No. 177
Black	. No. 178 .

I

I

1 skein. 1 „ 1 »

G. C.

THE USE OF PRECIOUS STONES IN

EMBROIDERY

THAT the craft of the Jeweller and of the Embroiderer have in the past sometimes been intimately connected is well known to those versed in the history of art. In the earliest times the art of embroidery was indebted to the goldsmith for the manufacture of gold thread, precious not only for its intrinsic value, but also for the decorative resources that it opened up. It has been suggested

that it is to the association between the two crafts that the early embroidery was indebted for many goldsmith-like details of design. Until the seventeenth century it was a fairly common practice to add precious stones as enrichment to embroi- deries for either lay or ecclesiastical use. From that time the use of jewels became less frequent, and to-day it may be said scarcely to exist. This is to be regretted, as

47

EMBROIDERY

there can be no doubt of their fitness for the purpose, as long as it is remembered that they need setting in suitable surround- ings, such as are given by gold, silver, and fine wrought silk.

It was not customary to use stones only of first-rate quality. In some of the finest old examples pretty little pieces of coloured stone, mounted in silver-gilt settings, were placed in important positions in the work. The Orientals make frequent use of small pieces of looking-glass, and other equally simple devices, to obtain a brilliant effect. Modern workers will find beads a pretty and inexpensive form of this kind of decoration. They can be obtained of many sorts, colours and sizes, and they may be used for tassels, fringes, edgings of all kinds, and sometimes, in carefully chosen portions of the em- broidery. Bead work is well known as a craft in itself, but not so well perhaps in con- junction with other work.

The few existing examples of embroidery enriched with precious stones, although mostly in a mutilated condition, show clearly what beautiful results these two crafts achieved in combination. Amongst such pieces we may mention Archbishop Walter's sandals, of thirteenth-century date, which were discovered a few years ago in his tomb at Canterbury in an excellent state of pre- servation. They were decorated with car- buncles and amethysts set in a lovely embroidered pattern of dragons, birds, lions, and beautiful little geometrical forms, most delicately wrought in gold thread. The famous red velvet cope, of fourteenth-century English work, belonging to Colonel Butler Bowdon, has still some of the pearls remain- ing with which it was once lavishly orna- mented. Fig. 29, a detail taken from it, shows a grotesque lion's head and some acorns, both composed of pearls. The fan- tastic, stem-like columns to which they are attached occur at frequent intervals all over the cope, forming the dividing lines be- tween the many figures and subjects worked

48

upon it. Again, each of the twenty-six angels in the spandrels holds a star made of pearls.

In the two foregoing examples the precious stones are fixed by stitching, but in other cases embroidery called to its aid the elaborate settings of the jeweller's art. A

Fig. 29

good illustration of this can be seen in a mitre in the possession of New College, Oxford, left to it by the founder, Bishop William of Wykeham, who died in 1360. Although mutilated, this is still a very fine example of jewelled embroidery. Fig. 30 is an outline drawing of the front of the mitre showing the main plan of the design. The

EMBROIDERY

central band running down the front is decorated with jewels set in a guilloche of pearls. Either side of the band filling up the space around a large central jewel, runs a scroll pattern embroidered in silver thread, whilst the surrounding ground is rilled in with strings of pearls. This pattern is omitted in the outline drawing, but a fragment of it is illustrated in fig. 31. Round the base of the mitre runs a double band of enamelled and jewelled tablets, between which are detached

Fig. 30

jewels. Each tablet in the band is neatly hinged to the adjoining one in order to allow the mitre to take the necessary rounded shape. Fig. 32 shows a small portion of this band. In it can be seen five of the enamels, which are of wonderful colour and workmanship. They nearly all differ in subject, but each contains an animal placed against a background of foliage. The other tablets are composed of cut stones neatly mounted and, in some cases, framed in pearls.

The number of surviving examples is

very small, when compared to the enormous quantity that must have been in existence at one time or another. It is sometimes difficult to believe that the accounts of them are not exaggerated ; to the sober-clad twentieth century they read almost like the fairy stories of the Arabian Nights. It is literally true however that in the great days of jewel- embroidered garments, a notable personage might be gorgeous with jewels from the crown of his head to the sole of his feet. Plate 36 in M. de Farcy's interesting collec- tion of reproductions of Embroidery, shows a pair of bishop's sandals, decorated with gems and pearls on the soles as well as on the upper parts.

The principal cause of the destruction of these works of art was the value of the precious materials. At times the gems were only cut away from the work, which was itself left fairly intact. Such was the case with the Ascoli-Piceno cope, which though now entirely bare, was once richly decorated with pearls. Unfortunately it was more usual first to remove the valuable stones, and then burn the embroideries, in order to reclaim the gold that had been stitched upon them at the cost of years of labour. Another reason for their destruction was their impracticability. Abbots, grand lords and ladies literally succumbed beneath the weight of garments covered with precious stones and plates of gold. In 1606 Marie de Medicis wore at a royal baptism, a robe decorated with 3,200 pearls, and 3,000 diamonds, and we are not surprised to learn that she never put it on a second time. The chasuble given by Geoffrey, sixteenth Abbot of St. Albans, to his monastery in the twelfth century, was so covered with stones and plates of gold that it was burnt by his successor because of its fatiguing weight. An inventory of a Spanish lady's wardrobe supplies a rather comical reason for the despoliation of her pearl-enriched robe. One large button of Moorish pearl work was noted down as missing ; this, says the

49

EMBROIDERY

inventory, was ground into a potion for the said duchess when she was sick.*

Pearls, being more plentiful, were natur- ally used in greater quantities than rarer stones. Oriental and Scottish pearls were considered of most value. The seed pearls were sold by weight, the larger ones by the hundred, and the largest at so much per pearl. In inventories they are described in this way : such and such a garment had so many " counted " pearls on it, and so on. They were applied to the embroidery in all kinds of ways. Sometimes seed pearls were used to fill in a background, as in William of Wykeham's mitre ; at other times strings of pearls were stitched down to out- line a pattern, a nimbus of a saint, or a fold of drapery. Elsewhere they were used to cover solidly some portion of the design. We read in the description of a fourteenth- century doublet,i' belonging to the Duke of Burgundy, that it was made of red velvet

Fig- 3i

garnished with many pieces of worked gold, cut in shapes of lozenges and squares. For further decoration it had embroidered upon it forty sheep and forty swans composed of

pearls. Each sheep had a bell hanging round its neck, and each swan held one in its beak. It had also upon it seventy-eight flowers of gold enamelled with red. This

Fig. 32

was worn on the occasion of a grand regal procession. Another duke of musical tastes had a wonderful garment, also decorated with pearls, but in a different way. It is mentioned in the inventory of Charles VI. as belonging to Charles, Duke of Orleans. The sleeves were embroidered up and down with the words and music of the chanson Madame, je suis plus joyeulx. Each musical note was composed of four pearls stitched down close together, so as to form a tiny square. This entailed the use of 568 pearls for the 142 notes of the song.

We have not discussed the use of precious stones in Oriental Embroidery, but the European employment of jewellery in this manner is derived from the East. Where the West has used jewels in twos and threes, the East has literally covered embroideries with the rarest gems. From Persia have emanated the most gorgeous specimens of jewelled embroideries. To give one ex- ample, we will quote the description J of a wonderful jewelled carpet, that was taken by the Arabs in the pillage of the White Palace of Khosroes after the defeat of the Persians at Cadesia (a.d. 637).

* L. Williams : " The Arts and Crafts of Older Spain."

t M. de Farcy : " La Broderie du onzieme siecle jusqu'a. nos jours."

X " History of Arabia, Ancient and Modern," by Andrew Crichton.

50

EMBROIDERY

" One article in this prodigious booty, before which all others seemed to recede in comparison, was the superb and celebrated carpet of silk and gold cloth, sixty cubits in length and as many in breadth, which de- corated one of the apartments of the palace. It was wrought into a paradise or garden, with jewels of the most curious and costly species : the ruby, the emerald, the sapphire, the beryl, topaz, and pearl, being arranged with such consummate skill as to represent, in beautiful mosaic, trees, fruits and flowers, rivulets and fountains : roses and shrubs of every description seemed to combine their fragrance and their foliage to charm the senses of the beholders. This piece of ex- quisite luxury and illusion, to which the

Persians gave the name of Baharistan, or the Mansion of Perpetual Spring, was an inven- tion employed by their monarchs as an artificial substitute for that loveliest of seasons. During the gloom of winter they were accustomed to regale the nobles of their court on this magnificent embroidery, where art had supplied the absence of nature, and wherein the guests might trace a brilliant imitation of her faded beauties in the varie- gated colours of the jewelled and pictured floor."

The ultimate fate of this work of art was that it was cut up into small pieces and divided amongst the conquerors, in spite of an effort being made to save it for the sake of its marvellous beauty. G. C.

PLATE VIII. A BLOTTER WITH A SPRAY OF

YELLOW FLOWERS

THE design illustrated in Plate VIII is intended for a blotter. The size of the original is eleven inches by nine inches, the measurements being taken from the outer edges of the embroidered border. The ground material is dark blue linen, and the work is carried out in Twisted Embroidery Silk. The colour scheme includes three yellows, lemon and two shades of orange, three shades of green, a sepia brown and a deep purple. The stitches employed are stem, satin, double back and chain, all of which were described and illustrated in Part I. These four are all easily executed, although the last two are not in quite such everyday use as the first two. There are, however, many other stitches quite as simple as satin and chain, and the variety obtained by using them is distinctly advantageous both from the point of view of greater interest in the working and the result when finished. Double back stitch, for instance, can fre- quently replace satin ; it is easier and more quickly executed, for it need not be worked

H

so closely, and it is more economical, as there is less silk upon the under surface than with satin stitch.

The petals of the flowers are all filled with double back stitch in a pale lemon yellow. Four of the flowers are outlined with the same colour in stem stitch, the rest in the paler shade of orange. In the centre of each open flower is a large purple French knot, made with three twists of silk upon the needle. The flowers shown in profile are worked exactly like the others, but have two of the French knots instead of only one. The outlines of the flowers must be worked very close up to the filling, and small stitches must be taken. The thread should be kept to the right-hand side of the needle, and the point of each petal emphasised by a slightly longer stitch. The leaves also are outlined with stem stitch, but with the thread placed on the left-hand side of the needle. In order to obtain the serrated edge, the needle must pick up the material rather more obliquely than usual. With the leaves the

51

EMBROIDERY

outline is worked first, in the middle shade of green, and the filling afterwards in satin stitch in the palest shade of the same colour. The buds are worked in satin stitch in the deeper shade of orange ; the calyces of the buds, worked in the deepest shade of green, consist each of two single detached chain stitches. Fig. 33 illustrates some detached chain stitches. They are commenced in the usual way, and then, instead of continuing with a second stitch, the thread is taken through to the back over the loop just formed, thus securing it. In working these buds, each stitch begins from the base and takes a slightly outward direction, and the tying-down stitch, made perhaps a little longer than is actually necessary, then slopes inwards towards the little orange bud, thus making the form of the calyx more like a sheath wrapped round the bud. The stems are worked in ordinary stem stitch in two colours, brown and the deepest shade of green. The two colours are worked in lines close beside each other until the first flower stalk springs ofF and marks the point for continuing the brown colour alone in a single line. The five larger leaves at the base, those from which the 6pray springs, are worked as follows : the fillings in double back stitch in the lightest green, the outlines in stem stitch in the medium shade, and the lower part of the reflexed leaves in satin stitch in brown. The small triangular shape at the base, suggesting the earth, is worked in close lines of stem stitch in dark green and purple alternately.

The border is worked entirely in chain stitch or, to be more accurate, in variations of it. The small trefoils of deep orange colour, that repeat all round the border, are each composed of three single detached chain stitches lg* 33 (see fig. 33), each com-

mencing from the same centre and pointing outwards. The chevron line, of chequered green and purple, that runs round the

52

border and separates the trefoils, is worked very similarly to the ordinary chain, and is known as " chequered chain." In order to give it the chequer pattern, two strands of silk, a dark green and a purple, must be threaded into the needle together. Begin working exactly as for the ordinary chain stitch until the moment of pulling the needle through over the loop of thread is reached. In the present case the needle will be in the act of passing over two threads ; remove one of them, say the green, from under the needle and let it lie on top, or be thrown to one side (see fig. 34). Now draw the needle through over the remaining purple thread and the result will be that a chain stitch, in the purple colour, will have been formed. Ifat the starting point some of the green shows, it can easily be re- mo v e d by pulling the green thread. For the next stitch, allow Fig. 34

only the green

thread to remain looped under the needle, and place the purple aside out of the way, which will make the second stitch a green one. This course, if continued, works the chain in a chequering of green and purple. With this particular border an extra long, green stitch should always be taken at the points of the chevron. A large needle should be used, as the two-fold thread is thick, and the thumb of the left hand should be placed over the stitch, whilst the worker pulls the thread through, in order to prevent any troublesome tangling of the thread.

This design or colour scheme might be worked upon either white or unbleached linen. If, with this alteration in the colour of the ground, the border appeared a little heavy, paler shades of the same colours could

PLATE VIII.

A BLOTTER.

(For particulars see page 60.)

EMBROIDERY

be substituted. The flowers and leaves may be of other colours, though the flower here is based on the yellow St. John's Wort. As an alternative silk " Mallard " floss may be used.

The yellow flower spray could, by leaving out the border, be applied to a variety of other objects such as a work bag, handker- chief and glove case, small cushions and many other small objects that would be brightened up by a little embroidery ; or it could be repeated, with others built up on a similar plan, at intervals over a hanging, with a border based on the same plan as this one. Being so much larger, the border would need to be made more interesting ; the chevron could be developed into a decorated band, and a flower or leaf sprig might be used instead of the trefoil.

To arrange other sprays on the same basis as the one illustrated is very simple ; all that is necessary is to substitute other suitable flowers and leaves upon the same stems and base.

If the worker wishes to decorate the back as well as the front of the blotter, the Michaelmas Daisy might be used instead of the St. John's Wort, but the same border should be used upon both sides.

The Twisted Embroidery Silks required for carrying out this design are as follows: —

Greens	. No. i78g . . about	2 skeins.
)>	. Nos. 1780!, i78e „	1 skein of each
Yellows	. Nos. 156, 91 . „	* i) >> >>
>>	. No. 156a . . „	2 skeins.
Brown	• No. 537 . . „	1 skein.
Purple	• No. 4ig . . „	2 skeins.

G. C.

SILK— II. THE MANUFACTURE OF NET AND

SPUN SILK

A. "NET" SILK

WITH the completion of the cocoon the caterpillar, the original maker of all silk, passes from our view, The creature is, in fact, painlessly killed to prevent his destroying the valuable thread with which he has surrounded himself. The necessity for keeping our descriptions in- telligible prevents our doing full justice to the intricacy and delicacy of the process of Silk Manufacture ; but, before proceeding to describe them, we may just summarise one or two of the special characteristics of the thread which have by now revealed them- selves. The embroideress then should bear in mind that in using any ordinary embroidery silk, she is working with from one hundred to eleven hundred ends of the original thread as it leaves the cocoon. Presumably she wishes to exhibit the full beauty and nature of her material, which has a decorative value of its own quite apart from the added qualities of design and colour. The intrinsic

beauty of silk lies in these two qualities, the power which it has of reflecting light, which we call lustre, and its supple smoothness. They depend upon what is known as the parallelism of the fibres, or, in other words, upon the fact that all the minutely fine strands which are united in the composite thread, lie evenly, side by side, with little or no twist upon them. The more skilled the worker, the less twist will she need upon the silk she uses, and the more careful she will be to keep it flat and smooth on the material.

The first step in manufacture, known as " reeling," consists in unwinding the silk from the cocoon into a skein. For this purpose a given number of cocoons, varying from four to ten or twelve, according to the size of thread that is required, are placed together in a basin of warm water, and are whisked about with a brush until the gum is softened and the end of the thread can be found. The coarse outer portion is then reeled ofF and thrown aside as waste, until

53

EMBROIDERY

the true fine thread is reached, which con- tinues for about eleven hundred yards, after which point it becomes too fine to be un- wound. When the ends of all the cocoons have been found, they are given a twist with the fingers to make them adhere, and are so gathered up on to a slowly revolving wheel. After the skein on the wheel has reached a certain size it is taken off", and is ready to be packed in bales for shipment. How tedious this " reeling " is may be imagined from the fact that it takes the product of over two thousand cocoons to make one pound of silk. This first stage of manufacture is almost invariably conducted in the same country or locality as the silk is grown in.

The next process is known as throwing, and comprises all the various stages by which the reeler's skein is transformed into a yarn ready for dyeing. Silk throwing, once a prosperous trade in this country, has fallen on evil days, and is now carried on almost solely on the Continent, so far as the European trade is concerned. By some the cause of this decline is ascribed to the competition of labour which is alleged to be sweated, and to the absence of a protective duty. Part of the decline may be due to these causes, but those who can view the subject with a more impartial eye are inclined to assign it to more natural reasons, namely the apathy of silk throwsters during the period when the first onslaught of foreign competition was felt after the removal of the duty in 1 860 ; to the difficulties of climate ; and to the tendency, which may be observed in all modern industry, to simplify manufacture by combining the initial stages, as far as possible, in the country where the raw material originates. However that may be, all are agreed in lamenting the gradual disappearance of the old silk mills. The industry is on the whole an admirable employment for girls and women, involving neither great physical fatigue, nor extremes of heat, cold, or moisture ; and if it be at times irritating to the point of distraction,

54

even that may be not a bad discipline for the temper.

For the skein of raw silk, as exported from China, when it is put on to the " swifts " or skeleton wheels, for the first winding pro- cess, is a skein in name only, and besides containing the " gouts " and " nib " to which we referred in our first article, is so full of very fine portions and loose ends that it will seldom run for many minutes without break- ing. Once the thread is broken, and the end lost, it is no easy task to find it again, and although an expert may do so in less than a minute, it might take an amateur ten minutes or more, if indeed he ever succeeded in finding it at all. An industrious winder can only look after some twenty skeins at a time, and the product of a day's work, even on a good class of silk, is only about twenty- five ounces. But once the silk is safely cleaned and on the bobbin in a continuous length, the remaining stages of " doubling," "spinning," and "throwing" are much more rapid and simple.

Doubling consists in rewinding any num- ber of ends together from the first winding bobbins to produce a multifold cord of the required size. An embroidery silk usually consists of two such cords, a machine silk of three, a knitting silk of from two to eight, and a floss of a single cord slightly twisted. It is a process requiring considerable care in order to prevent a single end breaking, and so dropping out, and to ensure an even tension, which is essential if a loopy and irregular silk is to be avoided. This multi- fold cord has next to be twisted or " spun." It makes little difference whether the spin is from right to left, or vice versa, but the spin on the single cord must be in the opposite direction to that in which it is to be twisted together with one or more others. The last process consists in again twisting up the single spun cords into a two, three, or four ply yarn, which has then only to be reeled back into skeins when it is ready for dyeing.

EMBROIDERY

Such, simply stated, is the complete process of silk throwing. We may leave the consideration of net silk at this point, until we come to the subject of dyeing and finishing in our last article. At this stage it resembles an ordinary, very stiff white string without lustre, or any other special beauty. It would surprise many people to see the almost endless varieties of size and throw which the manufacturer is called upon to produce, by reason of the many uses to which silk is put. To take one class of consumer only, the everyday outdoor attire of a lady in the twentieth century usually comprises silk in at least a dozen different forms. Her boots or shoes are sewn with machine closing and button- holed with spun machine twist. Any silk garments she wears are woven with organ- zine for a warp, and tram for weft. Her stockings are clocked with chevoning floss, her dress is buttonholed with Legee, her blouse tucked or hemmed with spun machine twist and probably spotted with embroidery silk. The flowers in her hat have the stems lapped with flower floss. Her gloves are decorated with tambour and sewn with fine super machine twist.

B. SPUN SILK

It is scarcely necessary to say that the many processes which we have so far described incidentally involve the creation of a large amount of waste. The usual estimate is that for every pound of thrown net silk produced, an equal, or larger quantity of waste is made, which becomes in turn the raw material of a separate industry, the manufacture of "Spun Silk." It is pleasant to turn to the subject of silk spinning, as it offers a picture in complete contrast to the distressed throwing industry, since it is not only a flourishing trade in this country, but one in which Englishmen have always held the first position as inventors and manufacturers, ever since its rise.

The waste which reaches this country includes many different kinds. There is what may be called the silkworm's own waste, known as " blaze," consisting of pierced and faulty cocoons, the coarse bourre de soie and the inner wrapping of the cocoon which, as we saw, is too find to wind. Then there is the reeler's waste, which has often been thrown wet on the floor, and there been trampled upon till it mats into a solid lump. Lastly, there is throwing waste, which in- cludes all that made in the mills in winding and spinning the silk. It is hardly too much to say of waste generally — though there are exceptions to this — that it reaches the spinner in a state in which an ordinary individual would have considerable hesitation in touch- ing it at all, unless to throw it into the fire, whilst it leaves him transformed into a lustrous, cream-white thread, almost as silky and beautiful as the real thing.

The first process in silk spinning is to discharge the natural " gum " or " sericin," with which, as was pointed out in Part I, the silkworm has protected and waterproofed the thread, and which constitutes from twenty to twenty-seven per cent, of its total weight. English spinners usually discharge their waste by putting it into bags which hold about a pound each, and boiling a hundred or so of them at a time for an hour and a half in a solution of soap and water.

The operation is repeated twice, the bags of silk being dried in the interval between the first and second boiling. At the same time as the gum is thus discharged, most of the dirt and some of the other impurities are got rid of, allowing the natural softness and lustre of the silk to appear. When it has been finally dried, it is carefully searched for the kind of impurities which boiling would not remove. They vary with the kind of waste treated, and include pieces of cocoon, leaves, twigs, hairs, paper, cigarette ends and even nails and pieces of iron ; in fact a collection of such sweepings as would be found on the floor of the cottage in the

55

EMBROIDERY

distant land where it was reeled, or in the mill where it was thrown.

At this point it is still a mere mass of tangled and knotted fibres, and the object of the dressing stage is to straighten it out, until it reaches something like the appear- ance and consistency of a sheet of cotton- wool. This is done by feeding the waste on to a large drum which revolves at a high speed, and the surface of which is covered with fine, close-set steel teeth. The teeth grip the silk and straighten it out, while any remaining pieces of cocoon, etc., fall out. When the teeth are full, the silk, now called a " lap," is cut at one point and stripped off in a continuous sheet, just as long as the circumference of the drum. The second process, called " filling," is similar to the last, but has a further object, namely to begin sorting out the different lengths of fibre, which vary, in the first state, from half an inch to a yard in length. So the "lap" is again fed on to a revolving drum, which in this case has the rows of teeth about eight inches apart ; but this time, when the drum is full, instead of cutting the lap on it at one pointy and stripping it off in a continuous length, it is cut between each row of teeth, leaving a thick tuft or fringe, some seven inches long, hanging on the row. The operator then grips the tufts firmly between the edges of a hinged board, called a " book- board," and so pulls it off the teeth. *

The process of dressing proper, which comes next, cannot be adequately described in a short space. It suffices to say that the portion of the silk which projects between the edges of the bookboard is mechanically "combed" until all the shorter fibres are dragged out on to the teeth of the combs, and those remaining are at last all practically of one length, clean and parallel. After the projecting fringe has thus been combed, it is in turn gripped by another bookboard, and the portion which was between the boards in the first instance is subjected to the same

process. The waste is now termed a " first draft." All the fibres that have been combed out are subsequently removed from the teeth of the combs and put through the same routine, the length of the fibre growing shorter with each repetition, until six or seven " drafts " have been formed.

The various drafts are kept separate, and have next to be restored to the form of a continuous thin film, some eight or ten inches wide, by the processes of " spreading" and "drawing." These processes are similar to those by which the "lap" was first made, except that it is gradually drawn out thinner and thinner by means of the receiving pins dragging at it faster than it is fed to them, and by its being pressed between iron rollers, until it at length emerges like a narrow silver ribbon, called a "sliver."

So the waste, having been torn, cut, combed and pressed times innumerable, is at length beginning to resume the form of a continuous, even thread. We need not follow it through the processes of roving, doubling and twisting, as they have been already sufficiently described in dealing with thrown silk. Though they naturally differ techni- cally from the treatment given to net silk, the principle is the same throughout.

Whilst the final product is of course not equal to a net silk, it is remarkable how good a spun-silk yarn may be, the very waste of silk being superior to the prime product of any other textile thread. The price is from a third to a half that of net silk. The two can easily be distinguished by the ease with which the fibres fall apart. If the single thread of a spun silk is untwisted and pulled apart, it will be found that the fibres, being only some six inches in length at the most, will pull out without disturbing the rest ; but if a net silk is treated in the same way, and the single end is drawn, the whole length writhes and cockles, showing that the true long staple is there.

H. W. R.

56

A Child's Frock, Italian or French, Eighteenth Century.

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A CHILD'S FROCK

IT sometimes happens that a design which has been made for one object, and by- chance getting put to a use absolutely foreign to its first intention, is most charm- ingly appropriate to its new office. Such is the case with the child's frock illustrated in the frontispiece, for what was once with- out doubt intended for the decoration of a valance has been turned to very good account as material for a little girl's em- broidered dress. The original border design can be seen in its complete form composing the lower half of the skirt. To this, in order to make the dress of the requisite length, has adroitly been joined another strip of the border, the pattern being care- fully arranged so that the important parts of it recur in regular lines up and down. A definite band of stitching hides the join, and a portion of the narrow edging appearing just above this line has been carefully unpicked in order to prevent the original use of the material being too apparent. A close comparison between the narrow border at the base and the border above the join shows that these two are in reality of the same design, but that the upper border has been partly obliterated. A third

piece of the broad border does service as bodice, and this time the narrow edging is dispensed with altogether. The sleeves are decorated with little sprigs, probably gleaned from the cut-to-waste pieces of the material. It is perhaps a pity that there was not a little more embroidery to spare for them.

Upon a soft cream muslin ground the light and graceful pattern is embroidered in two shades of tightly twisted indigo-blue silk. The darker shade of the two largely predominates, the lighter being used only here and there for such parts as the open fillings of the flowers, and so on. In addi- tion to the silk thread there is a fairly generous use of fine gold tambour, which, owing to much use and washing, has faded to a dead gold colour, not at all unpleasing. Most of the pattern is outlined with this fine gold thread, and occasionally half a leaf is solidly filled in with it. The whole of the work is in chain stitch, excepting the stitching on of the tiny gold spangles which are freely used and greatly add to the effect. They sometimes have a circle of chain in gold tambour enclosing them, a rather unusual and pretty device.

57

EMBROIDERY

The work is probably Italian or French of the early eighteenth century. The evidence that it was bought at Piacenza rather tends to prove its Italian origin, but, in any case, the design shows strong Eastern influence.

The decoration of children's dress is a subject that the embroideress may well take up, even if she is not a skilled dressmaker. It is almost certain to be suitable, and a child's is a very different undertaking from an adult's dress. The cutting out is com- paratively simple; the style, too, is prettiest when simple, and so the embroideress has only to think of a pretty decoration for a frock that perhaps just hangs loose from the yoke downwards. With adult dress many more questions come in ; the cut and

style are more complicated and more impor- tant than the surface decoration. Anything in the nature of serious embroidery upon it has often to be designed with special reference to these considerations, which make the embroidering of a grown-up person's dress a much more intricate matter.

The dress in the frontispiece is about the right size for a child of six. It might easily be an English frock of the Gainsborough period (the same date as the embroidery), when children, at all events in pictures, wore dresses down to their toes. No matter what its origin or intention may have been, it provides us with a delightfully dainty and graceful example of decoration for children's dress. G. C.

STITCHES— III

CORAL STITCH— CRETAN STITCH— PLAITED BRAID STITCH

BEFORE entering upon the explanation of the three stitches to be described in this number, we should like to complain against the existing too universal use of satin stitch. With it for fillings, and stem stitch for all necessary line work, the embroideress seems often quite content, whereas there are many others at her service possibly more suitable, often easier in execu- tion, and more interesting. Variety in the stitching is an advantage at times ; it pleasantly relieves the monotony of working, besides adding new interest to the finished work. On the other hand, there are many occasions when monotony of stitch is essential to the beauty of a piece of work. If one stitch, however, were to be chosen out above all others for universal employment, it would be chain. There is no need to enter upon its praises now, but either for broad effects or most exquisite drawing of detail it has

58

no rival. At this moment we are simply advocating, for ordinary embroidery pur- poses, the employment of a greater variety of stitch.

The three described below are Coral, Cretan, and Plaited Braid. The first is a decorative line stitch particularly easy and quick in execution. It can be seen in use upon the stems and offshoots of the cornflower design in Plate XII. Cretan, the second, is one of the well-known Eastern stitches, very useful for all kinds of fillings as well as for border- lines. (In Plate X it has been used for the bright-green fillings of the rose-leaves.) Plaited Braid, the third stitch, is one of the more complicated varieties. It was noticed in the description of the embroidered jacket in Part I as being employed for all the stems in that piece of work. It is particularly decorative, and shows to greatest advantage when worked in metal thread.

EMBROIDERY

CORAL STITCH

Coral belongs to the group of knotted stitches, and it is specially useful for any feathery or fern-like foliage, or for the veining of leaves when all that is required is a light open rilling. Fig. 35 illustrates it being used in this last-mentioned way. It is composed of a simple knot, made and fixed to the material at the same moment. The knots can be placed so close together

Fig- 35

as almost to touch, or they can be spaced a little apart as in the illustration. To work it, bring the thread through to the front at the required point, and hold it down upon the material with the thumb of the left hand, on the traced line, a little to the left of the point where it came through (A in diagram). Then insert the needle, as in the illustration, and draw it through over the working thread. When forming the stitch, as little as possible of the ground material should be taken up. To make a closely

knotted line, the needle, for each succeeding stitch, should be inserted as near as possible to the knot last made. If the line is required more open, the knots can be spaced as much as an eighth of an inch apart.

CRETAN STITCH

Cretan, a stitch that has the appearance of a broad plait, can, like many others of this order, vary in width according to the shape

Fig. 36

of the space it is used to fill. It therefore makes a useful filling for leaves or petals of flowers. Most people are familiar with the characteristic embroideries coming from the island of Crete, which are frequently carried out entirely in it, whence probably the name. It is, however, commonly used upon Turkish and other work. Fig. 36 illustrates the stitch carrying out a leaf-filling. In this example the curved point of the leaf is commenced in stem stitch, gradually

59

EMBROIDERY

merging first into Roumanian, and, when the leaf is wide enough, into Cretan ; it is quite simple to change from one to the other. To work Cretan stitch, as in the illustration, the needle brings the thread through the material a little to one side of the central- vein line (see the loose thread in the diagram). The needle then picks up a piece of material on the opposite side of the leaf, just as is in process in the diagram, and brings the thread through again a little on the other side of the central vein and over the working thread, so that this last remains on the underside of the thread that has come through. For the next stitch the same process is repeated on the opposite side, and so it is continued, alternately on either side, until the filling is completed. The main variation in the working of this stitch lies in the proportionate size of the central part of the plait to the outer part ; sometimes the centre is the wider and sometimes the outer, as in the present illustration. If a wide plait is wanted down the centre, only a small piece of material must be picked up by the needle ; if the central plait is to be narrow, a larger piece must be picked up, which necessarily brings the thread out nearer to the central line, and so makes the middle portion narrower.

PLAITED BRAID STITCH

As this stitch has a rather complicated appearance and is perhaps not so simple as some, a particularly detailed diagram has been drawn. The worker may find that to learn it from the diagram (fig. 37) is the simplest way to master it. Five successive stitches are there depicted ; after working the fifth (if the method is not by then completely learned) it is only necessary to glance at stage number four for information about the succeeding stitch, and then to continue to repeat the two last stages in alternation. To begin working, bring the needle through on the left-hand side of the

60

proposed band of stitching. Pass the thread under itself so as to form a loop on the surface of the material ; then insert the

EMBROIDERY

needle in the centre of this loop, bring it through on the outside of it, and pull the thread through over the working thread (all this is shown in the diagram in stage one). For the next development the needle passes the thread under the two threads that cross on the surface (see diagram, stage two), but it does not enter the material at all this time. For the third movement the needle both enters the material and comes out again in the centre of the loops, exactly as illustrated in stage three of the diagram. For the fourth stitch the needle passes :he thread only under the crossed threads on the surface, and again does not enter the material ; in fact it is simply a repetition of stage two. Stage five is a repetition of stage three, and needs no further description. It will be seen that there are in reality only two different movements, and that they occur in alternation. The needle passes the thread in a horizontal direction, alternately, either under the crossed threads or through the loops and the material. Upon the back of the

material there should be a row of horizontal stitches equally spaced apart and of the same size. At first it is fairly easy to make a mistake and bring the thread through the wrong loops, but a careful comparison of the working with the explanatory diagram will keep the embroideress straight. The other points to be careful with are to leave the loops sufficiently loose to be practicable, and to pick up just the same amount of material each time. The stitch should be worked with coarse thread, and is perhaps most easily manipulated with metal thread. It is most often seen in old work executed in gold thread, and it is certainly particularly suited to it both from a practical and a decorative point of view. A large proportion of the thread is on the surface compared to what is under- neath, which, from an economical aspect, is important with expensive material. It is also not wise to draw metal thread to and fro through stuffs more than can be helped, and with this stitch there is the minimum amount of it. G. C.

PLATE IX. A CONVENTIONAL FLORAL SPRAY

PLATE IX illustrates a conventional flower sprig embroidered in delicate coloured silks. It is intended for use either on the centre of a small cushion, or on a large cushion, repeated four times and placed cornerwise, as in the accompanying illustration (see fig. 38). The reproduction is nearly the same size as the original.

The work is executed in Stout Floss, on a loosely woven linen. If any difficulty is experienced in manipulating Stout Floss, " Filo-Floss ' may be substituted, as the colours, even to the numbering of them, are exactly the same, and "Filo-Floss" can be used either single, or double, as requirements may demand. For the greater part of this piece of work, the floss silk is split in half; for the rest, it is used just as it unwinds

off the reel. There is no great difficulty in splitting the floss silk in half, for there is a natural division in the silk, which allows it to come apart easily ; when dividing it into six or eight, as is necessary for fine work, some difficulty is experienced and it needs a practised hand.

The stitches used to work out the spray are chain, double back, and French knots, all of which were illustrated and described in Part I ; also trellis, for which see Part II, figs. 23 and 24, and the accompanying de- scription. Comprised in the colour scheme are three shades of soft blue, three of pink, three of myrtle green, two of dull green, one each of buff yellow, black, and greenish blue.

The petals of the flowers are worked in

61

EMBROIDERY

chain stitch in three shades of soft blue, and with the floss silk split in half (the floss is split thus whenever chain is em- ployed). The coloured illustration explains

up the centre, and then the part between. This is the invariable order with fillings of this kind, for if such parts as outlines are not done first there is a danger of inaccurate

Fig. 38

fairly clearly the direction of the stitching and the arrangement of the different shades of colour.

The outlining of each petal, in the darkest blue, is carried out first, then the dark vein

62

drawing. The petals are completed by a double line of chain in the darkest blue along the base, in order to make a clear division between petals and centre.

The calyces should be worked next, for

PLATE IX.

.-

A FLORAL SPRAY. (For particulars see page 86. J

EMBROIDERY

the centre is better done when all the sur- roundings are complete. They are outlined in the middle shade of myrtle green, and then filled in with double back in the paler of the two shades of dull green, the floss for this filling stitch not being divided at all.

In the illustration, the centres of the flowers are worked in trellis stitch, which was described in detail in Part II. If the worker does not wish to use this new stitch, the centres may be filled up with French knots instead, still keeping the arrangements of bands of different colour as in the plate. The silk, either for the French knots or trellis, is used without being split. The trellis stitch is worked in rows of three from left to right, and three from right to left alternately, changing the shade of pink with the direction of the rows of stitching. It finishes up at the narrow part at the base with as many rows of the deepest shade of pink as are necessary, worked from right to left. Upon arriving at the end of a row of stitching, the thread must be run along the back, in order to reach the point for commencing the next row. It is not neces- sary to go into more detail in the description of the working of these centres, for in Part II the method of working this particular variety was explained very thoroughly.

The stamens are worked in chain stitch in the buff colour. They are finished off with black French knots, made with two twists upon the needle, in the split silk. The stems and tendrils are worked in chain stitch in black ; the leaves at the base of the spray are outlined in chain in the darkest shade of myrtle green. The turned-over ends are solidly filled in with chain in the palest shade of myrtle. The rest of the leaf has a line of the palest myrtle running close to the outline in chain, whilst the centre is filled in with double back stitch

in the darker shade of dull green. The floss is not divided for this part of the filling.

The other leaves are worked entirely in chain stitch. First, the outline is carried out in the greenish blue ; then the veining, in the deepest shade of myrtle. Next, outline the veining with the buff yellow, and then fill in, between it and the blue outline, with two rows of dull green. The paler green should be next to the blue outline, and the deeper shade next to the yellow.

This spray might be applied to any subject that requires some kind of central decoration. It is worked in very durable stitches, and so it would stand fairly hard wear. It could be repeated over the centre of some large hanging, or it is quite suitable for application to Church embroidery. It could easily be adapted to a lectern hanging, or to some part of an altar frontal. For the linen material used in the illustration a silk one might be substituted, either white or coloured. If a coloured one is chosen, a dull gold or tussore, or a very dark blue, perhaps would be the best. Slight changes in the colour scheme might or might not be necessary. If a loosely woven material is used for the ground, it is always easier to work upon if a thin backing is applied to it. This can be done and the work still executed in the hand by tacking the two materials together rather close to the outlines of the pattern. The numbers of the colours of the Stout Floss or the " Filo-Floss " used in working out the spray are as follows : —

Black	. No. 178.
Blues	. Nos. 14, 12a, 10, and 44.
Gold	. No. 40c.
Pinks	. Nos. 2 and 4.
Greens .	. Nos. 20a, 20b, and Nos. 151-,
	i5P» I5m-
	G. C.

K

63

"A SCHOLEHOUSE FOR THE NEEDLE," AND

OTHER PATTERN BOOKS

ANY one who has studied a collection of samplers or embroideries belong- ing to a given period will have noticed that they often have certain details

circulation of books of patterns, copies of which have come down to our time. Few have survived in comparison with the great number that must once have existed, but

Fig. 39

in common. The familiar little cross-stitch birds placed vis-a-vis, the baskets of fruit and flowers, borders, floral sprigs, in fact many examples of such recurring elements, will come immediately to the memory. This similarity of detail leads us to suppose that the workers went to some common store from which to choose the elements for their designs. Such a store was provided by the

64

this is not surprising, as the workers made great use of their pattern books, and often pricked through the print of the pattern and rubbed the pounce through the perfora- tions directly on to the material. Some of the books bear witness to this, and though it is interesting to notice that the method of transferring the pattern was the same then as now, yet one cannot help regretting

EMBROIDERY

that this way of making tracings from a book often entailed its partial destruction, even to the extent of tearing out pages. A famous one, published in the year 1621, was popular enough to run through twelve editions, and there are perhaps not half a dozen copies of it in existence.

them seem to be devoted to lace, but some- times the lace pattern books contain a number of pages of designs specially arranged for embroidery. In one or another there are to be found delightful drawings of birds, knots, and many geometrical devices, with numerous borders and charming little con-

Fig. 40

Those