I.--Stitchery of Pictures in Imitation of Tapestry and the Like
"Tent-worke, Rais'd-worke, Laid-worke, Froste-worke, Net-worke,
Most curious Purles or rare Italian Cut-worke,
Pine Ferne-stitch, Finny-stitch, New-stitch, and Chain-stitch,
Brave Bred-stitch, Fisher-stitch, Irish-stitch, and Queen-stitch,
The Spanish-stitch, Rosemary-stitch, and Morose-stitch,
The Smarting Whip-stitch, Back-stitch, and the Cross-stitch.
All these are good, and these we must allow,
And these are everywhere in practise now."
_The Needles Excellency._--JOHN TAYLOR.
A Writer on the interesting subject of the stitchery of embroidered
pictures and their allies, is confronted at the outset with a serious
difficulty in the almost hopeless confusion which exists as to the proper
nomenclature of stitches. It is hardly too much to say that nearly every
stitch has something like half a dozen different names, the result of
re-invention or revival by succeeding generations, while to add to the
trouble some authorities have assigned ancient names to certain stitches
on what appears to be wholly insufficient evidence of identity.
That stitches known as _opus Anglicanum_, _opus plumarium_, _opus
peclinum_, and so on, were used in embroidery as far back as the
thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, is proved by ancient deeds and
inventories, but what these stitches actually were we have no means of
deciding with any degree of certainty.
We shall, therefore, in these notes describe the stitches under the names
by which they are most commonly known, or which seem to describe them most
clearly.
Background-Stitches
When the backgrounds of pictures in raised or stump embroidery are not of
silk or satin left more or less visible, they are usually worked in one or
other of the innumerable varieties of cushion-stitch, so-called, it is
said, because it was first introduced in the embroidering of church
kneeling-cushions. Foremost among these ground-stitches comes tent-stitch,
in which the flat embroidered pictures of a slightly earlier period are
entirely executed. Tent-stitch is the first half of the familiar
cross-stitch, but is taken over a single thread only, all the rows of
stitches sloping the same way as a rule, although occasionally certain
desired effects of light and shade are produced by reversing the direction
of the stitches in portions of the work. An admirable example of evenly
worked tent-stitch is shown in Plate XV., although here, of course, it is
not a purely background-stitch, as it is adopted for the whole of the
work.
[Illustration: PLATE XX.--BACK OF CASKET IN TAPESTRY EMBROIDERY. SIGNED A.
K., 1657. _Mrs Percy Macquoid._
We have here the true imitation of Tapestry as regards stitch, but not so
as regards composition, for it is seldom that in Tapestry we find such a
lack of proportion as exists in this case between figures and accessories,
tulips and carnations standing breast-high, and butterflies larger than
human heads. The harpy, which appears on the lower portion of the lid, is
an exceptional form of decoration. The backs of caskets are always the
least faded portions, as they have been less exposed to the sun and light;
such is the case here, although the whole is in a fine state of
preservation. It is one of the few dated pieces in existence, being signed
"A. K.," 1657.]
Another commonly used grounding-stitch is that known in modern times
as tapestry or Gobelin-stitch. This is not infrequently confused with
tent-stitch, which it much resembles, save that it is two threads in
height, but one only in breadth.
[Illustration: FIG. 62.--CUSHION-STITCH BACKGROUND; EMBROIDERED BOOK
COVER, DATED 1703.]
Next in order of importance to these two stitches come the perfectly
upright ones, which, arranged in a score of different ways, have been
christened by an equal number of names. An effective kind, used for the
background of many Stuart pictures, consists of a series of the short
perpendicular stitches, arranged in a zig-zag or chevron pattern, each row
fitting into that above it. This particular stitch, or rather group of
stitches, has been named _opus pulvinarium_, but its claim to the title
does not seem very well supported. Other and more modern names are
Florentine and Hungary stitch. A neat and pretty cushion-stitch is shown
in the background of Fig. 62 on an enlarged scale. This is taken from a
quaint little needle-book dated 1703; the design itself being worked in
tent-stitch.
Among other stitches used for grounds are the long flat satin-stitch
familiar in Japanese embroideries of all periods, and laid-stitches,
_i.e._, those formed of long threads "laid" on the satin or silk
foundation, and held down by short "couching" stitches placed at
intervals. Laid-stitch grounds, however, are oftener seen in foreign
embroideries, especially Italian and Spanish, than in English examples.
[Illustration: FIG. 63.--EYELET-HOLE-STITCH: FROM A SAMPLER DATED 1811.]
[Illustration: FIG. 64.--TAPESTRY EMBROIDERY (UPPER PORTION). ABOUT 1640.
_Formerly in the Author's possession._]
Although tapestry embroidery backgrounds are in most cases worked "solid,"
that is, entirely covered with close-set stitches forming an even surface,
they are occasionally found to be filled in with some variety of
open-stitch, as exemplified by Plate XV. Sometimes the lace-like effect is
produced by covering the foundation material with a surface stitch; the
first row being a buttonhole-stitch, worked into the stuff so as to form
the basis of the succeeding rows of simple lace or knotting stitches. The
last row is again worked into the foundation. When, however, a linen
canvas of rather open mesh was the material of the picture or panel, it
was not unusual to whip or buttonhole over the threads with fine silk, a
process resulting in a honeycomb-like series of small eyelet holes, as
shown in the enlargement, Fig. 63. This is taken from an early
nineteenth-century sampler, but the stitch is precisely similar to that
seen in embroideries of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
Figures in Raised Needlework
The high relief portions of the embroidery known as "stump" or "stamp"
work, which is popularly supposed to have been invented by the nuns of
Little Gidding, appear to have been almost invariably worked separately on
stout linen stretched in a frame, and applied when completed. The design
was sketched, or transferred, by means of something equivalent to our
carbonised paper, on the linen, padded with hair or wool kept in position
by a lattice-work of crossing threads, and the raised foundation, or
"stump," thus formed covered with close lace-stitches, or with satin or
silk, which, in its turn, was partly or entirely covered with embroidery,
generally in long-and-short stitch. When the figures were finished a paper
was pasted at the back to obviate any risk of frayed or loosened stitches,
and they were cut out and fastened into their proper places in the design
which had been drawn on or transferred to the silk, satin, or canvas
foundation of the actual picture. The lines of attachment are adroitly
concealed by couchings of fine cord or gimp.
In some pieces of stump embroidery the heads and hands of the figures are
of carved wood covered in most instances with a close network of
lace-stitch, or with satin or silk, on which the eyes and mouth are either
painted or embroidered. In the more elaborate specimens, however, the
satin is merely a foundation for embroidery in long-and-short or split
stitch, the latter being a variety of the ordinary stem-stitch, in which
the needle is brought out through, instead of at the side of, the
preceding stitch. The features of faces worked in either of these stitches
are generally indicated by carefully directed lines of stem or chain
stitching worked over the ground-stitch. This latter when well worked
forms a surface scarcely distinguishable from satin in its smoothness. The
Figs. 65 and 66, which are enlargements of portions of the embroidery
illustrated in Fig. 64, show examples of this mode of working faces.
[Illustration: FIG. 65.--FACE WORKED IN SPLIT-STITCH: ENLARGED FROM
EMBROIDERY REPRODUCED IN FIG. 64.]
[Illustration: PLATE XXI.--BEADWORK EMBROIDERY. CHARLES II. AND HIS QUEEN,
ETC.
The bright colouring of this picture is due to the greater portion of it
having been worked in beads, in which those of strong blue and green
predominate, only the hair and hands being worked in needlework, the
former in knotted stitches. Beadwork seems to have been extensively
utilised in seventeenth-century pictures, but it does not figure in
Samplers until a late date, and then only to a minor extent. It is
illustrated in Fig. 52, and is about a century old, having been included
in the Fine Art Society's Exhibition.
The central figures in this piece represent Charles II. and his Queen,
Catherine of Braganza, who is represented with that curious lock of hair
on her forehead to which the King took so much objection when he saw it
for the first time upon her arrival at Southampton. The portraits within
the four circles have not at present been recognised. The late owner of
this piece purchased it in Hammersmith, and from the fact that Queen
Catherine had a house there it is possible that it may have once been a
royal possession. Size, 13-1/2 × 17-1/2.]
Knot-Stitches
[Illustration: FIG. 66.--FACE WORKED IN SPLIT-STITCH: ENLARGED FROM LOWER
PORTION (NOT REPRODUCED) OF FIG. 64.]
Knot-stitches--these, by the way, have no connection with the
knotting-work popular at the end of the seventeenth century--are
introduced freely into the stump-work pictures to represent the hair of
the human figures, together with the woolly coats of sheep and the sundry
and divers unclassified animals invariably found in this type of
embroidered picture. These knots or knotted stitches range from the small,
tightly-worked French knots which, when closely massed, produce a
sufficiently realistic imitation of a fleece, to the long bullion knots
formed by twisting the silk thread ten or twelve times round the needle
before drawing the latter through the loops. The sheep (enlarged from Fig.
64) in Fig. 67 shows very clearly the effect of the massed French knots.
The longer knot-stitches are found to be arranged in even loops sewn
closely together, or are worked loosely and placed irregularly to meet
the requirements of the design. Knot-stitches of all kinds are seen, too,
in the foliage, grass, and mossy banks, although for these couchings of
loops of fine cord, untwisted silk and gimp, as well as of purl, seem to
have been equally popular. At a later period, that is, towards the middle
of the eighteenth century, chenille replaced knot-stitches, couched loops,
and purl for the purpose, but it proved much less satisfactory both as
regards appearance and durability.
[Illustration: FIG. 67.--KNOTTED-STITCH: ENLARGED FROM EMBROIDERY
REPRODUCED IN FIG. 64.]
Looped-stitches are also used to indicate flowing ringlets, for which the
bullion knots would be too formal, as may be seen in Figs. 65 and 66. The
loops in these examples are of partly untwisted gimp. In flat embroidery,
it may be mentioned, the hair is frequently worked in long-and-short or
split stitch, or in short, flat satin-stitches, the lines whereof are
cleverly arranged to follow the twists of the curls. In this way the hair
of the lady, shown on an enlarged scale in Fig. 66, is worked.
Plush-Stitch
This is a modern name for the stitch used in the Stuart period
embroideries for fur robes and the coats of certain beasts. It is also
known as velvet, rug, and raised stitch. To carry it out a series of loops
is worked over a small mesh or a knitting pin, each loop being secured to
the foundation stuff by a tent or cross-stitch, and when the necessary
number of rows is completed, the loops are cut as in the raised Berlin
wool-work of early Victorian days. In this stitch the ermine of the king's
robe in Plate XVIII. is worked, the black stitches meant to represent the
little tails having been put in after the completion of the white silk
ground.
Embroidery in Purl and Metallic Threads
Purl, both that of uncovered metal and that variety wherein the
corkscrew-like tube is cased with silk, was generally cut into pieces of
the desired length, which were threaded on the needle and sewn down either
flat or in loops, according to the design. The greater part of the
beautiful piece of embroidery illustrated in Plate XXIII. is carried out
in coloured purl, applied in pieces sufficiently long to follow the curves
of the pattern. A small example of looped purl-work is shown in the
left-hand upper corner of Fig. 66.
Purl embroidery, when at all on an elaborate scale, was worked in a frame
and "applied," although the slighter portions of a design were often
executed on the picture itself. The system of working all the heavier
parts of such embroideries separately and adding them piece by piece, as
it were, until the whole was complete, accounts, of course, for the
extreme rarity of a "drawn" or puckered ground in old needlework pictures
and panels.
Besides purl, gold and silver "passing" often appears in certain sections
of the work. "Passing" is wire sufficiently thin and flexible to be passed
through instead of couched down on the foundation material, and with it
such devices as rayed suns and moons are often embroidered in
long-and-short stitch. A thicker kind of metallic thread was employed for
couching, this being made in the same manner as the Japanese thread so
largely used in modern work, save that a thin ribbon of real gold took the
place of the strip of gilt paper as a casing for the silk thread.
Water is sometimes represented by lengths of silver purl stretched tightly
across a flat surface of satin or laid-stitches, but not infrequently,
instead of the purl, sheets of talc are laid over the silken stitchery.
The water in Susannah's bath (Plate XIV.) is covered with talc, hence it
appears light coloured in the reproduction.
When a metallic lustre was needed, the plumules of peacocks' feathers were
occasionally employed, especially in the bodies of butterflies and
caterpillars, but these unfortunately have almost invariably suffered from
the depredations of a small insect, and it is seldom that more remains of
them in old embroideries than a few dilapidated and minute fragments,
often barely recognisable for what they are.
Lace-Stitches
The needle-point lace-stitches, so profusely used in the dresses and
decorative accessories of the figures in Stuart embroideries, are, as a
rule, of a close and rather heavy type. Sometimes they are found to be
worked directly on the picture or panel as surface stitches, in the manner
already described as adopted for backgrounds; but it was undoubtedly more
usual to work the ruffles, sleeves, flower-petals, butterfly-wings,
etc., separately, fastening them into their proper places when finished.
Stiffenings of fine wire were generally sewn round the extreme edge of any
part intended to stand away from the background. A most interesting
variety of lace-stitches may be seen in the costume of the boy shown in
the enlargement (Fig. 69), taken from the panel reproduced in Fig. 64. The
small illustration (Fig. 61) heading this chapter illustrates quite a
different kind of lace-stitch, to wit, the hollie-point, which, originally
confined to church embroidery, was during the seventeenth century used to
ornament under-garments and babies' christening-robes.
[Illustration: FIG. 68.--EMBROIDERY PICTURE. A SQUIRE AND HIS LADY. SIGNED
M. C. DATED 1657. _Mr Minet._
This embroidery, which bears the initials "M. C." and the date 1657 in
pearls, is notable for the variety of stitches which find a place upon it.
The central figures are dressed in elaborate costumes, the lady's robe of
yellow satin being embroidered with coloured flowers and decked with
pearls, laces, and flowers, an attire altogether inconsistent with the
Puritanical times in which she lived.]
[Illustration: FIG. 69.--HAIR OF UNRAVELLED SILK: ENLARGEMENT OF PORTION
OF EMBROIDERY REPRODUCED IN FIG. 64.]
Bead Embroidery
The actual stitchery in the old embroideries that are worked entirely, or
almost entirely, in beads, is of an extremely simple description. In the
majority of pieces the work is applied as in the case of the stump
embroideries, the beads being threaded and sewn down on the framed linen,
either flatly or over padding. In the less elaborate class of
embroideries, however, the beads are sewn directly on the satin ground;
but when this plan has been adopted the design is rarely padded at all,
although small portions of it, such as cravats, girdle-tassels, and
garter-knots, are found to be detached from the rest of the work. This is
for the most part executed with long strings of threaded beads couched
down in close-set rows. Plate XXI. represents an excellent specimen of
flat and raised bead-work combined with purl embroidery. See also Fig. 52.
Groundwork Tracings
The first stage of an embroidered picture is well illustrated in Fig. 70,
which is worthy of careful study. The original is a piece of satin
measuring 9-1/2 × 8 in., and on this the design has been traced by a
pointed stylus, the deep incised lines made in the thick material having
been coloured black, probably by a transferring medium similar to
carbonised paper. The shadows have been added with a brush, evidently
wielded by an experienced hand, for not only are they gradated in the
original, but there are no signs of any difficulty in dealing with the
flow of colour on the absorbent textile. The subject of the picture is
said to be the Princess Mary and the Prince William of Orange.
[Illustration: PLATE XXII.--TAPESTRY EMBROIDERY. DATED 1735.
In no Embroidery in the whole of this volume has a more determined
endeavour been made to imitate Tapestry than in the little piece here
illustrated. So deftly has this been carried out that experts have
declined to believe that it is needlework, or that the gradation of blues
in the background have been obtained except through stain or dye. The
workmanship of that portion of the sky over which the bird flies appeared
also too fine for manual execution. An examination of the back has
disproved both suppositions. The piece is noteworthy for the border at the
top, which is a link connecting it with the Sampler. A date, 1735, can be
distinguished through the stain in the upper right corner.]
Implements Used
[Illustration: FIG. 70.--GROUNDWORK TRACING FOR EMBROIDERED PICTURE. 17TH
CENTURY. _Mr E. Hennell._]
It is probable that some details in the picture--acorns, fruit, and the
like--were worked with the aid of the curious little implements shown in
Fig. 71. These are thimble-shaped moulds of thin, hard wood, which have
two rows of holes pierced round their base. Through these holes are passed
the threads which form the foundation of the rows of lace or
knotting-stitches that are worked with the needle round and round the
mould until it is completely covered. The knotted purses of the
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries were possibly made on moulds of this
kind. The plate shows two of these queer little objects, as well as a long
spool or bobbin with ancient silks of various colours still wound on it,
the spool-case belonging to it, and two pieces of knotted-work in
different stages of development.
[Illustration: FIG. 71.--MOULDS FOR KNOTTED OR LACE WORK, WITH SILK SPOOLS
AND CASE.]
[Illustration: PLATE XXIII.--SPECIMEN OF PURL EMBROIDERY. 16TH-17TH
CENTURY. _Formerly in the Author's Collection._
A specimen of stitchery of various kinds, much of it in high relief, and
of purl work. The reproduction, whilst translating very faithfully the
colours, gives but little idea of the relief. Size, 12 × 16-1/2.]
II.--The Stitchery of Samplers, with a Note on their Materials
"Sad sewers make sad samplers. We'll be sorry
Down to our fingers'-ends and 'broider emblems
Native to desolation--cypress sprays,
Yew-tufts and hectic leaves of various autumn
And bitter tawny rue, and bent blackthorns."
_The Soldier of Fortune._--LORD DE TABLEY.
Cut and Drawn-Work
The open-work stitchery, which is so important and pleasing a feature of
the seventeenth-century sampler, is of two kinds; that is, _double_
cut-work--the Italian _punto tagliato_--in which both warp and woof
threads are removed, save for a few necessary connecting bars, and
_single_ cut-work--_punto tirato_--wherein but one set of threads is
withdrawn. The first type (which is probably the "rare Italian cut-work"
mentioned in "The Needle's Excellency") is the immediate ancestor of
needle-point lace, and is the kind that is oftenest met with in the oldest
and finest samplers; the second approaches more nearly to the drawn-thread
embroidery worked both abroad and at home at the present day.
In executing real double cut-work, after the surplus material has been cut
away, the supporting or connecting threads are overcast, the edges of the
cut linen buttonholed, and the spaces within this framework filled in with
lace-stitches, simple or elaborate. In the best specimens of samplers the
effect is sometimes enhanced by portions of the pattern being detached
from the ground, as in the upper part of the beautiful sampler illustrated
in Fig. 72.[14] These loose pieces usually have as basis a row of
buttonhole-stitches worked into the linen, but in some examples the lace
has been worked quite separately and sewn on. The mode of working both
double and single cut-work is shown plainly in the two enlargements (Figs.
73 and 74), which are of parts of samplers probably worked about 1660.
[Illustration: FIG. 72--DRAWN-WORK SAMPLER. 17TH CENTURY.]
There is a third and much simpler type of open-work occasionally found on
seventeenth-century samplers, which is carried out by piercing the linen
with a stiletto and overcasting the resulting holes so as to produce a
series of bird's-eye or eyelet stitches. All three varieties of
open-stitch are frequently seen in combination with that short, flat
satin-stitch, which, when worked in a diaper pattern with white thread or
silk on a white ground, is sometimes called damask-stitch. This pretty
combination of stitches appears in Plate VI., and also in the enlargement
(Fig. 74) already referred to.
[Illustration: FIG. 73.--CUT AND DRAWN-WORK: ENLARGEMENT FROM 17TH-CENTURY
SAMPLER.]
Back-Stitch
This stitch was largely used in the seventeenth and early eighteenth
centuries for the adornment of articles of personal clothing, as well as
of quilts and hangings, hence it is natural that it is prominent in the
samplers of the period. In the older specimens the bands of back-stitch
patterns are worked with exquisite neatness, both sides being precisely
alike; but in those of later date signs of carelessness are apparent, and
the reverse side is somewhat untidy. In no sampler examined by the writer,
however, has the back-stitch been produced by working a chain-stitch on
the wrong side of the linen, as is the case in some of the embroidered
garments of the period.
The samplers illustrated in Plates III. and VII. are noticeable for their
good bands of back-stitching. A small section of Fig. 5 is shown on an
enlarged scale in Fig. 75. In some modern text-books of embroidery, it may
be added, the old reversible or two-sided back-stitch is distinguished as
Holbein-stitch.
[Illustration: FIG. 74.--SATIN-STITCH AND COMBINATION OF TYPES OF
OPEN-WORK: ENLARGED FROM THE SAMPLER REPRODUCED IN FIG. 4. 17TH CENTURY.]
Alphabet-Stitches
The stitches used for the lettering on samplers are three in number, to
wit, cross-stitch, bird's-eye-stitch and satin-stitch. Of the first there
are two varieties, the ordinary cross-stitch, known in later years as
sampler-stitch, and the much neater kind, in which the crossed stitches
form a perfect little square on the wrong side. This daintiest of marking
stitches is rarely seen on samplers later than the eighteenth century.
The satin-stitch alphabets are worked in short flat stitches, not over
padding, according to the modern method of initial embroidering, and the
letters are generally square rather than curved in outline. The
bird's-eye-stitch, when used for alphabets, varies greatly in degree of
fineness. In some instances the holes are very closely overcast with
short, even stitches, but in others the latter are alternately long and
short, so that each "eyelet" or "bird's-eye" is the centre, as it were, of
a star of ray-like stitches.
[Illustration: PLATE XXIV.--DARNING SAMPLER. 1788.
Darning Samplers of unpretentious form date back a long way, but those
where they were conjoined to decoration, as in the specimens reproduced
here, appeared to cluster round the end of the eighteenth century. Not
only are a variety of stitches of a most intricate kind set out on them,
but they are done in gay colours, and any monotony is averted by
delicately conceived borderings. Whilst "Darning Samplers" cannot be
considered as rare, they certainly are not often met with in fine
condition. They are a standing testimony to the assiduity and dexterity of
our grandparents in the reparation of their household napery.]
Darning-Stitches
The stitches exemplifying the mode of darning damask, cambric, or linen
had usually a sampler entirely devoted to them, and at one period--the end
of the eighteenth century--it seems to have been a fairly general custom
that a girl should work one as a companion to the ordinary sampler of
lettering and patterns. The specimen darns on such a sampler are, as a
rule, arranged in squares or crosses round some centre device, a bouquet
or basket of flowers for instance, or it may be merely the initials of the
worker in a shield. The two samplers (Fig. 76 and Plate XXIV.) are typical
examples of their kind, although perhaps the ornamental parts of the
designs are a little more fanciful than in the majority of those met with.
[Illustration: FIG. 75.--BACK-STITCH: ENLARGEMENT OF PORTION OF SAMPLER IN
FIG. 5. 17TH CENTURY. TWICE ACTUAL SIZE.]
The best worked--not necessarily the most elaborately embellished--of this
particular class of sampler has small pieces of the material actually cut
out and the holes filled up with darning, but in inferior ones the stuff
is left untouched, and the darn is simply worked on the linen, tammy
cloth, or tiffany itself. This is a very much easier method and the
appearance is better; but the darns so made are, after all, but imitations
of the real thing. For the damask darns fine silk of two colours is
invariably used, and in the properly worked examples both sides are alike,
save, of course, for the reversal of the damask effect, as in woven
damask.
The centre designs in the two samplers illustrated are worked in fine
darning-stitches of divers kinds, outlined with chain and stem stitches.
Here and there a few other stitches are introduced, as in the stem of the
rose in Fig. 76, where French knots are used to produce the mossy
appearance. The centre basket in this sampler is worked in lines of
chain-stitching crossing each other lattice fashion. Both the samplers
have the initials of their workers, and in that shown in Fig. 76 the date
(1802) also, neatly darned into one of the crosses formed by the damask
patterns.
Darning-samplers are usually square, or nearly square, in shape, and are
simply finished with a single line of hem-stitching at the edge, but some
of the older ones are ornamented with a broader band of drawn-work as
border; while a few have examples of drawn-work, alternating with squares
and crosses of darning, in the body of the sampler. A small section of
such a sampler, dated 1785, is illustrated on an enlarged scale in Fig.
77. It has a series of small conventional leaf patterns worked in single
drawn-work, and edged with a scalloping worked in chain-stitch with green
silk. The ground of this particular sampler is thin linen, but the
muslin-like stuff known as tiffany is that used for the foundation of nine
darning-samplers out of ten.
Tent and Cross Stitches
Neither tent-stitch nor tapestry-stitch appears to have been largely
introduced in sampler-embroidery at any period; still, portions of a
few specimens worked during the early and middle years of the eighteenth
century are executed in one or other of these stitches. Tent-stitch, for
instance, plays an important part in the wreath border of Fig. 8. The
beautifully shaded leaves are all worked in this way, as are many of the
flowers, other varieties of grounding or cushion-stitches being used for
the rest of the border. The Commandments, which the wreath enframes, are
worked in cross-stitch. This last-named stitch in its earliest form is
worked over a single thread, and produces a close and solid effect when
closely massed, or, as may be seen in many sampler maps, very fine lines
when worked in single rows. Ordinary cross-stitch taken over two threads
is, of course, the familiar stitch in which nineteenth-century samplers
are entirely worked, whence arises its second name of sampler-stitch.
[Illustration: FIG. 76.--DARNING SAMPLER. SIGNED M. M., T. B., J. F. DATED
1802. _The late Mrs Head._]
[Illustration: FIG. 77.--ENLARGED PORTION OF A DARNING SAMPLER. DATED
1785.]
A pretty and--in sampler embroidery--uncommon stitch is that in which the
crowned lions in the samplers of Mary and Lydia Johnson (Figs. 35 and 36)
are worked. This stitch is formed of two cross-stitches superimposed
diagonally, and since its revival in the Berlin wool era has been known by
the names of star-stitch and leviathan-stitch.
Various Stitches
Besides the stitches already enumerated and described, sundry and divers
others are found on samplers of various periods. Satin-stitch, for
instance, is used for borders and other parts of designs, as well as for
alphabets. Long-and-short stitch, frequently very irregularly executed,
seems to have been popular for the embroidery of the wreaths and garlands
that make gay many of the later eighteenth-century samplers. Stem-stitch,
save for such minor details as flower-stalks and tendrils, is not often
seen; but the wreath-borders of a limited number of eighteenth-century
samplers are done entirely in this stitch, worked in lines round and
round, or up and down, each leaf and petal until the whole is filled in.
Stem-stitch, it should be explained, is, to all intents and purposes, the
same as "outline" or "crewel" stitch. The latter name, however, is
likewise applied to long-and-short or plumage stitch by some writers on
embroidery.
Laid-stitches may also be included in the list of stitches occurring
occasionally in samplers, although it is rarely met with in its more
elaborate forms. A sampler dated 1808 has two baskets (of flowers) worked
in long laid-stitches of brown silk couched with yellow silk, the effect
of wicker-work being produced with some success by this plan, and similar
unambitious examples appear in some samplers of rather earlier date.
The portion of a sampler shown in Fig. 2 is interesting by reason of the
fact that it is worked in knots, a form of stitchery comparatively rare,
save in those unclassifiable pieces of embroidery which are neither
pictures nor samplers, but possess some of the features of both.
Materials
Linen, bleached or unbleached, but, of course, always hand-woven, is the
foundation material of the early samplers. It varies greatly in texture,
from a coarse, canvas-like kind to a fine and closely woven sort of about
the same stoutness as good modern pillow-case linen. The stitchery of
these oldest samplers is executed in linen thread or a somewhat loosely
twisted silk, often scarcely coarser than our nineteenth-century "machine
silk," although, on the other hand, a very thick and irregularly spun type
is occasionally seen.
About 1725 linen of a peculiar yellow colour and rather harsh texture came
into vogue; but this went out of fashion in a few years, and towards the
end of the eighteenth century the strong and durable linen was almost
entirely superseded by an ugly and moth-attracting stuff called
indifferently tammy, tammy cloth, bolting cloth, and, when woven in a
specially narrow width, sampler canvas. The stitchery on samplers of this
date is almost invariably executed with silk, although in a few of the
coarser ones fine untwisted crewel is substituted. Tiffany, the thin,
muslin-like material mentioned in connection with darning-samplers, was at
this period used also for small delicately wrought samplers of the
ordinary type.
Early in the nineteenth century very coarsely woven linen and linen canvas
came into fashion again, and for some time were nearly as popular as the
woollen tammy; while, about 1820, twisted crewels of the crudest dyes
replaced in a great measure the soft toned silks. Next followed the
introduction of cotton canvas and Berlin wool, and with them vanished the
last remaining vestige of the exquisite stitchery and well-balanced
designs of earlier generations, and the sampler, save in a most degraded
form, ceased to exist.
Index
Abraham on sampler, 58. Fig. 16
Acorn, 58, 68, 109. Plate III. Fig. 16
Adam and Eve on samplers, 21, 62, 109;
on embroideries, 128
Africa, map of, 97. Fig 41
Age of sampler, how to estimate, 15
Age of sampler workers, 80
Agur's prayer. Plate XI.
Alphabets on samplers, 19, 22, 84;
stitches, 164
America, samplers from, 24, 97 (Plate XIII., Figs. 42-51);
map of, 92. Fig. 39
Anchors, Fig. 23
Animals on samplers, 65
Ascension Day samplers, 38
Background-stitches, 144
Back-stitches, 109, 163. Plates III. and VII. Fig. 75
Bead embroidery, 158 (Plate XXII.);
sampler, Fig. 53
Belief, the, 28
Belgian samplers, 110
Biblical subjects in tapestry embroideries, 128
Bird's-eye-stitch, 164
Borders to samplers, 75
Boston, U.S.A., samplers from, 89. Fig. 50
Boxers, 61. Plate III. Fig. 18
Boys, samplers by, 84. Fig 34
Brontës, samplers by, 28. Figs. 10, 11, 12
Brooklyn, U.S.A., sampler from, 89. Fig. 47
Buttonhole-stitch, 146
Calcutta, samplers from, 35. Fig. 3
Carnation, see "Pink"
Caterpillar, 140
Charles I., Plates XVI. and XVIII.
Charles II., Plate XXI.
Children, samplers by, 80
Christening samplers, 109
Christmas samplers, 38
Colouring of samplers, 52
Commandments, the, 27. Fig. 9
Corn blue-bottle, 78
Coronet, see "Crowns"
Costume on tapestry embroideries, 132
Crewel-stitch, 170
Cross-stitch, 109, 166
Crowns on samplers, 68. Figs. 20-22
Crucifixion on samplers, 108, 109
Cupids on samplers, Fig. 23
Cushion-stitch, 144. Fig. 62
Cut and drawn work stitches, 161. Figs. 4, 7, 16, 24, 42, 72, 73
Darned samplers, Fig. 76. Plate XXIV.
Darning-stitches, 110, 165. Plate XXIV. Figs. 76, 77
David and Abigail, 128, 130;
and Goliath, 130
Deer, see "Stags"
Design on samplers, 51
Dogs on samplers, Fig. 17. Plate III.
Drawn-work, 58, 135. Fig. 16
Dress, value of tapestry embroideries as patterns of, 132
Dutch samplers, 110
Earliest samplers, 10, 13, 16
Easter samplers, 36
Embroiderers' Company, 127
Embroideries in the manner of tapestry pictures, 123;
subjects of, 127;
as mirrors of fashion, 132
England, maps of, 94. Fig. 40.
Esther and Ahasuerus, 128, 130. Plate XVIII.
Evolution of samplers, 12, 15
Eyelet-stitch, 146. Fig. 63
Fig on samplers, 68. Plate III.
Fine Art Society's Exhibition of samplers, 4, 28, 66, 89, 119;
of embroideries, 123
Fleur de Lys on samplers, 21
Florentine-stitch, 145
Flowers on samplers, 65;
on tapestry embroideries, 139
Foreign flavour in embroideries, 131
Foreign samplers, 104
Fountains on tapestry embroideries, 136
French knot-stitches, 151. Figs. 21 and 67
French samplers, 111
Gardening, illustrations of, on tapestry embroideries, 135
German samplers, 108
Glove, embroidered. Fig. 55
Gobelin-stitch, 145
Gold and silver passing, 154
Grubs on tapestry embroideries, 140
Hagar and Ishmael, 129. Plate XV.
Hearts on samplers, 75. Figs. 21-23
Hollie point lace cap, Fig. 61;
stitch, 157
Honeysuckle on samplers, 66, 79. Fig. 30
Horticulture, see "Gardening"
House on samplers, 118 (Figs. 14, 46, 48);
on tapestry embroidery, 135. Fig. 56
Human figure, 57
Hungary-stitch, 145
Implements used in stitchery, 159. Fig. 71
Indian samplers, 113. Figs. 3 and 52
Inscriptions on samplers, 23, 91
Italian samplers, 111
Judgment of Paris, 128. Fig. 56
Knot-stitches, 109, 151. Figs. 21 and 67
Lace-stitches, 154. Figs. 61, 68-70
Laid-stitch, 146
Last of the samplers, 117
Lettering on samplers, 22
Leviathan-stitch, 169
Life and death, inscriptions referring to, 41
Lion on sampler, 65. Fig. 44
Literature sampler, 115
Little Gidding, nuns, 131, 149
Long-and-short-stitch, 170
Looped-stitches, 152
Lord's Prayer, the, 27
Maidstone Museum, tapestry picture. Plate I.
Map samplers, 92. Figs. 39-41
Materials on which samplers were worked, 171
Mermaid on sampler, Fig. 16
Metal thread, 153
Milton, mention of sampler by, 14
Mitford, Miss, on samplers, 118
Mortlake tapestries, 100
Moses in the bullrushes, 129
Mustard or canary-coloured canvas, 55
National events, samplers as records of, 90
Need of samplers, 11
Needle's excellency, the, 115, 116, 143
Numerals on samplers, 22
Oak, see "Acorn"
Origin of samplers, place of, 88
Ornament, sampler, 51
Ornamentation, earliest date of various forms of, 21
Orpheus, 128
Parents and preceptors, duties to, 46
Passing, 154
Passion Week samplers, 38
Patternes of cut workes, 115
Peacocks' feathers, use of, 154
Pearls, seed, on tapestry embroideries, 133--_note_
Pears, 109
Pineapple on samplers, 68
Pink on samplers, 66, 78, 109. Plates III., IV., VI. Fig. 28
Place of origin of samplers, 88
Plush-stitch, 153. Plate XVIII.
Portuguese samplers, 112
Poverty, inscriptions concerning, 48
Prayers on samplers, 39
Preceptors, duties to, 46
Purl, 153. Plate XXIII.
Quaint inscriptions, 49
Religious festivals, verses commemorating, 36
Rhymes on samplers, see "Verses"
Royal personages on tapestry embroideries, 133
Royal school of art needlework, 120
Rose on samplers, 58, 66, 109 (Figs. 7, 16, Plate VI.);
on tapestry embroideries, 113
Ruskin, John, on needlework in museums, 2;
on samplers, 3;
sampler by grandmother of, 3, and Plate X.
Samplers. Parts I. and III. (Sec. II.)
Satin-stitch, 122, 141, 146
Scottish samplers, 71, 84, 89. Figs. 21, 34
Sex of sampler workers, 80
Shakespeare, mention of sampler by, 13
Sidney, Sir P., mention of sampler by, 14
Signatures on samplers, 23
Size of samplers, 84
Smoke (chimney) on embroideries, 135. Fig. 57
Spanish samplers, 112
_Spectator_ on decay of needlework, 117
Spies to Canaan, 21
Split-stitch, 150. Figs. 65, 66
Stag on samplers, 21, 65, 80. Figs. 6, 17. Plates III., VIII.
Star-stitch, 169. Figs. 35, 36
Stem-stitch, 150
Stitchery of tapestry pictures, 143;
of samplers, 161
Stitches, background, 144;
cushion, 144;
tent, 144;
Gobelin, 145;
upright, 145;
Florentine, 145;
Hungary, 145;
satin, 146;
open, 146;
buttonhole, 146;
eyelet, 149 (Fig. 63);
split, 152 (Figs. 65, 66);
stem, 150;
knot, 151;
looped, 152;
plush, 153;
purl, 153;
passing, 154;
lace, sampler stitches, 154;
hollie point, 157 (Fig. 61);
cut and drawn-work, 161;
back-stitch, 163 (Fig. 75);
alphabet-stitch, 164;
darning-stitch, 165 (Plate XXIV. and Figs. 8, 76);
tent and cross-stitch, 166;
various, 170
Strawberry on samplers, 66. Fig. 31. Plate XIII.
Stump embroidery, 149
Susannah and the elders, 128, 130, 131. Plate XIV.
Swiss samplers, 111
Talc, 154. Plate XIV.
Tammy cloth, 171
Tapestry, history of, 125;
stitch, 145
Tapestry pictures--see embroideries in the manner of
Tent-stitch, 166
Thistle on sampler, 71. Fig. 21
Tracing, groundwork, 158. Fig. 70
Tree of knowledge on samplers, 18_n_, 62_n_, 109. Figs. 17, 18
Tulip on samplers, 78. Figs. 27, 59
Upright-stitch, 145
Verses on samplers, 27, 36-51
Vice, inscription concerning, 48
Victoria and Albert Museum, samplers in, 11, 21, 58. Fig. 7
Virtue, inscription concerning, 48
Wealth, inscription concerning, 48
_Printed at_ THE DARIEN PRESS, _Edinburgh_
FOOTNOTES:
[1] The picture also shows that the principal decorations of the walls of
the schoolroom were framed examples of attainments with the needle.
[2] In the original all the small pieces of work in the upper corner near
the initials are varieties of gold thread design, and almost all the grey
colour throughout, in the reproduction, is silver thread.
[3] It was claimed by its late owner, Mrs Egerton Baines, that almost
every line of this sampler contains Royalist emblems. For instance, the
angel in the upper part is supposed to be Margaret of Scotland wearing the
Yorkist badge as a part of her chatelaine; beside her is the Tree of Life,
on either side of which are Lancastrian S's, the whole row being
symbolical of the descent of the Stuarts from Margaret of Scotland,
daughter of Henry VII. The next row of ornament is also the Tree of Life,
represented by a vine springing from an acorn, by tradition a symbolical
badge of Henrietta Maria, wife of Charles I. The next two rows are made up
of roses, acorns, and Stuart S's, which S's again appear in the line
beneath, linked with the Tree of Life. We refer elsewhere (p. 62) to the
figures in the bottom row (the whole of the sampler is not shown here),
and these are supposed to be Oliver Cromwell as a tailed devil. The
sampler is neither signed nor dated, but it clearly belongs to the first
half of the seventeenth century. The silks employed are almost exclusively
pink, green, and blue, and the work is of the open character found in that
illustrated in Plate III.
[4] In one by Hannah Lanting, dated 1691, the orthography is "with my
nedel I rout the same," and it adds, "and Juda Hayle is my Dame."
[5] The lower portion of Fig. 18 opposite introduces us to an early and
crude representation of Adam and Eve and the serpent, and to the bird and
fountain, and flower in vase, forms of decoration which became at a later
date so very common. The name of the maker has been obliterated owing to
dirt getting through a broken glass, but the date is 1742.
[6] This sampler is interesting owing to its drawn-work figures, which are
directly copied from two effigies of the reign of James I., and may stand
for that Monarch and his Queen. This portion of the sampler might readily
be mistaken for that date were it not that it bears on the bar which
divides the figures the letters S.W., 1700. The border at the side of the
figures is in red silk, that at the top and the alphabet are in the motley
array of colours to which we are accustomed in specimens of this date.
[7] A map of Europe, formerly in the author's possession, had the degrees
marked as so many minutes or hours east or west of Clapton!
[8] "Samplers," by Alice Morse Earle.
[9] It first appeared in the _Lady's Magazine_, 1819, and in the first
collected edition, 1824, Vol. I. pp. 67, 68; also in Bohn's Classics,
1852, pp. 138, 139.
[10] These latter, with their figures standing out in relief, could never
have been used for cushions, and can only have been employed as pictures.
[11] The difficulty of assigning a close date to tapestry embroideries is
a considerable one, for dress is practically the only guide, and this is
by no means a reliable one, for a design may well have been taken from a
piece dated half a century previously, as, for instance, when the marriage
of Charles I. is portrayed on an embroidery bearing date 1649, the year of
his death. Those, therefore, which have a genuine date have this value,
that they can only represent a phase of art or a subject coeval with, or
precedent to, that date. Hence the importance of the pieces illustrated in
Fig. 60 and in Fig. 68, dated six years later.
[12] Mr Davenport considers that this rounded, padded work is a caricature
of the raised embroidery of the _opus Anglicanum_, and that the earliest
specimens of it are to be found at Coire, Zurich, and Munich.
[13] The fondness for decking the dress with pearls is quaintly portrayed
in these pictures, where they are imitated by seed pearls. As to these
there is an interesting extract extant, from the inventory of St James's
House, nigh Westminster, in 1549, wherein among the items is one of "a
table [or picture] whereon is a man holding a sword in one hand and a
sceptre in the other, of needlework, prettily garnished with seed pearls."
[14] A very good example of a sampler in drawn-work, in which the floral
form of decoration is entirely absent, save in the sixth row (the pinks),
which is in green silk, the rest being in white. That the sampler was
intended as a pattern is evident from some of the rows being unfinished.