Encyclopedia of Needlework Part 56

It is composed of braid or tape, formed into figures, joined together by needlemade, corded or b.u.t.tonhole bars and fillings of different kinds, or by bars alone.

The lace st.i.tches and bars are almost the same as those used in fine Venetian point, but they are executed in a coa.r.s.er material so that this section of our work may be considered as a preparation for the different kinds of lace, to be described in the next chapter.

MATERIALS (fig. 692).--The braids used for making Irish lace are an English speciality and manufactured exclusively in England; they are very various in shade, width and thickness, and are to be had white, unbleached, grey and pale yellow, narrow and wide, coa.r.s.e and fine in texture, with and without holes, open edge and picots, with large medallions and small.

Fig. 692 represents the kinds most commonly used, in their original size, together with a specimen picot, or purl, as they are called in England, for the outside edge, also to be had ready made, for those who do not care for the trouble of making them themselves.

For the st.i.tches and bars by which the braids are joined together, the best material is Fil a dentelle D.M.C,[A] (lace thread) a smooth even thread, now made in every colour to match the braids.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 692. PATTERNS OF THE DIFFERENT TAPES AND BRAIDS USED FOR IRISH LACE.]

TRANSFERRING DESIGNS FOR IRISH LACE.--The best way is to trace them on oiled tracing linen with a watery ink, free from greasy matter. This tracing linen, which is of English make, is white, glazed on one side only; the unglazed surface should be turned uppermost, as it takes the ink better.

As this tracing linen is quite transparent, the pattern can be transferred to it at once without recourse to any other process.

It will be found less trying for the eyes to lay a piece of transparent coloured paper, or stuff, under the pattern whilst you are copying it.

The Irish lace designs are almost all drawn with double lines, between which the braid is tacked on with small back st.i.tches. We may mention at once that it is advisable to make the st.i.tches longer on the right side than on the other, or at any rate to make them of the same length.

TACKING DOWN AND GATHERING IN THE BRAIDS (fig. 693).--Where the lines of the pattern describe a curve or a circle, the outside edge of the braid, as shown in fig. 693, must be sewn down firmly, so as to form little folds or gathers on the inside edge, which are first tacked down and then gathered in with small overcasting st.i.tches in fine thread, so as to fit exactly to the pattern.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 693. TACKING DOWN AND DRAWING IN THE BRAIDS.]

The st.i.tches, made for the bars and the fillings, must never be drawn so tightly as to drag out the edges of the braids and thus spoil the outlines of the pattern. Nor should the st.i.tches be caught into the tracing cloth, but only rest upon it.

When the embroidery is finished, turn the work the wrong side up, cut every second or third tacking st.i.tch and pull the threads carefully out, from the wrong side, when the lace will separate itself from the backing without difficulty; it has then to be damped and ironed also on the wrong side. (See the concluding chapter on the different processes for finishing off needlework).

It is of no consequence which are made first, the bars or the fillings; we however incline to the former, more especially in the case of b.u.t.tonhole bars, as they are easier to do than the fillings and once done, there is less risk of puckering or drawing the edges together, in making the fillings.

THE St.i.tCHES.--We shall now proceed to describe a series of bars and st.i.tches, which, if carefully studied, will serve as a preparation for making all the finer kinds of laces described in the ensuing chapter.

Without pretending to have exhausted the infinite variety of lace st.i.tches that exists, we hope to have brought before our readers' notice a sufficiently numerous selection to satisfy all tastes and capacities.

With regard to the names, the same st.i.tches are known by so many different ones, that excepting in the case of those universally accepted, we have disregarded them altogether and merely numbered the st.i.tches in their order.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 694. PLAIN TWISTED BAR.]

PLAIN TWISTED BAR (fig. 694).--Secure the thread to the braid and throw it across from one braid edge to the other, put the needle in downwards from above, and overcast the first thread, so as to form the two into a cord. If you do not make enough overcasting st.i.tches to tighten the two threads, the bars will be loose and untidy and spoil the general appearance of the work.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 695. DOUBLE TWISTED BAR.]

DOUBLE TWISTED BAR (fig. 695).--Throw three foundation threads across the s.p.a.ce to be filled and overcast them loosely, so that they remain visible between the st.i.tches.

PLAIN b.u.t.tONHOLE BAR (fig. 696).--Throw three threads across and cover them with b.u.t.tonhole st.i.tches, made from right to left.

In making this and the subsequent bars, we recommend turning the needle round and holding it as it were the reverse way, so that the eye not the point pa.s.ses first under the threads; strange as it may seem, it is easier in this manner to avoid splitting the threads. The working thread should always issue from the edge of the braid, one or two threads before the foundation threads of the bar, to prevent the bars being of unequal width, or getting twisted at the beginning.

b.u.t.tONHOLE BARS WITH PINNED PICOTS (figs. 697 and 698). After covering half, or a third of the bar with b.u.t.tonhole st.i.tches, pa.s.s the thread without making a loop, under the foundation threads, and fasten the loop with a pin, fig. 697, then slip the needle, horizontally from right to left, under the 3 threads and tighten the knot close to the last b.u.t.tonhole st.i.tch.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG, 696. PLAIN b.u.t.tONHOLE BAR.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 697. b.u.t.tONHOLE BAR WITH PINNED PICOTS.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 698. b.u.t.tONHOLE BAR WITH PINNED PICOTS.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 699. BAR WITH LACE PICOT.]

Fig. 698 shows a picot made in the same manner, but with several b.u.t.tonhole st.i.tches inserted between the loop and the b.u.t.tonholed bar.

BAR WITH LACE PICOT (fig. 699).--Here the picot is made by bringing the thread out through the loop and beginning the b.u.t.tonhole st.i.tches, 4 or 5 in number, according to the size of the thread, quite close to the pin, so that they entirely cover the loop. The pin must be stuck in the width of 4 st.i.tches, distant from the bar, and the foundation threads should be completely hidden under the bar.

BAR WITH PICOT MADE IN BULLION St.i.tCH (fig. 700).--Put the needle halfway into the last b.u.t.tonhole st.i.tch, twist the thread ten or twelve times round it from left to right, draw it through and tighten the thread, so that the spiral on the thread form a semicircle, then continue the bar (see also for the bullion st.i.tch figs. 179 and 661).

BAR WITH b.u.t.tONHOLE PICOT (fig. 701).--Cover rather more than half the bar with b.u.t.tonhole st.i.tches, carry the thread three times to the 6th st.i.tch and back, then b.u.t.tonhole these threads that are attached to the bar in the same way as the bar itself and finish the bar in the usual way.

These b.u.t.tonhole picots are generally used for edging lace; they may in their turn be adorned with small pinned picots to produce a richer effect.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 700. BAR WITH PICOT MADE IN BULLION St.i.tCH.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 701. BAR WITH b.u.t.tONHOLE PICOT.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 702. BAR WITH TWO ROWS OF KNOTS.]

BAR WITH TWO ROWS OF KNOTS (fig. 702).--Over two foundation threads, make double knots, far enough apart to leave room for the knots of the next row between.

These double knots consist, in the first place, of one plain b.u.t.tonhole st.i.tch and then one reversed, that is, made by bringing the needle out in front of the thread and pa.s.sing it under the loop; the result being that the thread will lie behind the thread and not before it, as in an ordinary b.u.t.tonhole st.i.tch.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 703. BRANCHED BARS.]

BRANCHED BARS (fig. 703).--Where you have a larger surface to cover with bars, you are generally obliged to make them with branches. For this purpose you prepare the threads as for an ordinary bar and cover them halfway with b.u.t.tonhole st.i.tches; then you carry on the foundation thread to the next bar, b.u.t.tonhole it also halfway, lay the next foundation thread, and finally b.u.t.tonhole all the half-covered bars till you reach the dotted line, from whence you lay the last foundation threads.

The last bar is worked over 2 or 4 threads, so that the working thread can be taken back to the edge of the braid by means of the last b.u.t.tonhole st.i.tches.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 704. PLAIN RUSSIAN St.i.tCH.]

PLAIN RUSSIAN St.i.tCH (fig. 704).--St.i.tches of all kinds can be used, as well as bars, for joining braids together that run parallel to each other, and for filling up the s.p.a.ces between. These st.i.tches, which serve as an insertion, are some of them very elementary, whilst others require great skill and patience to execute.

The simplest of all is the Russian st.i.tch, which bears a great resemblance to the crossed st.i.tch, shown in fig. 39, and the crossed back-st.i.tch, fig. 176.

You pa.s.s the needle from left to right, under the edge of the braid, then again from right to left under the opposite edge, taking care always to leave the thread in front of the needle.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 705. TWISTED RUSSIAN St.i.tCH.]

TWISTED RUSSIAN St.i.tCH (fig. 705).--Instead of pa.s.sing the needle behind the thread, pa.s.s it before it and round it, so that the needle always comes out again beneath the thread, which will then be twice twisted.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 706. COLUMN St.i.tCH.]

COLUMN St.i.tCH (fig. 706).--At the bottom, the st.i.tch is made like the plain Russian st.i.tch, and at the top, like the one in fig. 705, with the difference that the second thread is pa.s.sed three times round the first.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 707. INSERTION OF SINGLE b.u.t.tONHOLE St.i.tCHES.]