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ART IN NEEDLEWORK

TEXT-BOOKS OF ORNAMENTAL DESIGN

ART IN

NEE 31 EWORK

A BOOK ABOUT

EMBROIDERY

LEWIS F. DAY

AUTHOR OF ' WINDOWS,' ' ALPHABETS,'
'NATURE IN ORNAMENT' AND OTHER
TEXT-BOOKS OF ORNAMENTAL DESIGN

& MARY BUCKLE

LONDON :

B. T. BATSFORD 94 HIGH HOLBORN

1900

BRADBURY, AGNEW, & CO. LD., PRINTERS,
LONDON AND TONBRIDGE.

PREFACE.

EMBROIDERY may be looked at from more points
of view than it would be possible in a book like
this to take up seriously. Merely to hover round
the subject and glance casually at it would serve
no useful purpose. It maybe as well, therefore,
to define our standpoint : we look at the art from
its practical side, not, of course, neglecting the
artistic, for the practical use of embroidery is to
be beautiful.

The custom has been, since woman learnt to
kill time with the needle, to think of embroidery
too much as an idle accomplishment. It is more
than that. At the very least it is a handicraft :
at the best it is an art. This contention may be
to take it rather seriously ; but if one esteemed
it less it would hardly be worth writing about,
and the book, when written, would not be worth
the attention of students o'f embroidery, needle-
workers, and designers of needlework to whom
it is addressed. It sets forth to show what
decorative stitching is, how it is done, and what
it can do. It is illustrated by samplers of stitches;

2039789

vi ART IN NEEDLEWORK.

by diagrams, to explain the way stitches are done ;
and by examples of old and modern work, to
show the artistic application of the stitches.

A feature in the book is the series of samplers
designed to show not only what are the available
stitches, but the groups into which they naturally
gather themselves, as well as the use to which
they may be put : and the back of the sampler
is given too : the reader has only to turn the
page to see the other side of the stitching which
to a needlewoman is often the more helpful. Lest
that should not be enough, the stitches are
described in the text, and a marginal note shows
at a glance where the description is given. This
should be read needle and thread in hand or
skipped. Samplers and other examples of needle-
work are uniformly on a scale large enough to
show the stitch quite plainly. The examples of
old work illustrate always, in the first place, some
point of workmanship ; still they are chosen with
some view to their artistic interest.

In other respects Art is not overlooked ; but
it is Art in harness. Design is discussed with
reference to stitch and stuff, and stitch and stuff
with reference to their use in ornament. It has
been endeavoured also to show the effect needle-
work has had upon pattern, and the ways in which
design is affected by the circumstance that it is
to be embroidered.

The joint authorship of the work needs, perhaps,

PREFACE. vii

a word of explanation. This is not just a man's
book on a woman's subject. The scheme of
it is mine, and I have written it, but with the
co-operation throughout of Miss Mary Buckle.
Our classification of the stitches is the result of
many a conference between us. The description
of the way the stitches are worked, and so forth,
is my rendering of her description, supplemented
by practical demonstration with the needle. She
has primed me with technical information, and
been always at hand to keep me from technical
error. With reference to design and art I speak
for myself.

My thanks are due to the authorities at South
Kensington for allowing us to handle the treasures
of the national collection, and to photograph them
for illustration ; to Mrs. Walter Crane, Miss Mabel
Keighley, and Miss C. P. Shrewsbury, for permis-
sion to reproduce their handiwork ; to Miss Argles,
Mrs. Buxton Morrish, Colonel Green, R.E., and
Messrs. Morris and Co., for the loan of work
belonging to them ; and to Miss Chart for working
the cross-stitch sampler.

I must also acknowledge the part my daughter
has had in the production of this book : without
her constant help it could never have been written.

LEWIS F. DAY.

January ist, 1900.

CONTENTS.

CHAP. PAGE

1. EMBROIDERY AND EMBROIDERY STITCHES . . I

2. CANVAS STITCHES 12

3. CREWEL-STITCH 26

4. CHAIN-STITCH 38

5. HERRING-BONE-STITCH 47

6. BUTTONHOLE-STITCH 55

7. FEATHER AND ORIENTAL STITCHES ... 62

8. ROPE AND KNOT STITCHES Jl

9. INTERLACINGS, SURFACE STITCHES, AND DIAPERS 83

10. SATIN-STITCH AND ITS OFFSHOOTS ... 91

11. DARNING 106

12. LAID-WORK 112

13. COUCHING 122

14. COUCHED GOLD 131

15. APPLIQUE 144

1 6. INLAY, MOSAIC, AND CUT-WORK . . . -153

17. EMBROIDERY IN RELIEF 159

1 8. RAISED GOLD 165

19. QUILTING . .172

20. STITCH GROUPS .175

21. ONE STITCH OR MANY? 180

22. OUTLINE. . ^ . 185

23. SHADING . . l88

24. FIGURE EMBROIDERY 198

25. THE DIRECTION OF THE STITCH . ... 208

26. CHURCH WORK 2l6

27. A PLEA FOR SIMPLICITY . . . - . . . 225

28. EMBROIDERY DESIGN . . * . . 232

29. EMBROIDERY MATERIALS 242

30. A WORD TO THE WORKER . . . . 250

DESCRIPTIVE LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

1. TAPESTRY to illustrate work on a warp not on a web. From

Akhmin in Upper Egypt. Ancient Coptic. (In the Victoria
and Albert Museum.)

2. DRAWN-WORK ON FINE LINEN, embroidered with gold and

colour. Oriental. (From the collection of Mrs. Lewis F.
Day.)

3. DARNING AND SATIN-STITCH on square mesh The darning

leaf, green, follows the lines of the stuff; outlined with
yellow, veined with pink and white ; stem, yellow, its
foliation pink, outlined with white, and ribbed with blue
and white. Italian. iyth century. (V. & A. M.)

4. CROSS-STITCH UPON LINEN. Hungarian. Compare Illus-

tration 45. .

5. CROSS-STITCH SAMPLER- A and B, solid; C, line work;

D, stroke-stitch called also Holbein-stitch ; E, stroke and
cross stitches combined.

6. CANVAS-STITCH in coloured silk upon linen. The band

Italian, the foliated diaper Oriental. (Mrs. L. F. D.)

7. CANVAS-STITCH Design comparatively free, but showing in

its outline the influence of the rectangular lines of the
weaving. Cretan. (Mrs. L. F. D.)

8. CANVAS-STITCH SAMPLER A, tent-stitch ; B, half-cross-

stitch; C, cushion-stitch; D, Moorish-stitch, so called;

E, plait-stitch ; F, couching on canvas.

xii ART IN NEEDLEWORK.

9. CUSHION AND SATIN-STITCHES UPON CANVAS The Satin-

stitches follow the lines of the stuff, and form a diaper
built upon them. Compare Illustration 71.

10. TWO VARIETIES OF CANVAS-STITCH, the pattern in the bare

linen, the background worked A, plait-stitch, the ornament
outlined ; B, stitches drawn tightly together so as to pull
the threads of the linen apart, giving very much the effect
of drawn-work. Compare Illustration 2. (Mrs. L. F. D.)

11. CREWEL-STITCH SAMPLER A and C, crewel-stitch ; B

and D, outline-stitch; E, back-stitch; F, spots; G
and H, stem-stitch; J, crewel and outline-stitches in
combination.

12. BACK OF CREWEL-STITCH SAMPLER.

13. CREWEL-WORK the stem only worked in crewel-stitch.

Embroidered in green, blue, and brown wools upon white
cotton. Old English. (Coll. of Miss Argles.)

14. CREWEL-WORK, in which crewel-stitch hardly occurs.

Embroidered in coloured wools upon white cotton. Old
English. (Coll. of J. M. Knapp, Esq.)

15. CREWEL-STITCH IN TWISTED SILK. The scroll in green upon

a brownish-purple ground ; the smaller leafage upon the
scroll in brighter green ; the flowers and butterflies in
blue and pink. Modern. (Mrs. L. F. Day.)

16. CHAIN-STITCH AND KNOTS Part of the same piece of work

as Illustration 24. Indian. (V. & A. M.)

17. CHAIN-STITCH SAMPLER A, chain-stitch solid and in line ;

B, magic stitch; C, church chain; D, cable chain; E,
Vandyke chain ; F, Mountmellic chain ; G, Mountmellic
cable all so called.

18. BACK OF CHAIN-STITCH SAMPLER.

DESCRIPTIVE LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS, xiii

19. CHAIN AND SURFACE STITCHES the latter a kind of button-

holing, only occasionally worked into the stuff. Part of a
lectern cover in white thread upon a thin, greyish white
linen stuff. German, i4th century. (V. & A. M.)

20. HERRINGBONE SAMPLER A, B, C, varieties of herring-

bone ; D, a combination of A and C ; E, fishbone ; F, a
close variety of A ; G, tapestry stitch, so called.

21. BACK OF HERRINGBONE SAMPLER.

22. BUTTONHOLE SAMPLER A, B, C, ordinary buttonhole and

variations upon it ; D, two rows of buttonhole worked
slanting one into the other ; E, crossed buttonhole ; F,
tailor's buttonhole ; G, ladder (called also Cretan) stitch ;
H, herringbone buttonhole ; J, buttonhole diaper.

23. BACK OF BUTTONHOLE SAMPLER.

24. BUTTONHOLE, CHAIN, AND KNOT STITCHES chiefly in white

floss silk on dark purple satin, with touches of crimson at the
points from which the stitches radiate. The rings on the
outer ground are not worked, but done in the dyeing of
the satin. Part of the same piece of work as 16. Modern
Indian from Surat. (V. & A. M.)

25. FEATHER-STITCH SAMPLER A to G, ordinary feather-stitch

and its variations ; G G, feather chain.

26. BACK OF FEATHER-STITCH SAMPLER.

27. ORIENTAL-STITCH SAMPLER A to E, Oriental-stitch and its

varieties ; F, Oriental-stitch worked into buttonhole ; G,
not properly a form of Oriental-stitch, though bearing
some resemblance to it.

28. BACK OF ORIENTAL-STITCH SAMPLER.

29. ROPE AND KNOT-STITCH SAMPLER A, rope-stitch ; B, open

rope-stitch ; C, what is called German knot-stitch ; D,
open German knot-stitch ; E, Old English knot-stitch, so
called ; F, bullion-stitch ; G, French knots.

xiv ART IN NEEDLEWORK.

30. BACK OF ROPE AND KNOT-STITCH SAMPLER.

31. A TOUR-DE-FORCE IN KNOTS Worked entirely in the one

stitch ; the drawing lines expressed by voiding. In white
and coloured silks upon a very dark blue ground. Chinese.
(Mrs. L. F. D.)

32. INTERLACING-STITCH SAMPLER A, Interlaced crewel-stitch ;

B, interlaced back-stitch ; C, back-stitch twice interlaced :
D, interlaced chain-stitch; E, interlaced darning; F,
interlaced herringbone ; G, herringbone twice interlaced ;
H, an interlaced version of C in Illustration 20 ; J, inter-
laced Oriental-stitch ; K, interlaced feather-stitch.

33. BACK OF INTERLACING SAMPLER.

34. SURFACE-STITCH SAMPLER -A, D, G, various surface

stitches ; B, surface buttonhole ; H and C, surface darn-
ing ; E, Japanese darning, as it is called ; F, net passing ;
J, surface buttonhole over bars ; K, surface buttonhole
over slanting stitches.

35. LACE OR SURFACE-STITCH AND SATIN-STITCH, much of it

worn away. In straw-coloured floss upon pale blue
silk. Part of a dress. French. Late i8th century.
(Mrs. L. F. D.)

36. SATIN-STITCH SAMPLER Worked in floss, the stitch in

various directions, to give different effects. Incidentally
it shows various ways of breaking up a surface in satin-
stitch. Compare with Illustration 38, which shows the
effect of the stitch in twisted silk.

37- BACK OF SATIN-STITCH SAMPLER.

38. SATIN-STITCH IN COARSE TWISTED SILK.

39. SATIN-STITCH IN TWISTED SILK Outlines voided. Worked

in white and occasional red and yellow upon black satin.
Indian. Modern. (V. & A. M.)

DESCRIPTIVE LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS, xv

40. SATIN-STITCH AND. on the birds' bodies, PLUMAGE-STITCH

The ends of the stalks worked in French knots ; the veins of
the leaves in fine white cords laid on to the satin stitch.
The outlines voided, and the voiding occasionally worked
across with stitches wide enough apart to show the ground
between. In white and bright-coloured silk floss upon a
black satin ground. Chinese. (Mrs. L. F. D.)

41. SAMPLER Showing offshoots from satin and crewel stitches,

and incidentally illustrating various ways of shading. A,
crewel-stitch ; B, plumage-stitch, worked in the hand ; C,
split-stitch ; D, plumage-stitch, worked in the frame.

42. BACK OF SAMPLER 41.

43. DARNING SAMPLER Except in the background the stitches

follow the lines of the drawing, regardless of the weaving
of the stuff. The customary outlining 6f the pattern is
here omitted, to show how far it may, or may not, be
needful.

44. DARNING DESIGNED BY WILLIAM MORRIS. In delicate

colours upon a sea-green ground, outlined with black and
white. Part of the border of a table-cloth, the property
of Messrs. Morris & Co.

45. FLAT DARNING Solid and open, following the lines of a

square mesh, and stepping in tune with it ; the outline
voided ; all in white thread. Old German. (Gewerbs
Museum, Munich.)

46. LAID-WORK SAMPLER, showing various ways (split-stitch and

couching) in which the sewing down may be done, and
the various directions it may take vertical, horizontal,
following the ornamental forms, or crossing them.

47. LAID-WORK The couching crosses the flower forms in

straight lines ; and in the eye of the flower where the
threads cross, the two are sewn down at a single stitch.
The spiral stems a sort of laid cord. Flower in blue, sewn
with blue and outlined with gold ; leaves, a bright fresh
green stitched with olive. Japanese. (V. & A. M.)

xvi ART IN NEEDLEWORK.

48. LAID-WORK. The sewing down of the leaves crosses them in

curved lines which suggest roundness. The stem in gold
basket pattern. Part of a coverlet. Worked upon a cedar-
coloured ground chiefly in dark blue and white, the blue
couched with white, the white and other colours couched
with red. Indo-Portuguese. lyth century. (V. & A. M.)

49. LAID-WORK AND SOME SURFACE-STITCH. The stitching which

sews down the floss takes the direction of the scroll,
&c., and gives drawing. The surface work in the stems
is done upon a ladder of stitches across. Part of a chalice
veil. Italian. Early iyth century. (V. & A. M.)

50. LAID-WORK SAMPLER The straight lines of laid floss varied in

colour to suggest shading. The stalk padded, and the
pattern made by the stitching upon it thereby emphasised.

51. BULLION AND COUCHED CORD A, The somewhat loose design

of the border in bullion shows rather plainly the way it is
done. B, The solid discs of spiral cord are unusual,
but most characteristic of the method of couching. The
stitches sewing down the cord are not apparent. Oriental.
(Mrs. L. F. D.)

52. SAMPLER OF COUCHED SILK The broad central band and

the narrow beaded lines are in floss, and show the effect
of sewing it more or less tightly down. The two inter-
mediate bands are in cord couched with threads in the
direction of its twist, not very easily distinguishable unless
by contrast of colour.

53. COUCHING IN LOOPED THREADS The effect is not unlike

that of chain-stitch or fine knotting. Rather over actual
size. Worked in bright colours upon a pale green crepe
ground. Chinese. (Mrs. L. F. D.)

54. REVERSE COUCHING Showing on the face of it no sign of

couching. (After the manner of the Syon Cope.)

55. BACK OF REVERSE COUCHING Showing the parallel lines

of couched linen thread which sew down the silk upon
the surface (Illustration 54). The zigzag pattern of the
stitching might equally well have taken other lines.

DESCRIPTIVE LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS, xvii

56. COUCHED GOLD SAMPLER A, B, C, D, flat work ; E, part
flat, part raised ; F, G, H, J, basket and other patterns
raised over cords.

57- COUCHING IN VARIOUS DIAPER PATTERNS, OUTLINED IN PART

WITH " PLATE." Silver on pale pink silk. (Coll. of Mrs.
T. Buxton Morrish.)

58. GOLD COUCHING IN OPEN THREADS A, The lines of gold

which form a scale pattern on the dragon's body, are wide
enough apart to let the red ground grin through. Else-
where the couching, contrary to mediaeval practice, follows
the shapes, line within line until they are occupied. The
floss embroidery, in white and colours, is in surface-satin-
stitch. Chinese. B, The open lines of gold look somehow
richer than if the metal had been worked solid upon the
crimson ground. Old Venetian. (Mrs. L. F. D.)

59. COUCHED OUTLINE WORK ; only an occasional detail worked

solid ; suggests damascening. The border is in gold, the
filling in silver, thread on a greyish-green velvet. Part
of an Italian housing or saddlecloth. i6th century.
(V. & A. M.)

60. APPLIQUE Satin upon velvet, outlined with two threads of

gold couching.

61. APPLIQUE PANEL Designed and executed by Miss Mabel

Keighley, illustrating a poem by William Morris. (The
property of the artist.)

62. A. COUNTER-CHANGE PATTERN, INLAY OR APPLIQUE. Yellow

satin and crimson velvet. The outline, which is in gold,
falls chiefly upon the yellow, so as not to disturb the exact
balance of light and dark, which it is essential to preserve
in counter-change. Part of a stole. Spanish. 1 6th century
(V. & A. M.)

B. APPLIQUE, of deep crimson velvet upon white satin,

outlined with paler red cord The outlines, meeting

together, form a stem of double cord. Italian.

century. (V. & A. M.)

D.E. b

xviii ART IN NEEDLEWORK.

63. APPLIQUE, with couched outline, and stitching upon the

applique band or ribbon. The dots in the centre of the
grapes are French knots. The pattern is in satin of
various colours, upon a figured green silk damask, out-
lined with yellow silk sewn down with yellow. Italian.
(V. & A. M.)

64. INLAY IN COLOURED CLOTHS, outlined with chain stitch.

Magic stitch also occurs. A characteristic example of the
kind of work done at Retsht, in Persia. (Mrs. L. F. D.)

65. CUT-WORK IN LINEN A fret of this kind was often outlined

with coloured silk, and the detail within the fretted outline
further embroidered in coloured silk. (Coll. of Mrs. Drake.)

66. SAMPLER OF RAISED WORK, showing underlays : A, of cloth ;

B, of twisted cords ; C, of parchment ; D, of cotton wool ;
E, first of cotton cord and then of cotton thread ; F, of
cord ; G, of string ; H, of sewing.

67. RAISED WORK, showing underlay of linen, and the way it is

sewn down The work is in flax thread, red, yellow, and
white, upon a blue linen ground. The stem is dotted with
white beads, the ground with gold spangles. Part of an
altar frontal. German. i5th century. (V. & A. M.)

68. RAISED GOLD BASKET PATTERNS, &c., upon white satin. The

stalk in flat wire. Spanish. iyth century. (Mrs. L. F. D.)

69. QUILT, WORKED IN CHAIN-STITCH from the back which has

precisely the effect of back-stitch. Yellow silk upon white
linen. Old English. (V. & A. M.)

70. RAISED QUILTING, in black silk upon pale sea-green satin.

Part of the border of a prayer cushion. Old Persian.
(Mrs. L. F. D.)

71. DIAPER OF SATIN-STITCH IN THE MAKING Something between

canvas-stitch and satin-stitch. The leafage is in tent-
stitch. Compare with Illustration 9. (V. & A. M.)

DESCRIPTIVE LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS, xix

72. STITCHES IN COMBINATION Among them Oriental, ladder,

buttonhole, chain, crewel, satin, and herringbone stitches,
worked in dark blue silk upon unbleached linen. Old
Cretan, so called. (Mrs. L. F. D.)

73. FINE NEEDLEWORK UPON CAMBRIC the substance of which is

apparent upon the upper edge of the work. In the ground-
work of the pattern generally the threads are drawn
together to form an open net. The stitches occurring in
the collar of which this is part are, buttonhole, satin, chain,
herringbone, cross, and back stitches. The outline is
mostly in fine cross-stitch. Nothing could exceed the
delicacy of the workmanship, which is in its kind perfect.
Old English. (Coll. of Col. Green, R.E.)

74. PART OF A DESIGN BY WALTER CRANE, cunningly adapted to

execution in needlework. Shows the direction of the
stitch, and the part it can be made to play in expressing
form. Worked in coloured silks upon linen by Mrs.
Walter Crane, whose property the work is.

75. SHADING IN CHAIN-STITCH in silk and chenille upon a satin

ground. The shading very deliberately schemed by the
designer. In natural colours upon white. French. Louis
Seize. (V. & A. M.)

76. SHADING IN SHORT STITCHES ; picturesque to the point of a

touch of white in the glistening yellow of the dove's eye.
Chenille, in chain-stitch, is used for the wreath and in
the leaves of the flower sprigs. These are in colours, the
birds are in silvery greys, all on a white satin ground.
French. Louis Seize. (V. & A. M.)

77. SHADING IN LONG-AND-SHORT AND SPLIT STITCHES, with more

regard to expression of form than to neatness of execution.
German. i6th century. (V. & A. M.)

78. CHAIN-STITCH, showing in the figures of the little men what

a draughtsman can express in a few stitches. Full size.
Chinese. (Mrs. L. F. D.)

xx ART IN NEEDLEWORK.

79. FIGURE WORK The flesh in straight upright stitches,

the drapery laid and couched. English. i5th century.
(V. & A. M.)

80. CONSUMMATE FIGURE EMBROIDERY Canvas ground entirely

covered. Flesh in coloured silks, short-stitch ; drapery
coloured silks over gold, which only gleams through in
the lighter parts. Architecture closely couched gold.
Part of an orphrey. Florentine. i6th century. (V.&A. M.)

81. CHINESE FIGURES The flesh in short satin-stitches, the rest

in chain-stitch ; chiefly in blue and white upon a figured
white silk ground. About actual size. (Mrs. L. F. D.)

82. SATIN-STITCH, showing the influence of its direction upon

the tone of colour. The pattern is all in one shade of
yellow-brown floss upon white linen. The outline steps
with the weaving, and so shows connection between satin
and canvas stitches. Italian, jyth century. (V. & A. M.)

83. MEANINGLESS DIRECTION OF STITCH Satin and herring-

bone stitches. From an altar-cloth. German. xyth
century. (V. & A. M.)

84. MORE EXPRESSIVE LINES OF STITCHING To compare with

Illustration 83.

85. SATIN AND PLUMAGE STITCHES chiefly, the bird's crest in

French knots, the clouds about him in knotted braid.
The direction of the stitch is most artfully chosen, and
the precision of the work is faultless. The satin ground
is of brilliant orange-red ; the crane, white, with black tail
feathers, scarlet crest, and yellow beak and legs; the clouds,
black and white and blue. Japanese. (Mrs. L. F. D.)

86. RENAISSANCE CHURCH WORK IN GOLD AND SILVER, partly flat,

partly in relief, upon pale blue satin, with touches of pink
and crimson silk to give emphasis. Spanish. i8th
century. Compare the stem with Illustration 66, B.
(V. & A. M.)

DESCRIPTIVE LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS, xxi

87. GOTHIC CHURCH WORK The flesh, &c., in split-stitch; the

vine-leaves green, getting yellower as it nears the crimson
silk ground. Part of a cope embroidered with a repre-
sentation of the Tree of Jesse. English. Ca. 1340.
(V. & A. M.)

88. MODERN CHURCH WORK ON LINEN, in long-and-short stitch.

Veins padded with embroidery cotton and worked over
with two threads of filo-floss, a green and a blue ; the
rest of the leaves worked in one shade of stout floss. All
this applied to velvet with a couching of brown filoselle,
and the tendrils added. Designed and executed by Miss
C. P. Shrewsbury. (The property of the artist.)

89. SIMPLE STITCHING ON LINEN, the broader bands in a canvas

stitch in yellow, the finer lines in back-stitch in pale grey
silk. Italian. (Mrs. L. F. D.)

go. SIMPLE COUCHED OUTLINE WORK, in purplish silk cord upon
linen. Part of an altar-cloth. Italian. i6th century.
(V. & A. M.)

91. RENAISSANCE ORNAMENT Most gracefully designed arabesque.

The raised outline (couched) has somewhat the effect of
cloisons, the satin-stitch (in colours) of brilliant enamel.
It is upon a white satin ground. The foreshortened face
in the picture is painted upon satin. Italian. Ca. 1700.
(V. & A. M.)

92. APPLIQUE DESIGN, in yellow satin upon crimson velvet

Double outline ; next the red, white, sewn with pale blue ;
next the yellow, gold. Midrib of the leaf couched silver.
Spanish, i6th century. (V. & A. M.)

93. SATIN-STITCH except that the heart-shaped features at the

base and the lily-shaped flowers, of which only the tips
are shown, are outlined with fine white cord. Part of a
an, worked by Miss Buckle, from a design by L. F. D.
(The property of the worker.)

94. LEATHER APPLIQUE UPON VELVET The stitching well within

the edge of the leather.

ERRATA.

Page 30. Diagram belongs to G (Stem-Stitch)
described on page 32, not C (Thick Crewel-
Stitch).

Page 125, 2nd line. For "lower" read "upper."

ART IN NEEDLEWORK

EMBROIDERY AND STITCHING.

Embroidery begins with the needle, and the
needle (thorn, fish-bone, or whatever it may have
been) came into use so soon as ever savages had
the wit to sew skins and things together to keep
themselves warm modesty, we may take it, was
an afterthought and if the stitches made any sort
of pattern, as coarse stitching naturally would,
that was embroidery.

The term is often vaguely used to denote all
kinds of ornamental needlework, and some with
which the needle has nothing to do. That is
misleading; though it is true that embroidery
does touch, on the one side, tapestry, which may be
described as a kind of embroidery with the shuttle,
and, on the other, lace, which is needlework pure
and simple, construction "in the air " as the Italian
name has it.

The term is used in common parlance to express
any kind of superficial or superfluous ornamen-
tation. A poet is said to embroider the truth.

D.E. B

2 ART IN NEEDLEWORK.

But such metaphorical use of the word hints
at the real nature of the work embellishment,
enrichment, added. If added, there must first of
all be something it is added to the material, that
is to say, on which the needlework is done. In
weaving (even tapestry weaving) the pattern is
got by the inter-threading of warp and weft. In
lace, too, it is got out of the threads which make
the stuff. In embroidery it is got by threads
worked on a fabric first of all woven on the loom,
or, it might be, netted.

There is inevitably a certain amount of over-
lapping of the crafts. For instance, take a form
of embroidery common in all countries, Eastern,
Hungarian, or nearer home, in which certain
of the weft threads of the linen are drawn out,
and the needlework is executed upon the warp
threads thus revealed. This is, strictly speaking,
a sort of tapestry with the needle, just as, it was
explained, tapestry itself may be described as a sort
of embroidery with the shuttle. That will be clearly
seen by reference to Illustration I, which shows
a fragment of ancient tapestry found in a Coptic
tomb in Upper Egypt. In the lower portion of it
the pattern appears light on dark. As a matter of
fact, it was wrought in white and red upon a linen
warp ; but, as it happened, only the white threads
were of linen, like the warp, the red were woollen,
and in the course of fifteen hundred years or so
much of this red wool has perished, leaving the

I. TAPESTI'.Y, SHOWING WARP.

D 2

ART IN NEEDLEWORK.

white pattern intact on the warp, the threads of
which are laid bare in the upper part of the
illustration.

It is on just such upright lines of warp that all
tapestry, properly so called, is worked whether
with the shuttle or with the needle makes no
matter and there is good reason, therefore, for
the name of " tapestry stitch " to describe needle-
work upon the warp threads only of a material
(usually linen) from which some of the weft
threads have been withdrawn.

The only differ-
ence between true
tapestry and drawn
work, an example
of which is here
given, is, that the
one is done on a
warp that has not
before been woven
upon, and the other
on a warp from
which the weft
threads have been

drawn. The distinction, therefore, between
tapestry and embroidery is, that, worked on a
warp, as in Illustration i, it is tapestry ; worked
on a mesh, as in Illustration 3, it is embroidery.

With regard, again, to lace. That is itself a
web, independent of any groundwork or foundation

2. DRAWN WORK.

3- STITCHING ON A SQUARE MESH.

6 ART IN NEEDLEWORK.

to support it. But it is possible to work it over
a silken or other surface ; and there is a kind of
embroidery which only floats on the surface of the
material without penetrating it. A fragment of
last century silk given in Illustration 35 shows
plainly what is meant.

Embroidery is enrichment by means of the
needle. To embroider is to work on something :
a groundwork is presupposed. And we usually
understand by embroidery, needlework in thread
(it may be wool, cotton, linen, silk, gold, no matter
what) upon a textile material, no matter what.
In short, it is the decoration of a material woven
in thread by means still of thread. It is thus the
consistent way of ornamenting stuff most con-
sistent of all when one kind of thread is employed
throughout, as in the case of linen upon linen, silk
upon silk. The enrichment may, however, rightly
be, and oftenest is, perhaps, in a material nobler
than the stuff enriched, in silk upon linen, in wool
upon cotton, in gold upon velvet. The advisability
of working upon a precious stuff in thread less
precious is open to question. It does not seem to
have been satisfactorily done ; but if it were only
the background that was worked, and the pattern
were so schemed as almost to cover it, so that, in
fact, very little of the more beautiful texture was
sacrificed, and you had still a sumptuous pattern
on a less attractive background why not ? But
then it would be because you wanted that less

EMBROIDERY AND STITCHING. 7

precious texture there. The excuse of economy
would scarcely hold good.

In the case of a material in itself unsightly, the
one course is to cover it entirely with stitching,
as did the Persian and other untireable people of
the East. But not they only. The famous Syon
cope is so covered. Much of the work so done, all-
over work that is to say, competes in effect with
tapestry or other weaving ; and its purpose was
similar : it is a sort of amateur way of working
your own stuff. But in character it is no more
nearly related to the work of the loom than other
needlework it is still work on stuff. For all-over
embroidery one chooses, naturally, a coarse canvas
ground to work on ; but it more often happens that
one chooses canvas because one means to cover it,
than that one works all over a ground because it is
unpresentable.

Embroidery is merely an affair of stitching ; and
the first thing needful alike to the worker in it and
the designer for it is, a thorough acquaintance with
the stitches ; not, of course, with every modifica-
tion of a modification of a stitch which individual
ingenuity may have devised it would need the
space of an encyclopaedia to chronicle them all
but with the broadly marked varieties of stitch
which have been employed to best purpose in
ornament.

They are derived, naturally, from the stitches
first used for quite practical and prosaic purposes

8 ART IN NEEDLEWORK.

button-hole stitch, for example, to keep the
edges of the stuff from fraying ; herring-bone, to
strengthen and disguise a seam ; darning, to make
good a worn surface; and so on.

The difficulty of discussing them is greatly
increased by the haphazard way in which they
are commonly named. A stitch is called Greek,
Spanish, Mexican, or what not, according to the
country whence came the work in which some one
first found it. Each names it after his or her
individual discovery, or calls it, perhaps, vaguely
Oriental; and so we have any number of names for
the same stitch, names which to different people
stand often for quite different stitches.

When this confusion is complicated by the
invention of a new name for every conceivable
combination- of thread-strokes, or for each slightest
variation upon an old stitch, and even for a stitch
worked from left to right instead of from right
to left, or for a stitch worked rather longer than
usual, the task of reducing them to order seems
almost hopeless.

Nor do the quasi-learned descriptions of old
stitches help us much. One reads about opus this
and opus that, until one begins to wonder where,
amidst all this parade of science, art comes in.
But you have not far to go in the study of the
authorities to discover that, though they may
concur in using certain high-sounding Latin terms,
they are not of the same mind as to their meaning.

EMBROIDERY AND STITCHING. 9

In one thing they all agree, foreign writers as well
as English, and that is, as to the difficulty of iden-
tifying the stitch referred to by ancient writers,
themselves probably not acquainted with the tech-
nique of stitching, and as likely as not to call it
by a wrong name. It is easier, for example, to
talk of Opus Anglicanum than to say precisely
what it was, further than that it described work
done in England ; and for that we have the simple
word English. There is nothing to show that
mediaeval English work contained stitches not used
elsewhere. The stitches probably all come from
the East.

Nomenclature, then, is a snare. Why not
drop titles, and call stitches by the plainest and
least mistakable names ? It will be seen, if
we reduce them to their native simplicity, that
they fall into fairly-marked groups, or families,
which can be discussed each under its own
head.

Stitches may be grouped in all manner of
arbitrary ways according to their provenance,
according to their effect, according to their use,
and so on. The most natural way of grouping
them is according to their structure ; not with
regard to whence they came, or what they do,
but according to what they are, the way they
are worked. This, at all events, is no arbitrary
classification, and this is the plan it is proposed
here to adopt.

io ART IN NEEDLEWORK.

The use of such classification hardly needs
pointing out.

A survey of the stitches is the necessary pre-
liminary, either to the design or to the execution
of needlework. How else suit the design to the
stitch, the stitch to the design ? In order to do
the one the artist must be quite at home among the
stitches ; in order to do the other the embroidress
must have sympathy enough with a design to
choose the stitch or stitches which will best render
it. An artist who thinks the working out of his
sketch none of his business is no practical designer;
the worker who thinks design a thing apart from
her is only a worker.

This is not the moment to urge upon the needle-
woman the study of design, but to urge upon the
designer the study of stitches. Nothing is more
impractical than to make a design without
realising the labour involved in its execution.
Any one not in sympathy with stitching may
possibly design a beautiful piece of needlework,
but no one will get all that is to be got out of
the needle without knowing all about it. One
must understand the ways in which work can
be done in order to determine the way it shall in
any particular case be done.

Certain stitches answer certain purposes, and
strictly only those. The designer must know
which stitch answers which purpose, or he will in
the first place waste the labour of the embroidress,

EMBROIDERY AND STITCHING. n

and in the second miss his effect, which is to waste
his own pains too. The effective worker (designer
or embroiderer) is the one who works with judg-
ment and you cannot judge unless you know.
When it is remembered that the character of
needlework, and by rights also the character of
its design, depends upon the stitch, there will
be no occasion to insist further upon the necessity
of a comprehensive survey of the stitches.

A stitch may be defined as the thread left on
the surface of the cloth or what not, after each
ply of the needle.

And the simple straightforward stitches of this
kind are not so many as one might suppose. They
may be reduced indeed to a comparatively few
types, as will be seen in the following chapters.

CANVAS STITCHES.

The simplest, as it is most likely the earliest
used, stitch-group is what might best be called
CANVAS stitch of which cross-stitch is perhaps
the most familiar type, the class of stitches which
come of following, as it is only natural to do, the
mesh of a coarse canvas, net, or open web upon
which the work is done.

A stitch bears always, or should bear, some
relation to the material on which it is worked ;
but canvas or very coarse linen almost compels a
stitch based upon the cross lines of its woof, and
indeed suggests designs of equally rigid construc-
tion. That is so in embroidery no matter where.
In ancient Byzantine or Coptic work, in modern
Cretan work, and in peasant embroidery all the
world over, pattern work on coarse linen has run
persistently into angular lines in which, because of
that very angularity, the plain outcome of a way of
working, we find artistic character. Artistic design
is always expressive of its mode of workmanship.

Work of this kind is not too lightly to be
dismissed. There is art in the rendering of form
by means of angular outlines, art in the choice of

CANVAS STITCHES. 13

forms which can be expressed by such lines. It is
not uncharitable to surmise that one reason why
such work (once so universal and now quite out of
fashion) is not popular with needlewomen may be,
the demand it makes upon the designer's draught-
manship : it is much easier, for example, to draw
a stag than to render the creature satisfactorily
within jagged lines determined by a linen mesh.

4. CROSS-STITCH.

The piquancy about natural or other forms thus
reduced to angularity argues, of course, no affecta-
tion of quaintness on the part of the worker, but
was the unavoidable outcome of her way of work.
There is a pronounced and early limit to art of
this rather nai've kind, but that there is art in some
of the very simplest and most modest peasant
work built up on those lines no artist will deny.
The art in it is usually in proportion to its modesty.
Nothing is more futile than to put it to anything

14 ART IN NEEDLEWORK.

like pictorial purpose. The wonderfully wrought
pictures in tent-stitch, for example, bequeathed to
us by the iyth century, are painful object lessons
in what not to do.

The origin of the term cross-stitch is not far to

seek : the stitches worked upon the square mesh

do cross. But, falling naturally into the lines of

the mesh which governs them, they present not so

much the appearance of crosses as of squares,

reminding one of the tesserae employed in mosaic.

TO WORK To explain the process of working cross-stitch

CROSS would be teaching one's grandmother indeed. It

STITCH. i -, ! i'i U

is simply, as its name implies, crossing one stitch
by another, following always the lines of the
canvas. But the important thing about it is that
the stitches must cross always in the same way ;
and, more than that, they must be worked in the
same direction, or the mere fact that the stitches at
the back of the work do not run in the same way
will disturb the evenness of the surface. What
looks like a seam on the sampler opposite is the
result of filling up a gap in the ground with stitches
necessarily worked in vertical, whereas the ground
generally is in horizontal, lines. On the face of
the work the stitches cross all in the same way.

The common use of cross-stitch and the some-
what geometric kind of pattern to which it lends
itself are shown in the sampler, Illustration 5.

The broad and simple leafage, worked solid (A)
or left in the plain canvas upon a groundwork of

!i A

5- CROSS-STITCH SAMPLER.

16 ART IN NEEDLEWORK.

solid stitching (B), and the fretted diaper on
vertical and horizontal lines (C), show the most
straightforward ways of using it.

The criss-cross of alternating cross-stitches and
open canvas framed by the key pattern (C) shows
a means of getting something like a tint halfway
between solid work and plain ground. The mere
work line or " stroke-stitch," not crossed (D),
is a perfectly fair way of getting a delicate effect ;
but the design has a way of working out rather
less happily than it promised.

The addition of such stroke-stitches to solid
cross-stitch (E) is not at best a very happy device.
It strikes one always as a confession of dissatis-
faction on the part of the worker with the simple
means of her choice. As a device for, as it were,
correcting the stepped outline it is at its worst.
Timid workers are always afraid of the stepped
outline which a coarse mesh gives. In that they
are wrong. One should employ canvas stitch
only where there is no objection to a line which
keeps step with the canvas ; then there is a posi-
tive charm (for frank people at least) in the frank
confession of the way the work is done.

There are many degrees in the frankness with
which this convention has been accepted, accord-
ing perhaps to the coarseness of the canvas
ground, perhaps to the personality of the worker.
The animal forms at the top of Illustration 6 are
uncompromisingly square; the floral devices on

6. CANVAS-STITCH.

D.E.

ART IN NEEDLEWORK.

the same page, though they fall, as it were inevit-
ably, into square lines, are less rigidly formal. The
inevitableness of the square line is apparent in
the sprig below (7). It was evidently meant to be
freely drawn, but the influence of the mesh betrays

itself ; and the
design, if it loses
something in
grace, gains
also thereby
in character.

There is liter-
k ally no end to
Y the variety of
stitches, as
they are called,
belonging to
this group, and

7. CANVAS-STITCH.

TENT-
STITCH

their names are
a babel of confu-
sion. Floren-
tine, Parisian,
Hungarian, Spanish, Moorish, Cashmere, Mila-
nese, Gobelin, are only a few of them ; but they
stand, as a rule, rather for stitch arrangements
than for stitches. A small selection of them is
given in Illustration 8.

What is known as tent-stitch (A in the sampler
opposite) is a" sort of half cross-stitch ; its pecu-
liarity is that it covers only one thread of the

8. CANVAS-STITCH SAMPLER.

C 2

ART IN NEEDLEWORK.

canvas at a stroke, and is therefore on a more
minute scale than stitches which are two or three
threads wide, as cross-stitch may, and cushion-
stitch must, be. It derives its name from the old
word tenture, or tenter (tender -e, to stretch), the
frame on which the embroidress distended her
canvas. The word has gone out of use, but we

9. CUSHION AND SATIN STITCHES.

still speak of tenter-hooks. The stitch is service-
able enough in its way, but is discredited by the
monstrous abuse of it referred to already. A picture
in tent-stitch is even more foolish than a picture
in mosaic. It cannot come anywhere near to
pictorial effect ; the tesserae will pronounce them-
selves, and spoil it.

This kind of half cross-stitch worked on the
larger scale of ordinary cross-stitch would look

CANVAS STITCHES. 21

meagre. It is filled out, therefore (B), by hori- CROSS-
zontal lines of the thread laid across the canvas, g Tn
and over these the stitch is worked.

Cushion - stitch consists of diagonal lines of CUSHION-
upright stitches, measuring in the sampler (C) ^ Tn
six threads of the canvas, so that after each
stitch the needle may be brought out just three
threads lower than where it was put in. By
working in zigzag instead of diagonal lines, a
familiar pattern is produced, more often described
as " Florentine ; " but the stitch is in any case the
same.

The stitch at D (sometimes called Moorish CANVAS-
stitch) is begun by working a row of short vertical sj ITCH
stitches, slightly apart, and completed by diagonal
stitches joining them.

Unless the silk employed is full and soft, this
may not completely cover the canvas, in which
case the diagonal stitches must further be crossed
as shown on Illustration 89.

If the linen is loosely woven and the thread
is tightly drawn in the working, the mesh is
pulled apart, giving the effect of an open lattice
of the kind shown at B, on Illustration 10,
in which the threads of the linen are not drawn
out but drawn together.

The way of working the stitch at E is described CANVAS-
on page 51, under the name of "fish-bone." ?J ITCH
Worked on canvas it has somewhat the effect of
plaiting, and goes by the name of " plait-stitch."

22 ART IN NEEDLEWORK.

It is worked in horizontal rows alternately from
left to right and from right to left.

CANVAS- The s titch at F is a sort of couching (see

F. page 124). Diagonal lines of thread are first laid

from edge to edge of the ground space, and these

are sewn down by short overcasting stitches in

the cross direction.

Admirable canvas-stitch work has been done
upon linen in silk of one colour red, green, or
blue and it was a common practice to work the
background leaving the pattern in the bare stuff.
It prevailed in countries lying far apart, though
probably not without inter-communication. In
fact, the influence of Oriental work upon
European has been so great that even experts
hesitate sometimes to say whether a particular
piece of work is Turkish or Italian. In Italian
work, at least, it was usual to get over the angu-
larity of silhouette inherent in canvas stitches by
working an outline separately. When that is thin,
the effect is proportionately feeble. The broader
outline (shown at A, Illustration 10) justifies itself,
and in the case of a stitch which falls into
horizontal lines, it appears to be necessary. This
is plait-stitch, known also by the name of Spanish
stitch not that it is in any way peculiar to Spain.
It is allied to herring-bone-stitch, to which a special
chapter is devoted.

Darning is also employed as a canvas stitch.
There is beautiful i6th century Italian work (in

IO. PLAIT AND OPEN CANVAS STITCHES.

24 ART IN NEEDLEWORK.

coloured silks on dark net of the very open square
mesh of the period), which is most effective, and
in which there is no pretence of disguising the
stepped outline ; and in the very early days of
Christian art in Egypt and Byzantium, linen was
darned in little square tufts of wool upstanding on
its surface, which look so much like the tesserae of
mosaic that it seems as if they must have been
worked in deliberate imitation of it.

Again, in the I5th century satin-stitch was
worked on fine linen with strict regard to the
lines of its web ; and the Persians, ancient and
modern, embroider white silk upon linen, also in
satin-stitch, preserving piously the rectangular
and diagonal lines given by the material. They
have their reward in producing most characteristic
needlework. The diapered ground in Illustration
9 (page 20) is satin-stitch upon coarse linen.

The filling-in patterns used to such delicate
and dainty purpose in the marvellous work on
fine cambric (Illustration 73) which competes in
effect with lace, though it is strictly embroidery,
all follow in their design the lines of the fabric,
and are worked thread by thread according to its
woof: they afford again instances of perfect adapta-
tion of stitch to material and of design to stitch.

Satin and other stitches were worked by the
old Italians (Illustration 3) on square-meshed
canvas, frankly on the square lines given by it,
for the filling in of ornamental details, though the

CANVAS STITCHES. 25

outline might be much less formal. That is to
say, the surface of freely-drawn leaves, &c., instead
of being worked solid, was diapered over with
more or less open pattern work constructed on
the lines of the weaving.

A cunning use of the square mesh of canvas
has sometimes been made to guide the worker
upon other fabrics, such as velvet. This was
first faced with net : the design was then worked,
over that, on to and into the velvet, and the
threads of the canvas were then drawn out.
That is a device which may serve on occasion.
The design may even be traced upon the net.

CREWEL-STITCH.

For work in the hand, CREWEL-STITCH is
perhaps, on the whole, the easiest and most
useful of stitches ; whence it comes that people
sometimes vaguely call all embroidery crewel

work ; though,
as a matter of
fact, the stitch
properly so
called was never
very commonly
employed, even
when the work
was done in
"crewel," the
double thread
of twisted wool
THE WORKING OF A ON CREWEL- from which it

STITCH SAMPLER.

CREWEL-STITCH proper is shown at A on the

sampler opposite, where it is used for line work.

TO WORK j t j s wor k e d as follows : Having made a start in

the usual way, keep your thread downwards under

your left thumb and below your needle that is,

II. CREWEL-STITCH SAMPLER.

12. CREWEL-STITCH SAMPLER (BACK),

CREWEL-STITCH.

to the right ; then take up with the needle, say
Jth of an inch of the stuff, and bring it out through
the hole made in starting the stitch, taking care
not to pierce the thread. This gives the first half
stitch. If you proceed in the same way your next
stitch will be full length. The test of good work-
manship is that at the back it should look like back-
stitch (Illustration 12), described on page 30.

OUTLINE-STITCH (B on sampler) differs from T0 WORK
crewel-stitch only B.

in that the thread
is always kept up-
wards above the
needle, that is to
the left. In so
doing the thread
is apt to untwist
itself, and wants
constantly re-
twisting. The
stitch is useful for

single lines and for outlining solid work. The
muddled effect of much crewel work is due to the
confusion of this stitch with crewel-stitch proper.

THICK CREWEL - STITCH (C on sampler) is T0
only a little wider than ordinary crewel-stitch, C.
but gives a heavier line, in higher relief. In effect
it resembles rope-stitch, but it is more simply
worked. You begin as in ordinary crewel-stitch,
but after the first half-stitch you take up th of

THE WORKING OF B ON CREWEL-
STITCH SAMPLER.

ART IN NEEDLEWORK.

TO WORK

an inch of the material in advance of the last
stitch, and bring out your needle at the point
where the first half-stitch began. You proceed,

always put-
ting your
needle in th

THE WORKING OF C ON CREWEL-STITCH
SAMPLER.

of an inch in
front of, and
bringing it
out |th of an
inch behind,
the last stitch, so as to have always ^th of an inch
of the stuff on your needle.

RK THICK OUTLINE-STJTCH (D on sampler) is
like thick crewel-stitch with the exception that,
as in ordinary outline-stitch (B), you keep your
thread always above the needle to the left.

In BACK-STITCH (E), instead of first bringing
the needle out at the point where the embroidery
is to begin, you bring it out |th of an inch in
advance of it. Then, putting your needle back,
you take up this |th together with another ^th in
advance. For the next stitch you put your needle
into the hole made by the last stitch, and so on,
taking care not to split the last thread in so doing.
To work the SPOTS (F) on sampler having
made a back-stitch, bring your needle out through
the same hole as before, and make another back-
stitch above it, so that you have, in what appears
to be one stitch, two thicknesses of thread ; then

CREWEL WORK AND CREWEL-STITCH.

32 ART IN NEEDLEWORK

bring your needle out some distance in advance of
the last stitch, and proceed as before. The distance
between the stitches is determined by the effect you
desire to produce. The thread should not be drawn
too tight.

TO WORK You begin STEM-STITCH (G) with the usual
G - half-stitch. Then, holding the thread downwards,
instead of proceeding as in crewel-stitch (A) you
slant your needle so as to bring it out a thread or
two higher up than the half-stitch, but precisely
above it. You next put the needle in |-th of an inch
in advance of the last stitch, and, as before, bring it
out again in a slanting direction a thread or two
higher. At the back of the work (Illustration 12)
the stitches lie in a slanting direction.

TO WORK To work wider STEM-STITCH (H). After the
H - first two stitches, bring your needle out precisely
above and in a line with them, and put it in
again ^th of an inch in advance of the last stitch,
producing a longer stroke, which gives the measure
of those following. The slanting stitches at the
back (Illustration 12) are only two-thirds of the
length of those on the face.

CREWEL AND OUTLINE STITCHES worked (J)
side by side give somewhat the effect of a braid.
The importance of not confusing them, already
referred to, is here apparent.

CREWEL-STITCH is worked SOLID in the heart-
shape in the centre of the sampler. On the left
side the rows of stitching follow the outline of

14. CRLWEL WORK IN VARIOUS STITCHES.
D.E. D

34 ART IN NEEDLEWORR.

the heart ; on the right they are more upright,
merely conforming a little to the shape to be filled.
This is the better method.

TO WORK The way to work solid crewel-stitch will
CREWEL* k k es * explained by an instance. Suppose a
STITCH, leaf to be worked. You begin by outlining it ;
if it is a wide leaf, you further work a centre
line where the main rib would be, and then
work row within row of stitches until the space
is filled. If on arriving at the point of your leaf,
instead of going round the edge, you work back
by the side of the first row of stitching, there
results a streakiness of texture, apparent in the
stem on Illustration 13. What you get is, in
effect, a combination of crewel and outline stitches,
as at J, which in the other case only occurs in the
centre of the shape where the files of stitches meet.
To represent shading in crewel-stitch, to which
it is admirably suited (A, Illustration 41), it is well
to work from the darkest shadows to the highest
lights. And it is expedient to map out on the
stuff the outline of the space to be covered by each
shade of thread. There is no difficulty then in
working round that shape, as above explained.

In solid crewel the stitches should quite cover
the ground without pressing too closely one against
the other.

It does not seem that Englishwomen of the
iyth century were ever very faithful to the stitch
we know by the name of crewel. Old examples of

15. CREWEL-STITCH IN TWISTED SILK.

D 2

36 ART IN NEEDLEWORK.

work done entirely in crewel-stitch, as distinguished
from what is called crewel work, are seldom if
ever to be met with. The stitch occurs in most
of the old English embroidery in wool ; but it is
astonishing, when one comes to examine the quilts
and curtains of a couple of hundred years or so ago,
how very little of the woolwork on them is in crewel-
stitch. The detail on Illustration 13 was chosen
because it contained more of it than any other equal
portion of a handsome and typical English hang-
ing ; but it is only in the main stem, and in some
of the outlines, that the stitch is used. And that
appears to have been the prevailing practice to use
crewel-stitch for stems and outlines, and for little
else but the very simplest forms. The filling in of
the leafage, the diapering within the leaf shapes, and
the smaller and more elaborate details generally
were done in long-and-short-stitch, or whatever
came handiest. In fact, the thing to be represented,
fruit, berry, flower, or what not, seems to have sug-
gested the stitch, which it must be confessed was
sometimes only a sort of scramble to get an effect.
Of course the artist always chooses her stitch,
and she is free to alter it as occasion may demand ;
but a good workwoman (and the embroidress is
a needlewoman first and an artist afterwards,
perhaps) adopts in every case a method, and
departs from it only for very good reason. It
looks as if our ancestors had set to work without
system or guiding principle at all. No doubt they

CREWEL-STITCH. 37

got a bold and striking effect in their bed-hangings
and the like ; but there is in their work a lack of
that conscious aim which goes to make art. Theirs
is art of the rather artless sort which is just now
so popular. Happily it was kept in the way it
should go by a strict adherence to traditional
pattern, which for the time being seems to have
gone completely out of fashion.

Quite in the traditional manner is Illustration 14.
One would fancy at first sight that the work was
almost entirely in crewel-stitch. As a matter of
fact, there is little which answers to the name,
as an examination of the back of the work shows
plainly enough. What the stitches are it is not
easy to say. The mystery of many a stitch is
to be unravelled only by literally picking out the
threads, which one is not always at liberty to
do, although, in the ardour of research, a keen
embroidress will do it not without remorse in the
case of beautiful work, but relentlessly all the same.

The only piece of embroidery entirely in crewel-
stitch which I could find for illustration (15) is
worked, as it happens, in silk ; nor was the worker
aware that in so working she was doing anything
out of the common. Another instance of crewel-
stitch is given in the divided skirt, let us call it,
of the personage in Illustration 72.

Beautiful back-stitching occurs in the Italian
work on Illustration 89, and the stitch is used for
sewing down the applique in Illustration 94.

CHAIN-STITCH.

l6. CHAIN-STITCH AND KNOTS.

TO WORK

CHAIN and TAM-
BOUR STITCH are in
effect practically the
same, and present the
same rather granular
surface. The differ-
ence between them is
that chain - stitch is
done in the hand with
an ordinary needle,
and tambour-stitch in a
frame with a hook sharper at the turning point
than an ordinary crochet hook. One takes it rather
for granted that work which was presumably done
in the hand (a large quilt, for example) is chain-
stitch, and that what seems to have been done in
a frame is tambour work, though it is possible, but
not advisable of course, to work chain-stitch in
a frame.

Chain-stitch is not to be confounded with split-
stitch (see page 105), which somewhat resembles it.
To work chain-stitch (A on the sampler, Illus-
tration 17) bring the needle out, hold the thread

17. CHAIN-STITCH SAMPLER.

l8. CHAIN-STITCH SAMPLER^(BACK).

CHAIN-STITCH. 41

down with the left thumb, put the needle in again
at the hole through which you brought it out, take
up of an inch of stuff, and draw the thread
through : that gives you the first link of the chain.
The back of the work (18) looks like back-stitch.
In fact, in the quilted coverlet, Illustration 69
(as in much similar work of the period), the
outline pattern, which you might take for back-
stitching, proves to have been worked from the back
in chain-stitch. The same thing occurs in the case
of the Persian quilt in Illustration 70.

A playful variation upon chain-stitch (B on the TO WORK
sampler, Illustration 17) is effected by the use of
two threads of different colour. Take in your
needle a dark and a light thread, say the dark one
to the left, and bring them out at the point at
which your work begins. Hold the dark thread
under your thumb, and, keeping the light one to
the right, well out of the way, draw both threads
through ; this makes a dark link ; the light thread
disappears, and comes out again to the left of
the dark one, ready to be held under the thumb
while you make a light link. This " magic
stitch," as it has been called, is no new invention.
It is to be found in Persian, Indian, and Italian
Renaissance work. An instance of it occurs in
Illustration 64.

A variety of chain-stitch (C on the sampler,
Illustration 17) used often in church work, more
solid in appearance, the links not being so open,

42 ART IN NEEDLEWORK.

TO WORK is rather differently done. Begin a little in
advance of the starting point of your work, hold
the thread under your thumb, put the needle in
again at the starting point slightly to the left,
bring your needle out about ^th of an inch below
where it first went in but precisely on the same
line, and you have the first link of your chain.

TO WORK To work what is known as cable-chain (D on

D. the sampler, Illustration 17) keep your thread
to the right, put in your needle, pointing down-
wards, a little below the starting point, and bring
it out about |th of an inch below where you put it
in ; then put it through the little stitch just formed,
from right to left, hold your thread towards the
left under your thumb, put your needle through
the stitch now in process of making from right to
left, draw up the thread, and the first two links
of your chain are made.

TO WORK A zigzag chain, of a rather fancy description,

E. goes by the name of Vandyke chain (E on the
sampler, Illustration 17). To make it, bring your
needle out at a point which is to be the left edge
of your work, and make a slanting chain-stitch
from left to right ; then, putting your needle into
that, make another slanting stitch, this time from
right to left and so to and fro to the end.

RK The braid-stitch shown at F on the sampler

F. (Illustration 17) is worked as follows, horizontally
from right to left. Bring your needle out at a
point which is to be the lower edge of your work,

CHAIN-STITCH.

THE WORKING OF F ON
CHAIN-STITCH SAMPLER.

throw your thread round to the left, and, keeping
it all the time loosely under your thumb, put your
needle under the thread and twist it once round
to the right.
Then, at the
upper edge of
your work, put
in the needle and
slide the thread
towards the
right, bring the
needle out ex-
actly below
where you put
it in, carry your thread under the needle towards
the left, draw the thread tight, and your first stitch
is done.

A yet more fanciful variety of braid-stitch (G
on the sampler, Illustration 17) is worked vertically,
downwards. Having, as before, put your needle
under the thread and twisted it once round, put
it in at a point which is to be the left edge of
your work, and, instead of bringing it out imme-
diately below that point, slant it to the right,
bringing it out on that edge of the work, and
finish your stitch as in the case of F.

These. braid-stitches look best worked in stout
thread of close texture.

In covering a surface with chain-stitch (needle-
work or tambour) the usual plan is to follow the

ART IN NEEDLEWORK.

contour of the design, working chain within chain
until the leaf or whatever it may be is rilled in.
This stitch is rarely worked in lines across the
forms, but it has been effectively used in that
way, following always the lines of the warp and
weft of the stuff. Even in that case the successive
lines of stitching should be all in
one direction not running back-
wards and forwards or it will
result in a sort of pattern of
braided lines. The reason for the
more usual practice of following
the outline of the design is obvious.
The stitch lends itself to sweeping,
even to perfectly spiral, lines such
as occur in Greek wave patterns :
it was, in fact, made use of in that
way by the Greeks some four or
five centuries B.C.

We owe the tambour frame, they
say, to China ; but it has been
largely used, and abused indeed,
THE WORKING OF m England. Tambour work, when
G ON CHAIN- once you have the trick of it, is

STITCH SAMPLER. 1 i T i

very quickly done in about one-
sixth of the time it would take to do it with
the needle. It has the further advantage that
it serves equally well for embroidery on a
light or on a heavy stuff, and that it is most
lasting. The misfortune is that the sewing

46 ART IN NEEDLEWORK.

machine has learnt to do something at once so
like it and so mechanically even, as to discredit
genuine hand-work, whether tambour work or
chain-stitch. For all that, neither is to be de-
spised. If they have often a mechanical appearance
that is not all the fault of the stitch : the worker
is to blame. Indian embroiderers depart some-
times so far from mechanical precision as to
shock the admirers of monotonously even work.
Artistic use of chain stitch is made in many of
our illustrations : for outlines in Illustrations 24
and 72 ; for surface covering in Mr. Crane's lion,
Illustration 74 ; to represent landscape in Illus-
tration 78, where everything except the faces of
the little men is in chain-stitch ; and again for
figure work in Illustration 81. In Illustration 19
it occurs in association with a curious surface
stitch ; in Illustration 64 it is used to outline and
otherwise supplement inlay. The old Italians
did not disdain to use it. In fact, wherever artists
have employed it, they show that there is nothing
inherently inartistic about the stitch.

HERRING-BONE-STITCH.

HERRING-BONE is the name by which it is
customary to distinguish a variety of stitches
somewhat resembling the spine of a fish such
as the herring. It would be simpler to describe
them as " fish-bone ; " but that term has been
appropriated to describe a particular variety of it.
One would have thought it more convenient to use
fish for the generic term, and a particular fish for
the specific. However, it saves confusion to use
names as far as possible in their accepted sense.

It will be seen from the sampler, Illustration 20,
that this stitch may be worked open or tolerably
close ; but in the latter case it loses something of
its distinctive character. Fine lines may be worked
in it, but it appears most suited to the working of
broadish bands and other more or less even-sided
or, it may be, tapering forms, more feathery in
effect than fish-bone-like, such as are shown at E
on sampler.

Ordinary herring-bone is such a familiar stitch
that the necessity of describing it is rather a
matter of literary consistency than of practical
importance.

48 ART IN NEEDLEWORK.

The two simpler forms of herring-bone (it is
always worked from left to right, and begun with
a half-stitch) marked A and C on the sampler are
strikingly different in appearance, and are worked
in different ways as will be seen at once by
reference to the back of the sampler (Illustra-
tion 21), where the stitches take in the one case a
horizontal and in the other a vertical direction.
TO WORK To work A, bring your needle out about the

A - centre of the line to be worked; put it into the
lower edge of the line about ^th of an inch
further on ; take up this much of the stuff, and,
keeping't,lie thread to the right, above the needle,
draw it through. Then, with the thread below it,
to the right, put your needle into the upper edge
of the line -th of an inch further on, and, turning
it backwards, take up again ^th of an inch of
stuff, bringing it out immediately above where it
went in on the lower edge.
TO WORK What is called "Indian Herring-bone" (B) is

B. merely stitch A worked in longer and more

slanting stitches, so that there is room between

them for a second row in another colour, the two

colours being, of course, properly interlaced.

TO WORK To work C, bring your needle out as for A,

c> and, putting it in at the upper edge of the line
to be worked and pointing it downwards, whilst
your thread lies to the right, take up ever so small
a piece of the stuff. Then, slightly in advance
of the last stitch, the thread still to the right,

2O. HERRING-BONE SAMPLER.

D.E.

*&*

x ,

I- "'?

2 f

' r '- J

21. HERRING-BONE SAMPLER (BACK).

HERRING-BONE-STITCH. 51

your needle now pointing upwards, take another
similar stitch from the lower edge.

The variety at D is merely a combination of A T0 WORK
and C, as may be seen by reference to the back of D.
the sampler (opposite) ; though the short horizontal
stitches there seen meet, instead of being wide
apart as in the case of A.

THE WORKING OF E ON HERRING-BONE SAMPLER.

What is .known as " fish-bone " is illustrated in
the three feathery shapes on the sampler (E), two
of which are worked rather open. It is charac-
teristic of this stitch that it has a sort of spine up
the centre where the threads cross. Suppose the T0 W ORK
stitch to be worked horizontally. Bring your
needle out on the under edge of the spine about
-4-th of an inch from the starting point of the work,
and put it in on the upper edge of the work at the
starting point, bringing it out immediately below
that on the lower edge of the work. Put it in
again on the upper edge of the spine, rather in

E 2

52 ART IN NEEDLEWORK.

advance of where it came out on the lower edge
of it before, and bring it out on the lower edge of
this spine immediately below where it entered.

In close herring-bone (F on the sampler, Illus-
tration 20) you have always a long stitch from
left to right, crossed by a shorter stitch which
F goes from right to left. Having made a half
stitch, bring the needle out at the beginning of
the line to be worked, at the lower edge, and put

THE WORKING OF F ON HERRING-BONE SAMPLER.

it in ^th of an inch from the beginning of the upper
edge. Bring it out again at the beginning of this
edge and put it in at the lower edge th of an inch
from the beginning, bringing it out on the same
edge th of an inch from the beginning. Put the
needle in again on the upper edge |th of an inch
in front of the last stitch on that edge, and bring
it out again, without splitting the thread, on the
same edge as the hole where the last stitch went in.
If you wish to cover a surface with herring-bone-
stitch, you work it, of course, close, so that each

HERRING-BONE-STITCH.

successive stitch touches its foregoer at the point
where the needle enters the stuff (F on the sampler,
Illustration 20). It will be seen that at the back
(21) this looks like a double row of back-stitching.
Worked straight across a wide leaf, as in the lower
half of sampler, it is naturally very loose. A better
method of working is shown in the side leaves,
which are worked in two halves, beginning at the
base of a leaf on one side and working down to
it on the other. There is here just the suggestion
of a mid-rib between the two rows.

THE WORKING OF G ON HERRING-BONE SAMPLER.

The stitch at G on sampler, having the effect
of higher relief than ordinary close herring-bone
(F), is sometimes misleadingly described as tapestry
stitch. It is worked, as the back of the sampler
(21) clearly shows, in quite a different way. You TO WORK
get there parallel rows of double stitches. Having

54 ART IN NEEDLEWORK.

made a half-stitch entering the material at th p
upper edge of the work, bring the needle out on
the lower edge of it immediately opposite. Then,
going back, put it in at the beginning of the
upper edge, and bring it out at the beginning of
the lower one. Thence take a long slanting stitch
upwards from left to right, bring the needle out
on the lower edge immediately opposite, cross it
by a rather shorter stitch from right to left,
entering the stuff at the point where the first half-
stitch ended, bring this out on the lower edge,
opposite, and the stitch is done.

The artistic use of herring-bone-stitch is shown
in the leaves of the tulip (84), and a closer variety
of it in the pink, or whatever the flower may be,
in the hand of the little figure on Illustration 72.

BUTTONHOLE-STITCH.

BUTTONHOLE is more useful in ornament than
one might expect a stitch with such a very
utilitarian name to be. It is, as its common
use would lead one to suppose, pre-eminently a
one-edged stitch, a stitch with which to mark
emphatically the outside edge of a form. There
is, however, a two - edged variety known as
ladder-stitch, shown in the two horn shapes on
the sampler, Illustration 22.

By the use of two rows back to back, leaf forms
may be fairly expressed. In the leaves on the
sampler, the edge of the stitch is used to emphasise
the mid rib, leaving a serrated edge to the leaves.
The character of the stitch would have been better
preserved by working the other way about, and
marking the edge of the leaves by a clear-cut line,
as in the case of the solid leaves in Illustration 73.

The stitch may be used for covering a ground
or other broad surface, as in the pot shape (J) on
the sampler, where the diaper pattern produced
by its means explains itself the better for being
worked in two shades of colour.

The simpler forms of the stitch are the more

56 ART IN NEEDLEWORK.

useful. Worked in the form of a wheel, as in
the rosettes at the side of the vase snaps (A),
the ornamental use of the stitch is obvious.
TO WORK One need hardly describe BUTTONHOLE STITCH.
A . The simple form of it (A) is worked by (when
you have brought your needle out) keeping the
thread under your thumb to the right, whilst
you put the needle in again at a higher point
slightly to the right, and bring it out immediately
below, close to where it came out before. This
and other one-edged stitches of the kind are some-
times called "blanket-stitch."

The only difference between versions such as
B and C on the sampler, and simple button-
hole, is that the stitches vary in length according
to the worker's fancy.

The CROSSED BUTTONHOLE STITCH at E is
TO WORK worked by first making a stitch sloping to the
' right, and then a smaller buttonhole-stitch across
this from the left.

The border marked D in sampler consists
merely of two rows of slanting buttonhole-stitch
worked one into the other. Needlewomen have
wilful ways of making what should be upright
stitches slant awkwardly in all manner of ways,
with the result that they look as if they had been
pulled out of the straight.

The border at F, known as " TAILOR'S BUTTON-
HOLE," is worked with the firm edge from you,
instead of towards you, as you work ordinary

22. BUTTONHOLE SAMPLER.

23. BUTTONHOLE SAMPLER (BACK).

BUTTONHOLE-STITCH.

TO WORK

buttonhole. Bringing the thread out at the upper T0 WORK
edge of the work to the left, and letting it lie on F.
that side, you put your needle in again still on the
same edge, and bring it out, immediately below,
on the lower one. You then, before drawing the
thread quite through, put your needle into the
loop from behind, and tighten it upwards.

In order to make your ladder-
stitch (G) square at the end,
you begin by making a bar of
the width the stitch is to be.
Then, holding the thread under
your thumb to the right, you
put the needle in at the top of
the bar and, slanting it towards
the right, bring it out on a level
with the other end of the bar
somewhat to the right. This
makes a triangle. With the
point of your needle, pull the
slanting thread out at the top,
to form a square ; insert the needle ; slant it again
to the right ; draw it out as before, and you have
your second triangle.

The difference between the working of the lattice- TO WORK
like band at H, and ladder-stitch G, is that, having
completed your first triangle, you make, by button-
holing a stitch, a second triangle pointing the
other way, which completes a rectangular shape.

In the solid work shown at J, you make five

THE WO'RKING OF H

ON BUTTONHOLE

SAMPLER.

3K ^x-K^SKMtv^''. i

24. BUTTONHOLE, CHAIN, AND KNOT STITCHES.

BUTTONHOLE-STITCH. 61

buttonhole-stitches, gathering them to a point
at the base, then another five, and so on. Repeat
the process, this time point upwards, and you have
the first band of the pot shape.

Characteristic and most beautiful use is made
of buttonhole stitch in the piece of Indian work
in Illustration 24, where it is outlined with chain
stitch, which goes most perfectly with it.

Cut work, such as that on Illustration 65, is
strengthened by outlining it in buttonhole-stitch.

Ladder-stitch occurs in the cusped shapes
framing certain flowers in Illustration 72, em-
broidered all in blue silk on linen. It is not
infrequent in Oriental work, and, in fact, goes
sometimes by the name of Cretan-stitch on that
account.

FEATHER AND ORIENTAL STITCHES.

FEATHER-STITCH is simply buttonholing in a
slanting direction, first to the right side and then
to the left, keeping the needle strokes in the centre
closer together or farther apart according to the
effect to be produced.

It owes its name, of course, to the more or less
feathery effect resulting from its rather opsn
character. Like buttonhole, it may be worked
solid, as in the leaf andj^etal forms on the sampler,
Illustration 25, but it is better suited to cover
narrow than broad surfaces. The jagged outline
which it gives makes it useful in embroidering
plumage, but it is not to be confounded with what
is called "plumage-stitch," which is not feather-
stitch at all, but a version of satin-stitch.

The feathery stem (A) on sampler is simply a
buttonholing worked alternately from right to left
and left to right.

The border line at B requires rather more
explanation. Presume it to be worked vertically.
Bring your needle out at the left edge of the band ;
put it in at the right edge immediately opposite,
keeping your thread under the needle to the right ;

25. FEATHER-STITCH SAMPLER.

26. FEATHER-STITCH SAMPLER (BACK).

FEATHER AND ORIENTAL STITCHES. 6<i

bring it out again still on the right edge a little
lower down, and then, keeping your thread to the
left, put the needle in on the left edge, opposite to
where you last brought it out, and bring it out
again on the same edge a little lower down.

The border at C is merely an elaboration of the
above, with three slanting stitches on each edge
instead of a single one in the
direction of the band.

Bands D, E, F, G, are va-
riations of ordinary feather-
stitch, requiring no further ex-
planation than the back view
of the work (26) affords. On
the face of the sampler it will
be noticed that lines have been
drawn for the guidance of the
worker. These are always
four in number, indicating at
once, that the stitch is made
with four strokes of the needle,
and the points at which it is
put in and out of the stuff.

In working G G, suppose
four guiding lines to have been
drawn as above numbered, i, 2, 3, 4, from left TO WORK
to right. Bringyour needle out at the top of line i. G G<
Make a chain-stitch slanting downwards from line i
to line 2. Put your needle into line 3 about th
of an inch lower down, and, slanting it upwards,
D.E.

THE WORKING OF G G
ON FEATHER-STITCH
SAMPLER

66 ART IN NEEDLEWORK.

bring it out on line 4 level with the point where you
last brought it out. Make a chain-stitch slanting
downwards this time from right to left, and bring
your needle out on line 3. Lastly, put your needle
into line 2, |th of an inch below the last stitch,
and, slanting it upwards, bring it out on line i. -

Feather-stitch is not adapted to covering broad
surfaces solidly, but may be used for narrow ones.

ORIENTAL - STITCH is the name given to a
close kind of feather-stitch much used in Eastern
work. The difference at once apparent to the eye
between the two is that, whereas for the mid-rib
of a band or leaf of feather-stitching (25) you have
cross lines, in Oriental-stitch (27) you have a
straight line longer or shorter as the case may be.

Oriental - stitch, sometimes called "Antique-
stitch," is a stitch in three strokes, just as feather-
stitch is a stitch in four. It is usually worked
horizontally, though shown upright on the sampler,
Illustration 27. Like feather-stitch (see diagram),
it is worked on four guiding lines, faintly visible
on the sampler.

TO WORK Stitches A, B, and C are worked in precisely
A, B, C. t h e sarn e way. Bring your needle out at the top
of line i. Keep the thread under your thumb to
the right and put' your needle in at the top of line
4, bringing it out into line 3 on the same level.
Then put it in again at line 2, just on the other
side of the thread, and bring it out on line i
ready to begin the next stitch.

37- ORIENTAL-STITCH SAMPLER.

F 2

28. ORIENTAL-STITCH SAMPLER (BACK).

FEATHER AND ORIENTAL STITCHES. 69

It will be seen that the length of the central
part (or mid-rib, as it was called above) makes
the whole difference between the three varieties
of stitch. In A the three parts are equal : in
B the mid-rib is narrow : in C it is broad,

/V2.

THE WORKING OF A, B, C ON ORIENTAL-STITCH SAMPLER.

as is most plainly seen on the back of the
sampler (28). The difference is only a difference
of proportion.

The sloping stitch at D is worked in the same TO WORK
way as A, B, C, except that instead of straight D -
strokes with the needle you make slanting ones.

Stitch E differs from D in that the side strokes TO WORK

f
slant both in the same direction. It is worked

from right to left instead of from left to right.

Stitch F is a combination of buttonhole and TO WORK
Oriental stitches. Between two rows of button-

7 o ART IN NEEDLEWORK.

holing (dark on sampler) a single row of Oriental-
stitch is worked.

The stitch employed for the central stalk, G,
has really no business on this sampler, except that
it has something the appearance of a continuous
Oriental-stitch.

Oriental-stitch is one of the stitches used in
Illustration 72.

ROPE AND KNOT STITCHES.

A single sampler is devoted to ROPE and
KNOTTED STITCHES, more nearly akin than they
look, for rope-stitch is all but knotted as it is
worked.

ROPE - STITCH is so called because of its
appearance. It takes a large amount of silk or
wool to work it, but the effect is correspondingly
rich. It is worked from right to left, and is easier
to work in curved lines than in straight.

Lines A on the sampler, Illustration 29, represent
the ordinary appearance of the stitch ; its construc-
tion is more appa-
rent in the central
stalk B, which
is a less usual
form of the same
stitch, worked
wider apart. L^ 5 ^ <^S TO WORK

TT , , , ^C ^^^^ A, B.

Having brought
out your needle
at the right end THE WORKING OF A, B, ON ROPE-STITCH

r ,1 1 i 1 j SAMPLER.

oi the work, hold

part of the thread towards the left, under the

thumb, the rest of it falling to the right ; put your

ART IN NEEDLEWORK.

needle in above where it came out, slant it towards
you, and bring it out again a little in advance of
where it came out before, and just below the
thread held under your thumb. Draw the thread
through, and there results a stitch which looks
rather like a distorted chain stitch (B). The next
step is to make another similar stitch so close to
the foregoing one that it overlaps it partly. It

is this overlapping
which gives the
stitch the raised and
rope - like appear-
ance seen at A.

A knotted line
(C in the sampler,
Illustration 29)
is produced by
what is known as
"GERMAN KNOT-
STITCH," effective only in thick soft silk or wool.
TO WORK Begin as in rope stitch, keeping your thread in
the same position. Then put your needle into
the stuff just above the thread stretched under
your thumb, and bring it out just below and in
a line with where it went in.; lastly, keep the
needle above the loose end of the thread, draw it
through, tightening the thread upwards, and you
have the first of your knots : the rest follow at

THE WORKING OF C ON ROPE-
STITCH SAMPLER.

TO WORK
D.

, intervals determined by your wants.

The more open stitch at D is practically the same

2Q. ROPE-STITCH AND KNOT-STITCH SAMPLER.

3O. ROPE-STITCH AND KNOT-STITCH SAMPLER (BACK).

ROPE AND KNOT STITCHES. 75

thing, except that in crossing the running thread
you take up more of the stuff on each side of it.

What is known by the name of " OLD ENGLISH
KNOT-STITCH " (E) is a much more complicated
stitch. Keeping your thread well out of the way TO WORK
to the right, put your needle in to the left, and
take up vertically a piece of the stuff the width of
the line to be worked at its widest, and draw
the thread through. Then, keeping it under the
thumb to the left, put your needle, eye first,
downwards, through the slanting stitch just made;
draw the thread not too tight, and, keeping it as
before under the thumb, put your needle, eye first,
this time through the upper half only of the
slanting stitch, making a kind of buttonhole-
stitch round the last, and draw out your thread.

These knotted rope stitches, call them what
you will, are rather ragged and fussy not much
more than fancy stitches of no great importance.
KNOTS used separately are of much more artistic
account.

BULLION or ROLL-STITCH is shown in its simplest
form in the petals of the flowers F on the sampler,
Illustration 29. To work one such petal, begin TO WORK
by attaching the thread very firmly ; bring your
needle out at the base of the petal, put it in at the
tip, and bring it out once more at the base, only
drawing it partly through. With your right hand
wind the thread, say seven times, round the pro-
jecting point of the needle from left to right. Then,

76 ART IN NEEDLEWORK.

holding the coils under your left thumb, your
thread to the right, draw your needle and thread
through ; and, dropping the needle, and catching
the thread round your little finger, take hold of the
thread with your thumb and first finger and draw
the coiled stitch to the right, tightening it gently

THE WORKING OF F ON KNOT-STITCH SAMPLER.

until quite firm. Lastly, put the needle through
at the tip of the petal, and the stitch is complete
and ready to be fastened off.

The leaves of these flowers consist simply of
two bullion stitches. The bullion knots at the
side of the central stalk are curled by taking up
in the first instance only the smallest piece of
the stuff.

ROPE AND KNOT STITCHES. 77

To work FRENCH KNOTS (G), having brought out T0 WORK
your needle at the point where the knot is to be, G.
hold the thread under your thumb, and, letting
it lie to the right, put your needle under the
stretched part of it. Turn the needle so as to
twist the thread once round it. That done, put
the needle in again about where it came out
draw it through from the back, and bring it out
where the next knot is to be.

For large knots use two or more threads
of silk, and do not
twist them more than
once. With a single
thread you may twist
twice, but the result
of twisting three or

four times is never THE WORKING OF G ON
hannv KNOT-STITCH SAMPLER.

The use of knots is shown to perfection in Illustra-
tion 24. Worked there in white silk floss upon a
dark purple ground, they are quite pearly in appear-
ance, whether in rows between the border lines,
or scattered over the ground. They are most
useful in holding the design together, giving it
mass, and go admirably with chain-stitching, to
which, when close together, they have at first
sight some likeness. A single line of knots may
almost be mistaken for chain-stitch; but of them-
selves they do not make a good outline, lacking
firmness. A happier use of them is to fringe an

7 8 ART IN NEEDLEWORK.

outline, as for example in the peacock's tail on
page 38 ; but this kind of thing must be used with
reticence, or it results in a rather rococo effect.
Good use is sometimes made of knots to pearl the
inner edge of a pattern worked in outline, or to
pattern the ornament (instead of the ground) all
over. Differencing of this kind may be an after-
thought and a happy one affording as it does
a ready means of qualifying the colour or texture
of ground, or pattern, or part of either, which may
not have worked out quite to the embroiderer's
liking.

The obvious fitness of knots to represent the
stamens of flowers is exemplified in Illustration 93.
Worked close together, they represent admirably
the eyes of composite flowers, as on the sampler ;
they give, again, valuable variety of texture to the
crest of the stork in Illustration 85.

The effect of knotting in the mass is shown in
Illustration 31, embroidered entirely in knots, con-
tradicting, it might seem, what was said above
about its unfitness for outline work. The lines,
even the voided ones, are here as sharp as could
be; but then, it is not many of us who work, knot by
knot, with the marvellous precision of a Chinaman.
His knotted texture is not, however, always what
it seems. He has a way of producing a knotted
line by first knotting his thread (it may be done
with a netting needle), and then stitching it down
on to the surface of the material, which gives a

8o ART IN NEEDLEWORK.

pearled or beaded line not readily distinguishable
from knot stitch.

The Japanese embroiderer, instead of knotting
his own thread, employed very often a crinkled
braid. This is shown in the cloud work in
Illustration 85. The only true knotting there is in
the top-knot of the bird.

32. INTERLACING-STITCH SAMPLER.

D.E.

33- INTERLACING-ST1TCH SAMPLER (BACK).

INTERLACINGS, SURFACE STITCHES,
AND DIAPERS.

The samplers so far discussed bring us, with
the exception of Darning, Satin-stitch, and some
stitches presently to be mentioned, practically to
the end of the stitches, deserving to be so called,
generally in use.

By combining two or more stitches endless
complications may be made ; and there may be
occasions when, for one purpose or another, it
may be necessary, as well as amusing, to invent
them. In this way stitches are also sometimes
worked upon stitches, as shown on the sampler,
Illustration 32. You will see, on referring to the
back of it (33), that only the white silk is worked
into the stuff : the dark is surface work only.
There is no end to such possible INTER-
LACINGS. Those on the sampler do not need
much explanation ; but it may be as well to say
that A starts with crewel-stitching; B and C with
back-stitching; D with chain-stitching; E with
darning or running ; F, G, and H with varieties of
herring-bone-stitch ; J with Oriental-stitch ; and
K with feather-stitch. The interlacing on the

G 2

84 ART IN NEEDLEWORK.

surface of these is shown in darker silk. C and
G undergo a second course of interlacing.

The danger of splitting the first stitches in

working the inter-
lacing ones, is
avoided by passing
the needle eye-first
through them.

Other surface
work, sometimes

THE WORKING OF F ON INTERLACING- Called LACE-STITCH,

STITCH SAMPLER. j s illustrated in the

sampler, Illustration 34. There is really no limit
to patterns of this kind. Some are better worked
in a frame, but that is very much a matter of
personal practice.

TO WORK In the Surface Darning at H (34) long threads are

H '34- fi rs t carried from edge to edge of the square, there

only piercing the stuff, and then darned across by

other stitches, again only piercing it at the edges.

An oblique version of this is given at C (34).

TO WORK The Lace Buttonholing at B (34) is worked as

' 34 ' follows : Buttonhole three stitches into the stuff

from left to right, not quite close together, and

further on three more ; then, working from right

to left, make three buttonhole stitches into the

thread connecting the stitch groups ; but do not

stitch into the stuff except at the ends of the

rows. The last row must, of course, be worked

into the stuff again.

34. SURFACE-STITCH SAMPLER,

ART IN NEEDLEWORK.

TO WORK

F,34-

TO WORK

G, 34-

TO WORK

D, 34-

TO WORK

A, 34.

TO WORK

L.34-

TO WORK

K,34-

TO WORK

J.34-

Net Passing, as at F (34), is not very differently
worked from A or B. It is much more open,
and the first row of horizontal stitches is crossed
by two opposite rows of oblique stitches, which
are made to interlace.

The square at G is worked by first making rows
of short upright stitches worked into the stuff, and
then threading loose stitches through them.

The square at D is worked on the open lattice
shown ; the solid parts are produced by interlacing
stitches from side to side, starting at the angle.

In the square at E (Japanese Darning) hori-
zontal lines are first darned, and then zigzag lines
are worked between them, much as in G ; but, as
they penetrate the material, this is scarcely a
surface stitch.

The horizontal lines at top and bottom of the
square at A are back-stitching, the intermediate
ones simply long threads carried from one side to
the other ; they are laced together by lines looped
round them.

The band at L is begun by making horizontal
bar stitches. A row of crewel-stitch and one of
outline-stitch, worked on to the bars, and not
into the stuff, makes the central chain.

The band at K is merely surface buttonholing
over a series of slanting stitches.

The band at J is buttonhole stitching wide apart,
the bars filled in with surface crewel-stitch.

Most delicate surface stitching occurs in Illus-

35- LACE OR SURFACE STITCH.

88 ART IN NEEDLEWORK.

tration 35, the fine net being worked only from
edge to edge of the spaces it fills, and not else-
where entering the stuff ; which accounts for most
of it being worn away. The flower or scroll-work
is bond fide embroidery, worked through the stuff.
The delicate network of fine stitching, which once
covered the whole of the background, is for the
most part neither more nor less than a floating
gossamer of lacework. One cannot deny that that
is embroidery, though it has to be said that lace-
stitches are employed in it.

Stern embroiderers would like to deny it. Of
course it is frivolous, and in a sense flimsy, but it
is also delicate and dainty to a degree. It is
suited only to dress, and that of the most exquisite
kind. A French marquise of the Regency might
have worn it, and possibly did wear it, with entire
propriety if the word is not out of keeping with
the period.

The frailty of this kind of thing is too obvious
to need mention, and that, of course, is a strong
argument against it.

All attempt to give separate names to diapers
of this kind, whether worked upon the surface or
into the stuff, is futile. They ought not even to be
called stitches, being, in fact, neither more nor less
than stitch patterns, to which there is no possible
limit, unless it be the limit of human invention.
Every ingenious workwoman will find out patterns
of her own more or less. They are very useful for

INTERLACINGS, SURFACE STITCHES, &c. 89

filling in surfaces (pattern or background) which it
may be inexpedient to work more solidly.

The greater part of such patterns are geometric
(Illustrations 35 and 73), following, that is to say,
the mesh of the material, and making no secret of
it. On Illustration 3 you see very plainly how the
rectangular diaperings are built up geometrically
on the square lines of the mesh, as was practically
inevitable working on such a ground. The relation
of stitch to stuff is here obvious.

The choice of stitch patterns of this kind is
invariably left to the needlewoman. The utmost
a designer need do is to indicate on his drawing
that a "full," "open," or "intermediate" diaper
is to be used. And the alternation of lighter and
heavier diapers should be planned, and not left
altogether to impulse, though the pattern may be.
Moreover, there is room for the exercise of con-
siderable taste in the choice of simpler or more
elaborate patterns, freer or more geometric. Many
a time the shape of the space to be filled, as well as
its extent, will suggest the appropriate ornament.
The diaper design is not, of course, drawn on the
stuff, but points of guidance may be indicated
through a kind of fine stencil plate.

The patterns used for background diapering
need not, as a rule, be intrinsically so interesting
as those which diaper the design itself, nor are they
usually so full. They take more often the form of
spot or sprig patterns, not continuous, in which the

go ART IN NEEDLEWORK.

geometric construction is not so obvious, nor even
necessary. In either case the prime object of the
stitching is not so much to make ornamental
patterns as to give a tint to the stuff without
entirely hiding it with work ; and the worker
chooses a lighter or heavier diaper according to
the tint required. If the work is all in white it is
texture, instead of tint, that is aimed at.

For a background, simple darning more or less
open, in stitches not too regular, is often the best
solution of the difficulty. The effect of the ground
grinning through is delightful.

SATIN-STITCH AND ITS OFFSHOOTS.

SATIN-STITCH is par excellence the stitch for
fine silkwork. I do not know if the name of
" satin-stitch " comes from its being so largely
employed upon satin, or from the effect of the work
itself, which would certainly justify the title, so
smooth and satin-like is its surface. Given a
material of which the texture is quite smooth and
even, showing no mesh, satin-stitch seems the
most natural and obvious way of working upon it.
In it the embroidress works with short, straight
strokes of the needle, just as a pen draughtsman
lays side by side the strokes of his pen ; but, as she
cannot, of course, leave off her stroke as the pen-
man does, she has perforce to bring back the
thread on the under side of the stuff, so that, if
very carefully done, the work is the same on both
sides.

Satin-stitch, however, need not be, and never
was, confined to work upon silk or satin. In fact,
it was not only worked upon fine linen, but often
followed the lines of its mesh, stepping, as in Illus-
tration 9, to the tune of the stuff. This may be
described as satin -stitch in the making at any

9 2 ART IN NEEDLEWORK.

rate, it is the elementary form of it, its relation
to canvas-stitch being apparent on the face of it.
Still, beautiful and most accomplished work has
been done in it alike by Mediaeval, Renaissance,
and Oriental needleworkers.

TO WORK To cover a space with regular vertical satin
' 3 ' stitches (A on the sampler, Illustration 36), the
best way of proceeding is to begin in the centre
of the space and work from left to right. That
half done, begin again in the centre and work
from right to left.

In order to make sure of a crisp and even edge
to your forms, always let the needle enter the stuff
there, as it is not easy to find the point you want
from the back.

In working a second row of stitches, proceed
as before, only planting your needle between the
stitches already done. Fasten off with a few tiny

TO WORK surface stitches and cut off the silk on the right
' 3 ' side of the stuff: it will be worked over.

To cover a space with horizontal satin stitches
(B on sampler), begin at the top, and work from
left to right. The longer stretches there are not,
of course, crossed at one stitch ; they take several
stitches, dovetailed, as it were, so as not to give
lines.

The easiest, most satisfactory, and generally
most effective way of working flat satin stitch is
in oblique or radiating lines (C, D, E), working
in those instances, as in the case of A, from the

36. SATIN-STITCH SAMPLER.

37- SATIN-STITCH SAMPLER (BACK).

SATIN-STITCH AND ITS OFFSHOOTS. 95

centre, first from left to right and then from right
to left.

Stems, narrow leaflets, and the like, are best
worked always in stitches which run diagonally
and not straight across the form.

In the case of stems or other lines curved and
worked obliquely, the stitches must be very much
closer on the inner side of the curve than on the
outside : occasionally a half-stitch may be necessary
to keep the direction of the lines right, in which
case the inside end of
the half-stitch must be
quite covered by the
stitch next following.

Satin-stitch is seen at
its best when worked
in floss. Coarse or
twisted silk looks
coarse in this stitch, as
may be seen by com-
paring the petal D in
the sampler, Illustra-
tion 36,with the petal in
twisted silk here given
(38). Marvellously
skilful as are the needle-workers of India (Illustra-
tion 39), they get rather broken lines when they work
in thick twisted silk. The precision of line a skilled
worker can get in floss is wonderful. An Oriental
will get sweeping lines as clean and firm as if

38. SATIN-STITCH IN COARSE
TWISTED SILK.

9 6 ART IN NEEDLEWORK.

they had been drawn with a pen, and this not
merely in the case of an outline, but in voided
lines of which each side has to be drawn with
the needle. The voided outline, by the way, as
on Illustrations 39, 40, is not only the frankest way
of denning form, but seems peculiarly proper to
satin-stitch; and it is a test of skill in workmanship :
it is so easy to disguise uneven stitching by an
outline in some other stitch. The voiding in the
wings of the birds in Illustration 40 is perfect; and
the softening of the voided line, at the start of the
wing in one case and the tail in the other, by cross
stitching in threads comparatively wide apart, is
quite the right thing to do. It would have been
more in keeping to void the veins of the lotus
leaves than to plant them on in cord.

Satin-stitch must not be too long, and it is often
a serious consideration with the designer how to
break up the surfaces to be covered so that only
shortish stitches need be used. You might follow
the veining of a leaf, for example, and work from
vein to vein. But all leaves are not naturally veined
in the most accommodating manner. Treatment
is accordingly necessary, and so we arrive at a
convention appropriate to embroidery of this kind.
It takes a draughtsman properly to express form
by stitch distribution. The Chinese convention
in the lotus flowers (Illustration 40) is admirable.

It is the rule of the game to lay satin-stitch
very evenly. Worked in floss, the mere surface of

39. SATIN-STITCH IN FINE TWISTED SILK.

D.E.

98 ART IN NEEDLEWORK.

satin-stitch is beautiful. A further charm lies in
the way it lends itself to gradation of colour.
Beautiful results may be obtained by the use of
perfectly flat tints of colour, as in Illustration 40 ;
but the subtlest as well as the most deliberate
gradation of tint may be most perfectly rendered
in satin-stitch.

TO WORK SURFACE SATIN - STITCH (not the same on
SURFACE both sides), though it looks very much like

SATIN-
STITCH, ordinary satin-stitch, is worked in another way.

The needle, that is to say, after each stitch is
brought immediately up again, and the silk is
carried back on the upper instead of the under
side of the stuff. Considerable economy of silk
is effected by thus keeping the thread as much as
possible on the surface, but the effect is apt to
be proportionately poorer. Moreover, the work
is not so lasting as when it is solid. The satin-
stitch on Illustration 58 is all surface work. It
looks loose, which it is always apt to do, unless
it is kept stretched on the frame, on which, of
course, satin-stitch is for the most part worked.
Very effective Indian work is done of this kind-
loose and flimsy, but serving a distinct artistic
purpose. It is to embroidery of more serious kind
what scene painting is to mural decoration.

Embroidery is often described as being in " long-
and-short-stitch," a term properly descriptive not
of a stitch, but of its dimensions. Whether you
use stitches of equal or of unequal length is a

4O. CHINESE SATIN-STITCH.

H 2

ioo AKl IN NEEDLEWORK.

question merely of the adaptation of the stitch to
its use in any given instance ; there is nothing
gained by calling an arrangement of alternating
stitches, " long and short," or by calling them
"plumage -stitch," or, which is more mislead-
ing, " feather-stitch," when they radiate so as to
follow the form, say, of a bird's breast. The
bodies of the birds in Illustrations 40 and 85 are in
plumage-stitch so called. This adaptation of
stitch to bird or other forms gives the effect
of fine feathering perfectly. But why apply the
term "satin-stitch " exclusively to parallel lines of
stitches all of a length ?

" Long -and - short - stitch," then, is a sort of
satin-stitch ; only, instead of the stitches being
all of equal length, they are worked one into
the others or between them, as in the faces in
Illustrations 79 and 80.

A little further removed from satin-stitch is what
is known as " split-stitch," in which the needle is
brought up through the foregoing stitch, and splits
it. The way of working this stitch is more fully
given on page 105.

The worker adapts, as a matter of course,
the length of the stitch to the work to be
done, directing it also according to the form
to be expressed, and so arrives, almost before
he is aware of it, by way of satin-stitch, at what
is called plumage-stitch.

The distinction between the stitches so far

41 OFFSHOOTS FROM SATIN AND CREWEL STITCHEP.

42. OFFSHOOTS FROM SATIN AND CREWEL STITCHES (BACK).

SATIN-STITCH AND ITS OFFSHOOTS.

103

described is plain enough, and an all-round em-
broidress learns to work them ; but workers end
in working their own way, modifying the stitch
according to the work it is put to do, and
produce results which it would be difficult to
describe and pedantic
to find fault with. Even
short, however, of such
individual treatment,
the mere adaptation of
the stitch to the lines
of the design removes
it from the normal. It
makes a difference, too,
whether it is worked in
a frame or in the hand :
in the one case you see
more likeness to one
stitch, in the other to
another. The flower at
B, for example, and the
leaf at D, on the sampler,
Illustration 41, are both
worked in what is commonly called " plumage,"
or "embroidery" stitch, though the term "dove-
tail," sometimes used, seems to describe it better.
Instance B, however, is worked in the hand, and
D in a frame from which very fact it follows that
the worker is naturally disposed to regard B as
akin to crewel-stitch and D to satin-stitch, between

THE WORKING OF B ON
SAMPLER 41.

104 ART IN NEEDLEWORK.

which two stitches " dovetail " may be regarded
as the connecting link.

TO WORK The petals at B are worked in the method
B > 4 1 - illustrated in the diagram overleaf. The first step
is to edge the shape with satin-stitches in threes,
successively long, shorter, and quite short. This
done, starting at the base again, you put your
needle in on the upper or right side of the
first short stitch, and bring it out through the
long stitch (as shown in the diagram). You then
make a short stitch by putting your needle down-
wards through the material, and taking up a small
piece of it. You have finally only to draw the
needle through, and it is in position to make
another long stitch. As the concentric rings of
stitching become smaller, you make, of course,
shorter stitches, and you need no longer pierce
the thread of the long stitch.

TO WORK The working of the scroll at D on the sampler,
D, 41. Illustration 41, needs no detailed explanation. Any-
one who is acquainted with the way satin-stitch
is worked (it has already been sufficiently ex-
plained), and has read the above account of
the working of B, will understand at once how
that is worked in the frame.

It will be seen that there is a slight difference
in effect between the two, arising from the fact
that work done in the hand is necessarily more
loosely and not quite so evenly done as that on
a frame,

SATIN-STITCH AND ITS OFFSHOOTS. 105

Split-stitch (C on the sampler), again, resembles T0 WORK
either crewel-stitch or satin-stitch, according as SPL1T -

11-111 r T STITCH

it is worked in the hand or on a frame. In c, 4I<
working in the hand, you take a rather shorter
stitch back than in crewel-stitch, piercing with
the needle the thread which is to form the next
stitch. In working on a frame, you bring your
needle always up through the last-made satin-
stitch in order to start the next. Whichever
way it is done, split-stitch is often difficult to
distinguish without minute examination from
chain-stitch. Further reference to its use is made
in the chapter on shading. It may be interest-
ing to compare it with crewel-stitch (A on the
sampler), which is also a favourite stitch for
shading.

DARNING.

It is the peculiarity of DARNING and RUNNING
that you make several stitches at one passing of
the needle.

Darning and running amount practically to the
same thing. Darning might be described as con-
secutive lines of running. The difference is, in
the main, a matter of multiplication ; but the
distinction is sometimes made that in running
the stitches may be the same length on the face
as on the reverse of the stuff, whereas in darning
the thread is mainly on the surface, only dipping
for the space of a single thread or so below it.

It results from the way of working that you get
in darning an interrupted line characteristic of
the stitch. What is called " double darning," by
which the breaks in the single darning are made
good, has in effect no character of darning
whatever.

Darning has a homely sound, but it is useful
for more than mending. In embroidery you no
longer use it to replace threads worn away, but
build up upon the scaffolding of a merely serviceable
material what may be a gorgeous design in silk.

43- DARNING SAMPLER.

io8 ART IN NEEDLEWORK.

Darning is worked, of course, in rows back-
wards and forwards ; but if the stitches are long
and in the direction of the weft, it is as well not
to run the returning row next to the one just
done, but to leave space for a second course of
darning afterwards between the open rows.

The darning of the sampler, Illustration 43, is
very simple. The flower is darned in stitches of
fairly equal length, taking up one thread of the
material, and covering a space of almost a quarter
of an inch before taking up the next thread. The
outline of a petal is first worked, and successive
rows of darning follow the lines of the flower,
expressing to some extent its form. Much depends
upon the direction of the stitch.

The texture of the work depends upon the
length of the stitches, and on the amount of
the stuff showing through.

Darning is usually supplemented by outlining.
The sampler is designed to show how far one can
dispense with it. The flower stalk is defined by
darning the first row in a darker colour; for the
rest, voiding is employed, but it is not easy to
void in darning.

The background is darned diaper fashion.
It gives, that is to say, deliberately diagonal
lines. A background irregularly darned should
be irregular enough never to run into lines not
contemplated by the worker.

In the case of large leaves, veined, the veining

44- DAKNING DESIGNED BY WILLIAM MORRIS.

no ART IN NEEDLEWORK.

should be worked first, the stitches between them
radiating outwards to the edge of the leaf.

More accomplished work in darning is shown
in the border by William Morris in Illustration 44,
where it appears, however, much flatter than in
the coloured silk. It is worked solid, the radiating
stitches accommodating themselves to the forms
of the leaves and petals, which, in fact, are
designed with a view to their execution in this
way. They are defined by outline -stitching
light or dark as occasion seemed to require.

Mention has already been made of darning
a propos of canvas-stitch ; and there is a sort of
natural correspondence between the mecanique of
darning in its simplest form and the network
of open threads which gives to rectangular darn-
ing, like the German work in Illustration 45,
character which more than compensates for its
angularity in outline. The darning is there quite
even in workmanship, but it is, as will be seen,
of different degrees of strength lighter for the
surface of the pattern, heavier for the outline.

You may qualify the colour of a stuff by lightly
darning it with silk of another shade, and very
subtle tints may be got by thus, as it were,
veiling a coloured ground with silks of various
hues.

45. FLAT DARNING UPON A SQUARE MESH.

LAID-WORK.

The necessity for something like what is called
" LAID - WORK " is best shown by reference to
satin-stitch. It was said in reference to it that
satin-stitches should not be too long. There is a
great deal of Eastern work in which surface satin-
stitch, or its equivalent, floats so loosely upon
the face of the stuff that it can only be described
as flimsy. Nothing could be more beautiful in its
way than certain Soudanese embroidery, in which
coloured floss in stitches an inch or more long lies
glistening on the stuff without any interruption of
threads to fasten it down.

Embroidery of this kind, however, hardly comes
within the scope of practical work. Long, loose
stitches want sewing down. Some compromise
has to be made between art and beauty. The
problem is to make the work strong enough
without seriously disturbing its lustrous surface,
and the solution of it is " laid-work," at which we
arrive thus almost by necessity.

It involves no new stitch, but is only another
way of using stitches already described. In laid-
work, long tresses of silk, as William Morris called

46. LAID-WORK SAMPLER.

D.E

n 4 ART IN NEEDLEWORK.

them, floss by preference, are thrown backwards
and forwards across the face of the stuff, only just
piercing it at the edges of the forms, and back
again. These silken tresses are then caught down
and kept, I will not say close to the ground, but
in their place upon it, by lines of stitching in the
cross direction.

Laid-work is not, at the best, a very strong or
lasting kind of embroidery (it needs to be carefully
covered up even as it is worked), but by no other
means is the silky beauty of coloured floss so
perfectly set forth. It is hardly worth doing in
anything but floss.

Laid-work lends itself also to gradation of
colour within certain limits the limits, that is
to say, of the straight parallel lines in which
the silk is laid : the direction of these is deter-
mined often by the lines of sewing which are
to cross them. In any case the direction of the
threads is here more than ever important. The
sewing down must take lines and may form
patterns.

The sampler, Illustration 46, wants little or no
explanation. It illustrates the various ways of
laying. In the leaf the floss is sewn down with
split-stitch, which forms the veining. Elsewhere
it is kept in place by " couching," a process
presently to be described. For the outlines, split-
stitch and couching are employed. The last row
of laid work in the grounding is purposely pulled

[47- JAPANESE LAID-WOKK.

I 2

n6 ART IN NEEDLEWORK

out of the straight by the couching in order to
give a waved edge. The diaper which represents
the seeding of the flower is not, properly speaking,
laid-work : single threads of white purse silk are
there couched down with dark.

For the transverse stitching, for which also it
is best to use floss, either split-stitch may be
used, as in the leaf in the sampler, Illustration 46,
or a thread may be laid across and sewn down
couched, as it is called as in the flower. The
closer the cross lines the stronger the work, but
the less lustrous the effect.

Laid floss may be employed to glorify the entire
surface of a linen material, as in the sampler or for
the pattern only upon a ground worth showing,
as in Illustrations 47, 48, 49.

Laid-work will not give anything like modelling,
and it is not best suited to figure design except where
it is quite flatly treated. An instance of its use in
figure work occurs on Illustration 79. It is effective
when quite naively and simply used in cross lines
which do not appear to take any account of the
forms crossedas, for example, in Illustration 47,
where the stitching does not pretend to express
more than a flat surface. The floss, however, is
there carefully laid at a different angle of inclination
in each petal, so as to give variety of colour. The
lines of sewing vary according to the lines of the
laid floss, but do not cross them at right angles.
The important thing is, of course, that they should

48. INDO-PORTUGUESE LAID-WORK,

n8 ART IN NEEDLEWORK.

catch the laid "tresses" at intervals not too far
apart. If the lines which sew down the floss have
also to express drawing, as in the case of the bird's
wings in Illustration 48, the underlying floss must
be laid in lines which they will cross. In the case
of the leaves in the same piece of work, the floss
is laid in the direction in which the leaf grows,
and the stitching across, which sews it down, is
slightly curved so as to suggest roundness in them.

A more finished piece of work is shown in
Illustration 49, where the laid floss crosses the
forms, and the sewing down takes very much the
place of veining in the flower, and of ribs in the
scroll, expressing about as much modelling as can
be expressed this way, and more, perhaps, than it
is advisable often to attempt.

The sewing down asserts itself most, of course,
when it is in a colour contrasting with the laid
floss, as it does in the leaves in the smaller sampler
overleaf.

The stitching down makes usually a pattern
more or less conspicuous. On this same sampler
it does so very deliberately in the case of the
broad stalk. The rather sudden variation of
the colour shown there in the leaves is harmless
enough in bold work, to which the process is best
suited. One may be too careful in gradating
the tints : timidity in this respect prevails too much
among modern needlewomen : an artist in floss
should not want her work to look like a gradated

49 ITALIAN LAID-WORK.

120 ART IN NEEDLEWORK

wash of colour. The Italians of the i6th and
lyth centuries (see Illustration 49) were not afraid
of rather abrupt transition in the shades of colour
they used for laid-work.

When laid floss is kept in place by threads
themselves sewn down across it, such threads are

5O. LAID SAMPLER.

called "couched," and the work itself may be
described as laid and couched. Hence arises
some confusion between the two methods of
work laying and couching. It saves confusion
to make a sharp distinction between the two
using the term "laid" only for stitches (floss) first
loosely laid upon the surface of the stuff and
then sewn down by cross lines of stitching of

LAID-WORK. 121

whatever kind, and "couched" for the sewing
down of cords, &c. (silk or gold), thread by thread
or in pairs. Laid floss is sewn down en masse,
couched silk in single or double threads ; and
accordingly laid answers best for surface cover-
ing, couched for outlining, except in the case
of gold, which even for surface covering is always
couched.

COUCHING.

COUCHING is the sewing down of one thread by
another as in the outline of the flower on the laid
sampler, Illustration 46. The stitches with which
it is sewn down, thread by thread, or, in the case
of gold, two threads at a time, are best worked
from right to left ; or, in outlining, from outside the
forms inwards, and a waxed thread is often used
for the purpose. Naturally the cord to be sewn
down should be held fairly tightly in place to keep
the line even.

It is usual in couching to sew down the silk
or cord with stitches crossing it at right angles,
except in the case of a twisted cord, which should
be sewn down with stitches in the direction of
the twist.

Couching is best done in a frame ; but it may
be done in the hand by means of buttonhole-
stitch.

When a surface is covered with couching, as
in the seeding of the flower in the sampler,
Illustration 46, the sewing down stitches make a
pattern all the plainer there, because the stitching
is in a contrasting shade of colour. It is quite

51. A. BULLION. B. COUCHED CORD.

124 ART IN NEEDLEWORK.

permissible to call attention to the stitching if it
suits your artistic purpose. To disguise it by
sewing through the cord is not a workmanlike
practice. A worker should frankly accept a method
of work and get character out of it.

Embroidresses have a clever way of untwisting
a cord before each stitch and twisting it again
after stitching through it between the strands,
that is to say, in which the stitching is lost. The
device is rather too clever. It shows a cord with
no visible means of attachment to the ground,
which is not desirable, however much desired.
There is no advantage in attaching cords to the
surface of silk so that they look as if they had
been glued on to it. Conjuring tricks are highly
amusing, but one does not think very highly of
conjurers. Personally, I would much rather have
seen more plainly the way the cord is sewn down
in the graceful cross in Illustration 51, a design
perfectly adapted to couching, and yet unlike the
usual thing.

Where it is softish silk which is stitched down, it
makes a great difference whether it is loosely held
and tightly sewn, or the contrary. Contrast the
short puffy lines nearest the corners in the sampler,
Illustration 52, with the longer ones between the
broad and narrow bands. The broad band is
worked in rows of double filoselle, of various
shades, sewn down with single filoselle. In the
narrower bands twisted silk is sewn down with

COUCHING.

125

stitches in the direction of its twist. This is more
plainly seen in the lower of the two bands, where
the sloping stitches are lighter in colour than the
cord sewn down.

Characteristic use is made of rather puffy
couching in the ornament of the lady's dress in
Miss Keighley's panel, Illustration 61, where it has

52. COUCHING SAMPLER.

very much the richness of embroidery in seed
pearls.

It was a common practice in Germany in the
i6th century to work in solid couching upon cloth,
employing a twisted thread and sewing it with
stitches in the direction of the twist, so that at
first sight one does not recognise it as couching.
It looks like rather coarse stitching in the direction

126 ART IN NEEDLEWORK.

of the forms, and expresses shading very well.
The cloth ground accounts, perhaps, for the choice
of method : the material is not otherwise a pleasant
one to embroider upon.

A rather earlier German method was to couch
in parallel lines of white upon white linen, and
so get relief and texture but no modelling, though
the drawing was helped by varying the direction of
the parallel lines.

The entire surface of a linen ground was some-
times covered with couched threads of silk or
fine wool some of it in vertical and horizontal
lines, some of it in the direction of the pattern.
This, again, was a German practice, as may be
seen in the Hildesheim Cope at South Kensington.

All-over couching may be used with advantage
to renew the ground of embroidery so worn as to
be unsightly; and is more lasting than laid-work
for the purpose. It is laborious to do, but more
satisfactory when done than remounting; and one
or the other is a necessity sometimes. The effect
of age is, up to a certain point, pleasing : rags
are not.

Couching, however (except with gold), was more
commonly used for outlining, and is quite peculiarly
suited to give a firm line. A beautiful example of
outline work in coloured silk upon white linen is
pictured in Illustration 90, in which the lines
of delicate Renaissance arabesque are perfectly
preserved. The rare practice of such work as

53. COUCHING IN LOOPED THREADS.

128

ART IN NEEDLEWORK.

54. REVERSE COUCHING.

this, notwithstand-
ing its distinction,
is perhaps suffi-
ciently accounted
for by its modesty.
It is true, it wants
well-considered and
definitely drawn de-
sign, and there is
no possible fudging
with it.

The value of a
couched cord as an
outline to stitching

(satin-stitch in this instance) is shown in Illustra-
tion 91, in which the singularly well-schemed
and well-drawn lines of the ornament are given
with faultless precision. This is a portion of an
altogether admirable frame to an altogether foolish
picture in needlework, of which a fragment only
is shown.

The appropriateness of couched cord to the out-
lining of inlay or of applique is seen in the two
examples which form Illustration 62. In the one
(A) it defines the clear-cut counterchange pattern ;
in the other (B), being of a tint intermediate between
the ground and the ornament, it softens the contrast
between them. An interesting technical point in
the design of this last is the way the cord outlining
the leaves makes a sufficiently thick stalk, coming

COUCHING.

129

55- REVERSE COUCHING (BACK).

together, as it natu-
rally does, double
at the ends of the
leaves.

This occurs again
in Illustration 63,
where the double
threads which form
the stalks, though
separately stitched
down, are couched
again at intervals by
bands crossing the
two at the spring-
ing of the stalks and tendrils, for example, where
joins inevitably occur. The cords forming the
central stalk are in one case looped.

Fantastic use has often been made of the looping
of couched cord. The Spanish embroiderers made
most ornamental use of a wee loop at the points
of the leaves where the cord must turn ; but the
device of looping may easily be used to frivolous
purpose. A regularly looped line at once suggests
lace. A perplexing Chinese practice is to couch
fine cord in little loops so close together that they
touch. A surface filled in after this manner, as in
the butterflies on Illustration 53, might pass at first
sight for French knots or chain-stitch : it is really
another method of all-over couching.

A double course of couching forms the outline in

D.E K

i 3 o ART IN NEEDLEWORK.

Illustration 92, one of filoselle and one of cord,
separately sewn ; but the tendrils, which are of
silver thread, are sewn down both threads at a
time with double stitches, very obvious in the
illustration. Over the couched silver threads
which form the main rib of the leaf a pattern
is stitched in silk.

A propos of couching, mention must be made of a
way of working used in the famous Syon Cope by
way of background, and figured overleaf (Illustra-
tion 54). The ground stuff is linen, twofold, and it is
worked in silk, which lies nearly all upon the surface.
The stitch runs from point to point of the zigzag
pattern ; there it penetrates the stuff, is carried
round a thread of flax laid at theback of the material,
and is brought to the surface again through the hole
made by the needle in passing down. That is to
say, the silken thread only dips through the linen
at the points in the pattern, and is there caught
down by a thread of flax on the under-surface of the
linen. The reverse of the work (Illustration 55)
shows a surface of flax threads couched with silk,
for which reason the method may be described as
reverse couching. On the face it gives an admir-
able surface diaper, flat without being mechanical.
It is easily worked with a blunt needle ; with
a sharp one there would be a danger of splitting
the stitch. It is a kind of work on which two
persons might be employed, one on either side of
the stuff.

COUCHED GOLD.

In olden days silk does not appear to have been
couched in the East. On the other hand, it was
the custom to couch gold thread in Europe at
least as early as the twelfth century ; so that the
method was probably first used for gold, which,
except in the form of thin wire or extraordinarily
fine thread, is not quite the thing to stitch with.
Besides, it was natural to wish to keep the precious
metal on the surface, and not waste it at the be ck
of the stuff.

A distinguishing feature about gold is that by
common consent it is used double and sewn down
two threads at a time. This is not merely an
economy of work ; but, except in the case of thick
cords or strips of gold, it has a more satisfactory
effect why it is not easy to say. Panels A, B, C,
in the sampler, Illustration 56, are couched in
double threads, D in single cords.

Gold couching is there used, as it mostly is, to
cover a surface. In doing that, it is usual to sew
the threads firmly down at the edges of the forms
and cut them very sharply off; but they may
equally well be carried backwards and forwards

K 2

i 3 2 ART IN., NEEDLEWORK.

across the face of the stuff. The slight swelling of
the gold thread where it turns gives emphasis to the
outline ; but the turning wants carefully doing, and
the gold thread must not be too thick. If you use
a large needle (to clear the way for the thread),
the turning of the gold may take place on the
back instead of on the face of the material, but
only in the case of very fine thread.

Gold threads often want stroking into position.
This may be done with what is called a " pierce" ;
but a good stiletto, or even a very large needle,
will answer the purpose. Sharply pointed scissors
are indispensable.

In solid couching the stitches run almost
inevitably into pattern ; and it is customary,
therefore, to start with the assumption that they
will, and deliberately to make them into pattern
to work them, that is to say, in vertical, diagonal,
or cross lines as at A, in zigzags as at B, or in
some more complicated diaper pattern as at C,
where the stitching is purposely in pronounced
colour, that the pattern may be quite clearly seen ;
at D it has more its proper value, that the effect
of it may be better appreciated. The pattern may,
of course, be helped by the colour of the stitching,
and there is some art in making the necessary
stitches into appropriate pattern.

In fact the ornamentist, being an ornamentist,
naturally takes advantage of the necessity of stitch-
ing, to pattern his metallic surfaces with diaper,

56. COUCHED GOLD SAMPLER.

134 ART IN NEEDLEWORK.

using often, as in the scroll in Illustration 57, a
diversity of patterns, which gives at once varied
texture and fanciful interest to the surface. There
is quite an epitome of little diapers in that frag-
ment of needlework ; and one can hardly doubt
that the embroiderer found it great fun to contrive
them. The flat strips of metal emphasising the
backs of the curves are sometimes twisted as they
x are sewn.

The other diapers on the sampler, F, G, H, J, 56,
are emphasised by the relief given to them by
underlying cords, purposely left bare in parts to
show the structure. These underlying cords must
be firmly sewn on to the linen ground, and if the
stitching follows the direction of the twist in them,
the round surface is not so likely to be roughened
by it. By rights, the cords should be laid farther
apart than in the sampler, where the attempt to
force the effect (for purposes of explanation) has
not proved very successful. An infinity of basket
patterns, as these may be called (basket stitches they
are not), may be devised by varying the intervals
at which the gold threads are sewn down, and the
number of cords they cross at a time.

The central panel of the sampler (E) shows
a combination of flat and raised gold. The
outline of the heart is corded ; the centre of it is
raised by stitching, first with crewel wool and then
with gold-coloured floss across that (it is difficult
to prevent white stuffing from showing through

57- COUCHED SILVER.

136 ART IN NEEDLEWORK.

gold). This gives only a hint of what may be done
in the way of raised ornament upon a flat gold
ground, and was done in mediaeval work. A single
cord may be sewn down to make a pattern in
relief, leafage, scrollwork, or what not, which,
when the surface is all worked over with gold, has
very much the effect of gilt gesso. If, for any
reason, heavy work of this kind is to be done on
silk or satin, that must first be backed with strong
linen.

In mediaeval and church work generally the
double threads are usually laid close together,
forming, as in the diapers on sampler, a solid
surface of gold ; and that was largely done in
Oriental embroidery too in Chinese, for example,
where, however, the threads, instead of being
couched in straight lines, follow the outlines of
the design, and are worked ring within ring until
the space is filled, as in the dragon's face, A,
Illustration 58. There is here, as in the working
of his body, a certain economy of gold ; a small
amount of the ground is allowed to show between
the lines of double gold thread not enough to
tell as ground, but enough to give a tint of the
ground colour to the metal. Further, in this more
open couching the direction of the lines of couching
goes for more than in solid work. The pattern
made by the gold thread is here not only orna-
mental but suggestive of the scaly body of the
creature. It will be seen, too, how, in the working

58. COUCHED GOLD NOT QUITE SOLID.

138 ART IN NEEDLEWORK.

of the legs, the relatively compact gold threads are
kept well within the outline, by which means any-
thing like harshness of silhouette is avoided.

That this less solid manner was not confined to
the far East is shown by the Venetian valance,
B, on the lower part of the page, which has very
much the appearance of gold lace.

A good example of outline (single thread) in gold
is given in Illustration 59, part of an Italian housing,
which reminds one both in effect and in design
of damascening, to which it is in some respects
equivalent ; only, instead of gold and silver wire
beaten into black iron or steel, we have gold and
silver thread sewn on to dark velvet. The design
recalls also the French bookbindings of the period
of Henri II., in which the tooled ornament was
precisely of this character. The resemblance is
none the less that an occasional detail is worked
more solidly; but, in the main, this is outline work,
and a beautiful example of it. The art in work
of that kind is, of course, largely in the design.
Gold thread work in spiral forms has very much
the effect of filagree in gold wire.

The next step is where the cords of gold enclose
little touches of embroidery in coloured floss, as
in Illustration 91. These have the value of so
many jewels or bits of bright enamel. In fact,
just as outline work in simple gold thread re-
sembles damascening or filagree, so this outlining
of little spaces of coloured silk suggests enamel.

59- COUCHED OUTLINE WORK.

140 ART IN NEEDLEWORK.

The cord of the embroiderer answers to the
cloisons of the enameller, the surfaces of shining
floss to the films of vitreous enamel.

Applique embroidery is constantly edged with
gold or silver thread. An effective, if rather rude,
example of this, the thread here again double, is
given in Illustration 60.

In couching more than one thread at a time there
is a difficulty in turning the angles. The threads
give, of necessity, only gently rounded forms. To
get anything like a sharp point, you must stop
short with the inner thread before reaching the
extreme turning point, and take it up again on
your way back. What applies to two threads,
applies of course still more forcibly to three.

The colour with which gold thread is sewn is a
question of considerable importance. If the stitches
are close enough together to make solid work, they
give a flush of colour to the gold. Advantage is
commonly taken of this both in mediaeval and
Oriental work to warm the tint by sewing it down
with red. The Chinese will even work with a
deeper and a paler red to get two coppery shades.
White stitching pales the gold, yellow modifies it
least, green cools it, and blue makes it greener.
The closer the stitches, the deeper the tint, of
course.

You can get thus various shades of gold out
of the same thread, and even gradation from one
to another, as may be seen in a great deal of

60. APPLIQUE SATIN ON VELVET.

i 4 2 ART IN NEEDLEWORK.

Spanish work of the i6th century, in which the
gold ornament is often quite delicately shaded
from yellowish gold to ruddy copper on the one
hand, and to bronzy green on the other. Similar
use may be made of vari-coloured silks in
couching white or other cord ; but gold reflects
the colour much better than silk, and gives much
more subtle effects.

The Flemings and Italians of the early Renais-
sance went further. They had a way of laying
threads of gold and sewing them so closely over
with coloured silk that in many parts it quite hid
the gold. Only in proportion as they wanted to
lighten the colour of the draperies in their pic-
torial embroideries did they space the stitches
farther and farther apart, and let the gold gleam
through. Except in the high lights it did not
pronounce itself positively. The effect is not
unlike what is seen in paintings of the primitive
school, where the high lights of the red and blue
draperies are hatched with gold. The practice
of the embroiderer may be reminiscent of that, or
that may be the origin of the primitive painters'
convention. It is more as if the embroiderer
wanted to represent a precious tissue, a stuff shot
with gold.

Illustration 80 gives part of a figure worked in
this way, relieved against a more golden architec-
tural background rendered by the very same double
threads of gold which run through the figures. In

COUCHED GOLD. 143

the architecture, however, they are couched in
stitches which are never so near as to take away
from the effect of the gold. The two degrees of
obscuring or clouding gold by oversewing are
here shown in most instructive contrast. The
cords, as usual, are laid in horizontal courses.
That was the convenient way of working; but it
resulted in a corded look, which has very much
the appearance of tapestry ; and there is no doubt
that resemblance to tapestry was in the end con-
sciously sought. That the method here employed
was laborious needs no saying ; but it gave most
beautiful, if pictorial, results.

APPLIQUE.

Embroidery, it has been shown, is much of it
on the surface of the stuff, not just needle stitches,
but the stitching-on of something cord, gold
thread, or whatever it may be. And instances
have been given where the design of such work
was not merely in outline, but where certain
details were filled in with stitching. Yet another
practice, and one more strictly in keeping
with the onlaying of cord, was to onlay the
solid also, applying, that is to say, the surface
colour also in the form of pieces of silk cut to
shape.

Patterns of this kind may be conceived as
line work developing into leafy terminations,
the APPLIQUE only an adjunct to couching
(Illustration 63) ; or they may be thought of as
massive work eked out with line : the applique,
that is to say, the main thing, the couching only
supplementary (Illustration 92). An intermediate
kind is where outline and mass couching and
applique play parts of equal importance in the
scheme of design (Illustration 60).

Couched cord or filoselle is useful in covering

APPLIQUE. 145

the raw edge of the onlay, not so much masking
the joints as making them sightly.

Applique must be carefully and exactly done,
and is best worked in a frame. It is almost as
much a man's work as a woman's. Embroidery
proper is properly woman's work ; but here,
as in the case of tailoring, the man comes in.
The getting ready for applique is not the kind
of thing a woman can do best.

The finishing may sometimes be done in the
hand, and very bold, coarse work may possibly
be worked throughout in the hand, and outlined
with buttonhole-stitch (chain-stitch is not so
appropriate) ; but when a couched outline is
employed it must be done in a frame, and,
indeed, work with any pretensions to finish is
invariably begun and finished in the frame.

To work applique you want, in fact, two frames T0 WORK_
one on which to mount the material to be
embroidered, and another on which to mount
the material to be applied. The backing in each
case should be of smooth holland. This is
stretched on to the frame, and then pasted with stiff
starch or what not ; the silk or velvet is laid on
to it and stroked with a soft rag until it adheres,
and is left to dry gently. When dry, the outlines
of the complete design are traced upon the one,
and those of the details to be applied upon the
other. (You may paste, of course, silks of two or
three colours upon one backing for this.) The

D.E. L

146 ART IN NEEDLEWORK.

stuff to be applied is then loosened from its
frame, the details are cleanly cut out with scissors,
or, better still, a knife (in either case sharp), and
transferred to their place in the design on the other
frame. There they are kept in position by short
steel pins planted upright into the stuff until you
are sure they fit, and then tacked firmly down,
with care that the stitches are such as will be
quite covered by the final couching, chain stitch,
or whatever is to be your outline.

In the case of silk or other delicate material,
peculiar care must be taken that the paste is not
moist enough to penetrate the stuff; but an
experienced worker has no fear of that.

A firm outline is a condition of applique, and
couched cord fulfils it most perfectly. Much
depends upon a tasteful and tactful choice of
colour for it. You fatten your pattern by out-
lining it with a colour which goes with it
(Illustration 62, B). You thin it by one which
goes into the ground. Very subtle use may be
made of a double outline or of a corded line upon
couched floss. There is a double outline to the
ornament in Illustration 92 : the inner one next
to the yellow satin applique is of gold, the outer
one next the crimson velvet ground is of white
sewn with pale blue. This gives emphasis to the
bold forms of the leafage. The mid-rib there is
of silver couching ; the minor veinings are stitched
in silk, and are rather insignificant.

L 2

148 ART IN NEEDLEWORK.

The less there is of extra stitching on applique
the better as a rule. It disturbs the breadth,
which is so valuable a characteristic of onlay. In
no case is much mixing of methods to be desired ;
but if applique is to be supplemented, it had best
be with couching, which is not so much stitching
as stitched down, itself another form of applied
work.

Applique of itself is not, of course, adapted to
pictorial work, but that in association with judicious
stitching and couching it may be used to admir-
able decorative purpose in figure design is shown
by Miss Mabel Keighley's panel, Illustration 61.
What an artist may do depends upon the artist.
Miss Keighley's panel indicates the use that may
be made of texture in the stuff onlaid.

Applique is especially appropriate to bold church
work, fulfilling perfectly that condition of legibility
so desirable in work necessarily seen oftenest from
afar. Broadly designed, it may be as fine in its
way as a piece of mediaeval stained glass, and it
gives to silk and velvet their true worth. The
pattern may be readable as far off as you can
distinguish colour.

Applique work is thought by some to be an
inferior kind of embroidery, which it is not. It is
not a lower but another kind of needlework, in
which more is made of the stuff than of the
stitching. In it the craft of the needleworker is
not carried to its limit ; but, on the other hand,

62. A. COUNTERCHANGE.

B. APPLIQUE.

150 ART IN NEEDLEWORK.

it makes great demands upon design. You cannot
begin by just throwing about sprays of natural
flowers. It calls peremptorily for treatment by
which test the decorative artist stands or falls.
Effective it must be ; coarse it may be ; vulgar
it should not be ; trivial it can hardly be ; mere
prettiness is beyond its scope ; but it lends itself
to dignity of design and nobility of treatment. Of
course, it is not popular.

A usual form of applique is in satin upon velvet.
Velvet on satin (B, Illustration 62) is comparatively
rare ; but it may be very beautiful, though there
is a danger that it may look like weaving.

Silk upon silk (figured damask) is shown in Illus-
tration 63, designed to be seen from a nearer point
of view, and less pronounced in pattern accordingly.
The strap work, applied in ribbon, is broken by
cross stitches in couples, which take away from
the severity of the lines. The grape bunches are
onlaid, each in one piece of silk, the forms of
the separate grapes expressed by couching. The
French knots in the centre of the grapes add
greatly to the richness of the surface. The leaves
are in one piece. It would have been possible to
use two or three, joining them at the veins.

The application of leather to velvet, as in Illus-
tration 94, allows modification in the way of execu-
tion, and of design adapted to it. Leather does not
fray, and needs, therefore, no sewing over at the
edge, but only sewing down, which may be done,

63. APPLIQUE SILK ON SILK DAMASK.

152 ART IN NEEDLEWORK.

as in this case, well within the edge of the
material, giving the effect of a double outline.
The Chinese do small work in linen, making
similar use of the stitching within the outline, but
turning the cut edge of the stuff under ; it would
not do to leave it raw. On a bolder scale, but
in precisely the same manner, is embroidered the
wonderful tent of Frangois ler., taken at the battle
of Pavia, and now in the Armoury at Madrid
obviously Arab work. Something of the kind was
done also in Morocco, which points to leather
work as the possible origin of this method.

Another ingenious Chinese notion is to sew
down little rive-petalled flowers (turned under at
the edges) with long stamen stitches radiating
from a central eye of knots.

INLAY, MOSAIC, CUT-WORK.

A step beyond the process of onlaying is INLAY,
where one material is not laid on to the other, but
into it, both being perhaps backed by a common
material. The process is, in fact, precisely analo-
gous to that inlay of brass and tortoiseshell which
goes by the name of its inventor, Boule. The work
is difficult, but thorough. It does not recommend
itself to those who want to get effect cheaply. The
process is suited only to close-textured stuffs, such
as cloth, which do not fray.

The materials are not pasted on to linen, as in TO WORK
the case of applique. The cloth to be inlaid is INLAY -
placed upon the other, and both are cut through
with one action of the knife, so that the parts
cannot but fit. The coherent piece of material
(the ground, say, of the pattern) is then laid upon
a piece of strong linen already in a frame ; the
vacant spaces in it are filled up by pieces of the
other stuff, and all is tacked down in place. That
done, the work is taken out of the frame, and the
edges sewn together. The backing can then, if
necessary, be removed; and in Oriental work it
generally was.

154 ART IN NEEDLEWORK.

Inlay lends itself most invitingly to COUNTER-
CHANGE in design, as seen in the stole at A,
Illustration 62. Light and dark, ground and pat-
tern, are there identical. You cannot say either
is ground ; each forms the ground to the other.
And from the mere fact of the counterchanging
you gather that it is inlaid, and not onlaid.

Prior to inlaying in materials which are at all
iik e }y t o fray, you first back them with paper, thin
but tough, firmly pasted ; then, having tacked the
two together, and pinned them with drawing-pins
on to a board, you slip between it and the stuff a
sheet of glass, and with a very sharp knife (kept
sharp by an oilstone at hand) cut out the pattern.
What was cut out of one material has only to be
fitted into the other, and sewn together as before,
and you have two pieces of inlaid work what is
the ground in one forming the pattern in the
other, and vice versa. By this ingenious means
there is absolutely no waste of stuff. You get,
moreover, almost invariably a broad and dignified
effect : the process does not lend itself to triviality.
It was used by the Italians, and more especially
by the Spaniards of the Renaissance, who borrowed
the idea, of course, from the Arabs.

In India they still inlay in cloth most marvel-
lously, not only counterchanging the pattern, but
inlaying the inlays with smaller patternwork, thus
combining great simplicity of effect with wonderful
minuteness of detail. They mask the joins with

i 5 6 ART IN NEEDLEWORK.

chain-stitch, the colour of it artfully chosen with
regard to the two colours of the cloth it divides or
joins. Further, they often patch together pieces
of this kind of inlay.

Inlay itself is a sort of PATCHWORK. You
cut pieces out of your cloth, and patch it with
pieces of another colour, covering the joins per-
haps, as on Illustration 64, with chain stitch,
which gives it some resemblance to cloisonne
enamel, the cloisons being of chain-stitch.

Where there is no one ground stuff to be
patched, but a number of vari-coloured pieces of
stuff are sewn together, they form a veritable
MOSAIC, reminding one, in coloured stuffs, of
what the mediaeval glaziers did in coloured glass.
Admirable heraldic work was done in Germany by
this method ; and it is still employed for flag
making. The stuffs used should be as nearly as
possible of one substance. In patchwork of
loosely-textured material each separate piece of
stuff may be cut large, turned in at the edge,
and oversewn on the wrong side.

The relation of CUT- WORK to inlay is clear in
fact, the one is the first step towards the other.
You have only to stop short of the actual inlaying,
and you have cut-work. Fill up the parts cut out
in Illustration 65 with coloured stuff, and it would
be inlay. The needlewoman has preferred to sew
over the raw edges of the stuff, and give us a
perfect piece of FRETWORK in linen. It is part of

158 ART IN NEEDLEWORK.

the game in cut-work to make the fret coherent,
whole in itself. The design should tell its own
tale. " Ties " of buttonhole-stitch, or what not, are
not necessary, provided the designer knows how
to plan a fret pattern. Their introduction brings
the work nearer to lace than embroidery. The
sewing-over may be in chain-stitch, satin-stitch
(as in Illustration 65), or in buttonhole-stitch
which last is strongest.

As, in the case of applique, inlay, and mosaic, an
embroidered outline is usually necessary to cover
the join, so in the case of cut-work sewing-over is
necessary to keep the edges from fraying. It may
sometimes be advisable to supplement this out-
lining by further stitching to express veining, or
give other minute details just as the glassworker,
when he could not get detail small enough by
means of glazing, had recourse to painting to help
him out. But there is danger in calling in
auxiliaries. It is best to design with a view to
the method of work to be employed, and to keep
within its limits. To worry the surface of applied,
inlaid, or cut stuff with finnikin stitchery, is practi-
cally to confess either the inadequacy of the design
or the fidgetiness of the worker. It should need,
as a rule, no such enrichment.

EMBROIDERY IN RELIEF.

Embroidery being work upon a stuff, it is
inevitably raised, however imperceptibly, above
the surface of it. But there is a charm in the
unevenness of surface and texture thus produced ;
and the aim has consequently often been to make
the difference of level between ground-stuff and
embroidery more appreciable by UNDERLAY or
padding of some kind. The abuse of this kind of
thing need not blind us to the advantages it offers.

There are various ways of raising embroidery,
the principal of which are illustrated on the
sampler overleaf.

In sprig A the underlay is of closely- woven cloth, TO WORK
darker in colour than would be advisable except * ''
for the purpose of showing what it is : it is as
well in the ordinary way to choose a cloth more
or less of the colour the embroidery is to be. The
cloth is cut with sharp scissors carefully to shape,
but a little within the outline, and pasted on to
the linen. When perfectly dry, it is worked over
with thick corded silk couched in the ordinary way.

The raised line at B reveals the way the stern in T o WORK
Illustration 86 was worked. Two cords of smooth B>

160 ART IN NEEDLEWORK.

string (macrame, for example) are twisted and
tacked in place. Over this floss is worked in
close satin-stitch.

TO WORK In sprig C the underlay is of parchment, lightly
C- stitched in place. The use of a double underlay
in parts gives additional relief. The embroidery
upon this (in slightly twisted silk) is in satin-
stitch.

TO WORK The leaf shapes at D are padded with cotton
D- wool, cut out as nearly as possible to the shape
required, and tacked down with fine cotton. They
are then worked over with floss in satin-stitch.
The stalks are not padded with cotton wool,
but first worked with crewel wool, which, being
soft and elastic, forms an excellent ground for
working over in floss silk.

TO WORK In working a stalk like that at E, you first lay
E - down a double layer of soft, thick cotton, and then
work over it with flatter cotton (made expressly for
padding) in slanting satin-stitch. Three threads of
smooth round silk are then attached to one side
of the padding and carried diagonally across to
the other side, where they are sewn down with
strong thread of the same colour close to the
underlay, so that the stitches may not show.
They are then brought back to the side from
which they started, sewn down, and returned
again, and so backwards and forwards to the
end. The crossing threads make a sort of pat-
tern, and it is a point of good workmanship that

66. RAISED WORK SAMPLER.

D.E.

162 ART IN NEEDLEWORK.

they should cross regularly. Such pattern is more
obvious when threads of three different shades
of colour are employed. Threads of twisted silk
may, of course, be equally well used this way
without padding underneath.

TO WORK F. j n S p r ig p the underlay is of cardboard, pasted
on to the linen. It is worked over with purse silk,
to and fro across the forms, and sewn down at the
margin with finer silk. This is a method of work
often employed when gold thread is used.

TO WORK G. j n S p r ig Q the underlay or stuffing is of string,
sewn down with stitches always in the direction
of the twist. It is worked over with floss in
satin-stitch.

TO WORK H. j n S p r ig H the underwork consists of stitching
in soft cotton, over which thick silk is embroidered
in bullion-stitch. The rule is to work the first
stitching in such a direction that the surface work
crosses it at right angles. The small leaf is worked
over with fine purse silk in satin-stitch, which
is used also for the stalk.

In the smaller sampler of laid-work, Illus-
tration 50, the broad stem is twice underlaid with
crewel, excellent for this soft sort of padding, on
account of its elasticity. The leaves have there
only one layer of understitching.

Raised work in white upon white is often used
for purposes which make it inevitable that sooner
or later the work will be washed. That is a con-
sideration which the embroidress must not leave

67. RAISED WORK SHOWING UNDERLAY.

M 2

1 64 ART IN NEEDLEWORK.

out of account. In any case, work over stitchery
is more durable than over loose padding such as
cotton wool.

The 1 5th century work reproduced in Illustra-
tion 67 is in flax thread on linen, and the underlay
(laid bare in the topmost flower) is of stiff linen,
sewn down, not at the margins as in the case of
the parchment on the sampler (Illustration 66), but
by a row of stitching up the centre of each petal.
The veins of the leaves in Illustration 88 are
padded with embroidery cotton and worked over
with filo-floss. The leaves themselves are not
padded, though the sewing down of the veins
upon them, as well as the fact that they are
applied on to the velvet ground, gives some ap-
pearance of relief.

RAISED GOLD.

Our sampler of raised work is done in silk.
Underlaying is more often used to raise work in
gold, to which in most respects it is best suited.
The methods shown in the sampler would answer
almost equally well for gold, except that working
in gold one would not at H (66) use bullion-stitch,
but bullion, first covering the underlay of stitching
with smoothly-laid yellow floss.

BULLION consists of closely coiled wire. It is
made by winding fine wire tightly and closely
round a core of stouter wire. When this
central core of wire is withdrawn, you have a
long hollow tube of spirally twisted wire. This
the embroidress cuts into short lengths as required,
and sews on to the silk as she would along bead
or bugle. Its use is illustrated at A in Illustration 5 1 ,
where the stems of triple gold cord are tied down
at intervals by clasps of bullion, and the leaves,
again, are filled in with the same.

It was the mediaeval fashion to encrust the
robes of kings and pontiffs with pearls and
precious stones mounted in gold : the early
Byzantine form of crown was practically a velvet

166 ART IN NEEDLEWORK.

cap, on to which were sewn plaques of gorgeous
enamel and mounted stones. When to such
work embroidery was added, it was not unnatural
that it should vie with the gold setting. As a
matter of fact, its design was often only a
translation into needlework of the forms proper
to the goldsmith.

Yet more openly in rivalry with goldsmiths'
work was some of the embroidery of the Renais-
sance, in which the idea a most mistaken one, of
course seems to have been to imitate beaten metal.
This led inevitably to excessively high relief in
gold embroidery. You may see in iyth century
church work the height to which relief can be
carried, and the depth to which ecclesiastical
taste can sink.

The Spaniards were, perhaps, the greatest
sinners in this respect, seeking, as they did,
richness at all cost ; but it must be confessed that,
in the i6th century at least, they produced
most gorgeous results : there is in the treasury
of the cathedral at Toledo an altar frontal in
gold, silver, and coral, and a yet more beau-
tiful mantle of the Virgin in silver and pearls
upon a gold ground, which make one loth to
dogmatise.

The preciousness of gold and silver, points, in
the nature of things, to their use for church vest-
ments and the like; and high relief gives, no doubt,
value to the metal ; but the consideration of its

RAISED GOLD.

168 ART IN NEEDLEWORK.

intrinsic value leads quickly to display. The artistic
value of gold is not so much that it looks gorgeous
as that it glorifies the colour caught, so to speak,
in its meshes.

Admitting that there is reason for relief in gold
embroidery it catches the light as flat gold does
not one feels that the very slightest modelling is
usually enough. Reference was made (page 136)
to the effect of gilt gesso obtained in raised gold
thread : that really is about the degree of
relief it is safe to adopt in gold embroidery, the
relief that is readily got by laying on gesso with a
brush, not carving or modelling it; and the charac-
teristically blunt forms got by that means repeat
themselves when you work with the needle.

There is ample relief in the gold embroidery on
Illustrations 68 and 86. The first of these shows
both flat and raised work : the latter illustrates not
only various degrees of relief, but several ways of
underlaying. It scarcely needs pointing out that
the flatter serrated leaves are worked over parch-
ment or paper, and the puffy parts of the flowers
over softer padding. Allusion has already been
made (page 159) to the way the stalk is worked over
twisted cords, as on the sampler, Illustration 66.
The patterns in which the gold is worked do not
tell quite so plainly here as on Illustration 68,
where the basket pattern is more pronounced. In
the stalk there flat gold wire is used, and again
in the broken surface towards the top of the plate.

RAISED GOLD. 169

SPANGLES of gold may be used with admirable
effect, at the risk, perhaps, of a rather tinselly look ;
but that has been often most skilfully avoided both
in mediaeval work and in Oriental. In India great
and very cunning use is made of spangles, by the
Parsees in particular, who, by the way, embroider
with gold wire.

Gold foil may be cut to any shape and sewn on
to embroidery, but spangles take mainly one of
two shapes, best distinguished as disc-like and
ring-like. The discs are flat, pierced in the centre^
and sewn down usually with two or three radiating
stitches (A, Illustration 51, and Illustration 67).
The rings may be attached by a single thread.
They can easily be made to overlap like fish scales,
and most elaborately embossed pictures have been
worked in this way. There is a vestment in the
cathedral at Granada which is a marvel to see ; but
not the thing to do, surely.

Relief is easily overdone, in figure work so easily
that one may say safety is to be found only in
the most delicate relief. To make figures look
round is to make them look stuffed. That stuffy
images are to be found in mediaeval church
work is only too true. In Gothic art one finds
this quaint, perhaps, but it is perilously near the
laughable. The point of the ridiculous is plainly
overpassed in English work of the iyth century,
which degenerates at last into mere doll work
the dolls duly stuffed and dressed in most childish

i 7 o ART IN NEEDLEWORK.

fashion, their drapery, in actual folds, projecting.
Some really admirable needlework was wasted
upon this kind of thing, which has absolutely no
value, except as an object-lesson in the frivolity of
the Stuarts and their on -hangers.

QUILTING.

A most legitimate use of padding is in the
form of QUILTING, where it serves a useful as
well as an ornamental purpose. To quilt is to
stitch one cloth upon another with something soft
between (or without anything between). Our word
"counterpane" is derived from " contre-poinct,"
a corruption of the French word for back-stitch,
or " quilting " stitch, as it was called.

If you merely stitch two thicknesses of stuff
together in a pattern, such as that on Illustration
69, the stuff between the stitches has a tendency to
rise : the two layers of stuff do not lie close except
where they are held together by the stitching,
and a very pleasantly uneven surface results. This
effect is enhanced if between the two stuffs there
is a layer of something soft. If, now, you keep
down the groundwork of your design by com-
paratively frequent stitches diapering it, you get a
pattern in relief, more or less, according to the
substance of your padding.

Another way is to pad the pattern only, as in
Illustration 70, where the padding is of soft cord.

A cunning way of padding is first to stitch the

69. QUILTING, DONE IN CHAIN-STITCH FROM THE BACK.

QUILTING. 173

outline of the design, and then from the back to
insert the stuffing. You first pierce the stuff with
a stiletto, and, having pushed in the cord, cotton,
or what not, efface as far as possible the piercing :
the stuffing has then not much temptation to
escape from its confinement.

The Persians do most elaborate quilting on fine
white linen, which they sew with yellow silk ; but
the pattern is stuffed with cords of blue cotton, the
colour of which just grins through the white
sufficiently to cool it, and to distinguish it from
the creamy white ground made warmer by the
yellow stitching.

Quilting is most often done in white upon
colour, or in one colour upon white. Yellow silk
on white linen (as in the case of Illustration 69)
was a favourite combination, and is always a
delicate one. But there is no reason why a variety
of colours should not be used in a counterpane.
When you stitch down the ground with coloured
silk you give it, of course, colour as well as flatness.

70. RAISED QUILTING.

STITCH GROUPS.

There are all sorts of ways in which stitches
might be grouped : according to the order of time
in which historically they came into use; according
as they are worked through and through the stuff
or lie mostly on its surface ; according as they
are conveniently worked in the hand or necessitate
the use of a frame ; and in other ways too many
to mention. It is not difficult, for example, to
imagine a classification according to which the
satin-stitch in Illustration 71 would figure as
a canvas stitch.

In the Samplers they are grouped according to
their construction, that seeming to us the most
practical for purposes of description. They might
for other purposes more conveniently be classed
some other way. At all events, it is helpful to
group them. Designer and worker alike will go
straighter to the point if once they get clearly into
their minds the stitches and their use, and the
range of each what it can do, what it can best
do, what it can ill do, what it cannot do at all.

Anyone, having mastered the stitches and
grasped their scope, can group them for herself,

176 ART IN NEEDLEWORK.

say, into stitches suited (i) to line work, (2) to all-
over work, (3) to shading, and so on.

These she might again subdivide. Of line
stitches, for example, some are best suited for
straight lines, others for curved; some for broad
lines, others for narrow ; some for even lines,
others for unequal ; some for outlining, others
for veining.

And, further, of all-over stitches some give a plain
surface, others a patterned one ; some do best for
flat surfaces, others for modelled ; some look best
in big patches, some answer only for small spaces.

With regard to shading stitches, there are
various ways (see the chapter on shading) of giving
gradation of colour and of indicating relief or
modelling.

Some stitches, of course, are adapted to various
uses, as crewel, chain, and satin stitches naturally
the most in use. Workers generally end in adopt-
ing certain stitches as their own. That is all right,
so long as they do not forget that there are other
stitches which might on occasion serve their pur-
pose. Anyway, they should begin by knowing
what stitches there are. Until they know, and
know too what each can do, they are hardly in a
position to determine which of them will best do
what they want.

Our Samplers show the use to which the stitches
on them may be put.

By way of resume, it may be added that for line

71. SATIN-STITCH IN THE MAKING

i 7 S ART IN NEEDLEWORK.

work, more or less fine, crewel, chain, back and
rope stitches, and couched cord are most suitable ;
crewel for long lines especially, and rope stitch for
both curved and straight lines ; for a boundary
line, buttonhole is most emphatic ; for broader
lines, herring-bone, feather, and Oriental stitches
answer better ; ladder-stitch has the advantage
of a firm edge on both sides of it. Satin and
chain stitches, couching and laying, and basket
work make good bands, but are not peculiarly
adapted to that purpose.

For covering broad surfaces, crewel, chain, and
satin stitches (including, of course, what are called
long-and-short and plumage stitches) serve admir-
ably, as does also darning and laid -work ; and for
gold thread, couching. French knots do best for
small surfaces only. The stitches most useful for
purposes of shading are mentioned later on.

No sort of classification is possible until the
number of stitches has been reduced to the neces-
sary few, and all fancy stitches struck out of the
list. Enquiry should also be made into the title
of each stitch to the name by which it is known ;
and the names themselves should be brought down
to a minimum.

Reduce them to the fewest any needlewoman
will allow, and they are still, if not too many, more
than are logically required. Some of them, too,
describe not stitches, but ways of using a stitch.
The term long-and-short, it has already been

STITCH GROUPS. 179

explained (page 100), has less to do with a particular
stitch than its proportion, and the term plumage-
stitch refers more to the direction of the stitch
than to the stitch itself. And so with other
stitches. It is its oblique direction only which
distinguishes stem-stitch from other short stitches
of the kind. Running, again, amounts to no more
than proportioning stitches to the mesh of the
stuff, and taking several of them at one passing
of the needle ; and darning is but rows of running
side by side. The term split-stitch describes no
new stitch, but a particular treatment to which a
crewel or a satin stitch is submitted.

The foregoing summaries of stitches are only by
way of suggestion, something to set the embroidress
thinking for herself. She must choose her own
method ; but it would help her, I think, to schedule
the stitches for herself according to her own ways
and wants. The most suitable stitch may not
suit every one. Individual preference and indi-
vidual aptitude count for something. It is not
a question of what is demonstrably best, but of
what best suits you.

N 2

ONE STITCH, OR MANY?

The first thing to be settled with regard to the
choice of stitch is whether to employ one stitch
throughout, or a variety of stitches. Much will
depend upon the effect desired. Good work has
been done in either way ; but one may safely say,
in the first place, that it is as well not to introduce
variety of stitch without good cause there is
safety in simplicity and in the second, that
stitches should be chosen to go together, in order
that the work may look all of a piece. When the
various stitches are well chosen, it is difficult at
a glance to distinguish one from another.

A great variety of stitches in one piece of work
is worrying, if not bewildering. It is as well not
to use too many, to keep in the main to one or
two, but not to be afraid of using a third, or a
fourth, to do what the stitch or stitches mainly
relied upon cannot do.

It tends also towards simplicity of effect if you
use your stitches with some system, not haphazard,
and in subordination one to the other ; there must
be no quarrelling among them for superiority. You
should determine, that is to say, at the outset,

72. STITCHES IN COMBINATION.

182 ART IN NEEDLEWORK.

which stitch shall be employed for filling, which
for outline ; or which for stalks, which for leaves,
and which for flowers. Or, supposing you adopt
one general stitch throughout, and introduce
others, you should know why, and make up your
mind to employ your second for emphasis of form,
your third for contrast of texture, or for some
other quite definite purpose.

It is not possible here to point out in detail the
system on which the various examples, illustrated
have been worked ; the reader must worry that
out for herself. But one may just point out in
passing how well the various stitches go together
in some few instances.

Nothing could be more harmonious, for example,
than the combination of knot, chain, and button-
hole stitches in Illustration 24 ; or of ladder,
Oriental, herring-bone, and other stitches in
Illustration 72. Again, in Illustration 85 the
contrast between satin-stitch in the bird and
couched cord for the clouding is most judicious,
as is the knotting of the bird's crest. Laid floss
contrasts, again, admirably with couched gold in
Illustrations 47, 48, 49, and satin-stitch with couch-
ing in Illustration 91, where the gold is reserved
mainly for outline, but on occasion serves to
emphasise a detail.

Couched gold and surface satin-stitch are used
together again in Illustration 58, each for its
specific purpose. The harmony between applique*

S- JJi - . J!a. .' ,, x.^ : W

1 84 ART IN NEEDLEWORK.

work and couching or chain-stitch outline has been
alluded to already.

A danger to be kept in view when working in
one stitch only is, lest it should look like a woven
textile, as it might if very evenly worked. Some
kinds of embroidery seem hardly worth doing
nowadays, because they suggest the loom. That
may be a reason for some complexity of stitch, in
which lurks that other danger of losing simplicity
and breadth. The lace-like appearance of the
needlework upon fine linen in Illustration 73,
results chiefly from the extraordinary delicacy with
which it is done, but it owes something also to
the variety of stitch and of stitch-pattern employed
in it.

OUTLINE.

The use of outline in embroidery hardly needs
pointing out. It is often the obvious way of
denning a pattern, as, for example, where there is
only a faint difference in depth of tint between the
pattern and its background ; in applique work it is
necessary to mask the joins ; and it is by itself a
delightful means of diapering a surface with not
too obtrusive pattern.

Allusion to the stitches suitable to outline has
been made already (see stitch-groups), as well as to
the colour of outlining, a propos of applique. It is
difficult to overrate the importance of this ques-
tion of colour in the case of outline; but there are
no rules to be laid down, except that a coloured
outline is nearly always preferable to a black one.
The Germans of the i6th century were given to
indulging in black outlines, and you may see in
their work how it hardened the effect, whereas a
coloured outline may define without harshness.
The Spaniards, on the other hand, realised the
value of colour, and would, for example, outline
gold and silver upon a dark green ground in red,
with admirable effect. A double outline, for which

i86 ART IN NEEDLEWORK.

there is often opportunity in bold work, may be
turned to good account. Among the successful
combinations which come to mind is an applique
pattern in yellow and white upon dark green, out-
lined first with gold cord, and then, next the green,
with a paler and brighter green. Another is a
pattern chiefly in yellow upon purple, outlined
first with yellow couched with gold, and next the
ground with silver. In the case of couched cord
or gold, the colour of the stitching counts also.

Stitches from the edge of a leaf or what not,
inwards, alternately long and short, though they
form an edge to the leaf, are not properly out-
lining. This is rather a stopping short of solid
\vork than outlining, though it often goes by that
name.

The first condition of a good outline stitch is
that it should be, as it were, supple, so as to follow
the flow of the form. At the same time it should
be firm. Fancy stitches look fussy ; and a spikey
outline is worse than none at all.

There is absolutely no substantial ground for
the theory that outlines should be worked in a
stitch not used elsewhere in the work. On the
contrary, it is a good rule not to introduce extra
stitches into the work unless they give something
which the stitches already employed will not give.
The simplest way is always safest.

An outline affords a ready means of clearing up
edges ; but it should not be looked upon merely

OUTLINE. 187

as a device for the disguise of slovenliness. Unless
the colour scheme should necessitate an outline,
an embroidress, sure of her skill, will often prefer
not to outline her work, and to get even the
drawing lines within the pattern, by VOIDING.
She will leave, that is to say, a line of ground-
stuff clear between the petals of her flowers, or
what not ; which line, by the way, should be
narrower than it is meant to appear, as it looks
always broader than it is. It is more difficult, it
must be owned, thus to work along two sides of
a line of ground-stuff than to work a single line of
stitching, but it is within the compass of any
skilled worker ; and skilled workers have delighted
in voiding even when their work was on a small
scale necessitating fine lines of voiding (Illus-
trations 39 and 40).

In work on a bold scale there is no difficulty
about it ; and it would be remarkable that it is so
seldom used, were it not that the uncertain worker
likes to have a chance of clearing up ragged edges,
and that voiding implies a broader and more
dignified treatment of design than it is the fashion
to affect.

SHADING.

One arrives inevitably at gradation of colour
in embroidery ; the question is how best to get
it. But, before mentioning the ways in which it
may be got, it seems necessary to protest that
shading is not a matter of course. Perfectly
beautiful work may be done, and ought more
often to be done, in merely flat needlework; the
gloss of the silk and its varying colour as it
catches the light according to the direction of
the stitching, are quite enough to prevent a
monotonously flat effect.

Still, embroidery affords such scope for gradation
of colour, not, practically, to be got by any pro-
cess of weaving, that a colourist may well revel
in the delights of colour which silks of various
dyes allow. And so long as colour is the end in
view there is not much danger that a colourist will
go wrong.

The use of shading in embroidery is rather to
get gradation of colour than relief of form. As
to the stitch to be employed, that is partly a
personal matter, partly a question of what is to
be done. The stitch must be adapted to the kind

i go ART IN NEEDLEWORK.

of shading, or the shading must be designed to
suit the stitch. It makes all the difference in
the world, whether your shading is deliberately
done, or whether one shade is meant to merge
into another. In the best work it is always done,
with decision. There is nothing vague or casual,
for example, about the shading of Mr. Crane's
animals on Illustration 74. Everywhere the
shading is drawn, either in lines or as a sharply
denned mass. Given a drawing in which the
shadows are properly planned and crisply drawn
like that, and you may use what stitch you please.
The more natural way of shading is to let the
stitches follow the lines of the drawing, and so
make use of them to express form, as with the
strokes of the pen or pencil upon paper. Thus, in
mediaeval figurework prior to the I5th century,
the faces were usually done in split-stitch, worked
concentrically from the middle of the cheek out-
ward, and so suggesting the roundness of the face
(Illustration 87). But just as there is a system
of shading according to which the draughtsman
makes all his strokes in one direction (slanting
usually), so the embroidress may, if she prefer,
take her stitches all one way ; and in the i5th
and i6th centuries the fashion was to work flesh
in short-satin stitches always in the vertical direc-
tion (Illustration 79). The term " long-and-short-
stitch " is frequently used by way of describing
the stitch. It does not, as I have said, help

75. SHADING IN CHAIN-STITCH.

iQ2 ART IN NEEDLEWORK.

us much. The stitches are in the first place
only satin-stitches worked not in even rows, as
in Illustration 40, but so that there is no line
of demarcation between one row and another.
And this, in the case of gradated colour, makes the
shading softer. The words long-and-short apply
strictly only to the outer row of stitches. You
begin, that is to say, with alternately long
and short stitches. If you work after that with
stitches of equal length, they necessarily alternate
or dovetail. If the form to be worked necessitates
radiation in the stitching, there results a texture
something like the feathering of a bird's breast
(Illustration 85), whence the name plumage-stitch,
another term describing not so much a stitch as
the use of a stitch.

No matter what the stitch, one must be able to
draw in order to express form : it is rather more
difficult to draw with a needle than with a pen,
that is all. True, the designer may do that for you,
and make such a workmanlike drawing that there
is no mistaking it ; but it takes a skilled draughts-
man to do it.

In flattish decorative work, where the drawing
is in firm lines, as in Illustration 87, the task of the
embroidress is relatively easy there is not much
shading, for example, in the drapery of King
Abias, and the vine leaves are merely worked
with yellower green towards the edges. Even
where there is strong shading, a draughtsman

76. SHADING IN SHORT STITCHES.

D.E.

194 ART IN NEEDLEWORK.

who knows his business may make shading easy
by drawing his shadows with firm outlines. The
taste of the artist who designed the roses in Illus-
tration 75 is too pictorial to win the heart of any
one with a leaning towards severity of design ;
too much relief is sought ; but the way he
has got it shows the master workman ; he has
deliberately laid in flat washes of colour, each
with its precise outline, which the worker had
only to follow faithfully with flat tambour work.
A design like that, given the working drawing,
asks little of the worker beyond patient care : of
the designer it asks considerable knowledge.

A yet more pictorial effect is produced in much
the same- way, this time in satin stitch, in Illustra-
tion 76. The artist has for the most part drawn
his shadows with crisp brush strokes, which the
worker had no difficulty in following ; but there is
some rounding of the birds' bodies which a merely
mechanical worker could not have got. In fact,
there are indications that this is the work more
of a painter than of an embroidress, who would
have acknowledged by her stitches the feathering
of the birds' necks as well as their roundness.

You can embroider, of course, without knowing
much about drawing ; but you cannot go far in the
direction of shading (not drawn for you, or only
vaguely drawn) without the appreciation of form
which comes only of knowing and understanding.
There is evidence of such knowledge and under-

77- SHADING IN LONG-AND-SHORT AND SPLIT STITCHES.

O 1 2

ig6 ART IN NEEDLEWORK.

standing in the working of the lion in Illustration
77. That is not a triumph of even stitching; but it
is a triumph of drawing with the needle. The short
satin and split stitches are not placed with the
regularity so dear to the human machine, but they
express the design perfectly. The embroiderer of
that lion was an artist, perhaps the artist who
designed it. " It might be a man's work," was
the verdict of an embroidress. At all events it is
the work of some one who could draw, and only
a draughtsman or draughtswoman could have
worked it.

This is not said wholly in praise of shading.
Embroidery ought, for the most part, to do very
well without it. The point to insist upon is that,
if shading is employed at all, it should mean
something, and not be mere fumbling after form.

The charm of shading in embroidery is not the
roundness of form which you get, but the grada-
tion of colour which it gives. This may be
very delicately and subtly got by split-stitch,
which renders that stitch so valuable in the
rendering of flesh tints. But the blending of colour
into colour which is universally admired is not
quite so admirable as people think. One may
easily employ too many shades of colour, easily
merge them too imperceptibly one into the
other, getting only unmeaning softness. An artist
prefers to see few shades employed, and those
chosen with judgment and placed with deliberate

SHADING. 197

intention. If they mean something, there is no
harm in letting it be seen where they meet : broad
masses give breadth : vagueness generally means
ignorance. That is, perhaps, why one dislikes it,
and why it is so common.

FIGURE EMBROIDERY.

To an accomplished needlewoman embroidery
offers every scope for art, short of the pictorial ;
and the artist is not only justified in lavishing
work upon it, but often bound to do so, more
especially when it comes to working with materials
in themselves rich and costly. A beautiful material,
if you are to better it (and if not why work upon
it at all ?), must be beautifully worked. Costly
material is worth precious work ; and there should
be by rights a preciousness about the needlework
employed upon it, preciousness of design and of
execution. To put the value into the material is
mere vulgarity.

It seems to an artist almost to go without saying,
that the labour on work claiming to be art should
be in excess of the value of the stuff which goes to
make it. What we really prize is the hand work
and the brain work of the artist ; and the more
precious the stuff he employs, the more strictly he
is bound to make artistic use of it. I do not mean
by that pictorial use. You can get, no doubt, with
the needle effects more or less pictorial most
often less ; but, when got, they are usually at the

FIGURE EMBROIDERY. 199

best rather inferior to the picture of which they
are a copy.

Work done should be better always than the
design for it, which was a project only, a promise.
The fulfilment should be something more. A
design of which the promise is not likely to be
fulfilled in the working-out is, for its purpose, ill-
designed. To say that you would rather have
the drawing from which it was done (and that is
what you feel about " needle pictures ") is most
severely to condemn either the designer or the
worker, or perhaps both. Only a competent figure
painter, for example, can be trusted to render flesh
with the needle ; her success is in proportion to
her skill with the implement, but in any case less
than what might be achieved in painting : then
why choose the needle ?

Admitting that a painter who by choice or
chance takes to the needle may paint with it
satisfactorily enough, that does not go to prove
the needle a likely tool to paint with. It is
anything but that. There was never a greater
mistake than to suppose, as some do who should
know better, that, to raise embroidery to the rank
of art, figure work is necessary. The truth is that
only by rare exception does embroidered figure
work rise to the rank of art : the rule is that it is
degraded, the more surely as it aims at picture.
And that is why, for all that has been done in the
way of wonderful picture work, say by the Italians

200 ART IN NEEDLEWORK.

and the Flemings of the Early Renaissance, the
pictorial is not the form of design best suited to
embroidery.

Needlework, like any other decorative craft,
demands treatment in the design, and the human
figure submits less humbly to the necessary modi-
fication than other forms of life. Animals, for
instance, lend themselves more readily to it, and so
do birds ; fur and feathers are obviously translatable
into stitches. Leaves and flowers accommodate
themselves perhaps better still ; but each is best
when it is only the motive, not the model, of
design. If only, then, on account of the greater
difficulty in treating it, the figure is not the form
of design most likely to do credit to the needle,
and it is absurd to argue that, figure work being
the noblest form of design, therefore the noblest
form of embroidery must include it.

The embroidress entirely in sympathy with her
materials will not want telling that the needle
lends itself better to forms less fixed in their pro-
portions than the human figure ; the decorator will
feel that there is about fine ornament a nobility of
its own which stands in need of no pictorial support ;
the unbiassed critic will admit that figure design of
any but the most severely decorative kind is really
outside the scope of needle and thread ; and that
the desire to introduce it arises, not out of crafts-
manlikeness, but out of an ambition which does
not pay much regard to the conditions proper to

FIGURE EMBROIDERY. 201

needlework. Those conditions should be a law to
the needlewoman. What though she be a painter
too ? She is painting now with a needle. It is
futile to attempt what could be better done with
a brush. She should be content to work the way
of the needle. Common sense asks that much at
least of loyalty to the art she has chosen to
adopt.

Wonderful and almost incredibly pictorial effects
have been obtained with the needle ; but that does
not mean to say it was a wise thing to attempt
them. The result may be astonishing and yet
not worth the pains. The pains of flesh-painting
with the needle (if not the impossibility of it for
all practical purposes) is confessed by the habit
which arose of actually painting the flesh in water
colour upon satin. Paint on satin, if you like.
There may be occasions when there is no time to
stitch, and it is necessary for some ceremonial
and more or less theatric purpose to paint what
had better have been worked. The more frankly
such work acknowledges its temporary and make-
shift character the better. Scene painting is art,
until you are asked to take it for landscape
painting. Anyway, the mixture of painting and
embroidery is not to be endured ; and it is a poor-
spirited embroidress who will thus confess her
weakness and call on painting to help her out.
It does not even do that, it fails absolutely to
produce the desired effect. The painting quarrels

202

ART IN NEEDLEWORK.

with the stitching, and there is after all no
semblance of that unity which is the very essence
of picture.

An instance of painted flesh occurs upon Illus-
tration 91. Can any one, in view of the bordering
to the picture, doubt that the worker had much
better have kept to what she could do, and do

78. CHINESE CHAIN-STITCHING.

perfectly, ornament ? An example, on the other
hand, of what may be done in the way of expressing
action in the fewest and simplest chain stitches
(if only you know the form you want to represent
and can manage your needle) is given in the wee
figures in the landscape above (78).

In speaking of the necessary treatment of the
human figure (as of other natural form) in needle-
work, it is not meant to contend that there is one

79-

FIFTEENTH CENTURY FIGURE WORK.

204 ART IN NEEDLEWORK.

only way of treating it consistently, or that there
are no more than two or three ways. There are
various ways, some no doubt yet to be devised,
but they must be the ways of the needle. The
flesh, of course, is the main difficulty. A Gothic
practice, and not the least happy one, was to
show the flesh in the naked linen of the ground,
only just working the outlines of the features in
black or brown. Another way was to work the
face in split stitch, as already explained, and
over that the markings of the features, the fine
lines in short satin-stitches, the broader in split-
stitch, as shown in the figure of King Abias in
Illustration 87.

The general treatment of the figure there is of
course in the manner of the i/j-th century, better
suited, from its severe simplicity, for rendering in
needlework than later and more pictorial forms
of composition. That needlework can, however,
in capable hands, go farther than that is shown in
Illustration 79, a rather threadbare specimen of
1 5th century work, in which the character of the
man's face is admirably expressed. It is first
worked in short, straight stitches, all of white, and
over that the drawing lines are worked in brown.
The artist gets her effect in the simplest possible
way, and apparently with the greatest ease.

More like painting is the head in Illustration
80, worked in short stitches of various shades,
which give something of the colour as well as the

80. SIXTEENTH CENTURY ITALIAN FIGURE WORK.

206 ART IN NEEDLEWORK.

modelling of flesh. This is a triumph in its way.
It goes about as far as the needle can go, and
further than, except under rare conditions, it
ought to go. But it may do that and yet be
needlework.

Equally wonderful in their miniature way are
the faces of the little people on Illustration 81,
about the size of your finger nail. They are
worked in solid satin-stitch, and the two layers of
silk (back and front) give a substance fairly thick
but at the same time yielding, so that when the
stitches for the mouth and eyes are sewn tightly
over it they sink in, and, as it were, push up the
floss between and give relief. The nose is worked
in extra satin-stitch over the other, and the slight
depression at the end of the stitch gives lines of
drawing. This trenches upon modelling, but, on
such a minute scale, does not amount to very
pronounced departure from the flat. The method
employed does not lend itself to larger work.

The last word on the question as to what one
may do with the needle is, that you may do what
you can; but it is best to seek by means of it
what it can best do, and always to make much of
the texture of silk, and of the quality of pure and
lustrous colour which it gives in short, to work
with your materials.

8l. CHINESE FIGURES.

THE DIRECTION OF THE STITCH.

The effect of any stitch is vastly varied, according
to the use made of it. Satin-stitch, it was shown
(38), worked in twisted silk, ceases to have any
appearance of satin ; and it makes all the differ-
ence whether the stitches are long or short, close
together or wide apart. More important than all
is the direction of the stitch. By that alone you
can recognise the artist in needlework.

The DIRECTION of the stitch deserves con-
sideration from two points of view that of colour
and that of form. First as to colour. It is not
sufficiently realised that every alteration in the
direction of the stitch means variety of tone, if not
of tint. Take a feather in your hand, and turn it
about, so that now one side of the quill now the
other catches the light ; or notice the alternate
stripes of brighter and greyer green on a fresh-
trimmed lawn, where the roller has bent the
blades of grass first this way and then that.
So it is with the colour of silken stitches. The
pattern opposite (82) looks as if it had been
embroidered in two shades of silk ; in the work
itself it has still more that appearance ; but

D.E.

210 ART IN NEEDLEWORK.

it is all in one shade of brownish gold : the
difference which you see is merely the effect of
light upon it. The horizontal stitches, as it
happens, catch the light ; the vertical ones do
not. Had the light come from a different point,
the effect might have been reversed. If there had
been diagonal stitches from right to left, they
would have given a third tint ; and, if there had
been others from left to right, they would have
given a fourth.

Suppose a pattern in which the leaves were
worked horizontally, the flowers vertically, and
the stalks in the direction of their growth, all in
one stitch and in one colour, there would be a very
appreciable difference in tone between leaves,
flowers, and stalks. In gold, the difference would
be yet more striking. And that is one reason
why gold backgrounds are worked in diapers ;
not so much for the sake of pattern as to get
variety of broken tint.

In the famous Syon Cope the direction of the
stitching is frankly independent of the design.
That is to say, that, while the pattern radiates
naturally from the neck, the stitches do not follow
suit, but go all one way the way of the stuff.
This, though rather a brutal solution of the diffi-
culty, saves all afterthought as to what direction
the stitches shall take ; but it has very much the
effect of weaving. The embroiderer of the I3th
century was not afraid of that (aimed at it,

THE DIRECTION OF THE STITCH. 211

perhaps ?), and was, apparently, afraid of letting
go the leading strings of warp and weft.

When stitches follow the direction of the form
embroidered, accommodating themselves to it,
all manner of subtle change of tone results. You
get, not only variety of colour, but more than a
suggestion of form.

That is the second point to be considered.

The direction
taken by the stitch
always helps to
explain the drawing;
or, if the needle-
woman cannot
draw, to show that
she cannot as, for
example, in the tulip
herewith (83). A less
intelligent manage-
ment of the stitch
it would be hard
to find. The needle-
strokes, far from helping in the very slightest
degree to explain the folding over of the petals,
directly contradict the drawing. The flower
might almost have been designed to show how
not to do it ; but it is a piece of old work,
quite seriously done, only without knowing.
The embroidress is free, of course, to work her
stitches in a direction which does not express

P 2

83. MEANINGLESS DIRECTION
OF STITCH.

212

ART IN NEEDLEWORK.

form at all, so as to give a flat tint, in which
is no hint of modelling ; but the intention is here
quite obviously naturalistic. The rendering below
(84) shows the direction the stitches should have
taken. The turn-over of the petals is even there not
very clearly expressed, but that is the fault of the
drawing (very much on a par with the workman-
ship), from which it
would not have been
fair to depart.

A more clever
fulfilment of the
naturalistic inten-
tion is to be seen
in Illustration 76.
The drawing of the
doves is in the rather
loose manner of the
period of Marie
Antoinette ; but the
treatment of the
stitch is clever in its
way the way, as I

have said, rather of painting than of embroidery,
giving as it does the roundness of the birds' bodies
but no hint of actual feathering, such as you find
in the bird in Illustration 85. There, every stitch
helps to explain the feathering. By a discreet use
of what I must persist in calling the same stitch
(that is, satin-stitch and the variety of it called

MORE EXPRESSIVE LINES
OF STITCHING.

214 ART IN NEEDLEWORK.

plumage-stitch) the embroiderer has rendered with
equal perfection the sweep of the broad wing
feathers and the fluffy feathering of the breast.
It is by means of the direction of the stitch,
too, that the drawing of the neck is so perfectly
rendered.

The direction of the stitch is varied to some
purpose in the head in Illustration 80, where the
flesh is all in straight upright stitches, whilst the
hair is stitched in the direction of its growth.

The five petals on the satin-stitch sampler
(Illustration 36) to descend from the masterly to
the elementary show something of the difference
it makes in what direction the stitch is worked. It
matters more, of course, in some stitches than in
others ; but in most cases the direction of the
stitch suggests form, and needs accordingly to be
considered.

It scarcely needs further pointing out how the
direction of the stitch may help to explain the
construction of the form, as in the case of leaves,
for example, where the veining may be suggested ;
or of stalks, where the fibre may be indicated.
There is no law as to the direction of stitch, except
that it should be considered. You may follow the
direction of the forms, you may cross them, you
may deliberately lay your stitches in the most
arbitrary manner ; but, whatever you do, you must
do it with intelligent purpose. An artist or a work-
woman can tell at once whether your stitch was

THE DIRECTION OF THE STITCH. 215

laid just so because you meant it or because you
knew no better.

Having laid your stitches deliberately, it is best
to leave them, and not to work over them with
other stitching. Stitching over stitching was
resorted to whenever elaboration was the fashion ;
but the simpler and more direct method is the
best. The way the veins are laid in cord over the
satin-stitch in the lotus leaves in Illustration 40
is the one fault to be found with an all but perfect
piece of work.

The stitching over the laid silver mid-rib in
Illustration 92 is better judged. It may be said,
generally speaking, that except where, as in the
case of laid-work, the first stitching was done in
anticipation of a second, and the work would be
incomplete without it, stitching over stitches should
be indulged in only with moderation.

Stitching is sometimes done not merely over
stitches, but upon the surface of them, not pene-
trating the ground-stuff. Unless, in such a case,
the first stitching is of such compact character
as to want no strengthening, it amounts almost
to a sin against practicality not to take advantage
of the second stitching to make it firmer.

CHURCH WORK.

It is customary to draw a distinction between
church, or ecclesiastical as it is called, and other
embroidery ; but it is a distinction without much
difference. Certain kinds of work are doubtless
best suited to the dignity of church ceremonial,
and to the breadth of architectural decoration ;
accordingly, certain processes of work have been
adopted for church purposes, and are taken as a
matter of course too much as a matter of course.
The fact is, work precisely like that employed on
vestments and the like (Illustration 86) was used
also for the caparison of horses and other equally
profane purposes.

Practical considerations, alike of ceremonial and
decoration, make it imperative that church work
should be effective: religious sentiment insists that
it should be of the best and richest, unsparingly,
and even lavishly given ; common sense dictates
that the loving labour spent upon it should not be
lost. And these and other such considerations
involve methods of work which, by constant
use for church purposes, have come to be classed
as ecclesiastical embroidery. But there is no

86. RENAISSANCE CHURCH WORK,

218 ART IN NEEDLEWORK.

consecrated stitch, no stitch exclusively belong-
ing to the church, none probably invented by it.
For embroidery is a primitive art clothes were
stitched before ever churches were furnished; and
European methods of embroidery are all derived
from Oriental work, which found its way westwards
at a very early date. Phrygia (sometimes credited
with the invention of embroidery) passed it on
to Greece, and Greece to Italy, the gate of
European art.

Christianity produced new forms of design, but
not new ways of work. The methods adopted in
the nunneries of the West were those which had
already been perfected in the harems of the East.

Embroidery for the church must naturally take
count of the church, both as a building and as a
place of worship ; but, as apart from all other
needlework, there is no such thing as church
embroidery; and the branding of one very dull
kind of thing with that name is in the interest
neither of art nor of the church, but only of
business. " Ecclesiastical art " is just a trade-
term, covering a vast amount of soulless work.
There is in the nature of things no reason why
art should be reserved for secular purposes, and
only manufacture be encouraged by the clergy.
The test of fitness for religious service is religious
feeling ; but that is hardly more likely to be found
in the output of the church furnisher (trade
patterns overladen with stock symbols), than in

CHURCH WORK. 219

the stitching of the devout needlewoman, working
for the glory of God, in whose service of old the
best work was done.

Many of the examples of old work given on these
pages are from church vestments, altar furniture,
and the like ; information on that point will be
found in the descriptive index of illustrations at
the beginning of the book ; but they are here
discussed from the point of view of workmanship,
with as little reference as possible to religious or
other use : that is a question apart from art.

The distinguishing features of church work
should be, in the first place, its devotional spirit,
and, in the second, its consummate workman-
ship. In it, indeed, we might expect to find
work beyond the rivalry of trade controlled by
conditions of time and money. Even then it
would be but the more perfect expression of the
same art which in its degree ennobled things of
civic and domestic use.

Church embroidery, as usually practised in these
days, is not only the most frigid and rigid in design,
but the hardest and most mechanical in execution
which last arises in great part from the way it is
done. It is not embroidered straight upon the
silk or velvet which forms the groundwork of the
design, but separately on linen. The pattern thus
worked is cut out, and either pasted straight on
to the ground-stuff, or, if the linen is at all loose,
first mounted on thin paper and then cut out and

220 ART IN NEEDLEWORK.

pasted on to the velvet, where it is kept under
pressure until it is dry. In either case the edges
have eventually to be worked over.

This habit of working on linen or canvas and
applying the embroidery ready worked on to the
richer stuff, though early used on occasion, does
not seem to have been common until a period when
manufacture generally usurped the place of art.
The work in Illustration 87 was done directly on
to the silk. In the latter half of the i8th century
there was a regular trade in embroidery ready to
sew on, by which means purveyors could turn out
in a day or two what would have taken months to
embroider.

Even if it had been the invariable mediaeval
practice to work sprays or what not upon canvas
and apply them bodily to the velvet, that would
not make it the more workmanlike or straight-
forward way of working. If needle stitches are the
ostensible means of getting an effect upon a stuff,
it seems only right they should be stitched upon
that stuff. To work the details apart and then
clap them on to it, stands to embroidery very much
in the relation of hedge-carpentering, to joinery.
Nor is it usually happy in result. Occasionally,
as in the case of Miss C. P. Shrewsbury's vine-leaf
pattern (Illustration 88), it disarms criticism.
More often it looks stuck-on. A way of avoiding
that look is to add judicious after-stitching on the
stuff itself; and this must not be confined to the

8?. GOTHIC CHURCH WORK.

222 ART IN NEEDLEWORK.

sewing on or outlining merely, but allowed to
wander playfully over the field, so as to draw your
eye away from the margin of the applied patch,
and lead you to infer that, some of the needlework
being obviously done on the velvet, all of it is.
But to disguise in this way the line of demarca-
tion, even if you succeed in doing it, is at best the
art of prevarication.

No doubt it is difficult to work upon velvet.
The stuff is not very sympathetic, and the stitch-
ing has a way of sinking into the pile, and being,
as it were, drowned in it. But the trailing spirals
of split-stitch which play about the applied spots
in many a mediaeval altar cloth hold their own
quite well enough to show that silk can be worked
straight on to the velvet.

That gold may be equally well worked straight
on to velvet may be seen in any Indian saddle
cloth. Heavy work of this kind may be rather
man's work than woman's ; but that is not the
point. The question is, how to get the best
results ; and the answer is, by working on the
stuff.

It may be argued that in this way you cannot
get very high relief; but the occasions for high
relief are, at the best, rare. If you want actual
modelling, as in the Spanish work referred to in a
previous chapter, that must, of course, be worked
separately, built up, as it were, upon the canvas
and worked over. And there is no reason why it

224 ART IN NEEDLEWORK.

should not, for in no case does [i appear to be
stitching. In fact, it aims deliberately at the
effect of chased and beaten metal.

Heavy applique of any kind affects, of course,
not only the thickness but the flexibility of the
material thus enriched an important considera-
tion if it is meant to hang in folds.

A PLEA FOR SIMPLICITY.

The simplest patterns are by no means the
least beautiful. It is too much the fashion to
underrate the artistic value of the less pretentious
froms of needlework, and especially of flat orna-
ment, which has, nevertheless, its own very impor-
tant place in decoration. As for geometric pattern,
that is quite beneath consideration it is so me-
chanical ! Mechanical is a word as easily spoken
as another; but if needlework is mechanical,
that is more often the fault of the needle-
woman than of the mechanism she employs. The
Orientals, who indulged so freely in geometric
device, were the least mechanical of workers. It
is our rigid way of working it which robs geometric
ornament of its charm. The needleworker has less
than ever occasion to be afraid of geometric pat-
tern ; for it is peculiarly difficult to get in it that
appearance of rule-and-compass-work which makes
ornament so dull.

The one real objection to geometric pattern is
that it is nowadays so cheaply and so mechani-
cally got by weaving that, however freely it may
be rendered, there is a danger of its suggesting

D.E. Q

226 ART IN NEEDLEWORK.

mechanical production, which embroidery em-
phatically ought not to do. There is a similar
objection nowadays to some stitches, such, for
example, as chain-stitch and back-stitch, which
suggest the sewing-machine.

Embroidery does not to-day take quite the place
it once did. It was used, for example, by the early
Coptic Christians to supplement tapestry. That
is to say, what they could not weave they stitched ;
it was only to get more delicate detail than their
tapestry loom would allow, that they had recourse
to the needle. Needlework was, in fact, an
adjunct to weaving. Later, in mediaeval times,
the Germans of Cologne, for their church vest-
ments and the like, wove what they could, and
enriched their woven figures with embroidery.

Again, a great deal of Oriental embroidery, and
of peasant work everywhere, is merely the result
of circumstances. Where money is scarce and
time is of no account, it answers a woman's pur-
pose to do for herself with her needle what might
in some respects be even better done on the loom.
Her preference for handwork is not that it has
artistic possibilities, but that it costs her less.
She would in many cases prefer the more mechani-
cally produced fabric, if she could get it at the
same price. We do not find that Orientals reject
the productions of the power-loom which they
would do if they had the artistic instincts with
which we credit them.

3 \^- * .. I, ** ' f _3*' r -~^-Jr ,^V *Cr ^-*^T^i^

'^;1ig < ^fc5^

v-r ^i'^s^rA^k x. x^ k^vv y ,

fe^^^^^

* *i i ^ * i >O- ^ jX^^i". ^^*- iti- \

89. SIMPLE STITCHING ON LINEN,

228 ART IN NEEDLEWORK.

It results from our conditions of to-day that
there are some kinds of needlework we admire,
which yet are not worth our doing, such, for
example, as the all-over work, which does not
amount to more than simple diaper, and which
really is not so much embroidering on a textile as
converting it into one of another kind. Glorified
instances of this kind of work occur in the shawl
work of Cashmere, and in those beautiful bits of
Persian stitching which remind one of carpet-work
in miniature, if they are not in fact related to
carpet-weaving.

Embroidery was at one time the readiest, and
practically the only, means of getting enrich-
ment of certain kinds. To-day we get machine
embroidery. As machinery is perfected, and
learns to do what formerly could be done only by
the needle, hand-workers get pushed aside and
fall out of work. Their chance is, in keeping
always in advance of the machine. There is this
hope for them, that the monotony of machine-
made things produces in the end a reaction in
favour of handwork provided always it gives us
something which manufacture cannot. Possibly
also there is scope for amateurs and home-artists
in that combination of embroidery and hand-
weaving with which the power-loom, though it has
superseded it, does not enter into competition.

It is not so much for geometric ornament as
for simple pattern that I here make my plea, for

go. SIMPLE COUCHING ON LINEN.

230 ART IN NEEDLEWORK.

that reticent work of which so much was at one
time done in this country mere back-stitching,
for example, or what looks like it, in yellow silk
upon white linen ; or the modest diaper, archaic, if
you like, but inevitably characteristic, in which the
naivete of the sampler seems always to linger; or
again, the admirably simple work in Illustration 89.
This last does not show so delicately in the photo-
graphic reproduction as it should, because, being
in , grey and yellow on white linen, the relative
value of the two shades of colour is lost in the
process. In the original the broader yellow bands
are much more in tone with the ground, and do
not assert themselves so much. Such as it is,
only an artist could have designed that border-
work, and any neat-handed woman could have
embroidered it.

Think again of the delicate work in white on
white, too familiar to need illustration, which
makes no loud claim to be art, but is content to
be beautiful ! Is that to be a thing altogether of
the past now that we have Art Needlework ? Art
needlework ! It has helped put an end to the
patience of the modern worker, and to inspire her
too often with ambitions quite beyond her powers
of fulfilment.

What one misses in the work of the present day
is that reticent and unpretending stitchery, which,
thinking to be no more than a labour of loving
patience, is really a work of art, better deserving

A PLEA FOR SIMPLICITY. 231

the title than a flaunting floral quilt which goes
by the name of "art needlework" designed
apparently to worry the eye by day and to give
bad dreams by night to whoever may have the
misfortune to sleep under it. Is anyone nowa-
days modest enough to do work such as the
couching in outline in Illustration 90 ? Yet what
distinction there is about it !

EMBROIDERY DESIGN.

Perfect art results only when designer and
worker are entirely in sympathy, when the
designer knows quite what the worker can do
with her materials, and when the worker not only
understands what the designer meant, but feels
with him. And it is the test of a practical
designer that he not only knows the conditions
under which his design is to be carried out, but is
ready to submit to them.

The distinction here made between designer
and embroiderer is not casual, but afore-thought,
notwithstanding the division of labour it implies.
Enthusiasm has a habit of outrunning reason.
Because in some branches of industry subdivision
of labour has been carried to absurd excess, it is
the fashion to demand in all branches of it the
autograph work of one person, which is no less
absurd. To try and link together faculties which
Nature has for the most part put asunder, is
futile.

That designer and worker should be one and the
same person is an ideal, but one only very occasion-
ally fulfilled. When that happens (Illustrations 61

EMBROIDERY DESIGN. 233

and 88) it is well. But the attempt to realise it
commonly works out in one of two ways: either
a good design is spoilt in the working for want
of executive skill on the part of the designer, or
good workmanship is spent on poor design, as
good, perhaps, as one has any right to expect of a
skilled needleworker.

The fact is, you can only make out all the world
to be designers by reducing design to what all the
world can do. And that is not much. There is
a point of view from which it does not amount to
design at all.

The study of design forms part of the education
of an embroidress, not so much that she may
design what she works, but that she may know in
the first place what good design is, and, in the
second, be equal to the ever-recurring occa-
sion when a design has to be modified or
adapted. If, in thus manipulating design not
hers, she should discover a faculty of invention,
she will want no telling to exercise it. A
designer wants no encouragement to design
she designs.

There would be no occasion to insist upon
this, were it not for the prevalence at the present
moment of the idea that a worker, in whatever art
or handicraft, is in artistic duty bound to design
whatever she puts hand to do. That is a theory
as false as it is unkind ; let no embroidress be dis-
couraged by it. Let her, unless she is inwardly

234 ART IN NEEDLEWORK.

impelled to invent, remain content to do good
needlework. That is her art. Her business as
an artist is to make beautiful things. Co-operation
in the making of them is no crime.

And what, then, about originality ? Originality
is a gift beyond price. But it is not a thing which
even the designer should struggle after. It comes,
if it is there. There is a revengeful consolation
for the pain we suffer from design about us writh-
ing to be up-to-date, in the thought that its con-
tortions tell what pain it cost to do. The birth of
beauty is a less agonising travail ; and the thing to
seek is beauty, not novelty. Whoever planned
the lines of the border in Illustration 91, or
treated the leafage in Illustration 92, was not
trying to be original, but determined to do his
best. Artists and workers of individuality and
character are themselves, without being so much
as aware that originality has gone out of them.

To assume, then, that every needlewoman is,
or can ever be, competent to design what she
embroiders, is to make very small account of
design. How is it possible to take design seri-
ously and yet think it is to be mastered without
years of patient study, which few workwomen can
or will devote to it ? Any cultivated woman may
for herself invent (if it is to be called invention)
something better worth working than is to be
bought ready to work. And that may do for
many purposes, so long as it does not claim r*> be

QI. RENAISSANCE ORNAMENT.

236 ART IN NEEDLEWORK.

more than it is ; but in the case of really impor-
tant work, to be executed at considerable cost
not only of material, but of patient labour, surely
it is worth giving serious thought to its design.
The scant consideration commonly given to it
shows how little the worker is in earnest. Or
has she thought ? And is she persuaded that her
artless spray of flowers, or the ironed-off pattern
she has bought, is all that art could be ? It would
be rude to tell her she was wasting silk ! How
should she know ?

The only way of knowing is to study, to look
at good work, old work by preference ; it is worth
no one's while to praise that unduly. And if in
all that is now so readily accessible she finds
nothing to admire, nothing which appeals to
her, nothing which inspires her, then her case is
hopeless. If, on the other hand, she finds only
so much as one style of work sympathetic to
her, studies that, lets its spirit sink into her, tries
to do something worthy of it, then she is on the
right road. Measure yourself with the best, not
with the common run of work ; and if that should
put you out of conceit with your own work, no
great harm is done ; sooner or later you have got
to come to a modest opinion of yourself, if ever
you are to do even moderate things.

But the " best " above referred to does not
necessarily mean the most masterly. The best
of a simple kind is not calculated to discourage

92. LEAF TREATMENT IN APPLIQUE.

238 ART IN NEEDLEWORK.

anyone rather, it looks as if it must be easy to
do that ; and in trying to do it you learn how
much goes to the doing it. Good design need not
be of any great importance or pretensions. It
may be quite simple, if only it is right ; if the lines
are true, the colour harmonious ; if it is adapted
to its place, to its use and purpose, to execution
not only with the needle but in the particular
kind of needlework to be employed.

There has of late years been something of a
revival of needlework design in schools of art,
and some very promising and even most
accomplished work has been done ; but in many
instances, as it seems to me, it is rather design
which has been translated into needlework, than
design clearly made for execution with the
needle. A really appropriate and practical design
for embroidery should be schemed not merely
with a view to its execution with the needle,
but with a view to its execution in a particular
stitch or stitches and possibly by a particular
embroidress. To be safe in designing work so
minute as that on Illustration 93, one must be
sure of the needlewoman who is to execute it.

My reference to old work must not be taken to
imply that design should be in imitation of what
has been done, or that it should follow on those
lines. Design was once upon a time traditional ;
but the chain of tradition has snapped, and now
conscious design must be eclectic that is to say,

93' DELICATE SATIN-STITCH WORKED BY MISS BUCKLE.

240 ART IN NEEDLEWORK.

one must study old work to see what has been
done, and how it has been done, and then do
one's own in one's own way. It is at least as
foolish to break quite away from what has
been done as to tether yourself to it. And in
what has been done you will see, not only what
is worth doing, but what is not. That, each
must judge for herself. For my part, it seems
to me the thing best worth doing is ornament.
Any way, this much is certain (and you have
only to go to a museum to prove it), that
there is no need for needleworkers, unless their
instinct draws them that way, to take to needle
painting, to pictures in silk, or even to flower
stitching.

The limitations of embroidery are not so rigidly
marked as the boundaries of many another craft.
There is little technical difficulty in representing
flowers, for example, very naturally too naturally
for'any dignified decorative purpose. Embroiderer
or embroidery designer will, as a matter of fact, be
constantly inspired by flower forms, and silk gives
the pure colour of their petals as nearly as may be.
But, though the pattern be a veritable flower
garden, the embroidress will not forget, to use
the happy phrase of William Morris, that she is
gardening with silks and gold threads.

Let the needleworker study the work of the
needle in preference to that of the brush ; let her
aim at what stuff and threads will give her, and

EMBROIDERY DESIGN. 341

give more readily than would something else.
Let her work according to the needle : take that
for her guide, not be misled by what some other
tool can do better ; do what the needle can do
best, and be content with that. That is the way
to Art in Needlework, and the surest way.

D.E.

EMBROIDERY MATERIALS.

Embroidery is not among the things which
have to be done, and must be done, therefore,
as best one can do them. It is in the nature
of a superfluity : the excuse for it is that it is
beautiful. It is not worth doing unless it is
done well, and in material worth the work done
on it. If you are going to spend the time you
must spend to do good work, it is worth while
using good stuff, foolish to use anything else.
The stuff need not be costly, but it should be the
best of its kind ; and it should be chosen with
reference to the work to be done on it, and vice
versa. A mean ground-stuff suggests, if it does not
necessitate, its being embroidered all over, ground-
work as well as pattern ; a worthier one, that it
should not be hidden altogether from view ; a really
beautiful one, that enough of it should be left bare
of ornament that its quality may be appreciated.
STUFFS. It goes without saying, that for big, bold
stitching a proportionately coarse ground-stuff
should be used, and for delicate work, one of
finer texture ; whether it be linen, woollen cloth,
or silk, your purpose will determine.

EMBROIDERY MATERIALS. 243

Linen is a worthy ground-stuff, which may be STUFFS.
worked on with flax thread, crewel, or silk, but
they should not be mixed. Cotton is hardly
worth embroidering. Of woollen stuffs, good
plain cloth is an excellent ground for work in
wool or silk, but it is not pleasant to the touch
in working. Serge, if not too loose, may serve
for curtains and the like, but it is not so well
worth working upon. Felt is beneath contempt.

The nobler the material, the more essential it is
that it should be of the best. Poor satin is not
" good enough to work on ; " it looks poorer than
ever when it is embroidered.

Satin should be stretched upon the frame the
way of the stuff, and it should not be forgotten
that it has a right and a wrong way up. If it is
backed, the linen should be fine and smooth : on
a coarse backing, the satin gets quickly worn
away, as you may see in many a piece of old
work that has gone ragged.

"Roman satin" and what is called "satin de
luxe " (perhaps because it is not so luxurious as it
pretends to be) are effective ground-stuffs easy
to work upon ; but there is an odour of pretence
about satin-faced cotton.

A corded silk is not good to embroider ; the work
on it looks hard ; but a close twill answers very
well. Silk damask makes an admirable ground
beautifully broken in colour, if only it is simple
and broad enough in pattern. Generally speaking,

R 2

244 ART IN NEEDLEWORK.

you can hardly choose a design too big and
flat ; but something depends upon the work to
be done on it. In any case, the pattern of the
damask ought not to assert itself, and if you can't
make out its details, so much the better.

Brocade asserts itself too much to form a good
background. There is a practice of embroidering
the outlines, or certain details only, of damask
and brocade patterns. That is a fair way of
further enriching a rich stuff ; but it is embroidery
merely in the sense that it is literally embroidered :
the needlework is only supplementary to weaving.

Tussah silk of the finer sort is easy to work in
the hand. The thinner and looser quality needs
to be worked in a frame, and with smooth silk
not tightly twisted.

THREAD. With regard to the thread to work with : The
coarser kinds of flax are best waxed before using.
The crewel to be preferred is that not too tightly
twisted. Filoselle is well adapted to couching, and
may be laid double (24 threads). French floss is
smooth, and does well for laid work ; for fine
work bobbin floss, or what is called " church
floss," is better ; the slight twist in filo-floss is
against it ; very thick floss may be used for
French knots.

For couching gold, a very fine twisted silk does
well. Purse silk, thick and twisted, lends itself
perfectly to basket work. Working in coloured
silks, one should take advantage of the quality

EMBROIDERY MATERIALS. 245

of pure transparent colour which silk takes in
the dyeing. The palette of the embroiderer in
silk is superlatively rich.

The purest gold is generally made on a founda- GOLD.
tion of*red silk. Japanese gold does not tarnish
so readily as " passing," which is in some respects
superior to it. For stitching through, there is a
finer thread, called " tambour." Flat gold wire is
known by the name of " plate," and various twisted
threads by the name of " purl."

A not very promising substance to embroider CHENILLE.
with is chenille. It came into use in the latter
half of the iyth century, and was still in fashion
in the time of Marie Antoinette. The use of it
is shown in Illustration 75, where the darker
touches of the roses are worked in it. Chenille
seems to have been used instead of smooth silk,
much as in certain old-fashioned water-colour
paintings gum was used with the paint, or over
it, to deepen the shadows. The material is used
again in the wreath on Illustration 76. It is
worked there in chain-stitch with the tambour
needle : it may also be worked in satin-stitch ; but
the more obvious way of using it is to couch it,
cord by cord, with fine silk thread. There is
this against chenille, that its texture is not
sympathetic to the touch, and that there is a
stuffy look about it always. Nor does it seem
ever quite to belong to the smooth satin ground
on which it is worked.

246 ART IN NEEDLEWORK.

RIBBON. There is less objection to embroidery in ribbon,
which also had its day in the i8th century. It
was very much the fashion for court dresses under
Louis Seize " Broderie de faveur," as it was
called, whence our " lady's favour " favetir being
a narrow ribbon. Some beautiful work of its kind
was done in ribbon, sometimes shaded. Shaded

SHADED silk, by the way, may be used to artistic purpose.
There is, for example, in the treasury of Seville
Cathedral a piece of work on velvet, I3th century,
it is said, rather Persian in character, in which
the forms of certain nondescript animals are at
first sight puzzlingly prismatic in colour. They
turn out to be roughly worked in short
stitches of parti-coloured silk thread. The result
is not altogether beautiful, but it is extremely
suggestive.

RIBBON. The effect of ribbon work is happiest when it is
not sewn through the stuff after the manner of
satin stitch, but lies on the surface of the satin
ground, and is only just caught down at the ends
of the loops which go to make leaves and petals.
The twist of the ribbon where it turns gives
interest to the surface of the embroidery, which
is always more or less in relief upon the stuff,
easy to crush, and of limited use therefore.

An effect of ribbon work, but of a harder kind,
was produced by onlaying narrow strips of card
or parchment upon a silken ground, twisted about
after the fashion of ribbon. These, having been

94- LEATHER APPLIQUE UPON VELVET.

248 ART IN NEEDLEWORK.

stitched in place, were worked over in satin-stitch.
The work has the merit of looking just like what
it is. But neither it nor ribbon embroidery is of
any very serious account.

Passing reference has been made to other
materials to embroider with than thread. Gold
wire, for example, and spangles, coral and pearls,
which have been used with admirable discretion,
as well as to vulgar purpose. Jewels also were
lavished upon the embroidery of bishops' mitres,
gloves and other significant apparel, and in default
of real stones, imitations in glass, and eventually
beads (or pearls) of glass, in which we have possibly
the origin of knots. Bead embroidery is at least
as old as ancient Egypt. Even atoms of looking-
glass, sewn round with silk, have been used to
really beautiful effect (barbaric though it may be)
in Indian work. The question almost occurs :
with what can one not embroider ? In Madras
they produce most brilliant embroidery upon
muslin with the cases of beetles' wings. In the
Mauritius they use fish-scales; in North America,
porcupine quills ; and everywhere savage tribes
use seeds, shells, feathers, and the teeth and claws
of animals.

To return to more civilised work, there is
embroidery in gold and silver wire, allied to the art
of the goldsmith, and on leather (Illustration 94),
allied to the art of the saddler. It would be
difficult to set any limit to the directions in which

EMBROIDERY MATERIALS. 249

embroidery may branch out, impossible to describe
them all. Happily, it is not necessary. A skilled
worker adapts herself to new conditions, and the
conditions themselves dictate the necessary modi-
fication of the familiar wav.

PINS.

A WORD TO THE WORKER.

A good workwoman will not encumber herself
with too many tools ; but she will not shirk the
expense of necessary implements, the simplest by
preference, and the best that are made.

Embroidery needles should have large eyes ; the
silk is not rubbed in threading them, and they
make way for the thread to pass smoothly through
the stuff. For working in twisted silk, the eye
should be roundish ; for flat silk, long ; for surface
stitching or interlacing, a blunt " tapestry needle "
is best ; for carrying cord or gold thread through
the stuff, a "rug needle."

For a thimble, choose an old one that has been
worn quite smooth.

For scissors, be sure and have a strong, short,
sharp and pointed pair the surgical instrument,
not the fancy article. Nail scissors would not be
amiss but for the roughness of the file on the
blades.

For pins, use always steel ones ; and for tacks,
those which have been tinned ; or they will leave
their mark behind them.

For a frame, get the best you can afford ; a cheap

A WORD TO THE WORKER. 251

one is no economy ; but a stand for it is not FRAMES.
always necessary. It should be rather wider than
might seem necessary, as the work should never
extend to the full width of the webbing. A
tambour frame is also useful, though you have no
intention of doing tambour work.

In stretching silk (not backed with linen) upon TO STRETCH
a frame, some preliminary care is necessary. The SILK
stuff should first be bordered with strips of linen
or strong tape, and into the two sides of this
border which are to be laced up a stout string
should be tacked, to prevent it from giving when
the work is drawn tight.

The way to put embroidery material (thus FRAMING.
bordered or not) into a frame is : first to sew it
to the webbing (top and bottom), then to put the
laths or screws into the bars, tightening them
evenly, and lastly to lace it to the sides with fine
string and a packing needle.

The ordinary ways of transferring a design to TRANSFER-
embroidery material are well known : the outline
may be traced down with a point over transfer
paper ; it may be pricked upon paper and pounced
upon the stuff in chalk or charcoal, and then traced
in with a brush or pen; or it (still the outline only)
may be stencilled. In any case, the outline marked
upon the stuff should be well within what is to be
the actual outline of the embroidery when worked.
Another way, more peculiarly adapted to needle-
work, is to trace the outline in ink upon fine

252 ART IN NEEDLEWORK.

tarlatan (leno muslin will do for very coarse work),
and, having laid this down upon the stuff, to go
over the lines again with a ruling pen and Indian
ink or colour. On a light stuff it is possible to
use, instead of a pen, a hard pencil. On a dark
material one must use Chinese white, to which it
is well to add, not only a little gum (arabic), but
a trace of ox-gall, to make it work easily. One
gets by this method naturally rather a rotten line
upon the ground-stuff, but it is enough for all
practical purposes.

KEEPING Delicate work is easily rubbed and soiled in the
CLEAN, working. It is only reasonable precaution to pro-
tect it by a veil or covering of thin, soft, white
glazed lining, tacked round the edges on to the
stuff. On this you mark the four lines inclosing
the actual embroidery, and, cutting through three
of them, you have a flap of lining, which you raise
and turn back when you are at work. If the work
is very delicate, you may make instead of one flap
a succession of little ones ; but you see then only
a portion of your work at a time, and cannot so
well judge its effect.

STARTING In starting work, do not begin by making a
AND FINISH- k no t m your thread ; run a few stitches (presently
to be worked over) on the right side of the stuff.
In finishing, you run them at the back of the stuff;
for greater security still, one may end with a
buttonhole-stitch.

There is less danger of puckering the stuff if

A WORD TO THE WORKER. 253

you hold it over two fingers (at least), keeping it PUCKERING.
taut and the thread loose.

Working without a frame, it often comes
handiest to hold the stuff askew, and there is
a natural inclination to pull it in that direction.
This temptation must be resisted, or puckering
is sure to result.

In working with double silk or wool, it is better DOUBLE
not to double back a single thread, but to pass two THREAD.
separate threads through the eye of the needle.
The four threads (where these are turned back
near the eye) make way through the stuff for the
double thread, which passes easily ; moreover, the
thread by this means is not pulled too tight, and
the effect is richer.

The stitch wants always adaptation to the work
it has to do. In working a curved line, for example,
say in herring-bone-stitch, one is bound always to
take up a larger piece of stuff on its outside than
on its inner edge.

When a thread runs short, it is better not to go
on working with it, but to take another ; and in
finishing off, remember to run the thread in the
direction opposite to that from which you are
going to run the new one. In starting the new
stitch, you naturally bring your needle out as if
it were a continuation of that last made.

If your work is faulty, cut it out and do it again. UNDOING.
Unpicking is not so satisfactory : it loosens the stuff
to drag the thread back through it, and the thread

254 ART IN NEEDLEWORK.

saved is of no further use. Beginners find it
hard to undo work once done ; but a really good
needlewoman never hesitates about it her one
thought is to get the thing right. Don't break
your thread ever : that pulls it out of condition :
cut it always.

In working, it is well to keep strictly to the
stitch you have chosen, but not to the point of
bigotry. One may finish off darning, for example,
at the edges with a satin stitch. The thing to
avoid is fudging. Moreover, stitches should be
laid right at once ; there should be no boggling
and botching, no working-over with stitches to
make good that is not playing fair.

When the needlework is done, do not finish it
with a flat iron. That finishes it in more senses
than one. But suppose it is puckered ? In that
case, stretch it and damp it. To do this, first
tack on to it (as explained on page 251) a frame of
strong tape. Then, on a drawing-board or other
even wooden surface, lay a piece of clean calico,
and on that, face downwards, the embroidery, and,
slightly stretching it, nail it down by the tape with
tin-tacks rather close together. If now you lay
upon it a damp cloth, the embroidery will absorb
the moisture from it, and when that is removed,
should dry as flat as it is possible to get it.

A rather more daring plan is to damp the back
of the stuff with a wet sponge. The work, instead
of being nailed on to a board, may just as well be

A WORD TO THE WORKER. 255

laced to a frame by the tape. In the case of raised
embroidery there must be between it and the wood,
not a cloth merely, but a layer of wadding.

The damping above described may take the form
of a thin paste or stiffening, but upon silk or other
such material this wants tenderly doing.

One last word as to thoroughness in needlework.
Those who have really not time to do much, should
be satisfied with simple work. The desire to make
a great show with little work is a snare. Ladies
make protest always, " There is too much work in
that." Well, if they are not prepared to work,
they may as well give themselves up to their play.
There was no labour shirked in the old work
illustrated in these pages ; and nothing much worth
doing was ever done without work, hard work, and
plenty of it. Should that thought frighten folk
away, they may as well be scared off at once.
Art can do very well without them.

INDEX.

PAGE

ADAPTATION of stitch . . 103,
1 88, 253

ANTIQUE stitch 66

(See also Oriental-stitch)
APPLIQUE . . 140, 144 et seq.,
220, 222, 224

ARAB work 152

ARTLESS art . . . . 37, 236
ATTACHMENT of cord .. 124

BACKSTITCH .. 30, 37, 41, 53,

83, 86, 172, 226, 230

BASKET patterns . . . . 134

BEADS 248

BEGINNING & FINISHING 252
BLANKET-STITCH . . . . 56
BRAID-STITCH . . . . 42, 43
BROAD surfaces (covering) 178

BROCADE 244

BULLION 165

BULLION-STITCH 75, 76, 162,

165

BUTTONHOLE-STITCH 8, 55 el

seq., 69, 122, 145, 158, 178, 182

BUTTONHOLING (lace) 84, 86

BYZANTINE embroidery 12, 24

CABLE-CHAIN 42

D.E.

PAGE

CANVAS 7. 25

CANVAS stitches 12 et seq.
CANVAS-STITCH embroidery 22
CARD underlay . . 162, 246
CASHMERE embroidery . . 228
CASHMERE-STITCH . . . . 18
CHAIN-STITCH 38 et seq., 61,
83, 129, 145, 156, 158,

178, 182, 202, 226, 245

CHENILLE 245

CHINESE embroidery 78, 96,

129, 136, 140, 152

CHURCH work 41, 136, 148,

166, 216 et seq.

CLASSIFICATION of stitches 9,

175 et seq.

CLOTH . . 125, 126, 159, 243

COLOUR no, 208

COLOUR gradation 98,114,
118

COLOUR and outline 146, 185

COMBINATION of stitches 182

COPTIC embroidery 12, 226

,, tapestry . . . . 2

CORAL 166, 248

CORD 122

(couched) 128, 144, 178,
182

258

INDEX.

PAGE

CORD (attachment of) . . 124

COTTON 243

COUCHED cord 128, 144, 178,
182

gold 131 elseq., 182

outline .. .. 146

COUCHING 22, 114, 120, 121,

122 et seq., 244

,, (reverse) . . 130

COUNTERCHANGE . . . . 154

CRETAN embroidery . . 12

CRETAN-STITCH . . . . 61

(See also Ladder-stitch)

CREWEL 244

CREWEL-STITCH 26 et seq., 83,

86, 103, 105, 178

(surface) 86

CREWEL work . .* 26, 36, 37
CROSS-STITCH . . 12, 14, 16
CROSSED buttonhole-stitch 56
CUSHION-STITCH .. 20, 21
CUT-WORK 156

DAMASK 243, 244

DAMPING 254, 255

DARNING 8, 22, 83, 90, 106

et seq., 178, 179

(Japanese) .. 86

(surface) .. .. 84

DESIGN . . 150, 219, 233 et seq.

,, traditional .. 238,240

DESIGN and stitch.. 10, 238

DESIGNER and embroiderer

232, 233

DIAPERS 87, 88, io8,.i32, 134,
210

DIRECTION of stitch 92, 95,
108, 114, 136, 190, 208 et seq.

PAGE

DOUBLE darning . . . . 106
,, thread . . . . 253
DOVETAIL-STITCH . . 103, 104
(See also Embroidery and

Plumage Stitches)
DRAWING with the needle 192,
194, 196, 199, 211
DRAWN work .. .. 2, 4

EASTERN embroidery. (See

Oriental)

EFFECT and stitch . . 36, 78
EIGHTEENTH century em-
broidery . . . . 220, 246
EMBROIDERY and painting

20 i, 202
EMBROIDERY-STITCH . . 103

(See also Plumage-stitch)
ENGLISH embroidery 34, 36,
169

FEATHER-STITCH . . 62 et seq.,
83, 100, 178

FELT 243

FIFTEENTH century em-
broidery . . . . 24, 164
FIGURE work .. .. 116, 169,
190, 198 et seq.

FILLING-IN patterns . . 24
FILO-FLOSS . . . . 164, 244
FILOSELLE . . 124, 144, 244
FISHBONE.. .. 21, 47, 51
FLAX thread . . . . 164, 244
FLEMISH embroidery 142, 200

FLESH 204, 206

FLORENTINE-STITCH . . 18, 21
(See also Cushion stitch)

INDEX.

259

PAGE

FLOSS .. -.95, 114, 116,
118, 120, 244

FORM and stitch 44, 47, 100,
118, 176, 211, 253

FRAMING work 251

FRENCH embroidery 88, 245

,, floss 244

knots . . 77, 129, 150,
178, 244

GEOMETRIC pattern . . 225
GERMAN embroidery no, 125,
126, 156, 185, 226
GERMAN- knot-stitch . . 72
GOBELIN-STITCH . . . . 18

GOLD 210, 222, 245

,, (couched) 131 et seq., 182
(raised) 134, 136, 165
GOLD thread .. 131, 245

tinted by couching

stitches . . . . 142
,, wire . . . . 169, 248

HALF-CROSS-STITCH.. .. 20

HERALDIC embroidery . . 156

HERRINGBONE-STITCH 8, 22,

47 et seq., 83, 178, 182

HILDESHEIM cope (the) .. 126

HUNGARIAN embroidery. . 2

stitch . 1 8

INDIAN embroidery . . 41, 46,

61. 95, 98, 154, 169, 222, 248

INDIAN herring-bone . . 48

INLAY . . 153

INTERLACING stitches . . 83

PAGE

ITALIAN embroidery . . 22, 24,

37. 46, 138

ITALIAN embroidery (Re-
naissance) . . 22, 41, 1 20,
142, 154, 199

JAPANESE darning . . 86, 87
embroidery . . 80
gold 245

JEWELS 165, 248

KNOT stitches . . 72 el seq., 182

LACE 1,2

LACE stitches . . . . 84 el seq.
LADDER-STITCH 59, 61, 182
LAID-WORK 112 et seq., 162, 178

LEATHER 248

LEATHER on velvet . . . . 150
LENGTH of stitch . . 96, 100
LIMITATIONS of embroidery 240

LINE work 176,178

LINEN 164, 243

(embroidery on) .. 24

LONG-AND-SHORT-STITCH . . 36,

98, 100, 178, 190, 192

MAGIC-STITCH 41

MATERIAL (influence of on
stitch) 12, 13, 16, 18, 24,
88, 91

MATERIALS . . . . 242 et seq.

MECHANICAL embroidery 225

MEDIEVAL work . . 92, 136,

140, 190

MILANESE-STITCH . . . . 18
MODELLING 222

260

INDEX.

PAOE

MODEST work . . . . 230, 231
MOORISH-STITCH . . 18, 21
MOROCCO embroidery . . 152

NEEDLE (tambour) . . 38, 245
NEEDLE pictures . . . . 201

NEEDLES 250

NET passing 86

OLD ENGLISH KNOT-STITCH 75

OPUS Anglicanum . . . . 9

ORIENTAL embroidery 2, 22,

61, 92, 112, 136, 140,

153, 226

,, stitch . . 66 el seq.,
83, 178, 182

ORIGINALITY 234

OUTLINE . . 22, 77, 108, 146,

158, 178, 184. 185 et seq.

(couched) .. 126, 128,

146

(double) 146, 185, 186
(stepped) . . 16, 24
(voided) . . 96, 187
OUTLINE embroidery . . 138
stitch 29, 30, 32, 86

PADDING 159, 172

PAINTING 201,202

PARCHMENT . . 160, 168, 246
PARISIAN-STITCH . . . . 18

PATCHWORK 156

PEARLS . . . . 165, 166, 248

PEASANT work . . 12, 13, 226

PERSIAN embroidery . . 7, 24,

41, 174, 228

PICTORIAL effect 198, 199, 201
PICTURES (tent-stitch) 14, 20

PAGE

PIERCE 132

PINS 146, 250

PLAIT-STITCH 21

PLATE 245

PLUMAGE-STITCH 62, 100, 103,
178, 179, 192, 212

PRECIOUSNESS 198

PURL 245

PURSE silk 116,162

QUILTING. .

. . 172 et seq.

RAISED gold . . 134, 136, 165
et seq.

,, work . . 134, 136, 159
et seq.

RELIEF . . 159 et seq., 166,

168, 169, 172, 222

RENAISSANCE embroidery 41,

92, 142, 154, 166

RENEWING ground . . . . 126

REVERSE-couching . . . . 130

RIBBON 150, 246

RIBBON work 246

ROLL-STITCH 75

(See also Bullion-stitch)

ROMAN satin 243

ROPE-STITCH . . 71 et seq., 178
RUNNING . . . . 83, 106, 179

SATIN 243

" de luxe " . . . . 243
on velvet . . . . 150

SATIN-STITCH . . 24, 91 et seq.,

103, 112, 128, 158, 160,

162, 175, 178, 182, 192,

206, 212, 245

SATIN-STITCH (surface) 98, 282

INDEX.

261

PAGE

SATIN-STITCH in the making 91

SCISSORS 250

SERGE 243

SEVENTEENTH century

embroidery . . 14, 166

SHADED silk 246

SHADING .. 34, 176, iSSetseq-

SILK 146, 243

,, (tussah) 244

,, (twisted) . . 95, 124, 125

,, on silk 150

SILKS 244

SILVER . . . . 135, 138, 166
SIMPLICITY . . 180, 236, 238
(a plea for) 225 et seq.
SIXTEENTH century em-
broidery 22, 120, 125, 142,
185, 199

SOLID chain-stitch . . 43, 44

,, crewel-stitch . . 32, 34

SOUDANESE embroidery . . 112

SPANGLES 169,248

SPANISH embroidery . . 129,

142, 154, 166, 185

SPANISH-STITCH.. .. 18,22

(See also Plait-stitch)
SPLIT-STITCH . . 38, 100, 105,
114, 179, 190, 196, 222

SPOT-STITCH 30

STEM-STITCH 32

STEMS 95

STEPPED outline . . 16, 24

STILETTO 174

STITCH (definition otj .. n
adaptation 103, 188.

253

and effect . . 36, 78

,, and form 44, 47, 100,

118, 176, 211, 253

PAGE

STITCH and stuff 12, 13, 16, 18,

24, 88, 91

groups . . 9, 175 el seq,

names 8, 9

patterns . . 87, 88
,, and design .. 10,238

STITCHES 7

STITCHING over stitching 215
STRETCHING work . . 251, 254
STRING . . . . 159, 160, 162

STROKE-STITCH 16

STUFFS 242

SURFACE crewel-stitch . . 86

darning .. .. 84

,, satin-stitch 98, 182

stitches . . . . 84

SYON COPE (the) 7, 130, 210

TAILORS' buttonhole . . 56

TAMBOUR 245

frame . . . . 44

needle . . 38, 245

stitch .. .. 38

,, work . . . . 44, 194

TAPESTRY . . 1,2, 4, 143, 220

TAPESTRY-STITCH . . . . 53

TENDRILS 130

TENT-STITCH . . . . 14, 18

THIMBLE 250

THREAD . . 244

TRADITIONAL design.. 238, 240
TRANSFERRING design . . 251
TURKISH embroidery . . 22

TUSSAH silk 244

TWISTED silk . . 95, 124, 125

UNDERLAY. .
UNPICKING..

. . 159, 160, 165
253

262 INDEX.

PAGE PAGE

VANDYKE chain . . . . 42 VOIDING 96, 187

VARIETY of method.. 148, 158

of stitch .. .. 180 WEAVING .. 2

et seq. WHITE on white . . 162, 230

VELVET 150, 222 WOOL. (See Crewel)

VENETIAN embroidery . . 138 WOOLLEN stuffs . . . . 243

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Repetition. III. Where to Stop in Ornament. IV. Style
and Handicraft. V. The Teaching of the Tool. VI. Some
Superstitions. Third Edition (Sixth Thousand), further
revised, with 48 full-page Illustrations and 7 Woodcuts in the
text. Crown Svo, art linen, price 3*. 6d., net 35-.

"A most worthy supplement to the former work, and a distinct gain to the art student
who has already applied his art knowledge in a practical manner, or who hopes yet to do so."

Science ami Art.

ORNAMENTAL DESIGN. Comprising the above Three
Books, " ANATOMY OF PATTERN," " PLANNING OF ORNA-
MENT," and "APPLICATION OF ORNAMENT," handsomely
bound in one volume, cloth gilt, price io.y. 6d., net Ss. 6d.

MR. LEWIS F. DATS WORKS continued.
NATURE IN ORNAMENT. With 1 23 full-page Plates and
192 Illustrations in the text. Third Edition (Fifth Thousand).
Thick crown 8vo, in handsome cloth binding, richly gilt,
price I2S. 6d., net IQS.

CONTENTS : I. Introductory. II. Ornament in Nature.
III. Nature in Ornament. IV. The Simplification of
Natural Forms. V. The Elaboration of Natural Forms.
VI. Consistency in the Modification of Nature. VII. Parallel
Renderings. VIII. More Parallels. IX. Tradition in Design.
X. Treatment. XL Animals in Ornament. XII. The
Element of the Grotesque. XIII. Still Life in Ornament.
XIV. Symbolic Ornament.

"Amongst the best of our few good ornamental designers is Mr. Lewis F. Day, who is
the author of several books on ornamental art. ' Nature in Ornament ' is the latest of
these, and is probably the best. The treatise should be in the hands of every student of orna-
mental design. It is profusely and admirably illustrated, and well printed." Magazine of Art.

" A book more beautiful for its illustrations, or one more helpful to Students of Art, can
hardly be imagined." Queen.

A HANDBOOK OF ORNAMENT. With 300 Plates, contain-
ing about 3,000 Illustrations of the Elements and Application
of Decoration to Objects. By F. S. MEYER, Professor at the
School of Applied Art, Karlsruhe. Third English Edition,
revised by HUGH STANNUS, Lecturer on Applied Art
at the Royal College of Art, South Kensington. Thick 8vo,
cloth gilt, gilt top, price i2.r. 6^f., net \os.

"A Library, a Museum, an Encyclopaedia and an Art School in one. To rival it as a
book of reference, one must fill a bookcase. The quality of the drawings is unusually high,
the choice of examples is singularly good. . . . The work is practically an epitome of a
hundred Works on Design." Studio.

" The author's acquaintance with ornament amazes, and his three thousand subjects are
gleaned from the finest which the world affords. As a treasury of ornament drawn to scale in
all styles, and derived from genuine concrete objects, we have nothing in England which will
not appear as poverty-stricken as compared with Professor Meyer's book." Architect.

"The book is a mine of wealth even to an ordinary reader, while to the Student of Art
and Archaeology it is simply indispensable as a reference book. We know of no one work of
its kind that approaches it for comprehensiveness and historical accuracy." Science and Art.

A HANDBOOK OF ART SMITHING. For the use of
Practical Smiths, Designers and others, and in Art and Tech-
nical Schools. By F. S. MEYER, Author of " A Handbook
of Ornament." Translated from the Second German Edition.
With an Introduction by J. STARKIE GARDNER. Containing
214 Illustrations. Demy 8vo, cloth, price 6s. , net 5$.

Both the Artistic and Practical Branches of the subject are dealt with,
and the Illustrations give selected Examples of Ancient and Modern
Ironwork. The Volume thus fills the long-existing want of a Manual
on Ornamental Ironwork, and it is hoped will prove of value to all
interested in the subject.
"Charmingly produced. . . . It is really a most excellent manual, crowded with

examples of ancient work, for the most part extremely well selected." The Studio.

Published with the Sanction of the Science and Art Department.

FRENCH WOOD CARVINGS FROM THE NATIONAL
MUSEUMS. A Series of Examples printed in Collotype
from Photographs specially taken from the Carvings direct.
Edited by ELEANOR ROWE. Part I.: Late i5th and Early
i6th Century Examples; Part II.: i6th Century Work;
Part III. : 1 7th and 1 8th Centuries. The Three Series Com-
plete, each containing 18 large folio Plates, with descriptive
letterpress. Folio, in portfolios, price 125-. each net; or
handsomely bound in one volume, 2 $s. net.

" Students of the Art of Wood Carving will find a mine of inexhaustible treasures in this
series of illustrations of French Wood Carvings. . . . Each plate is a work of art in
itself ; the distribution of light and shade is admirably managed, and the differences in relief
are faithfully indicated, while every detail is reproduced with a clearness that will prove in-
valuable to the student. Sections are given with several of the plates." Tlie Queen.

" Needs only to be seen to be purchased by all interested in the craft, whether archaeo-
logically or practically." -The Studio.

HINTS ON WOOD CARVING FOR BEGINNERS. By
ELEANOR ROWE. Fourth Edition, revised and enlarged,
Illustrated. 8vo, sewed, price is. in paper covers, or bound
in cloth, price is. 6d.

" The most useful and practical small book on wood-carving we know of." Builder,
" . . . Is a useful little book, full of sound directions and good suggestions."

Magazine of Art.

HINTS ON CHIP CARVING. (Class Teaching and other
Northern Styles.) By ELEANOR ROWE. 40 Illustrations. 8vo,
sewed, price is. in paper covers, or in cloth, price i.r. 6d.

" A capital manual of instruction in a craft that ought to be most popular."

Saturday Review.

DETAILS OF GOTHIC WOOD CARVING. Being a
Series of Drawings from original work of the Fourteenth and
Fifteenth Centuries. By FRANKLYN A. CRALLAN. Contain-
ing 34 large Photo-lithographic Plates, with introductory and
descriptive text. Large 4to, in handsome cloth portfolio, or
bound in cloth gilt, price 28^., net 225.

" The examples are carefully drawn to a large size . . . wtll selected and very well
executed." The Builder.

PROGRESSIVE STUDIES AND DESIGNS FOR WOOD-
CARVERS. By Miss E. R. PLOWDEN. With a Preface
by Miss ROWE. Consisting of five large folding sheets of
Illustrations (drawn full size), of a variety of objects suitable
for Wood Carving. With descriptive text. Second Edition,
enlarged. 4to, in portfolio. Price $s. net.

ANCIENT WOOD AND IRONWORK IN CAMBRIDGE.
By W. B. REDFARN, the Letterpress by JOHN WILLIS
CLARK. 29 folio Lithographed Plates drawn to a good scale.
Cloth gilt, a handsome volume, price los. 6d., net 8.r. 6d.

This Work, giving an interesting and useful series of Examples, is but
little known. Very few copies remain.

HEPPLEWHITE'S CABINET-MAKER AND UPHOL-
STERER'S GUIDE ; or Repository of Designs for every
article of Household Furniture in the newest and most
approved taste. A complete facsimile reproduction of this
rare work, containing nearly 300 charming Designs on 128
Plates. Small folio, bound in speckled cloth, gilt, old style,
price 2 ioi-.net. (1794.) Original copies when met with
fetch from 17 to 1 8 .

" A beautiful replica, which every admirer of the author and period should possess."
Building Kews.

CHIPPENDALE'S THE GENTLEMAN AND CABINET-
MAKER'S DIRECTOR. A complete facsimile of the
3rd and rarest Edition, containing 200 Plates of Designs of
Chairs, Sofas, Beds and Couches, Tables, Library Book
Cases, Clock Cases, Stove Grates, &c., &c. Folio, strongly
bound in half-cloth, price ^3 15^. net. (1762.)

SHERATON'S CABINET-MAKER AND UPHOLSTERER'S
DRAWING-BOOK. A complete Facsimile Reproduction
of the scarce Third Edition. With the rare Appendix and
Accompaniment complete. Containing in all 434 pages and
122 Plates. 410, cloth, price 2 los. net.

EXAMPLES OF OLD FURNITURE, ENGLISH AND FOREIGN.
Drawn and described by ALFRED ERNEST CHANCELLOR.
Containing 40 Photo-lithographic Plates exhibiting some 100
examples of Elizabethan, Stuart, Queen Anne, Georgian and
Chippendale furniture ; and an interesting variety of Conti-
nental work. With historical and descriptive notes. Large
4to, gilt, price \ 5*., net i is.

"In publishing his admirable collection of drawings of old furniture, Mr. Chancellor
secures the gratitude of all admirers of the consummate craftsmanship of the past. HU
examples are selected from a variety of sources with fine discrimination, all having an expres-
sion and individuality of their own qualities that are so conspicuously lacking in the furni-
ture of our own day. It forms a very acceptable work." The Morning Post.

FURNITURE AND DECORATION IN ENGLAND
DURING THE XVIIIxH CENTURY. By J. ALDAM
HEATON. Two volumes, each of two parts, bound in
four, large folio, cloth, price 1 net. Containing upwards
of 150 plates of photographic reproductions from the
published designs of R. & J. Adam, Chippendale, Hepple-
white, Sheraton, Shearer, Pergolesi, Cipriani, Darly, Johnson,
Richardson, and all great English designers and cabinet-
makers of the period.

This work forms an encyclopaedic and almost inexhaustible treasury
of reference for all Furniture Designers, Painters, Interior Decorator.^
Cabinet-makers, &c., since no artist of importance is unrepresented, and
a fair selection is in every case given of his work.

REMAINS OF ECCLESIASTICAL WOOD -WORK. A

Series of Examples of Stalls, Screens, Book-Boards, Roofs,
Pulpits, &c., containing 21 Plates beautifully engraved on
Copper, from drawings by T. TALBOT BURY, Archt. 410,
half-bound, price los. 6d., net 8s. 6d.

FLAT ORNAMENT : A PATTERN BOOK FOR DESIGNERS OF
TEXTILES, EMBROIDERIES, WALL PAPERS, INLAYS, &c., &c.
150 Plates, some printed in Colours, exhibiting upwards of
500 Historical Examples of Textiles, Embroideries, Paper
Hangings, Tile Pavements, Intarsia Work, c. With some
Designs by Dr. FISCHBACH. Imperial 410 boards, cloth
back, price i $s., net 2os.

EXAMPLES OF ENGLISH MEDIAEVAL FOLIAGE AND
COLOURED DECORATION. By JAS. K. COLLING,
Architect, F.R.I.B.A. Taken from Buildings of the Xllth
to the XVth Century. Containing 76 Lithographic Plates,
and 79 Woodcut Illustrations, with Text. Royal 4to, cloth,
gilt top, price i8s., net 15^. (published at 2 2s.)

PLASTERING PLAIN AND DECORATIVE. A Practical
. Treatise on the Art and Craft of Plastering and Modelling.
Including full descriptions of the various Tools, Materials,
Processes and Appliances employed. With over 50 full-
page Plates, and about 500 smaller Illustrations in the
Text. By WILLIAM MILLAR. With an Introduction, treating
of the History of the Art, by G. T. ROBINSON, F.S.A. Thick
4to, cloth, containing 600 pages of text, price iSs. net.

"This new and in many senses remarkable treatise . . . unquestionably contains
an immense amount of valuable first-hand information. . . ' Millar on Plastering' may
be expected to be the standard authority on the subject for many years to come. . . A
truly monumental work." The Builder.

A GRAMMAR OF JAPANESE ORNAMENT AND DE-
SIGN. Illustrated by 65 Plates, many in Gold and Colours,
representing all Classes of Natural and Conventional Forms,
drawn from the Originals, with introductory, descriptive, and
analytical text. By T. W. CUTLER, F.R.I.B.A. Imperial
4to, in elegant cloth binding, price 2 6s., i i8s. net.

DECORATIVE WROUGHT IRONWORK OF THE

AND i8TH CENTURIES. By D. J. EBBETTS. Con-
taining 1 6 large Lithographic Plates, illustrating 70 English
examples of Screens, Grilles, Panels, Balustrades, &c. Folio,
boards, cloth back, price 12*. 6d., net los.

A Facsimile reproduction of one of the rarest and most remarkable

Books of Designs ever published in England

A NEW BOOKE OF DRAWINGS OF IRONWORKS.
Invented and Desined by JOHN TIJOU. Containing severall
sortes of Iron Worke, as Gates, Frontispieces, Balconies,
Staircases, Pannells, &c., of which the most part hath been
wrought at the Royall Building of Hampton Court, &c.

ALL FOR THE USE OF THEM THAT WORKE IRON IN PER-
FECTION AND WITH ART. (Sold by the author in London,
1693.) Containing 20 folio Plates. With Introductory Note
and Descriptions of the Plates by J. STARKIE GARDNER.
Folio, bound in boards, old style, price 255. net.
Only 150 copies were printed for England, and very few now remain.
An original copy is priced at ^48 by Mr. Quaritch, the renowned bookseller.

JAPANESE ENCYCLOPAEDIA OF DESIGN.

BOOK I. Containing over 1,500 engraved curios, and
most ingenious Geometric Patterns of Circles, Medallions,
&c., comprising Conventional Details of Plants, Flowers,
Leaves, Petals, also Birds, Fans, Animals, Key Patterns, &c.,
&c. Oblong 1 2 mo, fancy covers, price 2S. net.

BOOK II. Containing over 600 most original and effective
Designs for Diaper Ornament, giving the base lines to the
design, also artistic Miniature Picturesque Sketches. Oblong
1 2 mo, price 2S. net.

These books exhibit the varied charm and originality of conception of
Japanese Ornament, and form an inexhaustible field of design.

A DELIGHTFUL SERIES OF STUDIES OF BIRDS, IN
MOST CHARACTERISTIC AND LIFE-LIKE ATTITUDES, SUR-
ROUNDED WITH APPROPRIATE FOLIAGE AND FLOWERS. By

the celebrated Japanese Artist, BAIREI KONO. In three
Books, 8vo, each containing 36 pages of highly artistic and
decorative Illustrations, printed in tints. Bound in fancy
paper covers, price IQJ. net.

" In attitude and gesture and expression, these Birds, whether perching or soaring,
swooping or brooding, are admirable." Magazine of Art.

A NEW SERIES OF BIRD AND FLOWER STUDIES.
BY WATANABE SIETEI, the acknowledged leading living
Artist in Japan. In 3 Books, containing numerous exceed-
ingly Artistic Sketches in various tints, 8vo, fancy covers.
Price IQS. net.

ARTISTS' SKETCH BOOKS. A SERIES OF FIVE
VOLUMES. Vol. I. : Birds, Flowers, and Plants, drawn
in a Decorative Spirit. Vol. II. : Sketches of Insects,
Plants, &c., drawn for Designers. Vol. III. : Drawings of
Fishes and Marine Animals. Vol. IV. : Natural Sccn.-ry.
Landscapes, &c. Vol. V. : Scenes from Japanese Lite, c\:c
8vo, fancy covers. 7$. 6d. net.

THE ARCHITECTURE OF THE RENAISSANCE IN
ITALY. A General View for the Use of Students and
Others. By W. J. ANDERSON, A.R.I. B.A., Director of Archi
lecture, Glasgow School of Art. Second Edition, revised
and enlarged. Containing 64 full-page Plates, mostly repro-
duced from Photographs, and 100 Illustrations in text.
Large 8vo, cloth gilt, price i2s. 6d. net.

" A delightful and scholarly work . . . veryfully illustrated." Journal R.I. B. A.

" It is the work of a scholar taking a large view of his subject. . . . The book
affords easy and intelligible reading, and the arrangement of the subject is excellent, though
this was a matter of no small difficulty." The Times.

" Should rank amongst the best architectural writings of the day." The Edinburgh
Review.

" We know of no book which furnishes such information and such illustrations in so
compact and attractive a form. For greater excellence with the object in hand there is not
one more persp ; cuous." The Building News.

A HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE FOR THE STUDENT,
CRAFTSMAN AND AMATEUR. Being a Comparative View of
the Historical Styles from the Earliest Period. By BANISTER
FLETCHER, F.R.I. B. A., Professor of Architecture in King's
College, London, and B. F. FLETCHER, A.R.I.B.A. Con-
taining 300 pages, with 115 Collotype Plates, mostly from
large Photographs, and other Illustrations in the text. Third
Edition, revised. Cr. 8vo, cloth gilt, price 125. 6d., net los.

"We shall be amazed if it is not immediately recognised and adopted as par excellence
the student's manual of the history of architecture." The Architect.

" The general reader will read the book with not less profit than the student, and will
find in it quite as much as he is likely to retain in his memory, and the architectural student
in search of any particular fact will readily find it in this most methodical work. ... As
complete as it well can be." '1 he Times.

"As a synopsis of architectural dates and styles, Professor Banister Fletcher's work will
fill a void in our literature, and become a most useful manual." The Building News.

THE ORDERS OF ARCHITECTURE : GREEK, ROMAN
AND ITALIAN. Edited with Notes by R. PHENE SPIERS,
F.S.A., F.R.I. B. A. Third Edition, revised and enlarged,
containing 26 Plates. 4to, cloth, price los. 6d., net 8s. 6d.

" A most useful work for architectural students. . . . Mr. Spiers has done excellent
service in editing this work, and his notes on the plates are very appropriate and useful."

British A rchitect.

RENAISSANCE ARCHITECTURE AND ORNAMENT
IN SPAIN. A Series of Examples selected from the purest
executed between the years 1500-1560. By ANDREW N.
PRENTICE, A.R.I.B.A. Containing 60 beautiful Plates, repro-
duced by Photo-lithography and Photo Process from the
author's drawings, of Perspective Views and Geometrical
Drawings, and details, in Stone, Wood, and Metal. With
short descriptive text. Folio, handsomely bound in cloth
gilt, price 2 ios., net 2 2S.

" For the drawing and production of this book one can have no words but praise. . . .
It is a pleasure to have so good a record of such admirable Architectural Drawing, free, firm
and delicate." British Architect.

B. T. BATSFORD, 94, HIGH HOLBORN, LONDON.

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