Embroidery and Tapestry Weaving Part 10

The _point couche rentre ou retire_ is an excellent method to use for working a raised bar. Fig. 129 shows the front and reverse sides of a bar worked by it. The gold thread comes cleanly through from the back of the material instead of being clumsily doubled upon the surface, and the durability is evidently great. The linen thread, it will be seen, runs to and fro at the back, at each turn securing the gold thread.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 130.]

In fig. 130 this couching is to be seen in use upon drapery. It is taken entirely over the exterior surface of the cloak, and upon the crown, sceptre, and model of the church. The lines expressing the folds of drapery are in this case shown by the couching at these places being taken in a different direction. Fine gold pa.s.sing is used for the couched thread, much finer than can possibly be shown in the drawing, and the pattern chosen for the couching down is a chevron. The other parts of the work are done with silk thread in a fine chain or split st.i.tch. The play of light upon the varied surface of the golden cloak is very beautiful; the drawing of the figure is perhaps primitive, and, regarded from the draughtsman's point of view, somewhat ludicrous; it is however sufficiently good to express all that its author intended, and there is something very human in this dignified little king who would not have you forget that he founded a church. The king who is personified here is Edward the Confessor, so the church is Westminster Abbey, of which he was the founder.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 131.]

The Madonna and child forming the frontispiece of the work is another example of this couching. The method of expressing the folds of drapery is slightly different from that employed upon the king's robes. All drapery carried out in this st.i.tch is worked in somewhat the same fashion, that is, the couching running to and fro between the lines marks each fold as roughly shown at fig. 131. This method leaves an indented line to express the drapery, which is a more satisfactory way than a simple line of dark colour worked over the gold, as in more modern work. The indented line is often further emphasised by a line of dark silk st.i.tched along it, which is done in this case. The figures are taken from the Jesse cope in the Victoria and Albert Museum;[12]

this vestment, with its red silk background and its finely coloured and drawn ancestors of Christ posed amongst encircling vine branches, is a most beautiful, though sadly mutilated, example of XIIIth century design and workmanship.

MODERN METHOD OF COUCHING

In the usual form of couching the gold thread is attached to the material by fine strong silk. The thread is fastened down as a rule two-fold, sometimes even three-fold; this method is both quicker and more effective than couching each thread separately. As the couching thread is necessarily in evidence, decorative use is often made of it as well as practical; the st.i.tches, for instance, may be planned so as to carry out some pattern (see fig. 132) instead of being put down at random. There is no limit to the variety of the patterns that can be devised in this way.

Decorative use can be made of the colour of the couching thread; a hot colour warms the tone of the gold and a cool one does the reverse; and the more contrasting the colour the more it is in evidence.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 132.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 133.]

The gold thread may be couched solidly in straight lines, as the above figure shows, or it may be arranged in wavy lines either close or open, as in fig. 133. The thread is waved by bending it round the pointed end of a piercer just before fixing down. This waving line is particularly suitable for the gold thread, since the slight change in direction allows the light to play upon the metal very prettily. For this reason gold is often couched solidly in circular or sh.e.l.l form over a ground.

In gold embroidery, therefore, the direction of the thread is a specially important matter.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 134.]

At the end of a line a technical difficulty sometimes arises in the turning of the thread, which is apt to be clumsy. This difficulty is overcome in various ways; the most usual is to return the doubled thread as neatly as possible and continue the next line; another is to cut the thread sharp off, secure it close to the end with a double st.i.tch, and recommence in like fashion; the thread can sometimes be pa.s.sed through to the back and brought up in position for working the next line. The fine point of a leaf may present difficulties in the same way; sometimes one of the two threads is temporarily let slip and the point completed with the single one, the left thread being picked up upon the return (see fig. 134). For such occasions as this it is more practical to wind the two threads of pa.s.sing upon separate bobbins, and bring them together at the working. Another way of overcoming the point difficulty is shown at fig. 135.

RAISED WORK

The couched gold threads may be raised in parts by means of some kind of padding interposed between it and the ground. They are very effective so treated, since the raised metal catches and reflects the light in a pleasing manner. This raising of the thread, however, has been carried to such extremes as to resemble goldsmith's work rather than embroidery, and it is then hardly in good taste.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 135.]

A simple method of raising the gold is to lay down lines of string at stated intervals over the ground. The well-known form called basket st.i.tch is done in this way; fig. 136 ill.u.s.trates this st.i.tch, a part of the square is left unworked in order to expose the under-layer of string. To carry out the diagram--First couch down the lines of string at regular intervals over the surface, then commence laying on the gold by carrying a doubled thread of pa.s.sing over two bars of string, and there fixing it down to the material, then over two more and fixing it down again, and so on to the end of the line. This is exactly repeated for a second line of pa.s.sing, then, for the next two lines, commence by carrying the pa.s.sing for the first st.i.tch over one bar only, and for the remainder of the line over the two as before. This process repeated makes the wicker-like pattern so frequently seen in gold work. It can be used as a filling or as a border. It is evident that with the same arrangement of strings many other patterns could be carried out by varying the points of couching down.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 136.]

Another way in which string is used for padding the gold is ill.u.s.trated in fig. 137. The pattern, which in the first part is two diamond shapes and a border line, is laid down in string. The doubled gold thread is then taken horizontally to and fro in close parallel lines over the part to be worked, and fixed by couching st.i.tches at necessary intervals; wherever else these st.i.tches may be put, one must always be placed upon each side of a raised line to make it sharp and clear. Other kinds of padding are used in this method of work; for instance, a lozenge shape may be stuffed with layers of soft cotton, as shown in the second part of this same diagram. Sometimes most complicated patterns are laid down in string and covered with gold thread in this way, _e.g._:--fig. 138 shows an interlacing pattern taken from the border of an orphrey upon a XVth century chasuble.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 137.]

THE USE OF FANCY GOLD THREADS

A cursory glance must be given to the use of purls and other fancy threads, but these are mostly used nowadays for badges on uniforms, or for masonic purposes, and are carried out by the trade. These threads, when tarnished, are very difficult to clean, they easily turn a bad colour and catch the dust, and for real embroidery purposes are not as satisfactory as the plainer threads.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 138.]

Purl and bullion must be cut very accurately into pieces of the required size, and attached to the material as a bead would be. The metal must be as little as possible touched with the fingers; the cut pieces can be placed upon a tray lined with some soft springy substance, such as felt, in order to be easily picked up with the point of the needle, and they can be adjusted to their right position upon the work by the aid of the flat end of the piercer; unnecessary handling may be avoided in this way.

These threads, laid over padding either straight across or at an angle, may be used for the stems or petals of conventional flowers. The various kinds, dull, bright, and check, may perhaps be used in succession.

Plate is frequently taken to and fro over the same kind of forms over a prepared padding, being caught down by a st.i.tch on each side by a method the French call _le guipe_. It needs skill and practice to do this well.

Crinkled plate used to be couched on to work, but now is not much used in this way.

Pearl purl is most often seen outlining a form filled in with the other threads; an enlarged example of this thread lies vertically down the centre of fig. 139, the end of it is pulled out, in order to show the formation of the thread.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 139.]

Spangles are usually sewn down separately; they may be attached by st.i.tches from the centre outwards or by the thread being pa.s.sed through a piece of purl and then returning to the back through the hole in the centre of the spangle. Fig. 139 ill.u.s.trates another way of using these spangles to form a long tail shape. Here again they are attached with the help of pieces of purl. In the same figure are given some ill.u.s.trations of the use of the fancy threads; to learn more about them the student should examine XVIth to XVIIIth century gold work during which period they were in popular use.

FOOTNOTES:

[10] See Dr. Rock's "Textile Fabrics."

[11] In _La Broderie du Onzieme Siecle jusqu'a Nos Jours_.

[12] No. 175, 1889.

CHAPTER XII

LETTERING, HERALDRY, AND EMBLEMS

The Uses of Lettering--Marking--Monograms--Heraldry--Emblems.

Lettering of one kind or another is frequently in request. It is useful for inscriptions, verses, names attached to figures, the signing and dating of work, and for the more ordinary purposes of marking linen and so forth. Signed and dated work has peculiar attractiveness: it can be placed amidst definite historical a.s.sociations: an authenticated piece of embroidery, say of the reign of King Richard Coeur de Lion, Queen Anne, or George III., would be an historical doc.u.ment and a standard to gauge the period of any uninscribed examples. Although few of us are likely to possess treasures of the XIIIth century, signed and dated pieces of our great-grandmothers' embroideries are interesting personal landmarks in family history, so for this reason, amongst others, unostentatious marks of identification are by no means out of place.

Descriptive names or verses are also a means of amplifying the story and so enlivening our curiosity.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 140.]

Lettering can answer a further purpose still; it can enrich the design, for, if rightly chosen and employed, letters are very decorative. They may be seen forming a border to a piece of work. The three letters in fig. 140 were taken from an XIth century embroidered cope, which has a fine inscription running round the entire lower margin.[13] The names of the saints and martyrs standing in rows in the columned arcades, affected at certain periods, are sometimes inscribed in the mouldings of the arches above them or along the base; kneeling donors can be seen navely presenting a little scroll inscribed with prayers, and many other interesting uses of lettering might be recalled. The names St.

Luke and St. John, shown in fig. 141, are taken from a beautiful embroidered example of Gothic lettering.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 141.]

Illuminated ma.n.u.scripts supply fine examples of initial letters and writing. A visit to the show-cases in the King's Library at the British Museum will be of great interest to the student; the ill.u.s.trations also to be seen there, the beautifully composed and coloured figure-subjects, would be equally suitable for carrying out in embroidery; indeed it is very probable that many of the figure compositions on the old copes and chasubles were derived from such a source. Fig. 142 gives as an example of an alphabet one taken from a Benedictionale of late XVth century date.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 142.]

A practical purpose to which lettering is often put is the marking of linen. To learn how to do this used to be a recognised part of a girl's education, and was one of the objects of the sampler. Marking can be anything from a simple cross-st.i.tch initial to an elaborately worked monogram. For simple work the corner to be marked can be tacked upon _toile ciree_, a material not unlike American cloth. Tambour frames also are useful for this purpose.

Fig. 143 shows the st.i.tches most used for working simple letters such as those seen upon the old samplers. The first is cross st.i.tch, which for marking purposes should be worked so as to be alike on both sides. To do this requires some forethought whilst the work progresses, and necessitates an occasional doubling of one of the crossed st.i.tches, in order to reach the point for commencing the next one and at the same time preserving a cross on each side.