Embroidery and Tapestry Weaving Part 5

A particularly good line for a border is made by fishbone st.i.tch. It can be worked in one colour, or as easily in a chequering of two or three, as shown in the diagram (fig. 68); to carry it out in this way the worker must have two threads in use, bringing through each as required.

For such purposes as the fillings of small leaves, this st.i.tch is very useful (see fig. 58). The meeting of the st.i.tches in the centre suggest the veining line, also the change in direction of the thread gives, to the two sides of the leaf, pleasant variation in tone. To work it--Trace three parallel lines upon the material and bring the thread through on the upper line at the left-hand end. Insert the needle and bring it through as in process in the diagram, then repeat the same st.i.tch on the other side the reverse way, that is, insert the needle just over the central line and bring it through on the upper one close to the last st.i.tch. Care must be taken that the st.i.tches cross well over each other at the centre, or the material will show through.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 68.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 69.]

The st.i.tch shown in fig. 69, known as plait or Cretan, is commonly seen on Cretan and other Eastern embroideries. It can be used as a solid border st.i.tch or as a filling, varying in width as required. To work it--Bring the thread through on the lower central line, then insert the needle on the uppermost line and bring it through on the next below as in process in the diagram; then, still keeping the thread to the right, insert the needle immediately underneath on the lowest line and bring it through on the line next above, in fashion similar to the last st.i.tch, but in reverse direction. To continue, work the st.i.tch alternately on one side and the other, always keeping the thread to the right of the needle. In order to make the central plait broader take up rather less material with the needle; this will decrease the outer and increase the inner lines. Fig. 70 is taken from a Cretan embroidery, in which this st.i.tch is mainly used.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 70.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 71.]

Another similar but more simple st.i.tch, often seen in Eastern work, is shown in fig. 71. It can also frequently be found employed on XVIIth century English wool work hangings. It is sometimes called Roumanian st.i.tch, and is composed of one long st.i.tch crossed by a short one in the centre. To work it--Trace two parallel lines on the material and bring the thread through on the left-hand line at the top. Insert the needle on the opposite line and bring it through near the centre, as shown in process in the diagram. For the next half of the st.i.tch the needle enters the material at point A on plan, and is brought through again on the left-hand line close to the last st.i.tch, and so in position to commence again. An ill.u.s.tration of this st.i.tch in use as a filling can be seen at fig. 72. It is worked in four shades of green wool, and each line of st.i.tches is so arranged as to encroach slightly on the line before by means of setting each st.i.tch just between two of the last row.

This method of working has two advantages; the shading is thus made more gradual, and a pleasant undulating effect is given to the surface of the leaf. This can be most easily understood by a practical trial of the st.i.tch and method.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 72.]

INSERTION St.i.tCHES

There is occasion sometimes in embroidery to join edges together visibly. This gives an opportunity for some additional pretty st.i.tching--the addition of something like this, that is perhaps not absolutely necessary, has extra value from the evidence it gives of the worker's interest and delight in her work, a quality always appreciated; on the other hand, work done from the motive of getting a result with as little labour as possible is valued at just its worth.

These insertion st.i.tches are useful for joining together edges of cushion covers, bags, detached bands, also for the ornamentation of dress, and for embroideries upon which drawn thread work is not possible. A stout thread is usually suitable for the purpose. The raw edges must first be turned in and flattened, and the parts to be joined can if necessary be tacked in place on a temporary ground such as _toile ciree_.

Fig. 73 ill.u.s.trates a twisted insertion st.i.tch that is quickly executed and very frequently used. The diagram sufficiently explains the working without further description.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 73.]

b.u.t.tonhole st.i.tch can be turned to account for this purpose. Fig. 74 shows the tailor's b.u.t.tonhole used as an insertion st.i.tch; for this purpose it is the better of the two kinds of b.u.t.tonhole. The st.i.tches could be arranged in various ways; in the present example three are worked closely together on either side in turn. The only difficulty with this b.u.t.tonhole insertion is that on one side the st.i.tch has to be worked in direction contrary to that usual, that is from right to left instead of from left to right. In the diagram the needle is shown working in this reverse way.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 74.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 75.]

Fig. 75 is a knotted insertion st.i.tch; the knot at each side makes the st.i.tch a very rigid one. To work it--Bring the thread through at the lower left-hand side, insert the needle on the upper side a little towards the right, draw the thread through, and then tie the knot on it as in process in the diagram.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 76.]

A rather more complicated joining st.i.tch is shown in fig. 76. It could be carried out with different coloured threads. The two sides must be first worked with the edging, which is practically the braid st.i.tch described on page 88. Commence the st.i.tch in exactly the same way as when carrying out braid st.i.tch, but work on the edge of the material as in b.u.t.tonholing, the working edge in this case being away from the worker. Let the worker, having reached the point of pulling the thread through to complete the st.i.tch, draw it out in the direction away from her. This will draw the st.i.tch towards the edge, where it will form a knot. In the diagram one of the st.i.tches has been partly undone in order to show the working more clearly. When the two sides are bound with the st.i.tch, they can be laced together with another thread as in the ill.u.s.tration.

PICOTS

Picots are commonly in use in lace work and they are sometimes required for embroidery purposes, especially in the kinds of work nearly allied to lace, such as cut work, or for an added ornament to an edging st.i.tch.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 77.]

Fig. 77 shows too small picots added to a b.u.t.tonhole bar, and on the lower bar is shown the method of working the left-hand picot. The pin that pa.s.ses into the material behind the bar can be fixed in the bar itself if there happens to be no material underneath. After reaching the point ill.u.s.trated in the diagram, the needle draws the thread through, thus making a firm knot round the loop. This completes the picot, the bar is then b.u.t.tonholed to the end. The second picot is made in much the same way; instead, however, of putting the needle as the diagram shows, bring the thread up through the centre of the loop, then round under the pin from left to right, and it will be in position to make three b.u.t.tonhole st.i.tches along the loop, which completes the second example.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 78.]

The upper bar on fig. 78 shows a b.u.t.tonholed picot. The bar must be worked to the left-hand end of the required picot; the thread is then from there taken back about one-eighth of an inch and threaded through the edge of the b.u.t.tonhole. This is repeated to and fro until there is a loop composed of three threads ready to be b.u.t.tonholed over. Upon this being done, the thread will have arrived at the right point to continue the bar.

Bullion st.i.tch makes another simple picot--Work the bar to the point where the picot is required, then, instead of taking the next st.i.tch, insert the point of the needle in the heading of the last st.i.tch. Leave the needle in this position, and twist the thread six or eight times round the point of it, just as for the bullion knot (fig. 59). Place the left thumb over the tight coil thus formed, and pull the needle and thread through tightly in order to make the st.i.tch double up into a tight semi-circle, then continue the b.u.t.tonholing to the end of the bar.

CHAPTER VII

CANVAS WORK AND St.i.tCHES

Introduction--Samplers--Pet.i.t Point Pictures--Cross St.i.tch--Tent St.i.tch--Gobelin St.i.tch--Irish St.i.tch--Plait St.i.tch--Two-sided Italian St.i.tch--Holbein St.i.tch--Rococo St.i.tch.

Canvas work, known in the XIIIth century as _opus pulvinarium_ or cushion work, is of great antiquity, and seems to have had an independent origin in several countries. It is sometimes given the misleading name of tapestry, perhaps owing to hangings of all kinds being called tapestries, whether loom-woven, worked with the needle, or painted. Large wall hangings with designs similar to those of woven tapestries have been most successfully carried out on canvas in cross or tent st.i.tch; as a rule, however, smaller objects are worked, such as furniture coverings, screens or cushions, whence it is obvious canvas work received its ancient and descriptive Latin name. Many Eastern carpets are worked upon a strong canvas in a kind of tent st.i.tch, and so come under the heading of canvas work. It is a particularly durable method of embroidering, and this makes it suitable for use upon anything subjected to hard wear.

The work has usually a very decided and attractive character of its own.

A familiar example of this can be seen in the XVIIIth century samplers.

Its peculiar character is perhaps due to the fact that it cannot break away from a certain conventionality due to constant use of the same st.i.tch, and its dependence upon the web of the fabric. This regularity prevents the work from showing certain faults of design that other methods may exaggerate. It is hardly possible to copy a natural spray of flowers in cross st.i.tch and keep it very naturalistic. The st.i.tch being square and alike all over gives a formality of treatment to every part of the design, also, some detail is perforce omitted owing to the impossibility of putting it in; all of this tends to a right method of treatment, which renders the sampler an admirable lesson not only in workmanship but also in design.

The XVIth and XVIIth century pictorial subjects worked upon fine canvas in cross or tent st.i.tch afford instances of most interesting work in canvas st.i.tches. Some of these, though, as a rule, very much smaller in size, equal, in their way, the finest tapestries. Most of them, if judged from a painter's standpoint, would be p.r.o.nounced failures, but this effect is not what is sought after; the method of treatment belongs rather to the great traditions of the tapestry weaver, and is not governed by the canons of the painter. Plate VI. shows a detail of foliage from a particularly fine example of this work lately added to the Victoria and Albert Museum collection.[2]

In what went by the name of Berlin wool work, popular in the early XIXth century, we have before us a degenerate offshoot of this fine and poetic kind of work in which all its possibilities are missed, with a result that is prosaic in the extreme. Some of the canvas-work seat covers decorated with geometrical designs, seen on Chippendale chairs, were a pleasant and satisfactory variation in their way, but in most of the work after that period, the attempt at impossible naturalistic effect gave such unsatisfactory results as to almost deal a death blow to all canvas embroidery. It is, however, a method too good and useful to die out; it must always be more or less in vogue.

Patterns carried out in canvas st.i.tches are sometimes to be seen worked apparently upon velvet or similar ground materials. This is done by first laying the canvas upon the velvet and st.i.tching through both materials; this would have to be carried out in a frame. The threads of the canvas are afterwards either withdrawn or closely cut off. In the former case, the st.i.tches must be drawn tight, or the finished work will not look well. This method has the advantage of saving the labour of working the background, and sometimes it suits the pattern to have a contrast in the ground material. In old embroideries, heraldic devices may be seen successfully treated in this way.

The usual canvas st.i.tches can be worked upon other fabrics that have an even and square mesh, such as various kinds of linen; also other embroidery st.i.tches, such as stem, satin, or chain, can be used upon canvas; they are then always worked with a certain regularity, following the web of the material.

Canvas work can be done in the hand or in a frame, but the technique is often better in work done in a frame. In all-over work it is important that not even a suggestion of the ground fabric should be allowed to show through; for this reason work in light colours should be done on white canvas, and _vice versa_, as far as possible, also the thread used must suit in thickness the mesh of the canvas. To work a plain ground well is less easy than to work the pattern, though it may sound more simple. The back of the work, though not necessarily similar to the front, must be alike in st.i.tch all over, for the direction the st.i.tch takes at the back affects the regularity of appearance of the front. The st.i.tch must not be commenced in exactly the same place in each row, lest a ridge should appear upon the surface; this can be avoided by using threads of different lengths. A ground is usually commenced at the lower left-hand corner, and a pattern, if a complicated one, from the centre outwards. These technical points are of importance, but they are of little value unless the st.i.tches are at the same time expressing an interesting and suitable design.

The st.i.tches used are exceedingly numerous; those described in the following pages are the varieties most commonly seen.

Cross st.i.tch, the best known in this group, can be worked in slightly different ways, according to the purpose for which it is required. On the surface it is always the same, but it can vary at the back. For instance, when used for marking purposes it should form on the reverse side either a cross or a square, to do either of which demands some ingenuity on the part of the worker. For ordinary work the really correct method is to complete each st.i.tch before going on to the next, though grounding is frequently done by working the first half of the st.i.tch along an entire line, and completing the cross upon a return journey. In any case, the crossing must always be worked in the same direction.

Cross st.i.tch is a double st.i.tch worked diagonally over two threads of the canvas each way. It can, however, be taken over more or fewer threads if required larger or smaller. To work it (fig. 79)--Bring the needle through on the upper left side of the threads to be covered, and take it back again on the lower right, then bring it through on the upper right side and return it to the back on the lower left, which completes the first st.i.tch.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 79.]

Tent st.i.tch (fig. 80) is the finest canvas st.i.tch, and is therefore suitable for work involving much detail. Pictorial and heraldic subjects are frequently carried out in it. It is worked diagonally over a perpendicular and horizontal thread of the canvas. The diagram shows the method of working both back and front. It will be noticed that though the line goes alternately from left to right and from right to left, the st.i.tch is always the same at the back as well as the same upon the front; if this were not so, alternate rows would have a different appearance upon the right side. The diagram does not show the connection between the first and the second row, but it is evident that it must be a short upright line.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 80.]

Gobelin st.i.tch is a useful variety; it lends itself to shading better than cross st.i.tch. It is most often worked upon a fine single canvas, and it can be used as a raised st.i.tch. Fig. 81 represents the st.i.tch; it is worked similarly to tent st.i.tch but over two threads in height and one in width, no matter whether the single or double thread canvas is used. In order to work it as a raised st.i.tch, a line of some kind of padding is thrown across the canvas, and the st.i.tch taken over it. This line can be arranged to show in part, in which case the material must be one presentable, such as a gold cord or narrow braid. The padding would be covered with st.i.tching to form the background, and left exposed for the pattern, which would probably be a simple repeating form of some kind. Gobelin st.i.tch is sometimes worked quite perpendicularly just over two threads in height.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 81.]

Irish st.i.tch is pretty and quickly worked. It is usually taken perpendicularly over four threads of the canvas (fig. 82), though the number over which it is taken may vary. It is worked in such a way as to make the st.i.tches of each succeeding row fit between those of the last row, and can be carried out either diagonally or in horizontal lines.