FOOTNOTES:
[A] See at the end of the concluding chapter, the table of numbers and sizes and the list of colours of the D.M.C threads and cottons.
[Ill.u.s.tration: STRIPE IN FLAT AND RAISED SATIN St.i.tCH, AND MADEIRA EMBROIDERY.]
White Embroidery.
We have retained the familiar term, white embroidery, for this kind of needlework, for convenience sake, in spite of its inaccuracy, now that coloured materials are quite as much used for it as white.
It is executed, either on a backing of oil-cloth, or in an embroidery frame, called tambour-frame. Only skilful workers can dispense with these, for an untrained hand can hardly avoid puckering. If you work without a foundation, the material must be held, quite smoothly over the forefinger, so that the threads lie perfectly straight, otherwise, the pattern is very apt to get pulled out of shape in the working. With your three other fingers you hold the material fast, the thumb resting on the work itself, beyond the outline of the pattern, which must be turned towards the worker. It is always the outside line of a pattern that is drawn in double lines, that should be turned towards the palm of the hand.
TRACING PATTERNS.--Patterns are generally to be had ready traced, but as it is often necessary to repeat, enlarge, or reduce them, descriptions of several modes of doing so, will be found at the end of the concluding chapter.
MATERIALS.--A loose, soft make of cotton, the looser the better, and very little twisted, is the best material for embroidery. We recommend for white embroidery in general, Coton a broder D.M.C Nos. 16 to 150; for monograms on cambric, Coton a broder surfin D.M.C Nos. 100, 120, 150;[A] and for English or Madeira embroidery, Coton Madeira D.M.C Nos.
40, 50, 60;[A] for padding, or raising the embroidery, all the different kinds of Coton a repriser D.M.C[A] can be used.
OUTLINING AND PADDING.--The outlining of a pattern is a very important preliminary. A want of precision in the ultimate effect is often due, merely to careless outlining. This part of the work should be done with rather a coa.r.s.er cotton than the embroidery itself. Fasten in the thread by a few running st.i.tches, never with a knot, a rule to be observed also in embroidering, except in very rare cases. Finish off your thread by drawing it through the tracing st.i.tches, or through some part of the pattern that is already finished. Fill in the s.p.a.ces between the lines with a padding of run threads, run loosely, and so that they lie thickly and solidly in the centre, and shade off on both sides. The fullness, and roundness of embroidery, depends on the firmness of this sub-stratum of threads. The outlining and the padding of the different rounded and pointed scallops, as well as of other figures that occur in white embroidery, are ill.u.s.trated in figs. 181, 182, 183, 184, 185, 187, 189, 190 and 191.
BLANKET, OR b.u.t.tON-HOLE St.i.tCH (fig. 171).--Work from left to right; run in a foundation line, hold down the working thread below the run line with the right thumb; insert the needle above and bring it out below the run line but above the working thread; tighten the loop thus formed, without drawing up the stuff, and continue in this manner, setting your st.i.tches closely and regularly, side by side.
[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 171. BLANKET, OR b.u.t.tON-HOLE St.i.tCH.]
STRAIGHT STEM St.i.tCH (fig. 172).--Work from left to right. The needle must always be inserted above the run thread, and brought out underneath it. In the case of a very delicate pattern, take up only just as much stuff as the run thread covers.
[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 172. STRAIGHT STEM St.i.tCH.]
SLOPING STEM St.i.tCH (fig. 173).--Work without a run thread; insert the needle from right to left in a slanting direction, under 1 or 2 horizontal threads, and 5 or 6 perpendicular ones; so that each st.i.tch reaches halfway back to the last.
[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 173. SLOPING STEM St.i.tCH.]
This kind of stem st.i.tch is chiefly used for the fine upstrokes of letters and numbers, and for linen embroidery.
BACK-St.i.tCHING (fig. 174).--Back-st.i.tching, that is small, even st.i.tches set closely together, is done from right to left, along a straight line, and is chiefly used for filling in the centres of letters, leaves and flowers.
[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 174. BACK-St.i.tCHING.]
CROSSED BACK-St.i.tCH (figs. 175 and 176).--Used, generally speaking, only for very transparent materials; it forms a close seam of cross-st.i.tch, on the wrong side, and two straight rows of back-st.i.tching on the right. To work, insert the needle as if for an ordinary back-st.i.tch, pa.s.s it under the stuff, sloping it a little towards the second outline of the pattern, and draw it out almost in front of the first st.i.tch. After making a back-st.i.tch, pa.s.s the needle up again under the stuff and bring it out at the spot where the next st.i.tch is to be.
[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 175. CROSSED BACK-St.i.tCH. RIGHT SIDE.]
[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 176. CROSSED BACK-St.i.tCH. WRONG SIDE.]
Fig. 176 shows the interlacing of the st.i.tches on the wrong side, and the way in which this st.i.tch, when it is used for filling in centres, can be worked on the right side.
SIMPLE KNOT St.i.tCH (fig. 177). This consists of two back-st.i.tches, side by side, covering the same threads; it is chiefly used for filling in leaves, embroidered on very thin materials, or in conjunction with flat st.i.tch.
[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 177. SIMPLE KNOT St.i.tCH.]
TWISTED KNOT St.i.tCH (fig. 178). To work hold the working thread down with the thumb close to the spot where you first brought it out, twist it twice round the needle, turn the needle round from left to right, following the direction indicated by the arrow, pa.s.s it through the fabric at the place which is marked by a dot, and draw it out at the place where the next st.i.tch is to be.
[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 178. TWISTED KNOT St.i.tCH.]
POST St.i.tCH (fig. 179).--Something like knot st.i.tch and much used for patterns, composed of small flowers and leaves, where it often takes the place of raised satin st.i.tch. The ill.u.s.tration represents five leaves finished, and the sixth in process of being worked.
[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 179. POST St.i.tCH.]
To work, bring the needle up from the back and twist the thread round it as many times as the length of the st.i.tch requires, hold the left thumb on the species of curl thus formed, and pa.s.sing the needle and thread through it, insert it at the end of the leaf where it first came out, and draw it out at the right place for the next st.i.tch.
b.u.t.tON-HOLE BARS (fig. 180).--When a pattern is ornamented with open-work bars, begin by tracing the outside parallel lines. Then b.u.t.ton-hole the whole lower line and the upper one, till you come to the place where the first bar is to be; then you carry your thread across and bring up the needle from below through one of the loops, as, shown in the figure; lay three threads in this manner, inserting your needle the third time one loop further on. Then cover the three threads thickly with b.u.t.ton-holing.
[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 180. b.u.t.tON-HOLE BARS.]
DIFFERENT KINDS OF SCALLOPS (figs. 181, 182, 183).--The outlining, padding and b.u.t.ton-holing of these scallops is executed in the manner already described. Be careful to adapt the length of the st.i.tches to the shape and size of the scallops. If they are pointed (figs. 182, 183), the st.i.tches will have to be set very closely together on the inner line, and a little play allowed them on the outer, to come exactly to the point, which should be very sharply defined.
[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 181. ROUND, b.u.t.tON-HOLED SCALLOPS.]
[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 182. LARGE, POINTED, b.u.t.tON-HOLED SCALLOPS.]
[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 183. SMALL, POINTED, b.u.t.tON-HOLED SCALLOPS.]
ROSE SCALLOPS (figs. 184 and 185).--These are, large b.u.t.ton-holed scallops with indented edges, in the one case, rounded at the top and sharply pointed at the join; in the other, pointed at the top, and joined at the bottom by a straight bar of b.u.t.ton-holing.
[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 184. ROUNDED ROSE SCALLOPS.]
[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 185. POINTED ROSE SCALLOPS.]
EYELET HOLES (figs. 186, 187, 188).--Outline the eyelet holes very carefully first by running a thread round them, then cut out the enclosed stuff with a sharp pair of finely pointed scissors, and edge the hole with plain overcasting st.i.tches, worked from left to right.
[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 186. OVERCAST EYELET HOLES.]
When you have a long row of eyelet holes to make, outline the upper and lower halves alternately, first on one side and then on the other, using two threads, and then overcast them in the same way. The double crossing of the working threads between the eyelet holes makes them much stronger, than if each hole were finished off separately, and the thread pa.s.sed underneath from one to the other.
[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 187. b.u.t.tON-HOLED SHADED EYELET HOLES.]
[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 188. SHADED EYELET HOLES HALF OVERCAST, HALF b.u.t.tON-HOLED.]
The lower halves of shaded eyelet holes, (see figs. 187 and 188), are worked with very short st.i.tches, and the upper halves with long ones; they may be edged entirely, either with b.u.t.ton-holing or overcasting, or half with one and half with the other.
SIX LEAVES IN RAISED SATIN St.i.tCH (fig. 189).--Raised satin st.i.tch is chiefly used for working flowers, leaves, petals, dots, initials and monograms. After tracing the outline of the design, fill in the centres with a padding of long, close st.i.tches for which you can again take Coton a repriser D.M.C[A] and then, beginning always at the point of the leaf, see letter A, cover it with flat, perfectly even st.i.tches, worked from right-to-left. B ill.u.s.trates a leaf, divided through the middle by a line of overcasting; C, one with a corded vein; D, a divided leaf worked in sloping satin st.i.tch; E, a leaf, with a corded vein and framed in sloping satin st.i.tch; F, a leaf worked half in satin st.i.tch, half in back-st.i.tch and straight stem st.i.tch.