embroidered on it? You might think that the worker was more than
ordinarily clever, but really any one who can embroider flowers can do
this. Baste a piece of fine lawn on the section you desire to embroider
and stamp it with a spray. Embroider in the usual way and when the
spray is finished neatly cut away any of the lawn that extends beyond
the flower without cutting the lace. The result is that the piece has
the effect of a natural flower resting upon it.
The finer the silk used the more delicate shading can be accomplished.
There is another way to represent flowers that is particularly
beautiful. It is known as ribbon work or rococo embroidery. The ribbons
especially made for this work vary from slightly less than one quarter
of an inch to a little more than a half inch in width. The colours do
not range in such long lines as the silks. In fact it is rare to find
a shop that carries more than ten colours. Sometimes the ribbons are
shaded. They are soft and do not crease quite as readily as an ordinary
ribbon.
A No. 6 crewel needle is about the right size for the narrow ribbon,
while the half inch ribbons need a No. 3.
[Illustration: Fig. 153. Ribbon flowers]
Forget-me-nots, conventionalized small asters, and little roses are
suitable for the narrow ribbons. Satin, moire, broadcloth, or heavy
silk are used for the background and the daintiest of needle cases,
jewel cases, handkerchief bags, belts, and other little accessories
may be evolved from a small piece of silk and a few yards of ribbon.
The design is stamped on the background and all the single lines or
stems outlined with filo silk. Let us imagine we are working on a spray
of forget-me-nots. The needle is threaded with six inches of the narrow
green ribbon. Slip your needle from the under side of the material
drawing all the ribbon through but a quarter of an inch. One stitch
is generally sufficient for a leaf, though sometimes the leaves are
wider and require two or possibly three stitches. The ribbon serves
the same purpose as silk. The one point to remember is that the ribbon
should not be twisted. Naturally in pulling it through the material
several times it becomes so wrinkled that a short piece works to better
advantage than a long one. The flower is made in the same way, one
stitch for each petal and when completed a French knot is made in the
centre of the flower (Figure 153).
The ends caused from starting and finishing off are fastened or caught
down with a piece of fine thread on the wrong side.
Do not pull your stitches. The work is very much prettier when it lies
soft and full on the background.
It is well to make use of every piece of fancy work you do and yet
sometimes a new thing may strike your fancy and you would like to make
a small piece.
A card case is acceptable to every girl and it is a good plan to make
them to match your visiting dresses.
Take a piece of material five by ten inches long. Three inches from one
of the short edges stamp a design that will not occupy a space larger
than three inches long and two inches deep. The length of the design
must run parallel with the short edge of the material. The bottom of
the stamping must be five and a half inches from the short edge of the
material.
[Illustration: Fig. 154. A card case]
A little spray of lilies of the valley on a green silk background makes
a dainty case (Figure 154).
Get a piece of stiff tailor's canvas and cut it to measure eight and
three quarters inches by four inches wide. A piece of china silk the
same size as the satin will be needed for the lining. It is best to
select the shade of silk that harmonizes with the outside material.
With a green cover a lining lighter or darker is suggested. The latter
is preferred as the constant fingering of a light colour is apt to soil
it.
Cut all three pieces so that they are true oblongs; two and a quarter
inches from the short edge make a crease. Two and a half inches from
the first crease or four and three quarters inches from the outer edge
make another crease and cut along it, thus separating the stiffening in
two.
[Illustration: Fig. 155. The foundation of the card case]
Two and a half inches on both sides of the now short edges of the piece
that is not creased draw a line from side to side and crease.
On the extreme right-hand side measure down one and a half inches from
the corner and make a dot; measure up from the lower corner and make
another dot. The space between the dots should measure one inch. Take a
twenty-five cent piece and place on the space between the dots so that
the edge of the material is under the direct centre of the quarter.
Make a semicircular curve on the canvas around the quarter. Cut along
the pencil lines (Figure 155).
[Illustration: Fig. 156. The canvas interlining]
The stiffening now ready, baste it to the lining. See that all creases
have been smoothed out of the China silk lining before basting. Place
the two pieces of canvas so that there is an equal margin on all four
sides. The cut edges of the canvas must be placed one eighth of an inch
apart as shown in the diagram (Figure 156). On one side is the four and
three-quarter inch piece and the other is the four inch. Pin or baste
the canvas through the centre to keep it in position. With a threaded
needle cat-stitch the silk to the canvas, care being taken to see that
the stitches do not appear on the silk side. Cat or catch-stitching is
another name for herring-boning, which is explained in the chapter on
feather-stitching.
Before turning a corner, cut off a small piece of material to prevent
the corner from being bulky. Treat each corner in like manner: when you
come to the little curved part, slash the material so that when it is
folded over the canvas it will fit perfectly smooth.
Fold the canvas and lining along the creases originally made in the
canvas. An iron pressed over them will help to make them stay in
position. The embroidered piece is then placed over the wrong side
of the canvas. A half-inch turn is made on all sides. Turn this half
inch toward the wrong side of the canvas. Sometimes a layer of cotton
batting is laid under the embroidery between the canvas and satin. The
satin piece is basted to the canvas. The folded edge of the satin and
the folded edge of the silk are overcast with tiny stitches. Fold back
the two sections of the case and over-cast each side (Figure 157). Your
card case is now completed.
[Illustration: Fig. 157. The inside of the card case]
A bill folder is made in the same way, only that the ends are not
stitched together to form pockets as in the card case.
It is always well to know how to make pretty, attractive pieces of
needlework that will make acceptable gifts for Christmas or a birthday.
Nearly everybody has a hobby. Sometimes it is saving receipts,
sometimes keeping newspaper clippings, and then again it may be keeping
theatre programmes. It is well to consider what gift is most suitable
for the one that is to receive it; to make for the faddist an envelope
to keep her clippings will be just the thing.
[Illustration: Fig. 158. The way to make an envelope]
Take a piece of brown linen ten and a half inches by nine and a
half inches. Fold it in half so that it measures five and a quarter
inches by nine and a half inches. Stamp a spray of daisies or wild
roses on one side and mark what the envelope is supposed to hold,
such as receipts or clippings. Brown linen does not soil as easily
as white. Embroider the flowers and the lettering, then dampen the
linen thoroughly and press on the wrong side. Now take two pieces
of cardboard that measure eight and a half inches by four and three
quarters. Cover the cardboard with the linen, use long stitches as
described in the needle case, except that two pieces of the cardboard
are placed side by side on the brown linen. Now take two pieces of
brown paper the same size as the cardboard and cover the stitches.
Paste should be used to make the paper stick to the linen.
[Illustration: Fig. 159. The envelope]
[Illustration: Fig. 160. The case completed]
Make six envelopes by taking six pieces of paper nine by thirteen
inches and cut a two and a half inch square from each corner (Figure
158). One inch over from where the squares are cut make a star. There
are eight such points as you note. Connect the dot to the corner by
a line. Cut the paper along the lines. Fold the ends in, then fold
the bottom flap over these and paste. Fold the top flap over without
pasting (Figure 159).
Now, holding these six envelopes in the case with bottom edges touching
the space between the two cardboards, punch three holes through linen,
cardboard, and envelopes.
Take a half a yard of ribbon and run through the holes and tie the ends
in a bow on the corner.
Take another half a yard of ribbon and cut in two. Fasten a piece on
each side of the cover (Figure 160). These two pieces are tied in a bow
and keep the base of the case closed.
XVII
HARDANGER EMBROIDERY FOR SQUARES, PIN CUSHIONS, AND SPREADS
We have to go back to the foreign embroideries to find those that are
beautiful and yet substantial enough to last beyond the usual life of a
piece of fancy work. There is nothing we have originated in embroidery
on this side of the world as rich as Hardanger work, and yet it is
comparatively little known. The background for this work is a loosely
woven material like scrim or basket weave materials such as Java canvas
or the regular Hardanger canvas which is imported.
It is lots of fun working Hardanger in wool on Java canvas as it goes
so quickly, and after we have learned the stitches we can work it on as
fine a canvas as we desire.
The simplest stitch is the block. Thread a large tapestry needle with
a piece of heavy wool. On your piece of Java canvas work a little
block. The worsted is on the right side of the canvas, and then taking
a stitch over four threads of the canvas bring the needle up on the
next opening to the right on the same line as the first. Five stitches
constitute a block; a space of four threads is then left and the next
block started, (Figure 161). A great deal of Hardanger has these blocks
running at right angles to each other with no space between the blocks.
Mistakes cause a great deal of trouble and sometimes it is necessary to
rip out quite a lot of stitches before they can be rectified and for
that reason you must be very accurate in your counting.
[Illustration: Fig. 161. The block]
[Illustration: Fig. 162. The star]
The star is another favourite figure in Hardanger work (Figure 162).
Four stitches are taken over four threads of the material, side by
side, then five stitches over eight threads of the material and then
four again. This forms one side of the star. The second side is made
exactly the same only that at the base of the thirteenth stitch the
first stitch of the second side starts forming a right angle. The star
has four sides as you will note in the diagram of this stitch. Now
count and see if there are twelve threads on each of the inner sides of
the star. If you find any mistake go over it and straighten it out.
There must be twelve threads on each side. Cut four from each corner.
This will leave four threads directly in the centre of each side. With
a piece of embroidery cotton about the weight of a thread of your
canvas weave the bars. The weaving is very simple, over one and under
the next till the bars are woven. Some of these bars have little knots
on the outer centre edge of each. They are called picots (pronounced
pe-co) and they are made somewhat like a French knot. The bar is woven
half way across and laying the needle on the bar the thread is wound
around the needle point. Hold each twist down with the left thumb
(Figure 163). The needle is drawn through and the result is a little
knot on the thread near the stitches. A little stitch is taken into the
woven part of the bar and the thread carried over to the other side of
the bar and another picot made.
[Illustration: Fig. 163. The picot]
For an ornamental stitch to be used on the material between the
stars or blocks make a diagonal stitch like the first stitch in cross
stitching (Figure 164).
Pin cushion tops are easy to make and the following instructions are
given for cushions about four or five inches square. Take a square of
scrim or Hardanger canvas eight inches large. It will be necessary to
pull a thread so that the material will be quite straight on the edges.
Pull out four threads about one and a quarter inches from the edge on
each side of the material. Turn a quarter-inch fold on one side and
crease the material again so as to make a half-inch hem. Baste it down
so that it just touches the drawn threads. Repeat on the four sides.
Be sure that at the corner the double thickness of drawn threads are
exactly over each other. We are now ready to hemstitch the hem. Thread
the needle with No. 90 sewing cotton. Run the thread under the hem and
holding the double part of the hem toward you take up four threads of
the material. Pass the needle again around this group and now into the
hem. Continue in this manner around the four sides. At the corners it
will be necessary to take up both thicknesses of the material.
Crease the finished square in four. Count sixteen threads upon the
crease from the hemstitching and with lustre No. C or heavy linen
thread "aa" make a little block of four strands of floss over four
threads of the material. Make a flight of eight blocks each at right
angles to the other. Now instead of continuing in the same direction
turn and work seven more groups down and to the left. Turn again to the
left and work seven blocks for the third side of the square. Six groups
to the right of the third row completes the square.
[Illustration: Fig. 164. A simple ornamental stitch]
[Illustration: Fig. 165. A good arrangement of picot]
Now with your fine embroidery scissors cut close to the stitches of the
three blocks at each corner. The cut threads are drawn out. Four more
cuttings will be necessary on each side. They should be made against
the stitches only; that is, the threads that are running in the same
direction as the stitches should be cut. Figure 165 shows where the
cuts were made and the threads drawn out. The remaining threads are
woven. A mercerized or dull finished marking cotton is used for the
weaving. It may be either the plain weaving or may have picots on each
side of the bar. Another pretty arrangement of picots is to place them
on one side of the bars so that they appear in groups of four each
facing the other (Figure 165).
Sometimes a lace stitch is used such as the spider or simple loop
stitch. Directions for making a spider will be found in the chapter on
lace stitches. The loop stitch is made by taking a stitch in the centre
edge of each bar. Take a stitch just as if you were buttonholing.
Buttonholing the edge is preferred by many to hemstitching.
A pretty stitch often seen bordering a row of drawn work is made in
pyramid form. It can be as deep as desired. First take a stitch over
two strands of the material then three, then four, then five and down
again to two (Figure 166). This stitch must be worked of course before
any of the threads are drawn.
[Illustration: Fig. 166. The pyramid stitch]
If a little larger and more elaborate square is wanted, take a piece of
material nine or ten inches square. Make a star, skip four threads and
work the open squares described for the smaller pin cushion.
On the opposite side of the square, directly across from the first
star, skip four threads and make another square. At the other two
corners of the square make a star (Figure 167).
[Illustration: Fig. 167. The Hardanger square pin cushion]
The German peasant girls are proud of their aprons with a border of
Hardanger embroidery. It is a common thing for them to have a border
fifteen or eighteen inches deep. Often they will make yards and yards
of a pattern, say four inches wide, and they will insert it above the
hems on sheets and towels and cut out the background material.
There is no nation on earth as thrifty as the Germans. A German girl
I know who is only nineteen years old has her entire bedroom fitted
up with Hardanger articles that she has made herself. First there is
the bedspread and bolster, each most elaborately embroidered with an
all-over design. Then there is a round pillow (the edge buttonholed)
and a square pillow as well as the bureau scarf and pin cushion. If
she bought the articles already worked she would have paid hundreds of
dollars for the outfit, while the actual cost was only a few dollars.
Nearly all the best of fancy-work shops sell small pamphlets on
Hardanger work that are not expensive and after one is familiar with
the foundation stitches it is an easy matter to follow the designs they
give.
XVIII
APPLIQUÉ ON LINEN AND OTHER MATERIALS AND HEDEBO EMBROIDERY
Appliqué, or laying one material on another and stitching or
embroidering them together is one of the simplest forms of embroidery
that even the Indians years ago knew how to do. How many of you have
not seen on an Indian woman queer shapes cut out of leather and
ornamented with beads used for a border on her skirt?
There are two kinds of appliqué, underlaid and overlaid. Most of the
work is the latter kind. The underlaid is a little more difficult to
do. It will be explained at greater length later in this chapter.
Appliqué is such easy work that you will almost think it a mistake not
to have heard about it before, but after all it is really necessary
that we should know the simpler embroidery stitches before we attempt
an appliqué piece, so that we can decorate it in the manner to suit
ourselves.
The European peasants work some of the crudest specimens of appliqué,
yet their colour schemes and choice of material are good. For
instance, Russian crash, which is sold at the towel department of many
of our large department stores, from twelve to twenty cents a yard,
and which is very narrow, usually about sixteen inches wide, is often
employed as the background of their portières.
Before the Russo-Japanese War it was possible to get Russian crash as
wide as forty inches. It is made by the peasants in their homes from
the waste ends left from weaving linens. You have no doubt read of how
poor Russian peasants live in hovels in the same room with the cow, if
they are fortunate enough to possess one, and their pigs. Necessarily
the work they do is not very clean but the artistic qualities of the
crash overcomes the fact of the dirt.
The better class of peasants will take three strips of crash and
connect them together with coarse sewing or lace stitches and then
apply circles of broadcloth, or coloured linens on them. Other
geometrical figures are often applied.
I heard of a Southern family the other day who are so thrifty that they
allow nothing to go to waste, not even the old coats and trousers that
have played the double rôle of clothing the father and then have been
cut down for Johnny. After Johnny has had all the wear possible out of
them Grandma again cuts them, this time in the shape of leaves, and
sews them on a large muslin circle, one overlapping the other. This
forms a mat for the dining room. I am telling you this story not that
you may imitate it, but rather to let you know that after all we have
women here that are as clever and thrifty with their needles as the
European women.
[Illustration: Fig. 168. A pillow in Hedebo embroidery]
For appliqué work the design is cut out and the wrong side covered
almost to the edge with a paste made of starch and water.
When a complicated piece of appliqué is to be worked, stamp your
design on the background. Then on the right side of the material to be
appliquéd, or on the wrong side of velvet, lay a piece of transfer
paper. Place the design on them. With a blunt pointed instrument go
over the line firmly till you have a tracing of the design. If the
lines are not quite clear go over them with a pencil.
Cut out each piece and paste it to the background. The edges may be
machine stitched or satin-stitched or outlined. A cord, also the
couching stitch, makes a good finish.
Very clever representations of animals can be made by appliqué. Take a
duck, for instance. The breast can be white felt, the head dark green
velvet. The wings dark brown and the back and tail a lighter brown
broadcloth. The legs and the bill should be canary-coloured taffeta
silk. Cut each section so that it slightly laps over the other.
Appliqué underlaid is accomplished by stamping the design on the wrong
side of the material and then cutting it out. The background is left
intact like a stencil. A piece of material of a different colour is
laid under the cut piece of material. The raw or cut edges may be
treated in many ways. The material may be turned back and stitched
by machine or the edges may be finished with buttonholing stitches,
couching, fine satin-stitch or chain stitch. The turning back of the
cut edges requires that they be neatly done or the embroidery will not
show to its best advantage.
Hedebo embroidery is in no way connected with appliqué work, but like
the latter it is a branch of needlework that few people in America
understand. Without exception it is the most elaborate form of white
work. The stitches give the effect of being very difficult, but this
is not so. The work requires a lot of time and careful planning of the
stitches for which buttonhole stitch is usually the foundation.
[Illustration: Fig. 169. An elaborate design in Hedebo]
[Illustration: Fig. 170. Part of a Hedebo collar]
Hedebo is worked on a finely woven linen. The design is stamped
directly on the material. A thread of D.M.C. No. 25 or spool linen
thread outlines the figures. Within the design, the linen is cut one
eighth of an inch from the running thread. This eighth-inch extension
is then turned under the stitches and basted down. A small piece
of dark green oilcloth is then laid under the figure to be worked
and basting stitches hold the material and oilcloth together. The
oilcloth protects the fingers and it is often used by foreigners in
making eyelets. A small piece is used and it is moved as many times as
necessary. A large piece is too clumsy to hold. On the extreme double
edge of the opening of the design fine buttonholing stitches are taken.
The stitches are about one thirty-second of an inch apart.
A section of a design suitable for a collar is shown here and the
stitches will now be explained that have been used on it (Figure 170).
A bar is formed by laying two or three threads so that they span the
opening from side to side. Over these threads fine buttonholing is
worked.
The little triangles are worked by making seven or nine stitches into
as many of the buttonhole stitches. The second row is worked into the
first, one stitch from each end is omitted. Continue in this way to the
point (Figure 171).
The three large loops that separate the pyramids or triangles from
each other in the two outer circles are worked by making two loops
that will each take up half the space between the triangles. These
loops are whipped two or three times to make them heavier and then
they are covered with buttonholing. Work the first and half of the
second and then make the loop for the third or last and work it also in
buttonholing, then finish the second (Figure 172). The centre of the
circle is made by connecting the opposite triangles and loops together.
Gently distribute the threads from the centre to allow a small opening.
Put a thread around this opening and neatly buttonhole the threads.
The middle figure is made by working a row of open buttonholing then
running a drawing thread into the loops and buttoning this band with
tiny stitches.
The stitches of the middle circle are somewhat simpler than the ones
just described. A circle of open stitches is made directly under the
buttonhole stitches on the material. Divide this circle in eight parts
and make a large loop at alternate eighths. A connecting thread at the
centre base of each loop connects each opposite pair of loops. The
triangles are worked from the centre to the outer edge.
[Illustration: Fig. 171. Triangle in Hedebo embroidery]
The open triangles are made by working a row of open loops around the
three sides. The loops are drawn slightly together with another thread.
[Illustration: Fig. 172. Buttonholed loops]