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* * * * *
ART IN NEEDLEWORK
TEXT-BOOKS OF ORNAMENTAL DESIGN
ART IN NEEDLEWORK
A BOOK ABOUT EMBROIDERY
BY
LEWIS F. DAY
AUTHOR OF 'WINDOWS,' 'ALPHABETS,'
'NATURE IN ORNAMENT' AND OTHER
TEXT-BOOKS OF ORNAMENTAL DESIGN
& MARY BUCKLE
LONDON:
B. T. BATSFORD 94 HIGH HOLBORN
1900
BRADBURY, AGNEW, & CO. LD., PRINTERS,
LONDON AND TONBRIDGE.
PREFACE.
Embroidery may be looked at from more points of view than it would be
possible in a book like this to take up seriously. Merely to hover round
the subject and glance casually at it would serve no useful purpose. It
may be as well, therefore, to define our standpoint: we look at the art
from its practical side, not, of course, neglecting the artistic, for
the practical use of embroidery is to be beautiful.
The custom has been, since woman learnt to kill time with the needle, to
think of embroidery too much as an idle accomplishment. It is more than
that. At the very least it is a handicraft: at the best it is an art.
This contention may be to take it rather seriously; but if one esteemed
it less it would hardly be worth writing about, and the book, when
written, would not be worth the attention of students of embroidery,
needleworkers, and designers of needlework to whom it is addressed. It
sets forth to show what decorative stitching is, how it is done, and
what it can do. It is illustrated by samplers of stitches; by diagrams,
to explain the way stitches are done; and by examples of old and modern
work, to show the artistic application of the stitches.
A feature in the book is the series of samplers designed to show not
only what are the available stitches, but the groups into which they
naturally gather themselves, as well as the use to which they may be
put: and the back of the sampler is given too: the reader has only to
turn the page to see the other side of the stitching--which to a
needlewoman is often the more helpful. Lest that should not be enough,
the stitches are described in the text, and a marginal note shows at a
glance where the description is given. This should be read needle and
thread in hand--or skipped. Samplers and other examples of needlework
are uniformly on a scale large enough to show the stitch quite plainly.
The examples of old work illustrate always, in the first place, some
point of workmanship; still they are chosen with some view to their
artistic interest.
In other respects Art is not overlooked; but it is Art in harness.
Design is discussed with reference to stitch and stuff, and stitch and
stuff with reference to their use in ornament. It has been endeavoured
also to show the effect needlework has had upon pattern, and the ways in
which design is affected by the circumstance that it is to be
embroidered.
The joint authorship of the work needs, perhaps, a word of explanation.
This is not just a man's book on a woman's subject. The scheme of it is
mine, and I have written it, but with the co-operation throughout of
Miss Mary Buckle. Our classification of the stitches is the result of
many a conference between us. The description of the way the stitches
are worked, and so forth, is my rendering of her description,
supplemented by practical demonstration with the needle. She has primed
me with technical information, and been always at hand to keep me from
technical error. With reference to design and art I speak for myself.
My thanks are due to the authorities at South Kensington for allowing us
to handle the treasures of the national collection, and to photograph
them for illustration; to Mrs. Walter Crane, Miss Mabel Keighley, and
Miss C. P. Shrewsbury, for permission to reproduce their handiwork; to
Miss Argles, Mrs. Buxton Morrish, Colonel Green, R.E., and Messrs.
Morris and Co., for the loan of work belonging to them; and to Miss
Chart for working the cross-stitch sampler.
I must also acknowledge the part my daughter has had in the production
of this book: without her constant help it could never have been
written.
LEWIS F. DAY.
_January 1st, 1900._
CONTENTS.
CHAP. PAGE
1. EMBROIDERY AND EMBROIDERY STITCHES 1
2. CANVAS STITCHES 12
3. CREWEL-STITCH 26
4. CHAIN-STITCH 38
5. HERRING-BONE-STITCH 47
6. BUTTONHOLE-STITCH 55
7. FEATHER AND ORIENTAL STITCHES 62
8. ROPE AND KNOT STITCHES 71
9. INTERLACINGS, SURFACE STITCHES, AND DIAPERS 83
10. SATIN-STITCH AND ITS OFFSHOOTS 91
11. DARNING 106
12. LAID-WORK 112
13. COUCHING 122
14. COUCHED GOLD 131
15. APPLIQUE 144
16. INLAY, MOSAIC, AND CUT-WORK 153
17. EMBROIDERY IN RELIEF 159
18. RAISED GOLD 165
19. QUILTING 172
20. STITCH GROUPS 175
21. ONE STITCH OR MANY? 180
22. OUTLINE 185
23. SHADING 188
24. FIGURE EMBROIDERY 198
25. THE DIRECTION OF THE STITCH 208
26. CHURCH WORK 216
27. A PLEA FOR SIMPLICITY 225
28. EMBROIDERY DESIGN 232
29. EMBROIDERY MATERIALS 242
30. A WORD TO THE WORKER 250
DESCRIPTIVE LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
1. TAPESTRY--to illustrate work on a warp not on a web. From Akhmin in
Upper Egypt. Ancient Coptic. (In the Victoria and Albert Museum.)
2. DRAWN-WORK ON FINE LINEN, embroidered with gold and colour. Oriental.
(From the collection of Mrs. Lewis F. Day.)
3. DARNING AND SATIN-STITCH on square mesh--The darning leaf, green,
follows the lines of the stuff; outlined with yellow, veined with pink
and white; stem, yellow, its foliation pink, outlined with white, and
ribbed with blue and white. Italian. 17th century. (V. & A. M.)
4. CROSS-STITCH UPON LINEN. Hungarian. Compare Illustration 45.
5. CROSS-STITCH SAMPLER--A and B, solid; C, line work; D,
stroke-stitch--called also Holbein-stitch; E, stroke and cross stitches
combined.
6. CANVAS-STITCH in coloured silk upon linen. The band Italian, the
foliated diaper Oriental. (Mrs. L. F. D.)
7. CANVAS-STITCH--Design comparatively free, but showing in its outline
the influence of the rectangular lines of the weaving. Cretan. (Mrs. L.
F. D.)
8. CANVAS-STITCH SAMPLER--A, tent-stitch; B, half-cross-stitch; C,
cushion-stitch; D, Moorish-stitch, so called; E, plait-stitch; F,
couching on canvas.
9. CUSHION AND SATIN-STITCHES UPON CANVAS--The Satin-stitches follow the
lines of the stuff, and form a diaper built upon them. Compare
Illustration 71.
10. TWO VARIETIES OF CANVAS-STITCH, the pattern in the bare linen, the
background worked--A, plait-stitch, the ornament outlined; B, stitches
drawn tightly together so as to pull the threads of the linen apart,
giving very much the effect of drawn-work. Compare Illustration 2. (Mrs.
L. F. D.)
11. CREWEL-STITCH SAMPLER--A and C, crewel-stitch; B and D,
outline-stitch; E, back-stitch; F, spots; G and H, stem-stitch; J,
crewel and outline-stitches in combination.
12. BACK OF CREWEL-STITCH SAMPLER.
13. CREWEL-WORK--the stem only worked in crewel-stitch. Embroidered in
green, blue, and brown wools upon white cotton. Old English. (Coll. of
Miss Argles.)
14. CREWEL-WORK, in which crewel-stitch hardly occurs. Embroidered in
coloured wools upon white cotton. Old English. (Coll. of J. M. Knapp,
Esq.)
15. CREWEL-STITCH IN TWISTED SILK. The scroll in green upon a
brownish-purple ground; the smaller leafage upon the scroll in brighter
green; the flowers and butterflies in blue and pink. Modern. (Mrs. L. F.
Day.)
16. CHAIN-STITCH AND KNOTS--Part of the same piece of work as
Illustration 24. Indian. (V. & A. M.)
17. CHAIN-STITCH SAMPLER--A, chain-stitch solid and in line; B, magic
stitch; C, church chain; D, cable chain; E, Vandyke chain; F,
Mountmellic chain; G, Mountmellic cable--all so called.
18. BACK OF CHAIN-STITCH SAMPLER.
19. CHAIN AND SURFACE STITCHES--the latter a kind of buttonholing, only
occasionally worked _in_to the stuff. Part of a lectern cover in white
thread upon a thin, greyish white linen stuff. German, 14th century. (V.
& A. M.)
20. HERRINGBONE SAMPLER--A, B, C, varieties of herring-bone; D, a
combination of A and C; E, fishbone; F, a close variety of A; G,
tapestry stitch, so called.
21. BACK OF HERRINGBONE SAMPLER.
22. BUTTONHOLE SAMPLER--A, B, C, ordinary buttonhole and variations upon
it; D, two rows of buttonhole worked slanting one into the other; E,
crossed buttonhole; F, tailor's buttonhole; G, ladder (called also
Cretan) stitch; H, herringbone buttonhole; J, buttonhole diaper.
23. BACK OF BUTTONHOLE SAMPLER.
24. BUTTONHOLE, CHAIN, AND KNOT STITCHES--chiefly in white floss silk on
dark purple satin, with touches of crimson at the points from which the
stitches radiate. The rings on the outer ground are not worked, but done
in the dyeing of the satin. Part of the same piece of work as 16. Modern
Indian from Surat. (V. & A. M.)
25. FEATHER-STITCH SAMPLER--A to G, ordinary feather-stitch and its
variations; G G, feather chain.
26. BACK OF FEATHER-STITCH SAMPLER.
27. ORIENTAL-STITCH SAMPLER--A to E, Oriental-stitch and its varieties;
F, Oriental-stitch worked into buttonhole; G, not properly a form of
Oriental-stitch, though bearing some resemblance to it.
28. BACK OF ORIENTAL-STITCH SAMPLER.
29. ROPE AND KNOT-STITCH SAMPLER--A, rope-stitch; B, open rope-stitch;
C, what is called German knot-stitch; D, open German knot-stitch; E, Old
English knot-stitch, so called; F, bullion-stitch; G, French knots.
30. BACK OF ROPE AND KNOT-STITCH SAMPLER.
31. A TOUR-DE-FORCE IN KNOTS--Worked entirely in the one stitch; the
drawing lines expressed by voiding. In white and coloured silks upon a
very dark blue ground. Chinese. (Mrs. L. F. D.)
32. INTERLACING-STITCH SAMPLER--A, Interlaced crewel-stitch; B,
interlaced back-stitch; C, back-stitch twice interlaced; D, interlaced
chain-stitch; E, interlaced darning; F, interlaced herringbone; G,
herringbone twice interlaced; H, an interlaced version of C in
Illustration 20; J, interlaced Oriental-stitch; K, interlaced
feather-stitch.
33. BACK OF INTERLACING SAMPLER.
34. SURFACE-STITCH SAMPLER--A, D, G, various surface stitches; B,
surface buttonhole; H and C, surface darning; E, Japanese darning, as it
is called; F, net passing; J, surface buttonhole over bars; K, surface
buttonhole over slanting stitches.
35. LACE OR SURFACE-STITCH AND SATIN-STITCH, much of it worn away. In
straw-coloured floss upon pale blue silk. Part of a dress. French. Late
18th century. (Mrs. L. F. D.)
36. SATIN-STITCH SAMPLER--Worked in floss, the stitch in various
directions, to give different effects. Incidentally it shows various
ways of breaking up a surface in satin-stitch. Compare with Illustration
38, which shows the effect of the stitch in twisted silk.
37. BACK OF SATIN-STITCH SAMPLER.
38. SATIN-STITCH IN COARSE TWISTED SILK.
39. SATIN-STITCH IN TWISTED SILK--Outlines voided. Worked in white and
occasional red and yellow upon black satin. Indian. Modern. (V. & A.
M.)
40. SATIN-STITCH AND, on the birds' bodies, PLUMAGE-STITCH--The ends of
the stalks worked in French knots; the veins of the leaves in fine white
cords laid on to the satin stitch. The outlines voided, and the voiding
occasionally worked across with stitches wide enough apart to show the
ground between. In white and bright-coloured silk floss upon a black
satin ground. Chinese. (Mrs. L. F. D.)
41. SAMPLER--Showing offshoots from satin and crewel stitches, and
incidentally illustrating various ways of shading. A, crewel-stitch; B,
plumage-stitch, worked in the hand; C, split-stitch; D, plumage-stitch,
worked in the frame.
42. BACK OF SAMPLER 41.
43. DARNING SAMPLER--Except in the background the stitches follow the
lines of the drawing, regardless of the weaving of the stuff. The
customary outlining of the pattern is here omitted, to show how far it
may, or may not, be needful.
44. DARNING--DESIGNED BY WILLIAM MORRIS. In delicate colours upon a
sea-green ground, outlined with black and white. Part of the border of a
table-cloth, the property of Messrs. Morris & Co.
45. FLAT DARNING--Solid and open, following the lines of a square mesh,
and stepping in tune with it; the outline voided; all in white thread.
Old German. (Gewerbs Museum, Munich.)
46. LAID-WORK SAMPLER, showing various ways (split-stitch and couching)
in which the sewing down may be done, and the various directions it may
take--vertical, horizontal, following the ornamental forms, or crossing
them.
47. LAID-WORK--The couching crosses the flower forms in straight lines;
and in the eye of the flower where the threads cross, the two are sewn
down at a single stitch. The spiral stems a sort of laid cord. Flower in
blue, sewn with blue and outlined with gold; leaves, a bright fresh
green stitched with olive. Japanese. (V. & A. M.)
48. LAID-WORK. The sewing down of the leaves crosses them in curved
lines which suggest roundness. The stem in gold basket pattern. Part of
a coverlet. Worked upon a cedar-coloured ground chiefly in dark blue and
white, the blue couched with white, the white and other colours couched
with red. Indo-Portuguese. 17th century. (V. & A. M.)
49. LAID-WORK AND SOME SURFACE-STITCH. The stitching which sews down the
floss takes the direction of the scroll, &c., and gives drawing. The
surface work in the stems is done upon a ladder of stitches across. Part
of a chalice veil. Italian. Early 17th century. (V. & A. M.)
50. LAID-WORK SAMPLER--The straight lines of laid floss varied in colour
to suggest shading. The stalk padded, and the pattern made by the
stitching upon it thereby emphasised.
51. BULLION AND COUCHED CORD--A, The somewhat loose design of the border
in bullion shows rather plainly the way it is done. B, The solid discs
of spiral cord are unusual, but most characteristic of the method of
couching. The stitches sewing down the cord are not apparent. Oriental.
(Mrs. L. F. D.)
52. SAMPLER OF COUCHED SILK--The broad central band and the narrow
beaded lines are in floss, and show the effect of sewing it more or less
tightly down. The two intermediate bands are in cord couched with
threads in the direction of its twist, not very easily distinguishable
unless by contrast of colour.
53. COUCHING IN LOOPED THREADS--The effect is not unlike that of
chain-stitch or fine knotting. Rather over actual size. Worked in bright
colours upon a pale green crepe ground. Chinese. (Mrs. L. F. D.)
54. REVERSE COUCHING--Showing on the face of it no sign of couching.
(After the manner of the Syon Cope.)
55. BACK OF REVERSE COUCHING--Showing the parallel lines of couched
linen thread which sew down the silk upon the surface (Illustration 54).
The zigzag pattern of the stitching might equally well have taken other
lines.
56. COUCHED GOLD SAMPLER--A, B, C, D, flat work; E, part flat, part
raised; F, G, H, J, basket and other patterns raised over cords.
57. COUCHING IN VARIOUS DIAPER PATTERNS, OUTLINED IN PART WITH "PLATE."
Silver on pale pink silk. (Coll. of Mrs. T. Buxton Morrish.)
58. GOLD COUCHING IN OPEN THREADS--A, The lines of gold which form a
scale pattern on the dragon's body, are wide enough apart to let the red
ground grin through. Elsewhere the couching, contrary to mediaeval
practice, follows the shapes, line within line until they are occupied.
The floss embroidery, in white and colours, is in surface-satin-stitch.
Chinese. B, The open lines of gold look somehow richer than if the metal
had been worked solid upon the crimson ground. Old Venetian. (Mrs. L. F.
D.)
59. COUCHED OUTLINE WORK; only an occasional detail worked solid;
suggests damascening. The border is in gold, the filling in silver,
thread on a greyish-green velvet. Part of an Italian housing or
saddlecloth. 16th century. (V. & A. M.)
60. APPLIQUE--Satin upon velvet, outlined with two threads of gold
couching.
61. APPLIQUE PANEL--Designed and executed by Miss Mabel Keighley,
illustrating a poem by William Morris. (The property of the artist.)
62. A. COUNTER-CHANGE PATTERN, INLAY OR APPLIQUE.--Yellow satin and
crimson velvet. The outline, which is in gold, falls chiefly upon the
yellow, so as not to disturb the exact balance of light and dark, which
it is essential to preserve in counter-change. Part of a stole. Spanish.
16th century (V. & A. M.)
B. APPLIQUE, of deep crimson velvet upon white
satin, outlined with paler red cord. The outlines, meeting together,
form a stem of double cord. Italian. 17th century. (V. & A. M.)
63. APPLIQUE, with couched outline, and stitching upon the applique band
or ribbon. The dots in the centre of the grapes are French knots. The
pattern is in satin of various colours, upon a figured green silk
damask, outlined with yellow silk sewn down with yellow. Italian. (V. &
A. M.)
64. INLAY IN COLOURED CLOTHS, outlined with chain stitch. Magic stitch
also occurs. A characteristic example of the kind of work done at
Retsht, in Persia. (Mrs. L. F. D.)
65. CUT-WORK IN LINEN--A fret of this kind was often outlined with
coloured silk, and the detail within the fretted outline further
embroidered in coloured silk. (Coll. of Mrs. Drake.)
66. SAMPLER OF RAISED WORK, showing underlays: A, of cloth; B, of
twisted cords; C, of parchment; D, of cotton wool; E, first of cotton
cord and then of cotton thread; F, of cord; G, of string; H, of sewing.
67. RAISED WORK, showing underlay of linen, and the way it is sewn
down--The work is in flax thread, red, yellow, and white, upon a blue
linen ground. The stem is dotted with white beads, the ground with gold
spangles. Part of an altar frontal. German. 15th century. (V. & A. M.)
68. RAISED GOLD BASKET PATTERNS, &c., upon white satin. The stalk in
flat wire. Spanish. 17th century. (Mrs. L. F. D.)
69. QUILT, WORKED IN CHAIN-STITCH from the back--which has precisely the
effect of back-stitch. Yellow silk upon white linen. Old English. (V. &
A. M.)
70. RAISED QUILTING, in black silk upon pale sea-green satin. Part of
the border of a prayer cushion. Old Persian. (Mrs. L. F. D.)
71. DIAPER OF SATIN-STITCH IN THE MAKING--Something between
canvas-stitch and satin-stitch. The leafage is in tent-stitch. Compare
with Illustration 9. (V. & A. M.)
72. STITCHES IN COMBINATION--Among them Oriental, ladder, buttonhole,
chain, crewel, satin, and herringbone stitches, worked in dark blue silk
upon unbleached linen. Old Cretan, so called. (Mrs. L. F. D.)
73. FINE NEEDLEWORK UPON CAMBRIC--the substance of which is apparent
upon the upper edge of the work. In the ground-work of the pattern
generally the threads are drawn together to form an open net. The
stitches occurring in the collar of which this is part are, buttonhole,
satin, chain, herringbone, cross, and back stitches. The outline is
mostly in fine cross-stitch. Nothing could exceed the delicacy of the
workmanship, which is in its kind perfect. Old English. (Coll. of Col.
Green, R.E.)
74. PART OF A DESIGN BY WALTER CRANE, cunningly adapted to execution in
needlework. Shows the direction of the stitch, and the part it can be
made to play in expressing form. Worked in coloured silks upon linen by
Mrs. Walter Crane, whose property the work is.
75. SHADING IN CHAIN-STITCH in silk and chenille upon a satin ground.
The shading very deliberately schemed by the designer. In natural
colours upon white. French. Louis Seize. (V. & A. M.)
76. SHADING IN SHORT STITCHES; picturesque to the point of a touch of
white in the glistening yellow of the dove's eye. Chenille, in
chain-stitch, is used for the wreath and in the leaves of the flower
sprigs. These are in colours, the birds are in silvery greys, all on a
white satin ground. French. Louis Seize. (V. & A. M.)
77. SHADING IN LONG-AND-SHORT AND SPLIT STITCHES, with more regard to
expression of form than to neatness of execution. German. 16th century.
(V. & A. M.)
78. CHAIN-STITCH, showing in the figures of the little men what a
draughtsman can express in a few stitches. Full size. Chinese. (Mrs. L.
F. D.)
79. FIGURE WORK--The flesh in straight upright stitches, the drapery
laid and couched. English. 15th century. (V. & A. M.)
80. CONSUMMATE FIGURE EMBROIDERY--Canvas ground entirely covered. Flesh
in coloured silks, short-stitch; drapery coloured silks over gold, which
only gleams through in the lighter parts. Architecture closely couched
gold. Part of an orphrey. Florentine. 16th century. (V. & A. M.)
81. CHINESE FIGURES--The flesh in short satin-stitches, the rest in
chain-stitch; chiefly in blue and white upon a figured white silk
ground. About actual size. (Mrs. L. F. D.)
82. SATIN-STITCH, showing the influence of its direction upon the tone
of colour. The pattern is all in one shade of yellow-brown floss upon
white linen. The outline steps with the weaving, and so shows connection
between satin and canvas stitches. Italian, 17th century. (V. & A. M.)
83. MEANINGLESS DIRECTION OF STITCH--Satin and herring-bone stitches.
From an altar-cloth. German. 17th century. (V. & A. M.)
84. MORE EXPRESSIVE LINES OF STITCHING--To compare with Illustration 83.
85. SATIN AND PLUMAGE STITCHES chiefly, the bird's crest in French
knots, the clouds about him in knotted braid. The direction of the
stitch is most artfully chosen, and the precision of the work is
faultless. The satin ground is of brilliant orange-red; the crane,
white, with black tail feathers, scarlet crest, and yellow beak and
legs; the clouds, black and white and blue. Japanese. (Mrs. L. F. D.)
86. RENAISSANCE CHURCH WORK IN GOLD AND SILVER, partly flat, partly in
relief, upon pale blue satin, with touches of pink and crimson silk to
give emphasis. Spanish. 18th century. Compare the stem with Illustration
66, B. (V. & A. M.)
87. GOTHIC CHURCH WORK--The flesh, &c., in split-stitch; the vine-leaves
green, getting yellower as it nears the crimson silk ground. Part of a
cope embroidered with a representation of the Tree of Jesse. English.
Ca. 1340. (V. & A. M.)
88. MODERN CHURCH WORK ON LINEN, in long-and-short stitch. Veins padded
with embroidery cotton and worked over with two threads of filo-floss, a
green and a blue; the rest of the leaves worked in one shade of stout
floss. All this applied to velvet with a couching of brown filoselle,
and the tendrils added. Designed and executed by Miss C. P. Shrewsbury.
(The property of the artist.)
89. SIMPLE STITCHING ON LINEN, the broader bands in a canvas stitch in
yellow, the finer lines in back-stitch in pale grey silk. Italian. (Mrs.
L. F. D.)
90. SIMPLE COUCHED OUTLINE WORK, in purplish silk cord upon linen. Part
of an altar-cloth. Italian. 16th century. (V. & A. M.)
91. RENAISSANCE ORNAMENT--Most gracefully designed arabesque. The raised
outline (couched) has somewhat the effect of cloisons, the satin-stitch
(in colours) of brilliant enamel. It is upon a white satin ground. The
foreshortened face in the picture is _painted_ upon satin. Italian. Ca.
1700. (V. & A. M.)
92. APPLIQUE DESIGN, in yellow satin upon crimson velvet--Double
outline; next the red, white, sewn with pale blue; next the yellow,
gold. Midrib of the leaf couched silver. Spanish, 16th century. (V. & A.
M.)
93. SATIN-STITCH--except that the heart-shaped features at the base and
the lily-shaped flowers, of which only the tips are shown, are outlined
with fine white cord. Part of a fan, worked by Miss Buckle, from a
design by L. F. D. (The property of the worker.)
94. LEATHER APPLIQUE UPON VELVET--The stitching well within the edge of
the leather.
ERRATA.
Page 30. Diagram belongs to G (Stem-Stitch) described on page 32, not C
(Thick Crewel-Stitch).
Page 125, 2nd line. For "lower" read "upper."
ART IN NEEDLEWORK.
EMBROIDERY AND STITCHING.
Embroidery begins with the needle, and the needle (thorn, fish-bone, or
whatever it may have been) came into use so soon as ever savages had the
wit to sew skins and things together to keep themselves warm--modesty,
we may take it, was an afterthought--and if the stitches made any sort
of pattern, as coarse stitching naturally would, that was _embroidery_.
The term is often vaguely used to denote all kinds of ornamental
needlework, and some with which the needle has nothing to do. That is
misleading; though it is true that embroidery does touch, on the one
side, _tapestry_, which may be described as a kind of embroidery with
the shuttle, and, on the other, _lace_, which is needlework pure and
simple, construction "in the air" as the Italian name has it.
The term is used in common parlance to express any kind of superficial
or superfluous ornamentation. A poet is said to embroider the truth.
But such metaphorical use of the word hints at the real nature of the
work--embellishment, enrichment, _added_. If added, there must first of
all be something it is added _to_--the material, that is to say, on
which the needlework is done. In weaving (even tapestry weaving) the
pattern is got by the inter-threading of warp and weft. In lace, too, it
is got out of the threads which make the stuff. In embroidery it is got
by threads worked _on_ a fabric first of all woven on the loom, or, it
might be, netted.
There is inevitably a certain amount of overlapping of the crafts. For
instance, take a form of embroidery common in all countries, Eastern,
Hungarian, or nearer home, in which certain of the weft threads of the
linen are _drawn out_, and the needlework is executed upon the warp
threads thus revealed. This is, strictly speaking, a sort of tapestry
with the needle, just as, it was explained, tapestry itself may be
described as a sort of embroidery with the shuttle. That will be clearly
seen by reference to Illustration 1, which shows a fragment of ancient
tapestry found in a Coptic tomb in Upper Egypt. In the lower portion of
it the pattern appears light on dark. As a matter of fact, it was
wrought in white and red upon a linen warp; but, as it happened, only
the white threads were of linen, like the warp, the red were woollen,
and in the course of fifteen hundred years or so much of this red wool
has perished, leaving the white pattern intact on the warp, the
threads of which are laid bare in the upper part of the illustration.
[Illustration: 1. TAPESTRY, SHOWING WARP.]
It is on just such upright lines of warp that all tapestry, properly so
called, is worked--whether with the shuttle or with the needle makes no
matter--and there is good reason, therefore, for the name of "tapestry
stitch" to describe needlework upon the warp threads only of a material
(usually linen) from which some of the weft threads have been
_withdrawn_.
The only difference between true tapestry and drawn work, an example of
which is here given, is, that the one is done on a warp that has not
before been woven upon, and the other on a warp from which the weft
threads have been _drawn_. The distinction, therefore, between tapestry
and embroidery is, that, worked on a warp, as in Illustration 1, it is
tapestry; worked on a mesh, as in Illustration 3, it is embroidery.
[Illustration: 2. DRAWN WORK.]
With regard, again, to lace. That is itself a web, independent of any
groundwork or foundation to support it. But it is possible to work it
_over_ a silken or other surface; and there is a kind of embroidery
which only floats on the surface of the material without penetrating it.
A fragment of last century silk given in Illustration 35 shows plainly
what is meant.
[Illustration: 3. STITCHING ON A SQUARE MESH.]
Embroidery is enrichment by means of the needle. To embroider is to work
_on_ something: a groundwork is presupposed. And we usually understand
by embroidery, needlework in thread (it may be wool, cotton, linen,
silk, gold, no matter what) upon a textile material, no matter what. In
short, it is the decoration of a material woven in thread by means still
of thread. It is thus _the_ consistent way of ornamenting stuff--most
consistent of all when one kind of thread is employed throughout, as in
the case of linen upon linen, silk upon silk. The enrichment may,
however, rightly be, and oftenest is, perhaps, in a material nobler than
the stuff enriched, in silk upon linen, in wool upon cotton, in gold
upon velvet. The advisability of working upon a precious stuff in thread
_less_ precious is open to question. It does not seem to have been
satisfactorily done; but if it were only the background that was worked,
and the pattern were so schemed as almost to cover it, so that, in fact,
very little of the more beautiful texture was sacrificed, and you had
still a sumptuous pattern on a less attractive background--why not? But
then it would be because you wanted that less precious texture there.
The excuse of economy would scarcely hold good.
In the case of a material in itself unsightly, the one course is to
cover it entirely with stitching, as did the Persian and other
untireable people of the East. But not they only. The famous Syon cope
is so covered. Much of the work so done, all-over work that is to say,
competes in effect with tapestry or other weaving; and its purpose was
similar: it is a sort of amateur way of working your own stuff. But in
character it is no more nearly related to the work of the loom than
other needlework--it is still work _on_ stuff. For all-over embroidery
one chooses, naturally, a coarse canvas ground to work on; but it more
often happens that one chooses canvas because one means to cover it,
than that one works all over a ground because it is unpresentable.
Embroidery is merely an affair of stitching; and the first thing needful
alike to the worker in it and the designer for it is, a thorough
acquaintance with the stitches; not, of course, with every modification
of a modification of a stitch which individual ingenuity may have
devised--it would need the space of an encyclopaedia to chronicle them
all--but with the broadly marked varieties of stitch which have been
employed to best purpose in ornament.
They are derived, naturally, from the stitches first used for quite
practical and prosaic purposes--buttonhole stitch, for example, to keep
the edges of the stuff from fraying; herring-bone, to strengthen and
disguise a seam; darning, to make good a worn surface; and so on.
The difficulty of discussing them is greatly increased by the haphazard
way in which they are commonly named. A stitch is called Greek, Spanish,
Mexican, or what not, according to the country whence came the work in
which some one first found it. Each names it after his or her individual
discovery, or calls it, perhaps, vaguely Oriental; and so we have any
number of names for the same stitch, names which to different people
stand often for quite different stitches.
When this confusion is complicated by the invention of a new name for
every conceivable combination of thread-strokes, or for each slightest
variation upon an old stitch, and even for a stitch worked from left to
right instead of from right to left, or for a stitch worked rather
longer than usual, the task of reducing them to order seems almost
hopeless.
Nor do the quasi-learned descriptions of old stitches help us much. One
reads about _opus_ this and _opus_ that, until one begins to wonder
where, amidst all this parade of science, art comes in. But you have not
far to go in the study of the authorities to discover that, though they
may concur in using certain high-sounding Latin terms, they are not of
the same mind as to their meaning. In one thing they all agree, foreign
writers as well as English, and that is, as to the difficulty of
identifying the stitch referred to by ancient writers, themselves
probably not acquainted with the _technique_ of stitching, and as likely
as not to call it by a wrong name. It is easier, for example, to talk of
_Opus Anglicanum_ than to say precisely what it was, further than that
it described work done in England; and for that we have the simple
word--English. There is nothing to show that mediaeval English work
contained stitches not used elsewhere. The stitches probably all come
from the East.
Nomenclature, then, is a snare. Why not drop titles, and call stitches
by the plainest and least mistakable names? It will be seen, if we
reduce them to their native simplicity, that they fall into
fairly-marked groups, or families, which can be discussed each under its
own head.
Stitches may be grouped in all manner of arbitrary ways--according to
their provenance, according to their effect, according to their use, and
so on. The most natural way of grouping them is according to their
structure; not with regard to whence they came, or what they do, but
according to what they are, the way they are worked. This, at all
events, is no arbitrary classification, and this is the plan it is
proposed here to adopt.
The use of such classification hardly needs pointing out.
A survey of the stitches is the necessary preliminary, either to the
design or to the execution of needlework. How else suit the design to
the stitch, the stitch to the design? In order to do the one the artist
must be quite at home among the stitches; in order to do the other the
embroidress must have sympathy enough with a design to choose the stitch
or stitches which will best render it. An artist who thinks the working
out of his sketch none of his business is no practical designer; the
worker who thinks design a thing apart from her is only a worker.
This is not the moment to urge upon the needlewoman the study of design,
but to urge upon the designer the study of stitches. Nothing is more
impractical than to make a design without realising the labour involved
in its execution. Any one not in sympathy with stitching may possibly
design a beautiful piece of needlework, but no one will get all that is
to be got out of the needle without knowing all about it. One must
understand the ways in which work can be done in order to determine the
way it shall in any particular case be done.
Certain stitches answer certain purposes, and strictly only those. The
designer must know which stitch answers which purpose, or he will in the
first place waste the labour of the embroidress, and in the second miss
his effect, which is to waste his own pains too. The effective worker
(designer or embroiderer) is the one who works with judgment--and you
cannot judge unless you know. When it is remembered that the character
of needlework, and by rights also the character of its design, depends
upon the stitch, there will be no occasion to insist further upon the
necessity of a comprehensive survey of the stitches.
A stitch may be defined as the thread left on the surface of the cloth
or what not, after each ply of the needle.
And the simple straightforward stitches of this kind are not so many as
one might suppose. They may be reduced indeed to a comparatively few
types, as will be seen in the following chapters.
CANVAS STITCHES.
The simplest, as it is most likely the earliest used, stitch-group is
what might best be called CANVAS stitch--of which cross-stitch is
perhaps the most familiar type, the class of stitches which come of
following, as it is only natural to do, the mesh of a coarse canvas,
net, or open web upon which the work is done.
A stitch bears always, or should bear, some relation to the material on
which it is worked; but canvas or very coarse linen almost compels a
stitch based upon the cross lines of its woof, and indeed suggests
designs of equally rigid construction. That is so in embroidery no
matter where. In ancient Byzantine or Coptic work, in modern Cretan
work, and in peasant embroidery all the world over, pattern work on
coarse linen has run persistently into angular lines--in which, because
of that very angularity, the plain outcome of a way of working, we find
artistic character. Artistic design is always expressive of its mode of
workmanship.
Work of this kind is not too lightly to be dismissed. There is art in
the rendering of form by means of angular outlines, art in the choice
of forms which can be expressed by such lines. It is not uncharitable
to surmise that one reason why such work (once so universal and now
quite out of fashion) is not popular with needlewomen may be, the demand
it makes upon the designer's draughtmanship: it is much easier, for
example, to draw a stag than to render the creature satisfactorily
within jagged lines determined by a linen mesh.
[Illustration: 4. CROSS-STITCH.]
The piquancy about natural or other forms thus reduced to angularity
argues, of course, no affectation of quaintness on the part of the
worker, but was the unavoidable outcome of her way of work. There is a
pronounced and early limit to art of this rather naive kind, but that
there is art in some of the very simplest and most modest peasant work
built up on those lines no artist will deny. The art in it is usually in
proportion to its modesty. Nothing is more futile than to put it to
anything like pictorial purpose. The wonderfully wrought pictures in
tent-stitch, for example, bequeathed to us by the 17th century, are
painful object lessons in what not to do.
The origin of the term cross-stitch is not far to seek: the stitches
worked upon the square mesh do cross. But, falling naturally into the
lines of the mesh which governs them, they present not so much the
appearance of crosses as of squares, reminding one of the tesserae
employed in mosaic.
[Sidenote: TO WORK CROSS STITCH.]
To explain the process of working cross-stitch would be teaching one's
grandmother indeed. It is simply, as its name implies, crossing one
stitch by another, following always the lines of the canvas. But the
important thing about it is that the stitches must cross always in the
same way; and, more than that, they must be worked in the same
direction, or the mere fact that the stitches at the _back_ of the work
do not run in the same way will disturb the evenness of the surface.
What looks like a seam on the sampler opposite is the result of filling
up a gap in the ground with stitches necessarily worked in vertical,
whereas the ground generally is in horizontal, lines. On the face of the
work the stitches cross all in the same way.
The common use of cross-stitch and the somewhat geometric kind of
pattern to which it lends itself are shown in the sampler, Illustration
5.
The broad and simple leafage, worked solid (A) or left in the plain
canvas upon a groundwork of solid stitching (B), and the fretted
diaper on vertical and horizontal lines (C), show the most
straightforward ways of using it.
[Illustration: 5. CROSS-STITCH SAMPLER.]
The criss-cross of alternating cross-stitches and open canvas framed by
the key pattern (C) shows a means of getting something like a tint
halfway between solid work and plain ground. The mere work line--or
"stroke-stitch," not crossed (D), is a perfectly fair way of getting a
delicate effect; but the design has a way of working out rather less
happily than it promised.
The addition of such stroke-stitches to solid cross-stitch (E) is not at
best a very happy device. It strikes one always as a confession of
dissatisfaction on the part of the worker with the simple means of her
choice. As a device for, as it were, correcting the stepped outline it
is at its worst. Timid workers are always afraid of the stepped outline
which a coarse mesh gives. In that they are wrong. One should employ
canvas stitch only where there is no objection to a line which keeps
step with the canvas; then there is a positive charm (for frank people
at least) in the frank confession of the way the work is done.
There are many degrees in the frankness with which this convention has
been accepted, according perhaps to the coarseness of the canvas ground,
perhaps to the personality of the worker. The animal forms at the top of
Illustration 6 are uncompromisingly square; the floral devices on the
same page, though they fall, as it were inevitably, into square lines,
are less rigidly formal. The inevitableness of the square line is
apparent in the sprig below (7). It was evidently meant to be freely
drawn, but the influence of the mesh betrays itself; and the design, if
it loses something in grace, gains also thereby in character.
[Illustration: 6. CANVAS-STITCH.]
[Illustration: 7. CANVAS-STITCH.]
There is literally no end to the variety of stitches, as they are
called, belonging to this group, and their names are a babel of
confusion. Florentine, Parisian, Hungarian, Spanish, Moorish, Cashmere,
Milanese, Gobelin, are only a few of them; but they stand, as a rule,
rather for stitch arrangements than for stitches. A small selection of
them is given in Illustration 8.
[Sidenote: TENT-STITCH A.]
What is known as tent-stitch (A in the sampler opposite) is a sort of
half cross-stitch; its peculiarity is that it covers only one thread of
the canvas at a stroke, and is therefore on a more minute scale than
stitches which are two or three threads wide, as cross-stitch may, and
cushion-stitch must, be. It derives its name from the old word tenture,
or tenter (_tendere_, to stretch), the frame on which the embroidress
distended her canvas. The word has gone out of use, but we still speak
of tenter-hooks. The stitch is serviceable enough in its way, but is
discredited by the monstrous abuse of it referred to already. A picture
in tent-stitch is even more foolish than a picture in mosaic. It cannot
come anywhere near to pictorial effect; the tesserae will pronounce
themselves, and spoil it.
[Illustration: 8. CANVAS-STITCH SAMPLER.]
[Illustration: 9. CUSHION AND SATIN STITCHES.]
[Sidenote: CROSS-STITCH B.]
This kind of half cross-stitch worked on the larger scale of ordinary
cross-stitch would look meagre. It is filled out, therefore (B), by
horizontal lines of the thread laid across the canvas, and over these
the stitch is worked.
[Sidenote: CUSHION-STITCH C.]
Cushion-stitch consists of diagonal lines of upright stitches, measuring
in the sampler (C) six threads of the canvas, so that after each stitch
the needle may be brought out just three threads lower than where it was
put in. By working in zigzag instead of diagonal lines, a familiar
pattern is produced, more often described as "Florentine;" but the
stitch is in any case the same.
[Sidenote: CANVAS-STITCH D.]
The stitch at D (sometimes called Moorish stitch) is begun by working a
row of short vertical stitches, slightly apart, and completed by
diagonal stitches joining them.
Unless the silk employed is full and soft, this may not completely cover
the canvas, in which case the diagonal stitches must further be crossed
as shown on Illustration 89.
If the linen is loosely woven and the thread is tightly drawn in the
working, the mesh is pulled apart, giving the effect of an open lattice
of the kind shown at B, on Illustration 10, in which the threads of the
linen are not drawn out but drawn together.
[Sidenote: CANVAS-STITCH E.]
The way of working the stitch at E is described on page 51, under the
name of "fish-bone." Worked on canvas it has somewhat the effect of
plaiting, and goes by the name of "plait-stitch." It is worked in
horizontal rows alternately from left to right and from right to left.
[Sidenote: CANVAS-STITCH F.]
The stitch at F is a sort of couching (see page 124). Diagonal lines of
thread are first laid from edge to edge of the ground space, and these
are sewn down by short overcasting stitches in the cross direction.
Admirable canvas stitch work has been done upon linen in silk of one
colour--red, green, or blue--and it was a common practice to
work the background leaving the pattern in the bare stuff. It
prevailed in countries lying far apart, though probably not without
inter-communication. In fact, the influence of Oriental work upon
European has been so great that even experts hesitate sometimes to say
whether a particular piece of work is Turkish or Italian. In Italian
work, at least, it was usual to get over the angularity of silhouette
inherent in canvas stitches by working an outline separately. When that
is thin, the effect is proportionately feeble. The broader outline
(shown at A, Illustration 10) justifies itself, and in the case of a
stitch which falls into horizontal lines, it appears to be necessary.
This is plait stitch, known also by the name of Spanish stitch--not that
it is in any way peculiar to Spain. It is allied to herring-bone-stitch,
to which a special chapter is devoted.
[Illustration: 10. PLAIT AND OPEN CANVAS STITCHES.]
Darning is also employed as a canvas stitch. There is beautiful 16th
century Italian work (in coloured silks on dark net of the very open
square mesh of the period), which is most effective, and in which there
is no pretence of disguising the stepped outline; and in the very early
days of Christian art in Egypt and Byzantium, linen was darned in little
square tufts of wool upstanding on its surface, which look so much like
the tesserae of mosaic that it seems as if they must have been worked in
deliberate imitation of it.
Again, in the 15th century satin-stitch was worked on fine linen with
strict regard to the lines of its web; and the Persians, ancient and
modern, embroider white silk upon linen, also in satin-stitch,
preserving piously the rectangular and diagonal lines given by the
material. They have their reward in producing most characteristic
needlework. The diapered ground in Illustration 9 (page 20) is
satin-stitch upon coarse linen.
The filling-in patterns used to such delicate and dainty purpose in the
marvellous work on fine cambric (Illustration 73) which competes in
effect with lace, though it is strictly embroidery, all follow in their
design the lines of the fabric, and are worked thread by thread
according to its woof: they afford again instances of perfect adaptation
of stitch to material and of design to stitch.
Satin and other stitches were worked by the old Italians (Illustration
3) on square-meshed canvas, frankly on the square lines given by it, for
the filling in of ornamental details, though the outline might be much
less formal. That is to say, the surface of freely-drawn leaves, &c.,
instead of being worked solid, was diapered over with more or less open
pattern work constructed on the lines of the weaving.
A cunning use of the square mesh of canvas has sometimes been made to
guide the worker upon other fabrics, such as velvet. This was first
faced with net: the design was then worked, over that, on to and into
the velvet, and the threads of the canvas were then drawn out. That is a
device which may serve on occasion. The design may even be traced upon
the net.
CREWEL-STITCH.
For work in the hand, CREWEL-STITCH is perhaps, on the whole, the
easiest and most useful of stitches; whence it comes that people
sometimes vaguely call all embroidery crewel work; though, as a matter
of fact, the stitch properly so called was never very commonly employed,
even when the work was done in "crewel," the double thread of twisted
wool from which it takes its name.
[Illustration: THE WORKING OF A ON CREWEL-STITCH SAMPLER.]
[Illustration: 11. CREWEL-STITCH SAMPLER.]
[Illustration: 12. CREWEL-STITCH SAMPLER (BACK).]
[Sidenote: TO WORK A.]
CREWEL-STITCH proper is shown at A on the sampler opposite, where it is
used for line work. It is worked as follows:--Having made a start in the
usual way, keep your thread downwards under your left thumb and below
your needle--that is, to the right; then take up with the needle, say
1/8th of an inch of the stuff, and bring it out through the hole made in
starting the stitch, taking care not to pierce the thread. This gives
the first half stitch. If you proceed in the same way your next stitch
will be full length. The test of good workmanship is that at the back it
should look like back-stitch (Illustration 12), described on page 30.
[Illustration: THE WORKING OF B ON CREWEL-STITCH SAMPLER.]
[Sidenote: TO WORK B.]
OUTLINE-STITCH (B on sampler) differs from crewel-stitch only in that
the thread is always kept upwards above the needle, that is to the left.
In so doing the thread is apt to untwist itself, and wants constantly
re-twisting. The stitch is useful for single lines and for outlining
solid work. The muddled effect of much crewel work is due to the
confusion of this stitch with crewel-stitch proper.
[Sidenote: TO WORK C.]