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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 76893 ***
+
+
+
+
+
+                         ARTISTIC EMBROIDERY:
+
+                   Containing Practical Instructions
+
+                                IN THE
+
+                          Ornamental Branches
+
+                                  OF
+
+                              NEEDLEWORK,
+
+              _WITH NEARLY TWO HUNDRED ILLUSTRATIONS AND
+                        EXPLANATORY DIAGRAMS_.
+
+                                  BY
+
+                          ELLA RODMAN CHURCH.
+
+  [Illustration]
+
+                      ADAMS & BISHOP, Publishers,
+                          46 Beekman Street,
+                               NEW YORK.
+
+
+
+
+      Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1880, by
+                            ADAMS & BISHOP,
+     In the office of the Librarian of Congress, Washington, D. C.
+
+
+
+
+                             INTRODUCTION.
+
+
+There is a wide difference between artistic embroidery and mere
+fancy work. Besides the manufacture of innumerable airy nothings
+for fairs and other purposes, the patient following of a glaring
+pattern in bright wools also comes under the latter head. There is no
+individuality in this kind of work, nothing that fairly expresses the
+worker; the pattern being designed by one person, the putting it on
+canvas done by another, while “filling in” is frequently the task of a
+third.
+
+A piece of embroidery should have in a degree the same expression as a
+painting; and there is no good reason why the needle should not be as
+artistic an implement as the brush. To produce the effect of painting,
+however, it is necessary to follow very much the same rules; the first
+of which is that the selection of the materials, the designing of the
+pattern, and the work itself should be, as far as possible, done by one
+person.
+
+It may be urged that every one is not sufficiently gifted to do this,
+and particularly to draw the designs; but this part is by no means the
+difficult matter that the beginner is apt to imagine it, for in art
+needlework all superfluity of detail is scrupulously avoided. Various
+plates and illustrations may be found that will serve as guides to the
+uninitiated; and ancient patterns can often be adapted to present
+needs.
+
+There is no doubt, however, that the most artistic work will be
+produced by those who have a natural gift for design and color.
+
+It has been well said that needlework should be in every way adapted to
+the material used. As the sculptor’s chisel and the painter’s brush
+have each their separate function and domain, so has the needle of the
+embroideress; nor should anything lying beyond its proper powers be
+attempted by its means. Flowers and foliage being the decorative part
+of nature, we instinctively choose them to represent in needlework. The
+grand productions of ancient tapestry, containing whole histories of
+wars and sieges, are never likely to be repeated in our days, in which
+leisure and industry are both lacking; and we must content ourselves,
+at least for the moment, with speaking of the lighter works which lie
+within the ordinary compass of time and patience.
+
+As _everything_ cannot be accomplished in the attempt to
+imitate nature in this way, much should not be undertaken. For this
+reason, conventional or stiff forms, with no tendency to detail, are
+preferred; and this is one of the most prominent characteristics of art
+decoration. Things that are constantly handled and used should not have
+their ornamentation elaborated like water-color painting.
+
+Good materials are indispensable to satisfactory results; and true
+artistic work is that which not only pleases the eye, but bears the
+wear and tear of time. Perishable work of this kind is not worth the
+doing; but when executed according to the rules of art, it should be as
+enduring as painting and as worthy of admiration and respect.
+
+This little volume is intended to give practical information to
+beginners in artistic embroidery; showing the best and easiest methods
+of going about this branch of art, which is rarely made sufficiently
+plain to those who have had no previous knowledge of it. Several
+English works have been consulted in its preparation; and the writer
+has drawn upon her own experience as well as that of practical workers.
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER I.
+
+                         _WORSTED EMBROIDERY._
+
+
+Embroidery has been defined as “the art of adding to the surface of
+woven textures a representation of any object we wish to depict,
+through the medium of the needle, threaded with the material in which
+the work is to be executed.”
+
+From the earliest times, it has been the amusement of women of leisure,
+and the occupation of those whose skilful fingers must be used to bring
+in returns of daily bread. In the Middle Ages, a regular work-room,
+or “studio,” was set apart for this especial purpose in the dim old
+castle; and there the whole paraphernalia of embroidery-frames,
+materials, and implements, were always to be found. There, too, the
+chatelaine sat with her maidens embroidering cushions, or book-covers,
+or those wonderful pieces of historical tapestry afterward displaced by
+the more mechanical arras.
+
+    “Tapestry richly wrought
+    And woven close,”
+
+was the favorite needlework of those days; and these hangings, or
+“veils,” were rendered necessary by the style of building, which
+afforded many convenient chinks and loopholes for the wind. Some of
+these ancient pieces of embroidery were very rich, the designs being
+worked with worsted or silk of various colors, and often mixed with
+gold or silver threads, on canvas, cloth, or silk.
+
+The oldest specimen of this kind of work now in existence is the famous
+tapestry of Bayeux--the work of the English Matilda and her attendants.
+A piece of embroidery over two hundred and twenty feet long, although
+not much more than half a yard wide, is no trifling accomplishment; and
+in spite of the red, blue, green, and yellow horses, some of them with
+two legs of a different color from the rest of their bodies, one cannot
+but reverence this curious triumph of the needle that can claim eight
+centuries of birthdays. It is entirely worked with worsted in very
+little variety of coloring, as the Norman princess had few advantages
+of this sort, but she has represented to the best of her ability the
+invasion and conquest of England by Duke William and his followers. The
+battle of Hastings is ingeniously emphasized by a bordering composed of
+the bodies of the slain.
+
+Few would have the time or the inclination for such a piece of work
+in these days; and “some of our moderns are inclined to think that,
+in days of old, when the chief employment of a woman’s life was
+needlework, she must have had a very dull, dreary, monotonous time of
+it. But when we survey ancient heirlooms, veritable works of art--the
+smooth, mossy crewel-work, the frost-like point-lace, the shining
+gold-threaded ecclesiastical work, or even the conventional forms of
+the now despised cross-stitch--we imagine every happiness and beauty
+connected with the age of chivalry, as we are conscious of a sense of
+wonder akin to that felt on beholding some magnificent ancient jewels,
+or plate, or pictures.”
+
+As late as the days of the _Spectator_, it was written: “How
+memorable would that matron be who should have it inscribed on her
+monument that she wrought out the whole Bible in tapestry, and died in
+a good old age, after having covered three hundred yards of wall in the
+Mansion House”--but no such exploit is on record.
+
+The most fashionable worsted embroidery of the present time is
+
+
+                             CREWEL-WORK.
+
+This style of work was much in vogue during the latter part of the
+eighteenth century, and has recently been revived, and the _modus
+operandi_ dignified by the name of the South Kensington stitch.
+But people with great-grandmothers produce pieces of work done in a
+similar manner; and the stitch is the same as the long stitch in silk
+embroidery, only longer and more careless.
+
+Crewel work was brought to such a state of perfection by the famous
+Miss Linwood, who literally painted pictures with her needle from her
+thirteenth until her seventy-eighth year, copying the old masters so
+successfully that, at a little distance, the needle-worked picture
+could not be distinguished from the painted one, that every one wanted
+to imitate her; but few having the same gift, this branch of art fell
+into disrepute.
+
+Miss Linwood’s pictures were marvels of patience and skill. They were
+embroidered on a stiff, twilled fabric called “tammy,” on which the
+outline was drawn in chalk; and the entire ground was covered with
+close, irregular stitches, of great fineness in the more delicate
+touches. The shading was perfect, the crewels being dyed under the
+artist’s own supervision; and her first needle-painting, the “Salvator
+Mundi,” from Carlo Dolci, was wonderfully true to the original.
+
+Her collection, which was exhibited for some time in London, contained
+sixty-four pieces; and among them was a portrait of herself in the
+bloom of youth and beauty.
+
+The great beauty of crewel-work is its freedom from set rules; in
+taking the stitches, the needle is used more like the brush in the hand
+of the artist.
+
+
+                           THE CREWEL STITCH
+
+resembles the wrong side of long back-stitching more than anything
+else; and is illustrated by Figures 1 and 2.
+
+  [Illustration: _Fig. 1._]
+
+  [Illustration: _Fig. 2._]
+
+The needle is put in at the back of the material and brought out at 1,
+put in again at 2 and brought out at 3, put in again at 4 and brought
+out at 5, and so on to the end of the line. In outline-work the thread
+should be kept to the left of the needle, and great care taken to bring
+the needle up exactly in the line of the pattern, or a wavy, uncertain
+outline will be the result, and the character of the pattern will be
+lost.
+
+This method of working is to be used when the material is put in a
+frame; but when the work is done in the hand, it is best illustrated by
+Figure 2. The easiest and quickest way in this case is to begin at the
+bottom and work upward--putting the needle through (from the back) at
+1, and back again at 2--through again at 3, and back at 4--until the
+entire distance has been traversed.
+
+It will be seen that the stitch is very simple, and that much is left
+to the discretion of the worker. Care must be taken that the worsted is
+not pulled too tight, nor left too loose, as the effect must be smooth
+and even--with the curves clearly defined, and the points sharp and
+complete.
+
+In ordinary crewel-work, the stitch should be from three-eighths to
+half an inch long, according to its position--some stitches must
+necessarily be shorter--as in filling in, they must dovetail into
+each other like the tiles of a roof, that no sharp line of color may
+indicate the different shades. To produce the desired effect, all the
+stitches should not be taken close up to the inner edge of color.
+Figures 3 and 4 will give some idea of this shading.
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 3.]
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 4.]
+
+A leaf or stalk should never be worked across, but always (and the same
+rule, of course, applies to flower-petals) in the same direction as the
+fibres in a natural leaf. With such leaves as brambles, and others that
+will suggest themselves, one side should be a darker shade than the
+other. Figure 5 shows the natural way of working a leaf.
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 5.]
+
+In working the stalk of a flower, it is better to begin at the lower
+end first, and work on the outline until it is crossed by a leaf or
+terminates in a flower; then pass the needle to the other side, and
+work back again to the lower end; then work another line of stitches
+_inside_ the outline till the stalk is filled up. See Figure 6.
+Leaves of one shade are done in the same way, and the veins are put in
+last.
+
+Crewel-work has many recommendations; it is easy, is done with
+comparatively little labor, and yet it affords scope for the exercise
+of artistic skill of the highest order. A great variety of beautiful
+shades may be had, and the worsted washes beautifully, thus possessing
+a decided advantage over many other styles of ornamentation. The
+materials are also quite inexpensive, and taking it altogether, it
+produces the best effects with the least outlay of labor and expense of
+any other kind of embroidery.
+
+Floral designs suit this style of work best; and somewhat
+conventionalized models are most suitable--flowers that can be
+expressed by the fewest lines in form and the fewest shades in color.
+Daisy-shaped flowers are particularly suitable; and the well known
+sunflower, not _too_ much conventionalized, but with the tendency
+of its long petals to droop a little just indicated here and there, is
+represented in Figure 7.
+
+Simple, old-fashioned flowers are most successful in crewel-work.
+Wild roses being simple, and having very distinct petals and well
+marked centres, are better than the double and treble triumphs of
+the florist--to which painting alone can do justice. The daffodil,
+narcissus, and lily tribes, with primroses, honeysuckles, pansies,
+and daisies, bloom out charmingly in crewels; and almost any clearly
+defined leaf is pleasing.
+
+Butterflies and vases may also be successfully introduced, but the
+latter should be chiefly in outline.
+
+  [Illustration: _Fig. 6._]
+
+The experienced crewel worker may study nature for designs, and
+discover unending combinations of beauty and delicate touches of
+detail which give a character to the whole. In the veining of leaves
+especially this is shown; and the leaf of the common scarlet poppy,
+veined and unveined, in Figures 8 and 9, will show how much depends on
+careful finish.
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 7.]
+
+But embroidery in general should not attempt too much detail--a thorn
+here and there on a rose-stem being sufficient to suggest the thorny
+nature of roses, while only a few of the larger serrations of the
+leaves should be retained. The bramble, when shorn of superfluous
+outline, is a very desirable leaf for embroidery; and Figure 10 shows
+it in its natural state, which, if worked, would be a confused mass
+of nothing in particular--while in Figure 11, its shape and general
+character are preserved, but all unnecessary notchings and veinings are
+pruned away.
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 8.]
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 9.]
+
+An important point in embroidery is to know what may be to advantage
+left undone; and as crewel-work is entirely free from all artificial
+raising, it is merely suggestive of general form.
+
+The crewel itself is a particularly strong, twisted woollen yarn, quite
+unlike zephyr and the other wools in use. The shades of color are very
+soft and numerous, and blend beautifully in delicate flower-petals and
+varying leaves. The work is usually done on heavy linen sheeting, as
+this wears well, is easily washed, and is particularly suitable for
+tidies, doilies, and many small articles.
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 10.]
+
+Other materials may be used to advantage; but cloth, velvet, or silk
+is not suitable for crewel-work. Serge makes a very nice foundation;
+and a pair of invalid’s slippers, made lately, were worked on white
+_felt_. But these were done in Canada, where many materials are
+to be had which cannot be found here. Said slippers were merely to
+thrust the toes in, as all the rest was sole; and this white felt
+pointed piece was ornamented with strawberries in crewel-work. This
+beautiful fruit is quite as effective as flowers are; and in Figure 12
+the clusters may be used separately, or continued indefinitely for a
+border. A very pretty footstool could be made by grouping them closely
+for the top, and putting the bordering on the band. The fruit may be
+either red or white as best suits the groundwork.
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 11.]
+
+Velveteen makes a good background for crewel embroidery; and this is
+suitable both for footstools and hangings. It is also handsome for
+mantel lambrequins. But the favorite material is crash towelling--which
+is so generally used for the purpose that crewels seem inseparable from
+it, and the work is quite as often called “crash-work” as crewel-work.
+Crash is very serviceable for tidies, toilet covers, toilet mats,
+travelling bags, etc.; but it does not hang in graceful folds for
+curtains and portières, and it is not worthy of being embroidered in
+silks.
+
+There is a ribbed velveteen in different shades of drab and brown,
+which looks remarkably well as a foundation for crewel-work, if the
+latter is done in a rich, bold design. It should be remembered, as
+a general thing, that while rich materials may be used on cheap
+groundwork, worsted embroidery is very unsuitable on a rich foundation.
+
+We have attempted suggestions only in the way of patterns, as these
+may be bought in great variety wherever the crewels are sold; and for
+those who are unable to design from nature this will be found a great
+convenience.
+
+It is not long since all worsted work was done in mechanical patterns
+on canvas; and some of this work, with stitches laid as regularly as
+minute mosaics, and the shades blended as by the hand of an artist,
+is still very beautiful. It is the mosaic-work of embroidery, and
+bears the same relation to it that the real mosaic does to painting;
+but crewel-work has the advantage of being more quickly done, and of
+expressing better the individuality of the worker. How quickly, for
+instance, with needle and crewels, the very essence of a May morning
+may be condensed into the cluster of apple-blossoms from the laden
+bough beside the window; but who could extemporize them into a pattern
+of set squares on the spur of the moment?
+
+
+                   ARTICLES TO BE WORKED IN CREWELS.
+
+It is always more satisfactory in a work of this kind to find some
+practical illustrations of the suggestions given; and many people like
+to know exactly what to make. We shall be more explicit, therefore, in
+this little volume than would be possible in one of greater pretension;
+and mention articles to be made, as far as our limits will permit.
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 12.]
+
+Being quickly done and effective at a distance, crewel-embroidery is
+very suitable for large pieces of work, such as curtains, portières,
+friezes, and so forth. Portières and friezes have a pleasant suggestion
+about them of old tapestries; and the latter are really wall-valances.
+One would scarcely undertake
+
+
+                         AN EMBROIDERED FRIEZE
+
+even in crewel-work, for a large apartment; but a moderate-sized room
+could be adorned with this wall drapery without an unreasonable outlay
+of time. Claret-colored serge, or velveteen, if in harmony with the
+other coloring of the room, worked with perpendicular sunflowers or
+lilies (Figure 13 is a good pattern for the latter), with a bordering
+of gold-color and green at top and bottom, would be very ornamental.
+The frieze could be finished with a fringe and hang loose at the lower
+edge, which is prettier, or fastened at both sides, paper-fashion.
+
+Colors and figures may be varied indefinitely--for the latter, a
+standing army of storks would often be preferred. Dragons, too, are
+now so generally regarded as cheerful domestic animals in the way of
+adornment, that a procession of them across the walls of an apartment
+on an elaborate frieze would, doubtless, add a pleasing element in
+the way of decoration. But those who say, Give me beauty, or give me
+nothing, in the way of ornament, will prefer designs of flowers and
+leaves.
+
+
+                           A DADO IN CREWELS
+
+may be done in the same way, only that there is more of it; and being
+nearer the eye, the design should be more close and elaborate. The
+patterns on rich papers will be found suggestive studies; and it may be
+remembered that the material for groundwork can be adapted to the purse
+of the embroiderer and the other belongings of the apartment, from
+velveteen at a dollar a yard to crash-towelling at ten cents.
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 13.]
+
+The wide material known as jute, and just the least bit in the style
+of brown straw-matting, would make a very nice dado worked in crewels,
+with a darker brown picked out with gold color; and this same material
+hangs in graceful folds for curtains and portières. A brown room could
+be made very beautiful in this way; and quiet though it is, there is a
+richness about brown that is always suggestive of gilding.
+
+
+                       A WORSTED-WORKED PORTIÈRE
+
+should be of velveteen, if this harmonizes with the other hangings of
+the room, as the material has a particularly rich effect in doorways,
+and artistically executed crewel-work suits it admirably. Brown
+velveteen with golden sunflowers, or gray with wild roses, or dark blue
+with lilies, will be found very handsome.
+
+In working portières, it is necessary to remember that they should be
+well covered with embroidery, because the light falls on all their
+parts; while an embroidered border suffices for curtains, as the edges
+only are likely to catch the sun’s rays.
+
+Other hangings may be made for the open shelves of cabinets and
+étagères; these should also harmonize with the general decoration of
+the room in color and style, but may be richer and more elaborate than
+the larger pieces of embroidery, as they will be subjected to closer
+inspection.
+
+
+                    CURTAINS WITH SPRAYS OF SUMAC.
+
+These were really beautiful. The ground was a pale sage green, in
+perfect keeping with the prevailing hue of the room; and the soft
+bright shades of the crewels were so delicately blended, that the
+effect was a perfect needle-painting of these bright-hued darlings
+of the autumn. They were embroidered on the plain band of the
+sage--colored material that formed the simple cornice--down the front
+of the curtains, and here and there, on the body of the drapery, a
+spray seemed to have dropped by accident.
+
+
+                        A SWEET-PEA TABLE COVER
+
+which emanated from the same hand, was also a thing of beauty. The
+table was a round one of moderate size, and the top was tightly
+covered with maroon-colored flannel. A straight band of white flannel
+between two narrow strips of the maroon formed the border, and on this
+white ground the sweet peas were worked in delicately-tinted crewels.
+Feather-stitching, of black and bright green, marked the joining of the
+white flannel to the maroon on either side. The bordering was fastened
+to the table with silver-headed nails, and finished with a worsted
+fringe to match the maroon flannel.
+
+This beautiful work was all copied from natural models during hours of
+summer leisure on a country piazza, and many beautiful thoughts and
+memories were wrought into the bright-hued leaves and petals.
+
+
+                        SCREENS IN CREWEL-WORK.
+
+We saw a honeysuckle screen lately, that might have been beautiful,
+but was not because it had altogether too sombre an air to be viewed
+in the light of an ornament. The workmanship was fine, and regularly
+done according to the rules of art, but as the ground was black and the
+coral honeysuckle was represented in very dull reds and greens, the
+effect was not enlivening. A gray ground of a silver tinge would have
+been a great improvement, but dark work on a dark ground is a dismal
+production.
+
+The woodbine honeysuckle can be reproduced in crewels in very natural
+colors, and we have seen some that almost diffused a June odor about
+them. They were worked on very fine, soft crash, and intended for a
+tidy; but a beautiful fire-screen could be made of them on a blue or
+plum-colored ground.
+
+The large folding-screens, so often in strips of coarse Berlin-wool
+work, are very handsome in crewels; and climbing vines of all kinds
+are particularly suited to them. A crimson ground with water-lilies
+in one corner, and the wild morning-glory, with its nearly white
+blossoms (that grows in damp places and therefore harmonizes with the
+water-lily) trailing its beautiful length across the largest space,
+while the inevitable heron, balanced, of course, on one foot, stands
+sentinel among his reeds and rushes, where classic cat-tails bristle
+like spears, is _vis-à-vis_ to the water-lilies on the other side,
+would be found bright in coloring and handsome in effect.
+
+But a screen that looks as if some one had come in and thrown a handful
+of daisies over it may be quite as pretty, and is certainly less work.
+
+
+                            CARRIAGE WRAPS
+
+of fine crash, ornamented with crewel-work, are handsome and
+serviceable for warm weather. A bordering of strawberries and leaves
+near the edge, or one of periwinkle with its delicate blue flowers,
+would be very pretty; and this bordering, with a large monogram in the
+centre, would sufficiently ornament the article.
+
+But endless are the uses to which this simple and charming style of
+embroidery may be put; and the suggestions given maybe indefinitely
+multiplied and rearranged in various forms.
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER II.
+
+                       _SIMPLE IDEAS OF COLOR._
+
+
+Before proceeding to silk embroidery, it may be well to consider
+some simple rules of color, as the proper arrangement of color is of
+far greater importance than the regular placing of stitches, and no
+embroidery can be artistic without it.
+
+An old-fashioned poet gives some good advice on this subject:
+
+    “Choose such judicious force of shade and light,
+    As suits the theme and satisfies the sight;
+    Weigh part with part, and with prophetic eye
+    The future power of all thy tints descry.”
+
+Truth in rhyme was never better brought out than in the following lines:
+
+    “Know first that light displays and shade destroys
+    Refulgent Nature’s variegated dyes;
+    Thus bodies near the light distinctly shine
+    With rays direct, and as it fades decline.”
+
+An eye for color is of the same nature as an ear for music--one knows
+intuitively what is right; but this is by no means a very common gift;
+and there are some rules to be observed, independently of the guidance
+of taste, that are within the reach of all.
+
+Thus scarlet and yellow were never intended for close companions; brown
+or lilac invariably quarrel with a scarlet ground; blue and green
+together, or yellow and green, are like an unpleasant taste in the
+mouth; blue is perfectly amiable with _écru_ (the French name for
+all the drabs and fawns); a cold green blue may be successfully paired
+with lilac; drabs with a rich brown tone in them take kindly to yellow;
+pink and gray are as harmonious as love-birds; scarlet affably locks
+arms with slate-green and red-brown; green with maize, and also with
+some shades of salmon; blue and maize were made for each other; lilac
+and green, blue and claret, are also devoted couples.
+
+One who knows says that black should never be used next a high light;
+one-eighth of every object has a high light upon it, one-eighth is
+darkest shadow, and six parts light, or half-tint. No objects in nature
+are _positively_ blue, red, or yellow, owing to two causes: one,
+that most objects reflect the sky; the other, that the atmosphere
+between the eyes of the observer and the light causes the brightness
+of the tints to be deadened. So that care must be taken to avoid the
+immediate contact of bright colors with each other when an attempt is
+made to imitate nature.
+
+Shaded embroidery should be guided by the same rules that apply to
+water-color painting, except that greater depth and brilliancy, and
+consequently less delicacy, are the results in view. It requires much
+discrimination to give a natural hue to leaves, and, at the same time,
+to produce such contrasts as will give the proper relief. Portions of
+each should be much lighter than others; and in the grouping, a mass
+should be thrown into shadow under the bright leaves--the shadow being
+composed of dark green mixed with neutral tint.
+
+Much may be learned in the way of color by study and observation; but
+to get just the right shades of even harmonious colors requires care
+and skill. Thus simple red may be used with pure green; but scarlet,
+which is red tinged with yellow, must have a blue green; crimson, which
+is red tinged with blue, a yellow green. All colors are darker on a
+light ground and lighter on a dark ground, so that tints should be
+selected according to the groundwork.
+
+Position, too, must be considered; a piece of embroidery that is
+intended for a dark corner should have brighter colors and stronger
+contrasts than one which is to be placed in a full light. On a white
+ground very delicate tints are most suitable, while the broken grays of
+crash will harmonize livid colors.
+
+Masses of blue should be avoided, as blue is a cold color; and white
+requires skilful management, as it should be shaded off delicately by
+means of tints that have a large portion of white in their composition.
+But all flowers of the same kind should not be worked in the same
+shades of color; three white flowers, for instance, of the same species
+and in one cluster, requiring eight shades of silk or worsted to
+embroider them properly, should have these shades differently arranged.
+For one, a greater portion of the five lightest tints would be used;
+for the next, the middle shades, perhaps; in the third, the darkest
+would be most prominent; all this would depend on the position of the
+flowers and the skill of the embroiderer.
+
+Many different colors in one piece of work spoil the effect, except
+in particular cases; some one prevailing color should be adopted, and
+the rest chosen with reference to it. Some of the most beautifully
+colored work is done in one key of color: one color being taken as the
+key-note, and those shades only are used that form its component parts,
+or that have the original color in their composition. On gold-colored
+satin, for instance, nothing looks so well as a design colored in
+shades of russet and golden browns, introducing every now and then a
+lighter or darker shade of the pure ground color.
+
+In taking green for the ground color, if a yellow green, then the
+highest note should be yellow; and it should be carried down through
+all the brown, warm, and russet greens, which owe all their warmth to
+yellow. If the ground is a blue green, colder greens must be used, of
+a sage rather than a russet tint, while the key-note is struck with a
+pure blue. Under this restraint, the effect, though subdued, is very
+agreeable.
+
+If a pure blue is placed near a pure yellow, the effect is glaring; but
+when the blue is slightly toned with yellow and the yellow with blue,
+there is quite a different result. A strong blue and a bright red,
+with a yellow gleam in it, stare each other out of countenance; but a
+subdued russet-green as a neighbor makes them harmonious.
+
+Purples, and all shades inclining to blue, are difficult to dispose
+satisfactorily--those with the least blue in them are preferable.
+Russet is one part blue, one part yellow, and two parts red; olive, one
+part blue, two parts yellow, and one part red. It is more pleasing than
+slate, which has two parts blue, one part yellow, and one red.
+
+When the ground is a _red_ plum or maroon, pure red pinks, with no
+shade of blue in them, will be much more harmonious than blue; but if
+the ground is a _blue_ plum, pale blue will be better than pink. The
+shading of flowers is always in different shades of the same color; and
+this method applied to embroidery produces the most charming results.
+A pattern worked on a dark ground in a lighter shade of the same color
+is always pleasing; and in a small room especially a great variety of
+colors should be avoided. A crimson room should have chair or table
+cover, or tidy, in _pale_ crimson mingled with a little pink of the
+same tone.
+
+Thus after a pretty conceit, one room might be called the rose-room,
+being furnished with the crimson heart of that beautiful flower running
+through the shades of pink suggestively in the lighter portions, and
+“broidered over” with roses and buds where ornament is desirable;
+another might be the sunflower-room, with its warm golden browns and
+gleams of yellow, and the honest full-moon face of that plebeian
+blossom astonished at being “done” in silks and crewels, and set up to
+be looked at; while the morning-glory-room, in grays and blues, should
+imprison all the sunshine to light up its cold colors, and afford a
+congenial resting-place for its pictured blossoms.
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER III.
+
+                          _SILK EMBROIDERY._
+
+
+This beautiful work has been practised from the earliest times; and
+the ancient Egyptians particularly excelled in it. Much of this was
+done on linen--to which we shall refer afterward. The very sails of
+their galleys were embroidered; and their “divers colors of needlework
+on both sides” seems to mean that it was done so that the work was
+the same on the wrong side as on the right--a method of working that
+requires an immense amount of skill and patience, and which is now
+found only among those eminently painstaking races, the Chinese,
+Japanese, and Hindoos.
+
+Silk embroidery is done on almost any material except cotton and
+coarse linen; but silk and velvet seem the most suitable fabrics for
+groundwork. If well done, it is handsome on anything; and as it is an
+expensive kind of needlework, great care should be taken in doing it.
+As a general thing it requires framing, and especially when floss-silk
+is used. Frames are of various kinds; the best for large pieces of work
+being the standing frame (see Figure 14), which has adjustable screws,
+and can be lowered or heightened at pleasure.
+
+The hand or lap frame (Figure 15) is more convenient in embroidering
+smaller articles.
+
+In putting work into the frame, a strip of strong tape or linen should
+be stitched along the woof ends of the material--which must then be
+firmly sewed with strong double thread to the webbing on the frame.
+It should be made as tight and firm as possible; the strain being
+increased gradually and cautiously until the tension appears to be
+sufficient. The woof ends should be braced to the side pieces with
+fine twine. A packing-needle threaded with twine must be drawn through
+the upper right-hand corner of the tape or linen, and the end securely
+tied. The twine must be sewn over the lath till the lower corner is
+reached, knotted securely, and cut off; the other side must then be
+done in the same manner.
+
+When the material is larger than the frame, it may be sewed on to
+the bars and rolled round one of them, with tissue paper and wadding
+between to prevent the stuff from creasing; and when the part in the
+frame is finished, it is rolled round the opposite bar, and so on,
+until the whole is completed. The centre ring, marked 1, is a hand
+frame used for small pieces of embroidery.
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 14.]
+
+In working with a frame it is desirable to use both hands--one to
+put the needle through from the outside, and the other to bring it
+up again from beneath. This will be slow work at first; but practice
+and patience will enable one to do it quite dextrously, and the great
+convenience of working in this way will fully repay the trouble of
+learning it. Two thimbles will be necessary, one for each hand.
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 15.]
+
+
+                    THE STITCH FOR SILK EMBROIDERY
+
+is the same as for crewel-work, except that it is shorter. Other
+stitches are often introduced, which will be noticed in their place;
+but the proper stitch for shaded embroidery, the most attractive of
+this fascinating work, is to draw the needle upward from the right and
+finish by putting it down to the left. The right hand should always be
+above the frame, and the left beneath--making the stitches as long as
+the work will admit of their being, as the brilliancy of the silk is
+destroyed by crowded and short stitches.
+
+Silk embroidery is both dainty and effective; and as the materials are
+expensive, great care should be used in doing the work, that it may
+not only give satisfaction at first, but prove sufficiently durable to
+repay the outlay of time and money. It is best to avoid touching the
+silk by drawing it through the fingers while working.
+
+Anything like a regular embroidery stitch is to be avoided, except in
+those portions of the work where it is necessary; as the most charming
+effects are usually produced where there seems to have been the
+greatest indifference to mechanical regularity.
+
+When the work has been properly arranged in the frame, the first step
+in artistic embroidery is to observe the position of the flowers and
+leaves--taking it for granted that the outlines have been properly
+traced--and if the model is of natural blossoms, so much the better. It
+is particularly advisable, before beginning the embroidery, to study
+the lights and shades; the edges and rounder parts, both of the leaves
+and petals of flowers, as they embrace more surface, naturally receive
+the light first and are worked with the palest tints.
+
+In a group of flowers (see Figure 16) it is recommended to begin with
+the smaller parts, such as the stems, buds, and leaves; and great care
+should be taken to have every portion clearly outlined--although a
+visible outline should be avoided in filled-in work. Again, the careful
+blending of shades mentioned in crewel-work must be enforced--the
+stitches being so nicely placed to produce the right effect, that their
+beginning and ending are quite lost.
+
+
+                 GROUP OF FLOWERS FOR SILK EMBROIDERY.
+
+The stems of slender flowers should always be done in stalk-stitch,
+as they can be made more neatly and with less trouble than in
+satin-stitch. The centres are worked in French knot stitch. This is a
+pretty pattern for a variety of small articles: glove-box, letter-box,
+pincushion, case, etc. Or it may be enlarged for a footstool,
+sofa-cushion, or chair-seat.
+
+In working leaves, one half should be done first; and great care taken
+to follow the direction of the fibres. Figure 17 shows the direction
+the lines would take if we were shading the leaf in drawing. In working
+a pansy the stitches should take the direction of the lines in Figure
+18; and not _cross_ the petals, as in Figure 19. Figure 20 shows
+the proper filling up of a thick stalk.
+
+For narrow leaves, where one stitch will reach from the middle to the
+edge, it is best to pass the thread from the edge underneath to the
+middle--as this makes each stitch begin in the middle, and the under
+side is nearly the same as the upper. A broad leaf or petal requires
+more than one stitch between the middle and the edge; and for these,
+the needle may be brought up again wherever the next stitch seems
+to be wanted. But two together should not begin nor end on the same
+line--except on the outside edge to preserve the outline, or in showing
+the middle rib.
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 16.]
+
+Unless the embroidery is very large and bold, the line formed by the
+meeting of the stitches down the middle of a leaf, as in Figure 21,
+will sufficiently mark the mid-rib. If in the real leaf it is very
+deep and plainly defined, a very narrow space between the two lines,
+tapering till the threads meet again near the point, will generally be
+sufficient. See Figure 22. Lateral veins need not usually be indicated
+at all; but if they are very marked, and of a different color from the
+leaf itself, they may be laid on by a cord or a piece of thick silk
+twist--fastening it down with small stitches in silk of the same color.
+This must only be done in large and rather coarse work.
+
+Another important point is the distinct bringing out of the different
+characters of the stalks. The three examples given (Figures 23, 24
+and 25) will show how the different joinings vary, and that care must
+be taken to make these distinctions, as well as to finish them off
+properly. It has been well said that the difference between mechanical
+and artistic embroidery consists in showing judgment and finish in all
+these small matters.
+
+Other stitches used in silk embroidery, besides the one
+known distinctively as embroidery-stitch, are satin-stitch,
+French-knot-stitch, stalk-stitch, point-russe, herring-bone or
+feather-stitch, ladder-stitch, chain-stitch, etc.
+
+Satin-stitch is used a great deal in white embroidery, and many persons
+are familiar with it who have never attempted to work in colors. It is
+also called
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 17.]
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 18.]
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 19.]
+
+
+                      FRENCH, OR FLAT EMBROIDERY.
+
+The stitches lie smoothly in a diagonal direction close to each
+other--little or no attention to light or shade being necessary. It may
+be done very effectively in one color, and is then often enriched by
+gold or silver cord around the edges.
+
+It looks best worked with Mitorse silk--which is also the most durable,
+as it does not fray in the wear nor so quickly lose its glossy
+appearance as when done with floss or Dacca silk. This work is suitable
+for articles of furniture and dress, as well as for small ornamental
+work. Figure 26 is a good illustration of flat embroidery in a pretty
+border pattern, which may be edged with gold thread or with silk of
+another color.
+
+
+                     _BORDER IN FLAT EMBROIDERY._
+
+
+                           THE FRENCH KNOT.
+
+This is very useful for the centres of such flowers as the daisy and
+sunflower, and for filling up leaves in a showy manner. It is made by
+bringing the thread through to the front of the work, and holding it
+in the left hand, four or five inches from the work--the needle being
+in the right hand; the thread is twisted two or three times around the
+needle as close to the work as possible; then the point is turned down
+into the material nearly, but not exactly, where the thread came up;
+the needle is pulled through to the other side, and the thread drawn
+carefully till the knot is firm. The thread must be drawn round the
+needle close up to the work before the needle is pulled quite through,
+lest the knot should hang loose and spoil the effect.
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 20.]
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 21.]
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 22.]
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 23.]
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 24.]
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 25.]
+
+
+                             STALK-STITCH
+
+Is very easily and quickly done. In veining leaves and working small
+stems, it is more manageable than any other stitch; and it is formed
+by making a straight stitch rather more than a sixteenth of an inch in
+length--then for the next stitch, putting the needle about half-way
+back into the first one and working it the same length. This is so
+quickly done, that there is danger of doing it carelessly; but if
+properly worked, it resembles a finely-twisted cord, and gives a very
+neat finish to the embroidery.
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 26.]
+
+
+                             POINT-RUSSE.
+
+This is a stitch frequently mentioned in new embroidery; but the
+_modus operandi_ does not seem to be so well known as that of many
+others. Possibly because of its very simplicity--for Point-Russe is
+merely a succession of back-stitches neatly and regularly done. It is
+used for many small articles; and is a useful adjunct in more artistic
+work.
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 27.]
+
+The illustration in Figure 27 shows the effect, and the uses to which
+it can be put. Every line of the design must be carefully followed
+in working it; and very pretty borderings and ornamental figures in
+long stitches are often made with it. Medallions are very pretty in
+Point-Russe; and we give one in Figure 28 that is worked entirely in
+this stitch, and made very effective in scarlet and gold. This is
+intended for a purse, and is worked on light brown leather or kid.
+
+Figure 30 is also very pretty, and may be worked in one or more colors.
+
+Figure 31 is a border pattern that is very effective. The diamonds are
+outlined in black and white, and the leaflets within are of green silk.
+The stars are outlined in black and blue, the crossings are red, and
+the dots yellow. The figure between the stars is black and yellow.
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 28.--MEDALLION IN POINT RUSSE.]
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 29.--MEDALLION IN POINT RUSSE.]
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 30.--BORDER IN POINT RUSSE.]
+
+
+                   HERRING-BONE, OR FEATHER STITCH.
+
+This is an old-fashioned embroidery stitch revived, which is always
+effective.
+
+In ancient times, fine pieces of linen were embroidered all over with
+flower designs in outline, with here and there a portion filled in, and
+the stems worked in a close herring-bone stitch to give them strength
+and substance. Sometimes the whole design would be worked in this
+stitch, done so closely as to have the appearance of braid.
+
+Some of this filled-in work was done in a peculiar manner from side
+to side. An oval leaf to be filled would be begun at the base with a
+few satin stitches, then when a point was reached where it was wide
+enough, instead of passing the thread all the way underneath to the
+opposite side, about one-third of the width of the leaf is taken up in
+the needle, and the next stitch is done in the same way on the opposite
+side of the leaf--working from side to side until the leaf becomes too
+narrow again, when it is finished with a few satin stitches.
+
+This stitch throws all the silk to the top; and the crossing of
+the threads in the middle of the leaf has a very rich and soft
+effect--giving also the appearance of a vein.
+
+Feather-stitch seems too well known to need description; and there is a
+great variety of it, from the simplest “herring-bone,” to the prettiest
+feather-like vine; and it has the advantage of being very easily and
+quickly done.
+
+It is merely button-hole stitch, in alternate loops and long stitches,
+sewed backwards. A design may be drawn first, if needed, to make the
+work regular; but with one straight pencil line as a guide, if the eye
+is not very correct, almost any one who can use a needle will be able
+to do feather-stitch.
+
+This stitch is very much used in appliqué work; and it makes pretty
+dividing lines in ornamenting large articles.
+
+We lately saw a table-cover worked entirely in feather-stitch, that
+had quite an Oriental appearance. The ground was black cloth; and all
+colors of worsted braid, of different widths, were sewed on with this
+stitch--being placed around an oblong piece in the centre, and in
+strips across to the edge for the border.
+
+
+                             CHAIN-STITCH.
+
+Another well-known and simple embroidery-stitch; and more beautiful
+effects may be produced with it than are known to the philosophy of the
+ordinary worker.
+
+Chain-stitch is sometimes used for filled-in embroidery; the lines of
+the chain being laid very close together, and following the form of the
+leaf or flower until the space is filled. It should always be commenced
+on the outside, and worked to the centre.
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 31.--BORDER FOR FURNITURE COVERS,
+  PORTIÈRES, ETC.--CHAIN STITCH EMBROIDERY.]
+
+Some very rich kinds of Algerian and Eastern work, often embroidered
+entirely with gold thread, and generally with a mixture of this with
+silk, are done altogether in chain-stitch. It is often found, too,
+in ancient crewel-work; and is made by holding the thread firmly over
+the point of the needle, while it is drawn out, so as to form a loop.
+The needle is put back again into the centre of this loop; and the
+thread again passed over the point to form a second one--and so on, the
+succession of loops forming the chain.
+
+The objection to this stitch is that it has a mechanical effect,
+and can be exactly imitated with the sewing-machine. The long
+embroidery-stitch is much more elastic and natural-looking, and able
+to accommodate itself better to varying forms. Chain-stitch is useful,
+however, for outline-work, and wherever a stronger line is required
+than that made by the long stitch.
+
+Curtains, table-covers, portières, etc., are handsomely embroidered in
+chain-stitch; and Figure 31 gives a very rich bordering pattern for
+this purpose. Turkish embroidery is nearly always done in chain-stitch;
+and covers for small tables, with a light blue or scarlet ground,
+worked all over in chain-stitch arabesques with bright silks, make a
+pretty “bit of color” for a shaded corner.
+
+Another effective way of working a table-cover in chain-stitch is to
+get black, red, and white cloth or flannel; the black for the centre,
+the red next to the black, and the white for the border--and joining
+them by lapping the edge of one a very little way over the other,
+proceed to chain-stitch the whole with various colored silks.
+
+The effect is very handsome; and the bordering may differ from the
+other part by being done in loose overcast stitch over straight pieces
+of zephyr, and finished with little tassels of the bright silks.
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 32.--ORIENTAL BORDERING.]
+
+Figure 32 is a very pretty Oriental-looking pattern suitable for a
+bordering, or it can be used in other ways. The figures placed together
+are worked in chain-stitch with silk of two contrasting colors--two
+shades being used in each figure. The outer row of the first is
+dark-red, and the inner one bright-red. The second figure is of two
+shades of green; the third of two shades of blue; and the fourth of
+two shades of yellow. The knotted stitch in the centre of the ovals is
+violet. The dots outside the ovals are worked in satin-stitch, and are
+alternately red, yellow, violet, and blue. The stems are of black silk
+in point-russe stitches. The four ovals are worked in chain-stitch with
+silk of two shades of brown.
+
+
+                            LADDER-STITCH.
+
+This is sometimes quite effective in ornamental embroidery. Figures 33
+and 34 give two different patterns. The material is partly cut away
+in these illustrations, and in some kinds of work this is a great
+improvement. Ladder-stitch makes very pretty border lines--the outer
+edges being done in overcast, and the cross-stitches in point-russe.
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 33.]
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 34.]
+
+Exquisite pieces of work have been wrought in silk embroidery from time
+immemorial; and there is scarcely a material to which it may not be
+applied. A fragment of old embroidery, worked more than a century ago,
+is represented as a good subject for study in the way of coloring.
+
+This fragment is about eight inches deep, intended for bordering, and
+is worked on white satin. The material is ravelled out in a fringe at
+the bottom; then comes a line about an eighth of an inch wide in dark
+red floss--then a row of disks shaded in a dark and a light green;
+above these and touching one another are two broader lines of red,
+one the same color as the first, the other paler; then there is a
+representation of moss worked in chenille of three shades of green--and
+from this mossy ground spring roses, carnations, forget-me-nots, and
+leafy sprays. This part is treated quite decoratively; and no attempt
+is made to preserve the natural proportions of the flowers in relation
+to each other, or to their stems and leaves.
+
+In the sprays, one or two leaves are of peach-blossom color. Above
+this row of flowers are branches in festoons; of which the stems
+are olive-brown, the leaves shaded, or rather, party-colored, with
+peach-blossom inclining to pink, olive-brown, and two or three shades
+of green. It will be seen that nature is no more strictly adhered to in
+color than in form.
+
+Over these branches is a pattern in two shades of peach-blossom,
+mingled with a very little blue. Except the moss, the embroidery is all
+done in floss silk split very fine. Seen by artificial light, this
+beautiful piece of work has the brilliancy of cut and polished gems;
+while the general effect of color is extremely rich and sweet, and
+would harmonize with almost any surroundings.
+
+A beautiful way of treating the ground color, particularly if it be
+one that seems to attract too much attention to itself, is by working
+a small diaper pattern all over it in a darker shade of the same
+color--this gives depth and richness to the whole. A network of dead
+gold may be imitated in silk of the right shade.
+
+Dark, brownish greens, deep, dull blues, and rich maroons, make good
+grounds; but black is best for a brilliant effect. The ground must be
+decidedly dark, or decidedly light--no half-way shades being allowable,
+as it is far more important for the colors of the work to contrast
+strongly with the ground than with each other.
+
+
+                          CHINESE EMBROIDERY.
+
+The French and Chinese excel in silk embroidery; and the painstaking
+double work done in China is well known. The great care with which the
+Chinese embroider preserves their materials bright and shining. These
+materials are floss and twisted silks--also the bark of a tree spun
+into a fine thread. Flat lines of gold also glitter among the silks,
+and are used as stems and connecting links.
+
+The drawing of these embroideries is sometimes as uncouth as that
+of their paintings; but in some of their flowers (probably copied
+from nature) they are often even botanically correct. The iris, for
+instance, which frequently appears in their designs, is very true to
+nature; and so is the time-honored stork. The iris, Figure 35, is a
+good flower for embroidery; and may be made as effective in borders as
+the sunflower.
+
+The modern art of embroidery in China is thus graphically described by
+a traveller:
+
+“For 22 cash, or _tseen_, I purchased an elegant book filled with
+choice subjects of the graphic art as patterns for the use of the young
+needlewoman. She is assumed to be poor, and hence the little manual
+is printed at about one penny of our money. It has a cover of a fair
+yellow, studded with spangles of gold; and contains between two and
+three hundred figures culled from the various stores of nature and art.
+
+“In fact, the objects are so well-selected and so numerous, that they
+might serve as illustrations to a small encyclopædia. One acquainted
+with Chinese literature and natural history might deliver several
+lectures with this book before him. The meadow, the grove, the brook,
+the antiquary’s museum, and the pages of mythology, with the adornments
+of the house and garden, are all laid under contribution.
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 35.]
+
+“The book is said to be for the use of the person who belongs to the
+_green window_--which is an epithet for the dwelling of a poor
+woman; while the _red gallery_ denotes the residence of a rich
+female. The industrious poor plies her task near the green lattice,
+which is made of earthenware and lets in both the light and the breath
+of heaven; while the rich dame leans upon the vermeil-tinted balusters
+of the gaudy veranda, and gazes carelessly at the sunbeams as they
+sparkle among the flowers, or waves the soft breeze which agitates the
+green roof of the Indian fig-tree.
+
+“The title-page presents us with a venerable man in the weeds of
+office, holding in his hand a scroll with this motto: ‘Heaven’s
+Magistrate confers wealth.’ Over his head are bats disporting among the
+clouds; the emblems, I suppose, of wakefulness--for these animals are
+on the alert while men sleep.
+
+“I once saw two girls at this work in the village of Mongha. They were
+seated upon a low stool, and extended their legs across another of
+twice the height of their seat. In this way, a support was provided for
+the frame on which the piece to be embroidered was spread forth. Their
+faces wore a sickly hue; which was owing, perhaps, to close confinement
+and the unnatural position in which they were obliged to sit.
+
+“The finest specimens of embroidery are, so far as my observation goes,
+done by men, who stand while at work--a practice which these damsels
+could not imitate, as their feet were small. They were poor, but too
+genteel, in their parents’ idea, to do the drudgery of the humble
+housewife; and so their feet were bandaged and kept from growing beyond
+the limits of gentility. Their looks were not likely soon to attract
+a lover; and hence they were compelled to tease the sampler from the
+glistening dawn till dewy eve.”
+
+Chinese embroidery is particularly rich and effective for screens,
+with its clear outlines, its gorgeous flowers, and showy birds and
+butterflies. It bears the closest scrutiny--each stitch, even the hair
+lines, seems to be placed just in the right spot; and appliqué is often
+brought in so successfully, that it looks as if woven in the material.
+The vivid clusters of crêpe flowers are beautiful; and the judicious
+introduction of gold thread here and there gives a marvellous richness
+to the whole work.
+
+Very fine floss-silk is the most common material used, and the
+embroidery is done in long irregular stitches. Silk and satin are
+generally used for the foundation; but whether the color is vivid blue,
+bright scarlet, or pale gold, the effect seems to be equally good.
+
+The apparent carelessness of this work is one of its great attractions;
+the bold, free outlines seem easy of imitation; and a study of the
+cheap Chinese and Japanese fans will be found very suggestive in the
+way of design and coloring. A simple design on one of these fans has an
+intensely blue sky at the upper edge--a white moon in its first quarter
+at the upper right-hand corner--while at the left-hand lower one, a
+small bunch of intensely pink flowers send a warm glow over the whole.
+The effect is extremely pretty.
+
+_Japanese embroidery_, although similar in style and design, seems
+finer and more dainty than the Chinese; and yet it is said that their
+best specimens of work are kept for home decoration. The finest of
+these are the cloths used as covers for the presents given by persons
+paying visits of ceremony; these cloths are not given with the presents
+they cover, but are family heirlooms. Really good Japanese work is said
+to be rarely seen elsewhere.
+
+The pieces of embroidery which are done purposely for a foreign market
+are often very handsome; but they do not compare with those which are
+executed for their own critical eyes. White birds, usually storks, on
+a black satin ground, from which they stand out so clearly that they
+seem in the very act of flying, are the most common subject. Some rare
+pieces are occasionally seen in which the work is exquisite; in one,
+the ground will be a deep, soft blue satin, like the sky of a summer
+night; while the leading colors of the embroidery are gold, pale blue,
+and white.
+
+In another piece, the ground is of scarlet moreen, of a sufficiently
+bright yellow scarlet to harmonize with the gold that forms the
+principal color in the embroidery. The subject is a long flight of
+storks; not less than eighty of them are flying upwards in a zigzag
+line--the angles of which are very carefully studied from the bottom to
+the top of the picture.
+
+Most of these storks are embroidered in white silk, the direction
+of the stitches giving much of their form; they are pricked out
+with black, and there is a little pale pink or pale yellow-green
+in their beaks and legs. About a quarter of them are worked all in
+gold--representing the birds in shadow, or seen against the light;
+and these have little or no detail. Each bird is distinct, separately
+drawn, and having his own expression, mode of flight, and position in
+the line.
+
+The rest of the space is filled by horizontal bars of gold of varying
+widths, and groups of fan-stitches also in gold; these seem to indicate
+the flat sunset clouds and the tops of the distant trees passed over by
+the storks in their flight.
+
+Both in Japanese and Chinese work, the subjects are sometimes partly
+painted and partly embroidered; and the two are so happily blended,
+that it is difficult, at a little distance, to see where one kind of
+work stops and the other begins.
+
+In imitating this kind of embroidery for small articles, unmeaning
+kinds of lines in the way of reeds and grasses, as in Figure 36, have a
+particularly characteristic look. Small fans may also be introduced to
+advantage; and Figure 37 would admit of a small bird and bough at the
+top on a gold-colored ground, with brown lines for sticks; while Figure
+38 might have a top of pink floss or embroidery silk with black lines
+at the bottom. These fans may be very much varied, and can be made
+extremely ornamental. Figure 39 is a still different shape.
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 36.]
+
+A full-sized fan with small ones embroidered over it would be a pretty
+conceit; or to introduce them in connection with flowers, butterflies,
+and other emblems of summer.
+
+It must be borne in mind that this kind of work is never over-loaded--a
+few grasses, a butterfly, and a flower, often sufficing for a
+good-sized object.
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 37.]
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 38.]
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 39.]
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER IV.
+
+                 _DESIGNING AND TRANSFERRING DESIGNS._
+
+
+This is a most important part of the work, and one that is done in
+various ways. Patterns can always be stamped at the various fancy-work
+stores, or bought all ready for working; but the embroiderer, with
+original ideas and some turn for drawing, prefers to do this herself.
+
+Worsted patterns may often be used for outlines, as they are generally
+correct in this respect, and the leaves particularly are well drawn.
+But those who are able to take their models from nature will have
+less stiffness in their work; and a little practice in this way will
+sometimes develop powers hitherto undreamed of. Large single flowers of
+all kinds are easiest to begin with; and a lily, or a wild rose, for
+instance, will be found quite easy to manage.
+
+A pencil-drawing or a water-color painting can often be accommodated
+to embroidery; and a too spreading branch or cluster may be made more
+compact by a little management. A spray of apple-blossoms, which is
+a particularly desirable model, will frequently over-step the bounds
+assigned to it in one way, and not sufficiently fill them up in
+another. The best way to manage is to take a piece of paper the size of
+the article to be embroidered, and divide it by lines into four equal
+parts. The outline of the branch can then be sketched on it; and the
+result will probably be that two of the squares are filled, one barely
+touched with a leaf, and the other quite empty. More blossoms, leaves,
+or twigs, can be added on one side and taken away on the other; if the
+whole ground is not sufficiently covered, a butterfly, or a bird, may
+be introduced to furnish a bare corner.
+
+The suitableness of any design for the purpose to which it is to be
+applied depends upon whether its position is to be a horizontal or an
+upright one.
+
+Borders of upright sprigs, intended for a horizontal position, single
+or grouped, require a line or two below, which serves to keep them
+together; without this support they look disjointed, and each sprig
+is too independent of the others. They need not touch the line--but
+one near at hand seems to keep them from falling into space. When the
+sprigs are large a series of lines should he used; and for this purpose
+very pretty designs are often found in Oriental china.
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 40.]
+
+The combination in Figure 40 is simple enough in detail, but
+very effective to edge a bordering. It is done in chain-stitch,
+ladder-stitch, and point russe.
+
+Small borders are often improved by a mere line on each side; and
+the same effect is produced by sewing the bordering on material of a
+different shade.
+
+Birds and butterflies are naturally associated with flowers; they
+give an air of life, and often serve to balance the inequalities of
+a design. Butterflies are particularly appropriate from their great
+variety both of size and coloring; and being worked like other artistic
+embroidery, without any elaboration of detail, they are very easily
+done.
+
+Vases, which frequently occur in the fashionable designs, should either
+be represented by some material laid on, or worked in lines only--the
+outline with the pattern on it, as it would appear in a pencil drawing
+without shading.
+
+A beautiful piece of silk embroidery was worked on a ground of
+bronze-green satin. There were sprays of convolvulus springing from a
+vase of gray satin; the flowers were white, edged with pure blue--not
+the purplish blue of the natural flower, for that would not have
+harmonized so well--and yet there was nothing unnatural in the effect
+of the color. The leaves were of yellow and gray greens, and the stalks
+a brownish green.
+
+Then, to give warmth and life, some sulphur butterflies hovered over
+the garlands. Thus, though in the coloring of the design the component
+parts only of the bronze-green ground were used, the effect was perfect.
+
+
+                         TRANSFERRING DESIGNS.
+
+Designs are traced in various ways, according to the nature and color
+of the material to be embroidered.
+
+For a light-colored ground, the best method is to trace the pattern on
+tissue or other thin paper, lay the material flat upon a table, and
+fix the place of the pattern upon it very exactly. Then put a piece of
+carbonized blue or black paper, face downward, on the material, between
+it and the paper pattern; and with a stiletto, or other hard-pointed
+but not too sharp instrument (a metallic pencil or a knitting-needle
+will often answer the purpose), trace over all the lines of the design,
+taking care to keep the paper pattern from slipping, and that the
+fingers do not press too heavily on the transferring-paper, or more
+color will come off than is desirable.
+
+An _old_ sheet of paper is more satisfactory than a new one; and
+it is advisable to rub the latter gently with a cloth before using it,
+to remove any unfixed coloring.
+
+Pouncing is a more complicated process than tracing; but for
+dark-colored materials it is safer.
+
+The design must first be drawn on thick paper, and then pricked along
+the lines with a pin. The paper should then be held up to the light to
+see that the holes are clear, and close enough together to make the
+pattern plain.
+
+When the pattern is fixed, face upward, on the material, dust it over
+with starch tied up in thin muslin so that the fine powder goes through
+the holes. Flour will answer the purpose, and may be best applied about
+the pattern with a soft brush.
+
+The paper must then be taken up very carefully, lifting it straight
+upward off the material so that it does not blur the little dots of
+white, which ought to be in regular order underneath--marking out the
+design. The lines of the pattern should be traced at once, as indicated
+by the dots, with the original design before the eye, with white
+tracing paint.
+
+There is also a _blue_ powder for delicate light materials, that
+might be injured by the carbonized paper.
+
+Another method, when the nature of the design will permit it, is to cut
+out the pattern in paper, place it on the material, and trace round the
+edges with chalk. Then remove the paper, and go over the chalk outline
+with Chinese white--renewing it where it is defective.
+
+The richer the fabric, the more care, of course, is needed in
+transferring the design; and transparent materials should have the
+pattern basted underneath. Embroidery in floss is often done on black
+net--for which the design should be managed in this way.
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER V.
+
+                    _ARTICLES IN SILK EMBROIDERY._
+
+
+There is scarcely an article for which ornament of this kind is used
+that may not be decorated with silk embroidery, and it is suitable for
+all materials. Curtains, portières, and table-covers are very handsome
+done in outline with silk of the same color, but a lighter shade
+than the ground; and whole sets of furniture have been undertaken by
+ambitious workers.
+
+
+                     A SCREEN OF PEACOCK FEATHERS.
+
+This was embroidered on a foundation of pale peach-blossom silk with
+split floss, and made up with a plain ebony frame, ornamented here and
+there with a little dead gold.
+
+It was an exquisite piece of work, both in design and execution; and so
+wonderfully did the brilliant silks reflect the changeful hues of the
+bronze-greens and browns, that it was difficult to convince visitors
+that real feathers were not fastened on. The only pattern used by the
+embroiderer was one tail-feather dropped by a majestic fowl almost at
+her feet; and while walking with the trophy in her hand, the design of
+the screen came to her and was forthwith executed.
+
+It was a good-sized fire-place screen; and as the room was furnished in
+dark-blue, it showed to great advantage.
+
+
+                        A PRETTY BANNER-SCREEN.
+
+This was fastened to the end of the mantel; and the crimson satin
+foundation was covered with a small diaper pattern in maroon silk.
+Thick clusters of small daisies without leaves were worked as a
+bordering in embroidery-stitch; the centres in knot-stitch. In
+the middle of the screen was a beautifully-designed monogram in
+gold-colored silk.
+
+
+                         ANOTHER BANNER-SCREEN
+
+was attached to a gilt stand. This stood on a table and was intended
+to shade the eyes from a lamp or candle. The ground was of pale green
+silk, and it was beautifully embroidered with ivy-leaves of darker
+shades. In the centre, there was an antique lamp done in gold thread;
+and the banner was finished with a chenille fringe of green and white.
+It was lined with white silk.
+
+
+                        EMBROIDERED TABLE-TOP.
+
+Figure 41 may be used for a variety of purposes. It makes a very pretty
+top for a small table; and is worked in stalk-stitch, chain-stitch,
+point russe, and knotted stitch, with the flowers in pink,
+claret-color, and yellow, on a pale-blue ground. The sprays and leaves
+are in shades of olive-green.
+
+The table, which looks best with a pedestal of ebony, or ebonized wood,
+has a border-fringe of Macramé lace.
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 41.]
+
+
+                        WINDOW-CURTAIN BORDER.
+
+A very handsome bordering for window-curtains was lately worked
+by an artistic needlewoman; figures of dragons in gold-colored
+embroidery-silk on a ground of maroon rep. The bordering was intended
+for a soft gray material; and the straight cornice-band was embroidered
+in the same device.
+
+
+                         EMBROIDERED DRESSES.
+
+Silk embroidery is very ornamental for dresses--although for this
+purpose usually done only in one color. Ordinarily, it would be a
+formidable piece of work to do it in the style of smaller articles; but
+ingenuity and rapid execution sometimes go hand in hand. The heroine
+of a story is represented as threading her needle with one length of
+crimson silk, and with this scanty material, bringing out a crimson
+rose on a silk handkerchief almost as quickly as a magician could do
+it. A few deft stitches--and there it was. It was taken to pieces quite
+as easily, and no trace of it remained.
+
+But embroidery does not usually go on in this fashion; it is careful
+work; and she who takes the greatest pains, as a general thing meets
+with the best success.
+
+Embroidered robes for full dress are decidedly the fashion now; and one
+of black silk, or lace, embroidered with carnations, is beautiful for
+a brunette--while the delicate blonde may wreathe herself with blue
+convolvulus, or deeply-pink wild roses, on a white or cream-colored
+ground. Every one has her favorite flower; and to wear it embroidered
+on an evening dress is a graceful way of proclaiming it.
+
+
+                                PANELS.
+
+Painted panels and tiles have become almost a mania; but the needle of
+the embroideress can produce quite as charming results. Painting is
+more quickly done; but every one cannot paint, while many who cannot do
+this can embroider exquisitely.
+
+To keep the embroidered panel or tile fresh and bright, it should
+be protected by glass; and properly treated, it will be quite as
+satisfactory as painting.
+
+The two panels for the doors of a small hanging-cabinet are very
+pretty with a ground of cloth-of-gold, gold-colored satin, or silk--a
+spray of wistaria worked on one--wild roses on the other. Violets and
+anemones are pretty together; and on anything with four panels may be
+represented the flowers or birds of the four seasons.
+
+Silhouettes in black silk may be worked on all colored grounds for
+tiles; and ingenuity can accomplish wonders in this way. The whole
+procession of flowers, from the first snow-drop, or hepatica, of early
+spring, to the holly and berries of Christmas, may be followed up
+on tiles; the fans and umbrellas of all nations; and various other
+suggestions, both practical and amusing.
+
+
+                      SMALL CURTAILS OR HANGINGS
+
+For cabinets and book-shelves may be made of various materials,
+and ornamented with silk embroidery. The patterns should be more
+delicate and finished, and the materials of finer quality than for
+large hangings. Arabesques of chain-stitch in gold-colored silk on a
+dark-blue ground of velveteen, with a pretty border pattern at top
+and bottom; or a bright-colored bird on a branch, with a butterfly in
+one corner, for a background; buttercups and daisies on a ground of
+golden-brown, would all be effective.
+
+
+                          A WREATHED PICTURE.
+
+Something new in the way of embroidery is to border a picture in this
+manner. The frames with painted corners may be imitated with the
+needle, and the daisies, violets, and other flowers will be found quite
+as ornamental in embroidery.
+
+But the wreathed picture was a fine engraving of the Mater Dolorosa,
+small enough to make the process practicable. It was unmounted, and
+the back carefully pasted on the foundation of light-blue satin. Not a
+wrinkle was visible after it was thoroughly smoothed with a soft piece
+of old cambric; and after sewing a piece of narrow, gold-colored silk
+braid around the edge, a wreath of Annunciation lilies was traced and
+embroidered on the satin. It was so beautifully done as to look like
+painting; and with a glass over the whole the illusion was complete. It
+was put in a gilded Florentine frame.
+
+
+                         AN EMBROIDERED ROOM.
+
+It was very pretty to read about in a story, and not impossible
+to carry out practically. The prevailing colors of the room were
+pale-blue and carnation; and the curtain-lambrequins of pale-blue
+were embroidered with sprays of woodbine in its autumn dress of vivid
+scarlet and crimson. The mantel-hanging was in blocks like tiles, done
+in the same colors; and the panels of a home-made cabinet were likewise
+embroidered.
+
+These things, with other accessions, made it a charming room; and if
+one could walk bodily into just such an apartment, the effect would
+doubtless be all that it was represented.
+
+
+                          A FAN TABLE-COVER.
+
+Outlined palm leaves are very pretty, and fans are no less so. The
+groundwork of cloth, flannel, or satin (if a small table), has three or
+five parallel strips of velvet ribbon sewn down on each side with point
+russe stitches of gold-colored silk, and put far enough apart for fans
+of all colors to be embroidered between them.
+
+These are worked in long embroidery-stitch; and although less work if
+merely outlined, they are so very much richer and brighter looking when
+filled in as to be quite worth the trouble. The ground may be of any
+color that harmonizes with the rest of the room.
+
+
+                            A CHAIR-COVER.
+
+Long embroidered strips that will cover both back and seat of the kind
+of lounging-chair now so much in use are very pretty worked like the
+table-cover--the groundwork of the middle strip being of gray satin or
+velveteen, with the rows of fans separated by garnet-colored velvet
+ribbon, and a strip of the same colored velveteen on either side of the
+gray. A fringe where the covering ends at top and bottom gives it the
+look of being carelessly thrown there.
+
+
+                             FIRE-SCREENS.
+
+We have just been shown two exquisite pieces of embroidery intended
+for fire-screens. One represented flame-colored gladioli on a black
+satin ground, and was rich beyond expression; the other was worked with
+cat-tails, reeds, and some unpretending little yellow flowers on a
+blue ground. The material looked like a Chinese groundwork.
+
+The coloring of both of these needle-paintings was perfect; and as to
+the stitches, it was difficult to believe that there were any--the
+shades were blended as if with a brush.
+
+
+                           A CHILD’S AFGHAN.
+
+It was made of strips of pink and white cashmere; the pink
+ones embroidered with daisies, the white ones with pansies, in
+embroidery-silk--and it was one of the prettiest things of the kind
+ever seen. It was lined with thin pink silk slightly wadded and
+quilted, and bordered with a ruching of pink ribbon. The seams were
+concealed by lines of feather-stitch in garnet-colored silk.
+
+The resources of silk embroidery are inexhaustible; and all sorts of
+small articles, pin-cushions, brackets, watch-stands, glove-boxes,
+sachets, etc., will suggest themselves. Fans, too, are beautifully
+embroidered, and divide admiration with fine painting. Ornamental
+velvets for neck, wrists, and belt, are a fashionable device--and these
+are embroidered with single flowers: daisies, violets, etc.
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER VI.
+
+                             _PRINT-WORK._
+
+
+This is a very fine kind of embroidery, and specimens of it are quite
+rare. As the name implies, it is intended to imitate a picture, and is
+generally used only for small subjects--the stitches being almost too
+minute to be distinguished at all.
+
+It is done on white silk or satin, which is carefully stretched in a
+frame, and the design is then drawn on it. This is sketched with a
+pencil, and usually worked in black silk; the various shades between
+black and white may be used, but not colors--as the object is to
+represent an engraving. Lead color, or pale slate, will be as suitable
+as black.
+
+A very fine needle must be used, and fine silk to correspond; and a
+dotted engraving can be so well imitated in this kind of work that it
+is almost impossible to tell the difference. The stitch used is known
+as masking-stitch; and it is set as closely as possible without lapping
+one over another.
+
+In working a copy of an engraving, the embroiderer begins with the
+darkest shades, which are done with black silk; gradually proceeding
+to the lightest tints, with silks of the intermediate shades--blending
+them into each other with the nicest care. To accomplish this, where it
+is necessary to introduce the lighter portions, the stitches are set
+wide apart and the intervals filled up by putting in the lightest tint
+used.
+
+The worker must always have the engraving before her to study the
+lights and shades. Fine engravings can be copied in the same way--but
+the stitches should be longer and wider apart.
+
+This kind of needlework requires great patience and is a heavy strain
+upon the eyesight; and considering the beautiful effects produced
+by other methods with less outlay, it is not likely to become very
+popular.
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER VII.
+
+                     _SILK EMBROIDERY WITH GOLD._
+
+
+Much of the ancient work used for hangings was magnificently wrought
+with a mixture of gold embroidery--as much of the Indian needlework
+is now done, especially in Japan and China. The royal palace of Jeddo
+has a profusion of the finest tapestry, wrought by the most curious
+hands, and adorned with pearls, gold, and silver, and other costly
+embellishments.
+
+The Moors of Spain have been especially celebrated for their rich
+and beautiful decorative work; and with them originated the custom
+of using tapestry for curtains. Mohammed forbade his followers to
+imitate animals, or insects, in their ornamental work; and from this
+circumstance, the term Arabesque, which represents their style of
+decoration, was used to express all odd combinations of patterns from
+which human and animal forms were excluded.
+
+Gold was introduced into these arabesques with the richest possible
+effect; and this style of design has never lost its popularity. It is
+often mixed with other patterns in colors; but the simple richness of
+an arabesque in black and gold cannot be excelled.
+
+In the Middle Ages the most beautiful gold embroidery was called
+_opus Anglicanum_; and this name clung to it whether it was done
+in England or not. Much of this work was done in the convents, or
+“shee-schools,” as quaint old Fuller calls them; and besides church
+vestments, which will be mentioned elsewhere, very beautiful secular
+robes and pieces of tapestry were wrought in silk and gold.
+
+The richest tapestry was in pieces like large flags or banners; and
+was a prominent decoration on all occasions of festivity or rejoicing.
+Ornamental needlework of all kinds was hung from the windows, or
+balconies, in those streets through which a pageant, or festal
+procession, was to pass--just as flags are suspended now; and as the
+houses were then built with the upper stories far overhanging the lower
+ones, these draperies frequently hung in rich folds to the ground. When
+a street was thus adorned through its whole length, and partly roofed
+by the floating streamers and banners above, it must have had somewhat
+the appearance of a suite of magnificent saloons.
+
+The art of embroidering with gold and silver is very ancient, and these
+costly materials were often woven into fabrics as well; but the pure
+metal was then used, beaten into thin plates, and then cut into narrow
+slips, which were rounded with a hammer and filed to make threads or
+wire.
+
+The method is exactly described in Exodus xxxix. 3, as practised by
+the Israelites: “And they did beat the gold into thin plates, and cut
+it into wires, to work it in the blue, and in the purple, and in the
+scarlet, and in the fine linen with cunning work.”
+
+Old embroidered robes are mentioned made entirely of these gold threads
+without any linen or woolen ground. Pieces of embroidery worked with
+gold were called “orphreys,” from the mediæval _aurifrigium_ or
+_aurifrasium_; and mention is made, in the reign of Edward III.,
+of two vests of green velvet embroidered with gold, one of which was
+decorated with sea-sirens bearing a shield with the arms of England
+and Hainault. Also of a robe of velvet worked with gold; and an outer
+garment wrought with pelicans, images, and tabernacles of gold.
+
+An ancient Persian carpet was of silk and cloth of gold sixty cubits
+square. It was intended to represent a garden; and the figures were of
+gold embroidery, with the colors heightened by precious stones; the
+ruby, the sapphire, the beryl, the topaz, and the pearl, being arranged
+with great skill to represent, in beautiful mosaic, trees, fruit and
+flowers, rivulets, fountains, and shrubs of every description.
+
+These specimens, however, are things of the past.
+
+
+                              MODERN WORK
+
+of this kind is generally used in large and bold designs, where much
+display and extreme brilliancy are desired.
+
+In these days, instead of the pure metal, silver, or copper wire, gilt
+is used. Silver threads are covered either with the pure metal, or with
+plated copper. The Chinese very cunningly use slips of gilt paper which
+they twist upon silk threads, and with which they manage to produce
+very beautiful effects.
+
+
+                            MATERIALS USED.
+
+Cord, braid, thread, bullion, spangles, beads, passing, etc., are all
+used in gold embroidery, and in embroidery with gold and silk.
+
+Of these, “passing,” as it is termed, is the finest material of the
+kind. It is a smooth thread of an even size, and resembles a thin,
+metallic wire--differing from gold cord in the closeness with which the
+flattened wire is spirally twisted round the silk, and in being formed
+of only one thread.
+
+It is used in the same way as silk, the stitch being generally
+satin-stitch; and the needle should be an ordinary needle with a large
+eye, and coarse enough to prevent the fretting of the gold as it is
+passed backwards and forwards through the work.
+
+Beautiful embroidery is wrought by the Turks with “passing” on Morocco.
+
+
+                              GOLD CORD.
+
+This is a twist of two or more threads, which are wound around with
+the flattened wires in a contrary direction to that of “passing”--two,
+three, or four threads being used for needlework.
+
+Cord is often employed for edging braid-work, or flat embroidery--also
+for working braiding-patterns. It is also used with beautiful effect as
+a ground for small, ornamental articles. Fine silk of the same color
+is best for sewing it on; and great care must be taken, in doing this,
+not to chip the metal surface, or the silk will show beneath and give
+the work a broken appearance. The needle should be held as horizontally
+as possible, and passed between the interstices of the cord--slightly
+catching up a thread or two of the material it is intended to ornament.
+
+
+                              GOLD BRAID.
+
+This is a kind of plaited lace, made of three or more threads. There
+are various qualities and makes, suited to different purposes, and
+great judgment is required in their selection. When it is to be used on
+velvet, a round, full, close make should be chosen.
+
+It may be bought of various widths; and as a general thing, the less
+gold there is about it, the cheaper it is, and the more liable to
+tarnish. Mosaic, or copper-gilt, is the least expensive, and also the
+least durable.
+
+
+                               BULLION.
+
+This is a very rich and effective material--being made of a fine wire
+so exquisitely twisted, that it forms a smooth, round, elastic tube,
+which may be cut with scissors into the necessary lengths.
+
+There are three kinds of bullion: rough, smooth, and checked--all of
+which are frequently used together in the same piece of work. When a
+large letter, for instance, is to be embroidered in bullion, after it
+is traced, the surface is raised with cotton, and the bullion cut into
+pieces of the proper size; then three stitches might be made with the
+smooth, two with the rough, and two with the checked; then, again, two
+with the rough and three with the smooth; this would form a kind of
+pattern, and add very much to the richness of the letter.
+
+Short pieces of bullion can be introduced into patterns worked with
+gold thread to great advantage--two or three of them in the cup of
+a flower, and in various other ways. To fasten them on properly,
+take the stitch (the needle being threaded with gold-colored silk)
+lengthwise of the bullion, through the twist--this causes it to lie
+flat on the foundation.
+
+Stars of every form may be made in this way: they are extremely
+brilliant. The centres of flowers are often formed of bullion; in that
+case, however, the stitch does not pass through the twist its full
+length, but is shorter--so that the middle of the bullion is depressed,
+and the extremities elevated; or the stitch may be passed through both
+ends of the piece of bullion, and being drawn rather tight, a slight
+prominence, or expansion, will be given to the middle. Either method
+has a beautiful effect.
+
+
+                               SPANGLES.
+
+These are small pieces of silver or other metal, gilt or plated--cut
+into various forms, though usually round--and with a hole in the centre
+through which the silk is passed that fastens them to the work.
+
+It is not easy to secure them properly, and at the same time to conceal
+the means by which it is done. The only way to accomplish it is to
+bring the silk from the under side and pass it through the small hole
+in the centre of the spangle; the needle is next to be passed through a
+very small piece of bullion, and then put back through the hole again.
+This does away with the unsightly appearance of a thread across the
+spangle, and makes it more secure.
+
+Spangles were once extensively used in decorative work, to give it
+richness and glitter; but now they are chiefly used to ornament fringes
+and tassels, and other Masonic paraphernalia. Their value depends
+on their brilliancy and color, and the amount of gold used in their
+gilding.
+
+Spangled fans are very showy; and black satin or black tulle is a good
+foundation for showing them to advantage.
+
+
+                             GOLD THREAD.
+
+This belongs more particularly, perhaps, to “the art of sewing in golde
+and silke;” and “a robe of Indian silk thickly wrought with flowers of
+gold” was certainly a gorgeous object. Another robe was adorned with
+roses of gold wrought with marvellous skill, and bordered with pearls
+and precious stones of exceeding value.
+
+Various materials are used as foundations for embroidery in gold
+thread: crape, India muslin, or some kind of silk, being usually
+preferred as giving the best effect, and displaying the rich devices to
+the greatest advantage.
+
+The thread used should be fine and even in texture; a little care in
+this matter will make the work comparatively easy. Satin-stitch is
+the one generally used; and if the material to be embroidered is
+transparent, the pattern is laid _under_ the foundation, and the
+outline traced in white thread.
+
+In working a slender flower-stalk, the running thread of white should
+be omitted; gold thread should be run in, and then slightly sewed over
+with another thread of gold; this will give a spiral appearance, which
+is very beautiful.
+
+In using silk with gold thread, it is best to use silk of one color--a
+variety of colors tending to destroy the harmony of contrast. Green
+and gold have always been close friends, and silk of a bright green
+mingled with the gold thread has a very rich effect. Gray and gold,
+black and gold, and many other combinations might be mentioned; but a
+green branch or sprigs embroidered in silk, with flowers formed of gold
+thread and bullion, is as pretty a one as can be made.
+
+In working crests, however, or coats-of-arms, in which gold thread
+is much used, the heraldic arrangement of metals and colors must be
+faithfully followed. In such cases, the silk must be of as many colors
+as in the arms when properly emblazoned; and great care must be taken
+in working devices in imitation of arms, never to place a metal upon a
+metal, or a color upon a color.
+
+In some very rich Indian work lately seen, the ground was of gold
+thread worked in spirals--the rich colors of embroidery silks laid on
+this made it perfectly dazzling.
+
+India muslins are sometimes worked with a gilt or plated sheet of very
+thin metal cut into strips, or any shape wanted, with scissors. Tinsel
+is an imitation of it, and it comes in various colors.
+
+Gold beads and gold and silver fringes are more or less used. These all
+vary greatly in size and quality, and are valuable according to the
+amount of gold used in their manufacture.
+
+Silver thread, cord, or braid, is more likely to tarnish than gold,
+and is not so rich-looking. There is, besides, embroidery silk of a
+decidedly silver white, which produces almost the effect of silver
+thread or cord.
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER VIII.
+
+                _EMBROIDERED BOOKS AND OTHER ARTICLES._
+
+          “And often did she look
+    On that which in her hand she bore,
+    In velvet bound and broidered o’er--
+    Her breviary book.”
+                               MARMION.
+
+
+When books were regarded as precious treasures, and the purchase of a
+single volume involved as much outlay as a rare painting, before the
+art of printing became established, the caskets that held such valuable
+possessions were deemed worthy of much labor and expense.
+
+Rare old carved ivory, gold and silver plates, and precious stones,
+were often used on book-covers; and the most ancient existing specimen
+of this gorgeous style of book-making is written in silver and gold
+letters on a purple ground. Rich and curious devices were often wrought
+with the needle on the velvet, or brocade, which last became more
+exclusively the fashionable material for binding.
+
+The new passion for books which was at its height in Queen Elizabeth’s
+day made the ornamentation of book-covers a favorite employment of the
+high-born dames of England. A book of rhetoric of that time has been
+preserved as much for the sake of the outside as for its contents. The
+cover is of crimson satin, on which is embroidered a coat-of-arms: a
+lion rampant in gold thread on a blue field, with a transverse badge in
+scarlet silk, the minor ornaments all wrought in fine gold thread.
+
+
+                         A MAROON-VELVET BOOK.
+
+Another old book is bound in rich maroon velvet, with the royal arms,
+the garter and motto embroidered in blue; on a ground of crimson, the
+_fleur-de-lys_, leopards, and letters of the motto are worked in
+gold thread. A coronet, or crown of gold, is inwrought with pearls; at
+the corners are roses in red silk and gold; the cover is finished with
+a narrow border in burnished gold thread.
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 42.--BORDER FOR COVER OF BIBLE,
+  PRAYER-BOOK, ETC.]
+
+
+                         A QUEEN’S NEEDLEWORK.
+
+A book of prayers copied out by Queen Elizabeth before she ascended
+the throne is covered with canvas wrought all over, in a kind of
+tent-stitch, with rich crimson silk and silver thread intermixed.
+Elizabeth’s own needle worked the ornaments, consisting of the letters
+“H. K.,” intertwined in the middle--a smaller “K” above and below--and
+roses in the corners--all very much raised, and worked in blue silk and
+silver.
+
+
+                          PETRARCH’S SONNETS.
+
+An edition of Petrarch’s Sonnets, printed at Venice in 1544, is still
+in beautiful preservation. The back is of dark crimson velvet; and on
+each side is worked a large royal coat-of-arms in silk and gold highly
+raised. The book belonged to Edward VI.
+
+
+                          ANOTHER ROYAL BOOK
+
+has a cover of crimson silk with a Prince’s feather worked in gold
+thread in the centre. The three feathers are bound together with large
+pearls and wreathed with leaves and flowers. Round the edge of the
+cover there is a broader wreath; and corner-sprigs in gold thread are
+thickly interspersed with spangles and gold leaves.
+
+These elegant volumes,
+
+   “In velvet bound and broidered o’er,”
+
+are to be seen in the British Museum; and although the day is past for
+adorning book-covers in so showy a fashion, these articles may be more
+modestly ornamented with very good effect.
+
+Kid, or leather, makes a very suitable cover for a Bible or
+Prayer-Book. Two shades of brown may be used for the border pattern in
+Figure 42--the figures in the lighter shade to be worked around with
+gold thread, either in chain-stitch or in stalk-stitch. Silk may be
+substituted for the gold thread.
+
+A ground of gray kid, with the figures in black edged with gold, would
+be equally suitable. On one side of the cover, a small cross to match
+the border--and on the other, the owner’s monogram would make an
+appropriate finish for either book.
+
+The rich design in Figure 43 is on a foundation of black velvet, to
+which white faille is applied around the cross.
+
+The figures of the design being outlined, the lines are run on the
+edges with maize-colored silk--going back and forth, and overcasting
+them with gold bullion. The passion-flowers, wheat, leaves, and
+ornaments of the cross, are worked in satin-stitch with gold thread.
+For the stems and vines, gold cord is sewed on with gold-colored silk.
+
+
+                         A BOOK OF ENGRAVINGS
+
+would be very ornamental with an embroidered cover. Crimson or
+maroon-colored velveteen, brown kid, or gray canvas, could be
+handsomely worked with silk and gold thread. Borderings of catalogues
+and circulars might be copied to advantage--some of these being very
+rich: black, with gold bars and dots, pink, crimson, or blue.
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 43.--COVER FOR PRAYER-BOOK.]
+
+Heraldic devices, rich monograms, dainty corners, all look well in this
+kind of work; and a bordering of gold acorns, or clover leaves, on a
+brown or olive ground, is always handsome.
+
+
+                           SCRAP-BOOK COVERS
+
+may be made as attractive as the contents, according to the style
+of the illustrations. Russia duck is a very good foundation; and if
+the contents are of a comic nature, a Chinese or Japanese figure, or
+dragon, or either uncanny beast or bird, may be outlined and made very
+rich and showy with embroidery in the proper colors mixed with gold
+thread or braid.
+
+Pongee, too, may be nicely embroidered; and is very pretty for thin
+books tied with a ribbon at the back. In this way, the contents can be
+changed at pleasure.
+
+
+                             ALBUM COVERS
+
+should be more delicate, and worked on velvet, or silk. Figure 44 makes
+a very pretty corner for this purpose; and Figure 45 is very effective
+on a small book. The stars might be done in gold thread, the centre in
+point-russe with black silk--the diamonds in satin-stitch of a lighter
+or darker shade of the same color as the foundation.
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 44.--CORNER OF BORDER IN SATIN STITCH
+  EMBROIDERY FOR ALBUM COVERS, PORTFOLIOS, ETC.]
+
+Portfolios may be embroidered in the same way; and whether for writing
+materials or for engravings, they can be made very ornamental.
+
+
+                             LETTER-CASE.
+
+A very rich and handsome letter-case is represented in Figures 46 and
+47: Figure 46 showing it when completed, and Figure 47 displaying the
+principal part of the embroidery.
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 45.]
+
+The most suitable ground for the rich gold embroidery is velvet-brown
+crimson, or blue; but it may be made very handsomely in kid or morocco.
+The larger part of the case is eleven inches long, and eight inches
+wide; on the upper part of this book, there is a pattern in gold
+soutache, and the word LETTERS or LETTRES embroidered in gold bullion;
+beneath this, there is a pattern worked with white satin beads, edged
+round with fine white chenille--the scroll pattern is embroidered in
+gold.
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 46.]
+
+The second part is placed over the lower part of the first, and forms
+the pocket which holds the letters. The central flower is formed with
+eleven oval beads, edged with white chenille; another white bead is
+placed in the centre, and edged with gold. The other flowers are also
+composed of white satin beads edged with gold.
+
+
+                       GOLD AND SILK EMBROIDERY.
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 47.]
+
+This rich pattern is intended for a cushion, or chair-cover. It is
+particularly handsome on a ground of blue velvet, or satin; and the
+large flowers, leaves, and stems, are all outlined with gold thread
+sewed on with fine yellow silk. The stamens are worked in satinstitch
+with yellow silk, and the veins in point-russe with blue silk.
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 48.]
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 49.]
+
+The forget-me-nots are done in satin-stitch with blue silk, and the
+centres in knotted-stitch with gold thread. The veins and stems are
+done in stalk-stitch, and the sprays and vines in point-russe with blue
+silk.
+
+The work is finished on the outer edge with a thick cord of blue silk
+and gold thread.
+
+Figure 49 is intended for a cigar-case; but if widened, it would make a
+very pretty book or portfolio cover.
+
+The material should be light-brown Russia leather; the wheat-sheaf is
+embroidered in satin-stitch with dark-brown silk---the stem and light
+outlines in stalk-stitch with gold thread. The bordering is of gold
+cord, with a network of dark-brown silk, and stitched with black at all
+the crossings and centres.
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 50.
+
+                       MONOGRAM IN GOLD THREAD.]
+
+This very pretty monogram is worked with gold thread; the leaves and
+flowers may be done with silk if preferred.
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER IX.
+
+                    _APPLIED WORK WITH EMBROIDERY._
+
+
+Appliqué, as it is usually called, is the most simple kind of
+decorative needlework, being nothing more than a pattern cut out of
+one material and transferred on another. It must, of course, like
+all fancy-work, be neatly done, with no rough edges or mis-matching
+figures, and embroidery of some kind is used as a finish; but the same
+amount of skill and practice is not required as in other artistic work.
+
+When properly done, it is very rich and effective; and it recommends
+itself by the charming results produced with comparatively little
+labor. The materials may be of almost any kind; but it is necessary
+that the ornamental part should harmonize with the foundation. One
+would not think, for instance, of applying velvet on cotton, or
+linen--while on satin, it makes the richest kind of applied work.
+
+Appliqué may be fine or coarse according to the purpose for which it is
+intended; if fine, it is safer to put it in a frame before beginning
+the work. If the groundwork is velvet, satin, or silk, holland should
+be stretched in a frame, and the design drawn upon it and upon the
+velvet or other material; they should then be pasted together, and cut
+out with a sharp pair of scissors. Cloth and commoner materials do
+not require this “backing,” as it is called; but may be cut after the
+pattern is traced, and pasted directly on the groundwork.
+
+The gum, or paste, used for this purpose should be as thick and dry as
+possible, for fear of its coming through and staining the material; and
+before pasting on cloth or velvet, it will be well to lay the pieces
+down where they are to be fastened, and view them from various points
+to see that the pile always goes the same way--or a different shade of
+color will be the result.
+
+When the material is particularly delicate, isinglass is used instead
+of paste; and the piece applied should be very carefully smoothed
+before it is left to dry--as a curved or cross-cut piece is apt to get
+out of its proper curves or to stretch too much.
+
+With a complicated design, the pattern should be traced on the
+material, and the duplicate parts numbered that they may fit perfectly
+together. One way of fastening the edges down is to button-hole them
+with a lighter or darker shade of silk than the material applied. The
+veins of leaves are defined by long stitches, also of a lighter or
+darker shade.
+
+In the commoner kinds of appliqué, cloth, for instance, on duck, or
+Turkish towelling, or on cloth of another color, basting will generally
+answer the purpose of keeping the pattern securely in its place.
+
+Magnificent work is done in appliqué; curtains of gold-colored satin
+with garnet velvet leaves--the edges defined with a white cord, in
+which a little blue was mingled; cushions of Moorish arabesques,
+scarlet velvet on white satin--the velvet edged with gold braid;
+mantel-lambrequins of brown velvet figures on a groundwork of
+dead-gold; these suggest endless variations, which a little taste and
+some eye for color may make beautiful in the extreme.
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 51.--BORDER IN APPLIQUÉ.]
+
+Ivy leaves are especially satisfactory in this kind of work; and so is
+any large, clearly-defined figure. The accompanying illustration will
+be found useful for a bordering. The leaves and flowers are made of
+crimson cloth--the stems and veinings of black embroidery silk. This
+would be very effective on a gray ground; but any color both of cloth
+and silk may be used. It would be particularly pretty for a basket or a
+table-cover.
+
+Our next illustration is
+
+
+                       A LAMBREQUIN IN APPLIQUÉ.
+
+Beautiful combinations may be made with white, scarlet, and blue
+cloth, embroidered with black, gold-colored, and maroon silks, in
+feather-stitch and point-russe--which are the principal stitches used
+in this kind of work. For small lambrequins, to decorate baskets and
+brackets, such combinations are very effective; and the illustration
+shows a particularly pretty one.
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 52.]
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 53.]
+
+The upper part of the lambrequin is of white cloth cut in points,
+and pinked in a small pointed pattern; the under part, of which the
+points are larger and pinked in scallops, is of garnet color. On
+the white points are star-like flowers with buds of blue cloth; and
+on the claret-colored ones, the same in pink cloth--ornamented with
+point-russe stitches of silk to match. The middle of each flower is
+a round piece of yellow cloth fastened with point-russe stitches of
+red silk. The stems and sprays are done in stalk, chain, and feather
+stitches of light green silk.
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 54.]
+
+The dark points have, near the pinking, a line of twisted button-hole
+stitches in maize-colored silk--and the light points have a similar
+line of red silk. Both are also ornamented with steel beads.
+
+A handsome tobacco pouch may be made from the illustrations, which
+represent the two patterns used--each side being duplicated.
+
+Four such pieces are cut out of crimson or scarlet cloth, and worked
+in appliqué. In the first one, the chain-stitch border (not the outer
+edge) is worked with green silk. The knot from which the different
+articles are suspended is done with black silk; the cigar-case is of
+yellow cloth; the cigars worked in satin-stitch with brown silk. The
+case has two bands of chain-stitch in blue silk, and is edged all round
+with button-hole stitch in the same color. The pipes are of white
+cloth shaded with long stitches of gray silk, and edged with yellow.
+The upper part of the pouch is of blue cloth, with a white silk edging
+and yellow dots; the under part of brown cloth, with black edging and
+a pattern worked in chain-stitch with white; the three tassels are
+embroidered with black and yellow silk.
+
+In the second pattern, the outer border is yellow, the knots black;
+the small pattern at the top is of blue cloth edged with yellow; the
+pipes of white cloth edged with blue and shaded with gray. The bundle
+of cigars is of brown cloth shaded with black stitches, and fastened on
+with double rows of chain-stitch in yellow silk. The cigar-case is of
+light green cloth edged with white; the Grecian pattern and dots are
+embroidered over it with white silk also.
+
+To make the pouch up, join the four pieces together by seams--which are
+concealed by gold braid; cut out also and join four similar pieces of
+white kid for the lining; fasten this to the outside at the top only.
+Sew small brass rings around the top, and run a double piece of crimson
+silk cord through them. Put silk tassels of various colors at the
+bottom of the pouch and at each of its four corners.
+
+Appropriate devices for needlebooks, work-baskets, toilet-boxes, etc.,
+may be made from these suggestions; and there is no reason why the
+small articles in daily use should not be as complete and artistic in
+their way as more pretentious undertakings. Many who cannot attempt
+large pieces of work will appreciate these small patterns.
+
+Figure 55 gives a quarter of a very handsome lamp-mat in application
+and embroidery.
+
+The foundation is a square piece of olive-green cloth, on which is
+applied a rim of pale-blue cloth two inches wide. The edge is bordered
+with a thread of dark-blue and light-brown double zephyr worsted, which
+is overcast on the foundation with fawn-colored silk floss.
+
+Having transferred the outlines of the design to the rim and to the
+olive-green cloth foundation, as shown in the illustration, work the
+buds in the centre of the foundation with pale pink and light yellow
+bourette worsted--and the calyxes with réséda worsted, in two shades,
+in diagonal button-hole stitch; the loops of which meet in the middle
+of each leaf, forming the vein. The vines are worked in herring-bone
+stitch with old gold-colored filling silk. Chain stitches of similar
+silk define the stems.
+
+On the blue cloth, the flowers are worked with pink and yellow bourette
+worsted in two shades; and the leaves and calyxes with olive and réséda
+worsted, in several shades, in diagonal button-hole stitch. The vines
+and stems are worked in chain-stitch with yellowish-brown filling
+silk in three shades. The calyxes are defined with satin-stitches of
+light-yellow filling silk, which are edged with chain-stitches of
+dark-yellow silk.
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 55.--DESIGN FOR LAMP
+  MATS.--APPLICATION EMBROIDERY.]
+
+The rim is embroidered in point-russe with light-brown double zephyr
+worsted in the manner shown in the illustration. For the trimming on
+the outer edge of the mat, overcast a thread of yellow-brown and a
+thread of light yellow double zephyr worsted in double rows with dark
+and light yellow silk floss on the foundation in scallops--fill the
+interval with knotted stitches of pale pink worsted, and border the
+scallops alternately with a long and a short button-hole stitch of
+old-gold-colored filling silk. Trim the pinked edge of the foundation
+with tassels of worsted in the colors of the embroidery.
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 56.--APPLICATION BORDER.]
+
+These pretty borders may also be used as strips for afghans and
+chair-covers.
+
+For Figure 56, a strip of blue cloth an inch and a quarter wide is
+placed on a foundation of écru linen; and through the middle is run a
+white braid with horizontal stitches of green, vertical stitches of
+yellow-brown, and cross-stitches of pink worsted. The blue strip is
+bordered on both sides with dark-green worsted braid, sewed on with
+a cross-stitch of light-green worsted, which is wound with maroon
+worsted. Diagonal stitches of light and dark red worsted, crossed with
+horizontal stitches of dark-blue worsted, border the braid on the
+outside.
+
+The border in Figure 57 is made also of écru linen, on which
+claret-colored braid three-quarters of an inch wide is basted. On the
+latter, dark-green braid a quarter of an inch wide is fastened with a
+cross seam of white split filling silk, caught down with black. The
+crossed stitches on the inner edge of the maroon braid are in blue and
+gold--the point-russe stitches beyond in scarlet and black.
+
+In the middle of the border, apply round pieces of white cloth with
+point-russe stitches of green silk; and connect them with vertical
+stitches of maroon, which are fastened on the foundation at the middle
+with cross stitches of the same color.
+
+
+                  KEY-BAG IN APPLIQUÉ AND EMBROIDERY.
+
+Both sides of this handsome key-bag are given in Figures 58 and 59. It
+is made of gray kid and lined with gray silk.
+
+On one side is embroidered a key formed of poppies, with their leaves
+and stems and at the top of the key is perched an owl. The poppies are
+worked with five shades of blue-green silk; the plumage of the owl with
+four shades of brown silk--the shades all blending almost imperceptibly
+together. The owl’s eyes are worked in scarlet and white silk.
+
+The other side of the bag has appliqué figures of steel-colored silk
+in the form of a Gothic lock. They may be edged either with gold cord
+or with fine gray silk cord. The screens are done in satin-stitch with
+silver-gray silk.
+
+After lining each side, the two parts of the bag are joined with
+a border of gray ribbon, continued around the whole as in the
+illustrations. It is stitched on with fine gray silk. The bag is
+fastened with a steel button and a silk loop.
+
+  [Illustration: Fig 57.--APPLICATION BORDER.]
+
+Figures 60 and 61 are rich border patterns suitable for table-covers,
+mats, and brackets. The embroidery is in button-hole, point-russe
+stitches and knots; the veinings of the leaves in Figure 60 in
+stalk-stitch and long embroidery stitch. The colors can be arranged to
+suit the taste of the worker.
+
+
+                          SILK APPLIQUÉ WORK.
+
+This is principally used for flowers and leaves; and when care is taken
+in shading, the effect is almost if not quite equal to embroidery.
+
+The pansy is one of the easiest flowers to imitate in this way--the two
+upper petals being made of purple silk, and the lower ones of violet,
+or yellow; with the edges button-holed round, and a few long stitches
+put in by way of veining.
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 58.]
+
+Rose petals may he beautifully done by selecting silk of the prevailing
+hue of the petal, and shading with fine embroidery or split filling
+silk. Stalks and tendrils, and leaf-veinings are worked with embroidery
+silk.
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 59.]
+
+A cluster of apple-blossoms is very pretty in this kind of work; and
+may be done on a ground of pale-blue, gray, or olive. Satin or velvet
+would make a very handsome foundation. So delicate a piece of work
+should be done with great care; and besides the edging in button-hole
+and the long stitches in embroidery-silk, delicate shading is done with
+filling silk.
+
+The main steins and tendrils are worked in stalk-stitch with green
+and brown embroidery-silk; where the stems join flower or bud,
+and for other little finishing touches, satin-stitch is used. The
+centres of the blossoms are of yellow silk in knot-stitch and common
+embroidery-stitch.
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 60.--BORDER IN APPLIQUÉ.]
+
+Silk is sometimes applied on lace with good effect; and the finest
+specimen known of this work is the beautiful shawl made for the
+Empress Eugénie, and for some time past on exhibition at Stewart’s.
+Seen through its glass-case, it is a marvel of coloring and truth to
+nature; the roses almost perfume the air, and the graceful droop of the
+wisteria in the centre is perfect. This piece of art-needlework fully
+deserves its name, and is valued at $100,000; but it is a question if
+all that weary labor with those minute pieces of silk (so joined on
+the under side that the points of meeting can be seen only through a
+magnifying-glass), to say nothing of the cobweb-lace foundation (also
+hand-made), could possibly be remunerated with money.
+
+
+                            CRETONNE-WORK.
+
+The subject of appliqué could not be exhausted without some reference
+to this popular branch of it--which, when new, was considered the most
+bewitching fancy-work ever invented.
+
+The most desirable flowers and figures for cretonne-work are to be
+found in the fine, soft, French cretonne; and the most tiresome part of
+the work is that which has to be done first--the careful cutting out
+of these figures with a sharp pair of scissors. They are then to be
+gummed, or fastened with a few stitches done with fine cotton on the
+foundation. Much basting is not desirable, as it pulls the material and
+frays the applied work.
+
+Black satin is a very effective foundation for cretonne-work, as it
+throws out all the bright and delicate colors; and farmer’s-satin
+answers very nicely. Soft gray and blue silesia are often very
+satisfactory for this purpose; and a work-basket, made by the writer,
+of gray silesia, with pink rosebuds and leaves in cretonne-work on each
+panel, and lined with blue silesia, quite exceeded her expectations.
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 61.--BORDER IN APPLIQUÉ.]
+
+Workers differ about the best methods of doing cretonne application;
+some suggesting for the edge a loose button-hole of rather fine silk,
+on the plea that this prevents raggedness and answers the purpose of
+making the work subservient to the application. But the most approved
+method is to treat the cretonne merely as a design and a guide to
+color--covering the flowers and leaves almost entirely with split floss
+and embroidery silk. A thick outline in satin stitch secures the edges;
+and the leaves besides being veined are frequently ornamented with
+small French knots, or short back-stitches. Flower-centres are done in
+French knots.
+
+Chairs and mantels may be handsomely ornamented by a rich stripe
+of cretonne-work in pink or red roses on a black satin ground; and
+table-cover borderings may be made in the same way, and attached to
+the main body. Sofa-cushions, foot-rests, portfolios, and many other
+things, may be decorated in the same way.
+
+The simpler kinds of appliqué-work have been made very common by
+the immense number of animals, insects, and figures, such as were
+never seen in earth, air, or sea, exposed for sale in all the fancy
+shops, and offering easy inducements to amateurs to fasten them in
+almost any way upon whatever material their fancy might dictate. The
+Turkish-towelling fever raged throughout the length and breadth of
+the land; and although a little of this work, when well done, is very
+effective, especially in a cottage parlor, it has been carried to such
+an excess and much of it so bunglingly done, that there is a very
+general pushing of it aside for something newer.
+
+Dragons and Chinamen, the most popular figures for this kind of
+work, were never known to infest Turkey; and whatever else we are
+in fancy-work, it is desirable to be harmonious. Rich arabesques in
+colored cloth of the true Oriental hues, edged with black to give them
+greater brilliancy on the pale brown groundwork, would be far more in
+character; and the inevitable ruche of scarlet braid should be toned
+down to a more quiet red, or whatever color is most suitable as the
+key-note.
+
+We may be artistic even with Turkish-towelling and cloth application;
+but unless we _are_ this, let us not be ornamental.
+
+
+                      CRAPE PICTURES IN APPLIQUÉ.
+
+Among the newest materials for application-work, are those preposterous
+representations on a ground of crinkly material known as Chinese
+pictures. These are of various sizes, and are found now in most of the
+fancy stores; and although they usually defy all the rules of reason
+and of color, they are, nevertheless, highly ornamental.
+
+One of these works of art is before us now, divided into four
+compartments by bands of bright yellow, and tending generally to
+ornithology on original principles. Two skies are pink, one green, and
+one yellow; surrounded by the pink sky, a small bird of the sparrow
+order, with notoriously short legs and unwebbed feet, is walking at
+ease on some lead-colored water, while a small forest of foliage
+springs apparently from his back; under the yellow sky, a maize-colored
+bird on an inky bough opens his mouth evidently at a mulberry a few
+feet below him. Nemesis is upon him, however, in the shape of a
+silkworm that is attempting to climb his back. The best that can be
+said of the mulberries is that they are deeply, darkly, unmistakably
+purple; and we know them for mulberries because they _are_ purple,
+and because the green leaf cannot be intended for anything else.
+
+The other divisions are perfectly harmonious; and as an art-study, this
+“bit of color” would not be recommended. Skilfully applied, however,
+and “touched up” with embroidery, it would be found very ornamental.
+
+Many of these pictures have Chinese or Japanese figures on them; and
+the confused coloring is best brought out by a frame-work of black
+velvet ribbon. They make pretty tidies sewn on gray Java canvas, with a
+bordering of black velvet from two to three inches wide embroidered in
+feather-stitch--and beyond that an equal width of the canvas worked in
+a sort of mosaic pattern in point-russe with floss-silks--then a fringe
+of the canvas, with the different colored silks mixed in, about two
+inches deep.
+
+Lace is often used as a trimming for these tidies, but it is very
+unsuitable. Long embroidery stitches of silk, as in cretonne-work,
+improve these pictures very much; and many of them are so
+brightly-colored in themselves, that they are as decorative as Chinese
+fans. They may be used for a variety of purposes; and appliquéd on
+black velveteen, make handsome hangings for mantels.
+
+
+                            LINEN APPLIQUÉ.
+
+Handsome embroidery is sometimes done by working the design on linen,
+and then applying it to richer materials. The embroidery, when
+finished, is “backed” by paper before taking it from the frame, to give
+it firmness; when quite dry, it is taken out and cut carefully round
+the figures with a sharp pair of scissors, leaving about a sixteenth of
+an inch as a margin. It must then be laid on the material and tacked
+down, if the latter is loose--if it is framed, the piece of embroidery
+should be fastened on it by small pins thrust perpendicularly through
+it. It must then be more fully secured by sewing it over in small
+stitches.
+
+The linen edge is covered by a gold or silver cord, fastened down with
+fine silk matching the cord in color. It is well to paint the back of
+the embroidery with paste, that the ends of silk may be secured.
+
+A great deal of Eastern embroidery has the look of applied work--being
+done in the long embroidery-stitch in regular lines from east to west,
+or _across_ the shape to be filled, instead of from north to
+south; no attempt being made to follow the natural lines of the leaf or
+flower.
+
+This style has a rich effect in purely conventional forms, but is not
+suitable for floral designs; a line of black or gold around the figures
+is nearly always used. We saw some Cretan work lately, that was several
+hundred years old, done in this way with silk and a sort of flat gold
+thread on coarse linen; and the effect was very gorgeous.
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER X.
+
+                       _EMBROIDERY IN CHENILLE._
+
+
+At one time chenille work was all the fashion. Its beautiful, velvety
+appearance, and the soft brightness of its colors, made it very
+effective; but it was an expensive material, and would only bear the
+most delicate usage.
+
+Silk hand-screens were frequently embroidered with chenille; and in
+some old-fashioned mansions, such an article of the shape of Figure 62
+may be found even now.
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 62.--HAND-SCREEN IN CHENILLE.]
+
+To do a “piece” in chenille was quite a necessary part of a young
+lady’s education; and these pieces were treated like Miss Linwood’s
+paintings in crewels. They usually represented landscapes; and
+handsomely framed, and protected by a glass, were hung in a place of
+honor, as a sort of certificate that the worker was entitled to be
+pronounced finished.
+
+A performance of this kind that is now cherished as an heirloom, the
+work of somebody’s great-grandmother, consumed a hundred dollars’ worth
+of chenille. It is a mourning-piece: a tomb and two weeping figures in
+the foreground, the country church, and grave-yard. It is very smooth,
+beautiful work, and has the effect of a painting.
+
+Chenille is still used in a measure for small, ornamental articles;
+and no material represents moss so well. It is suitable both for flat
+and raised embroidery; and it may be worked on a variety of materials;
+but those with smooth surfaces are best suited to its velvet-like
+appearance.
+
+A needle with a round eye is the proper kind for embroidering with
+chenille, and this should be large enough not to fray the thread. As it
+is an expensive material, it should be used economically; and all waste
+at the back of the work should be avoided by bringing the needle close
+up to the last stitch and not crossing it on the underside. It is easy
+to measure or guess the length of the needleful required for working
+each particular part, and to cut it as short as possible, to prevent
+the using of the same position again, and also to draw a very small
+piece through the eye of the needle.
+
+The necessity of making knots may be avoided by working a small stitch
+or two in the part intended to be covered.
+
+In shaded embroidery, the stitches should not be matted too closely
+together, as this destroys the velvety appearance of the chenille. It
+should be more closely shaded than silk embroidery; at least six shades
+should be used in flowers and leaves.
+
+In flat embroidery, the stitches should be regular, but not closer
+than to allow the chenille to lie roundly on the surface. It is always
+pretty edged or mixed with gold.
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER XI.
+
+                      _SILK EMBROIDERY ON LINEN._
+
+
+Egyptian embroidery was done on linen or cotton, the threads of the
+material being almost or entirely pulled out one way, and the remainder
+embroidered with bright-colored silk. The effect was very rich and
+showy; but the peculiar art of doing it has been lost.
+
+Some specimens of Egyptian embroidery in the time of the Pharaohs, now
+in the Louvre, are described as follows: one has narrow red stripes on
+a broad yellow stripe, wrought with a pattern in needlework; another
+piece is on blue, and worked all over in white embroidery, in a kind of
+netting-pattern, the meshes of which outline irregular cubic shapes.
+
+Silk embroidery on linen is an old fashion revived; and it was used
+particularly on coverlets and curtains in the form of outline work.
+This was often done in one color only; and in a bold, set pattern, it
+was very effective. A more flowing or branching design, well enclosed
+in lines and borders, looks equally well, with the worker’s name or
+monogram, and the date added.
+
+These coverlets and curtains were sometimes made of Bolton sheeting,
+rather as a foundation than a ground--being nearly covered with an
+appliqué pattern of flowers and leaves in cloth, and the stems worked
+in crewel or silk. The small vacant spaces were often filled with a
+very simple diaper.
+
+Strong linen makes the best ground for outline work; and a pattern
+in silk is more durable as well as pleasanter to work. It must be
+remembered, though, that in silk embroidery for articles that are to be
+washed, great care must be taken that the embroidery does not fade into
+one pale, undistinguishable hue.
+
+To prevent this, the silks should first be unwound, cut into pieces of
+a suitable length, and thrown into boiling water. If, after boiling
+for several minutes, they retain their color when dried, they may be
+“warranted not to fade.” It is recommended to boil but one shade at a
+time--using fresh water for each one.
+
+Many useful and pretty things may be made of embroidered linen; and
+it is particularly pleasant for summer use. Tea-table cloths look
+well with ends embroidered towel-fashion, or bordered all round--
+outline-work being more suitable for this purpose than filled-in
+embroidery, as it will bear washing better.
+
+Embroidered linen makes very nice tidies; and original designs, or
+figures from Japanese fans, will often transform these conveniences
+into works of art. White linen decorated with blue only is very pretty
+when the other furnishings are blue.
+
+Bedroom hangings are very pleasing in this linen outline-work--also
+pieces to hang above washstands and borders for brackets.
+
+
+                      EMBROIDERED FRUIT DOYLEYS.
+
+These may be made very dainty and charming--suggesting (not filling in)
+the most perfect little pictures. The skill of the worker should bring
+out the idea clearly without the aid of detail.
+
+A few descriptions lately met with will furnish illustrations of this
+kind of work.
+
+A set of very small doyleys, about six inches square, had the edges
+ravelled out in fringe nearly an inch deep--the border serged with
+fine thread to keep the flowing strands in place. Half an inch from
+this, and half an inch in width, were a number of threads drawn out
+all around, giving the appearance of an insertion. The cross threads
+were then drawn backwards and forwards over each other, four strands
+at a time, and stayed with one row of thread, like the old-fashioned
+herring-bone--forming a cross at each corner.
+
+In the centre of each doyley was embroidered with Japanese silk a
+cup and saucer, a teapot, a pitcher, etc., in graceful forms, and
+soft, shaded colors--all according to the design and taste of the
+embroiderer. They were scarcely more than outlines--the impression
+given being more of quiet artistic beauty than of the object
+represented.
+
+On another little doyley is sketched a slender Indian jar; beside it,
+a bed of reeds, or water-grasses, seems to sway and rustle in summer
+airs--so pliant are the stems, so free the groupings. As if just risen
+from this cool quietude, a flight of birds soars upwards and away.
+
+The jar is wrought in gold-color, red, blue, and soft drab. A few bars,
+ovals, dots, and lines indicate the rich decoration. The reeds which,
+of course, are not shaded, are done in brown and a dull green. The
+rising birds are dark blue. It hardly need be said that both reeds and
+birds are conventionalized--the reeds being the slenderest shadows, and
+the birds mere converging lines.
+
+Directions for this kind of work are given as follows:
+
+Select close, even linen, of the kind used for sheeting, and a yard and
+a half in width, and be careful to see that it has no uneven threads;
+half a yard and one inch, the latter to allow for shrinkage and uneven
+ends, is sufficient for one dozen doyleys. Have it washed in strong,
+boiling-hot suds, well rinsed, and then boiled in clear water to
+remove the starch and render it pliable; rinse from clear cold water,
+and put it to dry without any addition of bluing.
+
+When dry, cut off the selvedge; and pull a thread at top and bottom
+that it may be cut perfectly straight. Do not attempt to cut any part
+of the work without first pulling a thread as a guide, for it is
+impossible to have it perfectly regular either by creasing it or by
+following an unpulled thread.
+
+Divide the linen into two pieces, each of which will be a quarter of
+a yard in width, by a yard and a half in length. Each of these pieces
+is to be cut into six--giving twelve pieces, each nine inches square.
+Ravel them all around until you have a fringe seven-eighths of an inch
+in depth; it is better to make a faint pencil-mark on each of the four
+sides before commencing, that the fringe may be perfectly even. With
+No. 100 unwaxed cotton and a fine needle, whip them around--taking up
+four or five threads on the needle at once, and having the stitches
+as even and regular as possible; do not use knots, but run the cotton
+along at beginning and end--commencing with a thread long enough for
+the whole side, and avoid catching the fringe in the work.
+
+Place the doyley straight before you, and with a rather coarse needle
+mark a point seven-eighths of an inch from both the upper and left-hand
+sides--then mark a point half an inch below this one, and parallel with
+the left-hand side of the doyley; with a pair of sharp-pointed scissors
+cut the linen from point to point.
+
+Turn the linen around so that the left-hand side shall be the upper
+one, and the lower at the left hand; cut a slit in this corner
+corresponding to the other, and continue until each corner has been
+cut. It would be better to practice the cutting on a piece of paper
+first; and when you find the cutting at each corner is at right angles
+with the one below it, the work is right. With the needle-point pull a
+thread loose at the top and bottom of the slit cut, drawing it along
+until you come within three-eighths of an inch of the slit cut in the
+other corner. Cut the linen from thread to thread, and repeat at the
+other three corners. When finished, there will be eight cuts in the
+doyley--the two on each side parallel to each other.
+
+With No. 80 unwaxed cotton, button-hole around each one as neatly as
+possible; then pull out all the threads on each side that were made
+free by the cutting. These threads are now to be herring-boned, using
+a fine needle and the same cotton; this is done by commencing at one
+end of the threads, and taking up four threads on the needle, draw the
+cotton through them, bringing it up at right angles to the work; take
+another stitch in the same place, only catching the body of the linen
+slightly with the needle and cotton.
+
+Repeat this until you come to the other end--when, turning the doyley
+upside down, commence taking up the threads again on the needle, only
+taking two threads from each cluster of the row before; this makes a
+sort of ladder-work in the border, much prettier than if the threads
+were taken in corresponding clusters.
+
+When they have all been herring-boned, the fascinating work of
+decoration begins. For silk, letter D button-hole twist is the most
+satisfactory in all colors, except shades of red and green. There are
+four shades of blue: navy that is almost black, a navy that is bright,
+a bright sky blue, and a very delicate one; brown of two shades;
+gold-color, lemon, and two shades of sage-green. Bright red shading on
+scarlet, and entirely free from a Solferino tint, deep and bright rose
+peach blossom, and a turquoise-blue are best when on quills.
+
+Having boiled and dried the silk, it will be found in using it that it
+is three-stranded; but it must be separated and only one strand used
+in working. This should be carefully moistened when it becomes flossy
+and uneven. Green is the most difficult color to manage; and it is
+only the old-fashioned apple-green found in skeins that will be at all
+satisfactory.
+
+The designs should be drawn on the doyleys with a sharp
+lead-pencil--being careful not to soil the work by wrong outlines and
+erasing. If the latter is necessary, it is better to wash out the marks
+with warm water and soap than to use any other method; and then begin
+outlining again.
+
+A set done in fans, of different shapes and decoration, are as pretty
+as one could desire. If it is impossible to draw from one lying before
+you; cut a pattern in pasteboard and outline with the pencil. The
+different periodicals occasionally give beautiful styles of fans; and
+the cheap Japanese fans are very suggestive in the way of color and
+figure.
+
+Outline them in bright blue, with an inner line of pink; navy with
+light blue; sage green with pink; or any other colors that contrast
+or harmonize; make the stick and ribs of bamboo color, or gold. An
+open fan is beautiful outlined in gold, sticks and all; with sprays
+of star-shaped flowers done in red, stems in gray, and leaves in
+green. These flowers, etc., are only outlined, not done in the solid
+satin-stitch, and should be as delicate as possible.
+
+The stitch called Kensington is used; and is the one familiar to all
+embroiderers, in both flannel and muslin, as stem-stitch. The needle is
+kept with the point toward the worker; and you are constantly working
+from you.
+
+Very quaint and pretty designs can be taken from Japanese print-plates,
+tea-trays, and cabinets. Two fans, one-fourth open, the one in the
+middle, the other at one corner, are very effective; but when an open
+fan is used, one is sufficient for a doyley.
+
+A spider’s web, hanging from a branch just coming over one side of
+the doyley, is extremely pretty. Outline the stems in gray, leaves
+in green, and the web in light-blue--making it out perfectly round,
+but longer one way than another; have some of the rays to project a
+little, others caught on the branches--and from one of the lower ones a
+spider dangling, while in the rib a stitch or two of black makes a good
+representation of his prey. Give a little color in one of the lower
+corners by a few rushes--one or two of which should have a few red
+tassels.
+
+An apple-bough with a leaf of green here and there; tiny flowers of
+red and pink, some of which have drifted off before a gentle wind,
+make beautiful designs; but when one’s eyes are open to them, it is
+astonishing how many ideas are gathered here and there that would
+otherwise be lost. A walk among one’s flowers, a border in a magazine
+or art-journal, will give suggestions in some form or other.
+
+The cold marble of one’s dressing-table or bureau loses its cheerless
+aspect by the color one of these covers gives it. A piece of linen a
+yard and a half long and three-eighths in width, should be fringed an
+inch and a half at front and back, with a much deeper one at the ends.
+Work a border an inch deep, a quarter of a yard from the herring-bone
+at each end, and meeting the herring-bone at the sides.
+
+Use red, bright gold, and light blue, with a touch here and there of
+navy blue. A spray of wistaria at one end, and apple-blossoms at the
+other, are very pretty. Tray-covers should be from a yard square to
+seven-eighths one way, and a yard the other. Fringe and herring-bone
+them, decorating only the corners, as the centre is so covered that
+decoration would be lost.
+
+These very explicit directions have been taken almost entire from a
+late periodical; and will be found so full and satisfactory, that
+almost any needlewoman, on reading them, might successfully attempt
+this pretty work.
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER XII.
+
+                            _HOLBEIN WORK._
+
+
+This is a simple and truly artistic kind of needlework, chaste and
+elegant in design and correct in style; its beauty depending not upon
+strong contrasts or striking patterns, but on its exquisite finish and
+neatness.
+
+Holbein work is a kind of linen decoration with colored threads; and
+was highly popular several centuries ago. Lingerie table-linen, towels,
+and bed-linen, were thus adorned in a charming and tasteful manner; and
+as instruction in this branch of needlework, of which so few remnants
+remain, is chiefly given through the master works of the younger
+Holbein, it has been named from him.
+
+This great painter has reproduced the embroidery with wonderful
+fidelity, showing plainly its charming peculiarity of being alike on
+both sides. It differs in this respect from all other embroidery,
+except that of some Oriental nations, and has literally no wrong side
+to show, and requires, therefore, no lining to conceal defects. “Divers
+colors of needlework _on both sides_,” is the oldest kind of ornamental
+needlework of which there is any mention.
+
+To accomplish this work on both sides is by no means difficult, as
+might at first be supposed; and many articles for which no other kind
+of embroidery would be appropriate may be very tastefully ornamented
+with Holbein work. The effect is that of colored lines on a white
+ground after the fashion of a pen-drawing--the design being equally
+distinct on both sides.
+
+The foundation for this embroidery is usually white linen Java canvas,
+which washes better, and is of smoother and firmer texture than cotton
+canvas. If linen canvas cannot be obtained, the ordinary cotton canvas,
+or colored Java canvas, may be used instead.
+
+A piece of canvas, a canvas needle with a dull point, red Turkish
+cotton No. 30, or else several threads of colored or black silk
+(somewhat coarser than ordinary sewing-silk), are all that is required
+for Holbein work.
+
+No knot should be made, to look ugly on the under side, in the
+beginning; and to avoid this, insert the needle between the double
+layer of the threads of the canvas, so that the working thread is
+concealed on both sides; let the end of the thread project a little,
+so that it may be held in the hand, pass the needle around one of the
+four threads forming a square (with the ordinary cotton canvas, only
+_half_ of a thread should be caught), carry it back the same way
+it was inserted (see Figure 63), and draw the stitch tight--at the same
+time holding fast the projecting thread.
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 63.]
+
+The single thread on which the working thread is fastened is drawn in
+between the double threads of the canvas in tightening the stitch, so
+that the latter is not visible on either side. The manner of doing this
+is shown in Figure 64.
+
+Then work the second stitch (see Figure 64) similarly to the first; but
+underneath the nearest threads running in an opposite direction, draw
+the stitch tight, so that it is concealed; and then repeat the first
+stitch once more completely, in order to fasten the thread securely.
+After working these three stitches, the thread should be quite firm;
+and the fastening should scarcely be visible.
+
+Cut off the projecting end of thread close to the canvas, and begin the
+embroidery. To work a straight line, as in Figure 65, make a horizontal
+stitch of two squares of the canvas, pass over two squares, work
+another horizontal stitch on the following two squares--and continue
+the first row in this way, always taking up two squares for one stitch,
+as shown by Figure 66. This is called running stitch.
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 64.]
+
+When the line has been worked of the length desired, for instance,
+ten stitches, there will be five running stitches and five intervals
+on each side; and the stitches on one side will always come on the
+intervals of the other side. In order to close the line, and fill all
+intervals, work, going back, just as in the first row (see Figure 67),
+which completes the line, and brings the working thread back to the
+point where the work was begun. This point is always indicated by * in
+the illustrations.
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 65.]
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 66.]
+
+Work this straight line, consisting of _ten_ stitches, from right
+to left in the order of the figures given in Figure 67. Only the upper
+stitches are counted and numbered; but, as a matter of course, the
+other side of the work is to present the same appearance as the side
+on which it is done. The regularity of the work will be increased
+if, in working straight lines, the needle is always, in the second
+row, inserted underneath, and drawn out above the threads in the first
+row; in this way the threads of both rows are regularly intertwined,
+and the stitches are slightly slanting, as plainly shown in the last
+illustration.
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 67.]
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 68.]
+
+A diagonal line, as in Figure 68, is worked similarly to the straight
+line, except that instead of crossing two squares in a straight
+direction, they are taken up diagonally, as in ordinary cross-stitch.
+The first stitch, therefore, exactly resembles half of a cross-stitch;
+and between the first and second stitches, an interval of the same
+number of threads remains, which forms half of a cross-stitch on the
+other side. The line _a_, Figure 69, shows the first row of a
+diagonal line of five stitches; and the line _b_ shows this line
+finished by the second row.
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 69.]
+
+For the zigzag line in Figure 70, take a diagonal stitch upward over
+two squares of the canvas, pass over two squares, and insert the needle
+downward diagonally in the opposite direction; take another diagonal
+stitch upward; and continue in this manner, as shown by _a_ in
+Figure 71. In the first row, all the stitches on both sides appear
+slanting to the left. In working the second row, going back, fill all
+the intervals, as indicated by the figures on the line _b_ in
+Figure 71.
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 70.]
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 71.]
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 72.]
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 73.]
+
+For the Greek line in Figure 72, take a vertical stitch downward over
+two squares, pass over two squares in a horizontal direction, take a
+second vertical stitch upward over two squares, so that the stitches
+always inclose four squares. In this design, all vertical stitches come
+on the upper side (and all horizontal stitches, consequently, on the
+under side) in the first row, as shown by _a_ in Figure 73; while
+in filling the intervals in the second row the order is reversed, and
+all horizontal lines come on the upper side, and the vertical lines on
+the under side. The line _b_, in Figure 73, shows the Greek line
+in course of work, and indicates by figures the order in which the
+stitches should be taken.
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 74.]
+
+For the stair line in Figure 74, work a horizontal stitch from right to
+left on two squares, pass the needle straight down under two squares,
+and draw it out; repeat this three times, and then work three stitches
+upward again. In this design all the horizontal stitches come on the
+upper side, and all vertical stitches on the under side in the first
+row, which is shown by _a_ in Figure 75; while _b_ shows the
+lines finished by the second row, and indicates the order of stitches
+by figures.
+
+The thread, which is always carried back to the point where the work
+is begun, should be sewn in firmly, as described for the beginning, so
+that the fastening cannot be detected, and then cut off close to the
+canvas.
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 75.]
+
+These simple designs being mastered, the learner is now prepared for
+more ambitious efforts; and the lines are frequently divided into
+branches richly ornamented, that form complicated patterns, and require
+some study to make both sides of the work alike.
+
+The patterns now consist no longer of simple lines, but of long lines
+with short ones branching off from them, which may be called main lines
+and branches.
+
+The design in Figure 76 consists of a main line with upright branches,
+which is worked in rounds going back and forth, and is thus completed
+in two rows; no stitch should be omitted on either side, nor should any
+stitch appear double; and the working thread should always return to
+the point where the work was begun.
+
+Figure 77 shows the manner of working the first row of this design, the
+needle indicating how to take the last upright stitch. Begin the line
+from *, so that an interval always remains between every two stitches,
+and work to the point where the line branches off. These branches are
+worked separately, and are completed in two rows; so that in working
+the second row of the main line no attention need be paid to them.
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 76.]
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 77.]
+
+Figure 78 shows the same design finished by the second round; the order
+of stitches is indicated by figures.
+
+The same rules apply to design 79--which shows a main line with
+stair-line branches meeting the main line always at two points. In this
+case, too, the branches are always finished separately before working
+the main line beyond the point from which the stair-branches proceed.
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 78.]
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 79.]
+
+Figure 80 shows the first row of this design; the first branch being
+finished, and the second in course of execution.
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 80.]
+
+Figure 81 shows the design finished by the second round, the figures
+indicating how to take the stitches. The fact that the branches
+intersect the main line at two points does not affect the work in the
+least.
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 81.]
+
+Sometimes the branches of the main lines are again furnished with
+smaller branches, as shown by the forked design in Figure 82.
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 82.]
+
+In this case, the smaller branches are also worked separately from the
+point from which they proceed; but the middle line is worked similarly
+to a main line; working first one row with intervals, next forming the
+smaller branches or prongs, and then, going back, filling the intervals
+of the middle line, and returning to the main line.
+
+Figure 83 shows the first row of this design and one of the branches
+just begun; Figure 84 shows the design finished, and the order of
+stitches indicated by figures. From time to time, it will be well to
+glance on the under side and see that the design appears precisely
+the same as on the right side, which will always be the case when the
+stitches are worked exactly in the order given in the illustrations.
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 83.]
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 84.]
+
+Frequently the smaller lines branch off from the main line in opposite
+directions, as shown by Figure 85. In this design the forked figure
+appears on one side, and the stair-line on the other side--both meeting
+at one point of the main line.
+
+With such patterns, begin with the main line and work to the point
+where the branches begin--always working these separately. It is
+immaterial which of the two branches is worked first; but they should
+both be finished in the first row, so that, in the second row, only the
+intervals in the main line need be filled. As a general rule, it is
+well to complete as much of the pattern as possible in the first row.
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 85.]
+
+As Figure 85 is formed by a combination of figures similar to those
+shown in Figures 65 and 66, it will only be necessary to refer to the
+description of those figures to enable the worker to execute this
+design with ease.
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 86.]
+
+Tree figures, shown in illustration 86, are worked so that the trunk
+forms the main line, and all the small lines the branches; but the main
+line should be worked to the point without the branches, the latter
+being formed in the second row going back. Thus the trunk, forming the
+middle line, will serve as a guide for placing the branches. Figure 87
+shows the manner of working such a figure, the stitches being indicated
+as usual by numbers.
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 87.]
+
+Each individual design requires separate sewing in of the thread; all
+connected lines, on the contrary, are worked without interruption. The
+working thread should always be taken as long as possible; and when it
+is used up, it should either be carefully sewed in, as described in
+the beginning, or it should be fastened to the new thread by means of
+a weaver’s knot. This knot has the advantage of being made small and
+strong at the same time.
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 88.]
+
+Sufficient instructions have now been given to enable the beginner
+to do a very creditable piece of Holbein work; and Figure 88 is a
+particularly easy pattern for a towel-border that may be done in red or
+blue cotton or silk.
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 89.]
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 90.]
+
+The towel may be made of heavy linen sheeting; or a bordering of linen
+embroidered in this way may be applied to either end of a damask towel
+with a line of feather-stitch. Sufficient material should be allowed
+for a deep, tied fringe.
+
+This pattern will also be found pretty for a bureau or dressing-table
+cover, as well as a variety of other articles.
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 91.]
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 92.]
+
+Figures 89 and 90 are very effective both for towels and covers.
+
+Holbein work is frequently mixed with cross-stitch and satin-stitch,
+which give it a richer effect; and for elaborate designs, this is a
+great improvement. Figures 91, 92, and 93, show very handsome towels
+embroidered in this way.
+
+These towels are made of a piece of linen sixty-eight inches long
+and seventeen inches wide, embroidered in cross-stitch and Holbein
+work with blue or red cotton. The towels are trimmed besides with an
+open-work design and knotted fringe, and are hemmed narrow on the sides
+with a cross seam of the colored cotton.
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 93.]
+
+To make a towel, work eight inches from the bottom a rich design in
+Holbein embroidery, and edge it on both sides with a narrow border in
+cross-stitch embroidery. Each cross-stitch is worked over two threads
+in height, and the same in width. Above this border, at a distance of
+an inch, ornament the towel in a design worked in cross-stitch over
+canvas with colored cotton.
+
+After finishing the embroidery, draw out the threads of the canvas,
+and between the borders execute an open-work design. For this, draw
+out always four threads of the linen lengthwise and crosswise, letting
+the same number of threads stand, and overcast them diagonally, first
+in one direction, and then, crossing the same square in the opposite
+direction; and finish the edge of the borders adjoining the open-work
+design with button-hole stitches.
+
+Underneath the narrow border, draw out the crosswise threads of the
+linen, and knot the lengthwise threads to form fringe, as shown in the
+illustrations.
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 94.--EMBROIDERED BURLAPS PORTIÈRE.]
+
+Handsome portières and curtains may be made of burlaps ornamented with
+Holbein and other embroidery.
+
+For the design in Figure 94, draw out eight threads, each two inches
+and a half and five inches and three-quarters from the outer edge;
+cross every eight of the threads left standing, and run them with
+gold soutache. Between these open-work patterns work the border (see
+Figure 94) in satin-stitch with light and dark red filling silk; and in
+Holbein work with light and dark olive-green filling silk.
+
+The open-work pattern is edged with point-russe stitches of dark brown
+and fawn-colored silk, and cross-stitches of dark red silk.
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER XIII.
+
+                     _CHURCH EMBROIDERY.--PART I._
+
+
+The general rules for artistic needlework apply equally well to church
+embroidery, which is, nevertheless, a distinctive art. In ancient times
+its magnificence was unparalleled--the workers feeling privileged
+in working for God’s service, and anxious to spare neither time nor
+expense on their labor.
+
+This branch of decorative needlework has “narrower limitations,
+stricter laws of fitness, bonds of symbolism, rules of color, and
+traditions of style; but a student of art needlework will not find
+these stricter laws prevent church work from being beautiful and
+harmonious; indeed, they will be aids rather than hindrances; while
+the knowledge already acquired of general principles of color and
+design will be a safeguard against placing vulgar, crude, or tasteless
+combinations where, in many eyes, they would be not only ugly, but
+irreverent.”
+
+It has been well said that, in this kind of work, unity of design
+and harmony of color take a new and deeper meaning; and honesty of
+workmanship becomes a duty; while a new reason for conventionalism is
+seen when we remember that we ourselves, when in God’s house, lay aside
+an ordinary and natural demand.
+
+The descriptions of the richly-embroidered ecclesiastical vestments:
+robes, sandals, girdles, tunics, vests, palls, altar-cloths, and veils
+or hangings of various kinds, that were common in churches in the
+Middle Ages, would almost surpass belief if the minuteness with which
+they are enumerated in some ancient authors did not attest the fact.
+
+The cost of many of these articles was enormous, for pearls and
+precious stones were literally interwoven with the needlework, and
+an almost incredible amount of time and labor was bestowed on them.
+Several years would frequently be spent on one garment; and some
+magnificent ninth century vestments are described, which Pope Paschal
+presented to different churches.
+
+One of these was an altar-cloth of Tyrian purple, having in the
+middle a picture of golden emblems, with the faces of several martyrs
+surrounding the Saviour. The cross was wrought in gold, and had round
+it a border of olive-leaves most beautifully worked. Another had golden
+emblems, and was ornamented with pearls.
+
+This same pope had a robe worked with gold and gems, with the history
+of the Ten Virgins with lighted torches beautifully related. He had
+another of Byzantine scarlet with a worked border of olive-leaves. He
+had also a robe of woven gold, worn over a cassock of scarlet silk; and
+another of amber hue embroidered with peacocks in all the brilliant and
+mysterious shades of their plumage.
+
+Modern church needlework is much more simple and less expensive, and
+with an ordinary amount of skill and patience and attention to rules
+and details, almost any embroiderer can accomplish very satisfactory
+results.
+
+Coarse, prepared linen or muslin, made very stiff, is first stretched
+in a frame, and the material to be embroidered carefully tacked or
+pinned on it. This makes a firm ground for working, and gives body
+to the article to be embroidered. The silk or calico lining is to be
+placed on the other side of the muslin.
+
+A well-made frame is another important point; and four-piece frames,
+or frames without stands, formed of two bars with webbing to which the
+material is sewn, and two laths or stretchers, with holes to receive
+the pegs, will be found most suitable for this kind of work. They are
+fastened with screws, and the sizes generally needed range from 20
+inches to 6 feet 4 inches.
+
+Figure 95 represents one of these four-piece frames, in which a piece
+of linen is stretched, and upon it the central figure of an altar
+frontal in progress of work. It is better not to stretch the frame more
+than 20 inches at a time, as it is very fatiguing, for a continuance,
+to take a longer reach than 10 inches from each side bar of the frame.
+
+Great care must be taken not to rub over the material while working;
+and for this purpose a cambric handkerchief, or an equivalent of soft
+paper, should be laid upon it. The needlework should always be covered
+with a soft clean cloth whenever it is left, no matter for how short a
+space of time.
+
+
+                          IMPLEMENTS NEEDED.
+
+The implements used for church embroidery are needles, pins, stiletto,
+scissors, thimbles, and the _piercer_ for manipulating gold. This
+latter article is as necessary as the scissors in regulating bullion
+and other materials, as it is rounded and pointed at one end like a
+small stiletto, and wider and flat-sided at the other.
+
+Round-eyed sharps, from 7 to 2, are the needles most likely to be
+required for every kind of silk; the first principally for sewing-silk,
+the others for crochet and other coarse silks. The best rule for size
+is to be able to thread a needle instantly, and to draw the needle
+backwards and forwards through the eye, without the least friction.
+An experienced worker will choose a needle very large in proportion to
+the thread it is to hold in preference to a smaller one.
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 95.--FOUR-PIECE FRAME.]
+
+The stiletto is used in many ways, a steel one being the best. The ends
+of stiff cords should be put through holes made by this instrument; and
+occasions for its use are constantly arising.
+
+Short pins are needed for transferring designs, instead of basting; and
+in appliqué work, every part of it is carefully arranged by pinning
+before the process of sewing begins. Cardboard patterns, too, for
+modern embroidery, are kept in place by this means.
+
+Two thimbles are needed, as the use of both hands is particularly
+necessary in this kind of work. Thimbles worn a little smooth are
+preferable, as the roughness of a new thimble catches the silk.
+
+Sharp, strong _nail scissors_ will be found most serviceable, and
+they should be as large in the bows as possible to secure the thumb and
+finger from hurt in cutting out cardboard designs and textile materials
+for appliqué.
+
+
+                               STITCHES.
+
+The stitches used in ancient ecclesiastical embroidery are found on
+examination to be quite simple, yet capable of producing the most
+beautiful effects.
+
+In using gold thread, for instance, it was seldom pulled _through_
+the foundation, but couched: laid on the surface and sewed down, two or
+three threads at a time, by stitches taken either somewhat irregularly,
+or with such method as to produce by a series of them a perfect
+diapered pattern of color on a gold ground. Figure 96 is an example of
+what is known as plain couching.
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 96.--PLAIN COUCHING.]
+
+Gold-colored embroidery silk has an almost equally rich effect by
+making three or four parallel lines with it, and working the cross
+stitches in the contrasting color.
+
+Wavy couching is as easy as plain, the undulated first line regulating
+the position of the others to any extent.
+
+Diaper couching is another variety often used in old church embroidery
+for representing pavements, and frequently for backgrounds to emblems,
+and figures of saints.
+
+Diamond couching is very pretty, and useful for holding down silk, as
+well as passing, in the ornamentation of large fleur-de-lis, or other
+conventional forms. The illustration (see Figure 100) is a diamond
+of four stitches each way. The size of the diamond depends upon the
+dimensions of the space to be covered.
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 97.--WAVY COUCHING.]
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 98.--DIAGONAL COUCHING.]
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 99.--DIAPER COUCHING.]
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 100.--DIAMOND COUCHING.]
+
+The line and cross diaper will be found desirable for covering large
+spaces with a diapering of needlework. It also makes a very pretty
+border to enclose a plain ground in which a cross or other design is
+worked. This pattern is most effective when done with lines of passing
+caught down at their intersections by a cross of crimson or other
+bright-colored silk. The dots in the centre may be made either with
+gold beads or French knots.
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 101.--LINE AND CROSS DIAPER.]
+
+Various other combinations will suggest themselves in couching; which
+is one of the most charming and useful methods in the whole range of
+embroidery.
+
+
+                            BASKET-STITCH.
+
+This is another very effective device, and is particularly ingenious.
+It is used principally for straight borders, or for the raised parts of
+a conventional crown, a large monogram, or for any pattern of a formal
+outline where a plaited and interlaced effect is the aim.
+
+To work a border in basket-stitch, any even number of rows of twine,
+from four upwards, must first be sewn firmly down upon the framed
+foundation; and over this the gold is to be carried two threads at a
+time. The worker begins by taking two threads of passing and stitching
+them down, first over _one_ row of twine, then over _two_ rows, and
+over two again, till the single row at the opposite side is reached.
+
+Any number of threads may be carried across in this way before altering
+the arrangement of sewing down, according to the width decided upon
+for the divisions of the plait. Say that six threads, or three layers
+of passing, have been turned backwards and forwards, and caught down
+precisely alike; the gold is then to be sewn over _two_ lines of twine,
+_each_ time, from side to side of the border, for _three_ layers more;
+and so _alternated_ to any extent.
+
+Medium purse silk is best for sewing down the gold; and a close, firm
+twine, like whipcord, should be used for the lines. The thickness of
+the twine must be governed by the size of the figure or space that the
+basket-work is intended to cover.
+
+The border should he finished on each side by a gold or silk cord, or
+an edging of some kind to hide the looped ends of the passing, which
+are not pulled through, but turned backwards and forwards as evenly as
+possible.
+
+
+                              FLOSS-SILK.
+
+For large leaves, spaces in scrolls, draperies of figures, or
+foregrounds, long loose lines of colored floss, secured at intervals
+by single threads of passing laid across, produce a very good effect.
+Below is the simple _long-stitch_, upon which principle all
+floss-silk embroidery is wrought. It is the petal of a flower worked in
+two distinct shades of blue, and edged with amber crochet-silk sewed
+down with white. The light shade is to be used first--beginning from
+the outer edge of the centre of the petal, and working first to one
+side and then to the other. Then the dark shade is to be worked in like
+manner _downwards_.
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 102.--LONG-STITCH.]
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 103.--SCROLL WITH PASSING.]
+
+Figure 103 shows a scroll in _twist-stitch_ enriched by passing.
+The twisted effect is produced by working stitches of an even length
+one behind the other on an even line. The passing is couched after the
+silk scroll is worked.
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER XIV.
+
+                    _CHURCH EMBROIDERY.--PART II._
+
+
+Altar-covers have often been made in a style of great magnificence, and
+are the most costly articles of church embroidery. It is not necessary
+in a small work like this to give one entire, especially as many modern
+Gothic churches have richly-carved stone or wooden altars for which
+only a super-frontal of needlework is required.
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 104.--SUPER-FRONTAL IN FLEUR-DE-LIS.]
+
+The fleur-de-lis pattern in Figure 104 is both simple and effective;
+and wrought in white and gold would be in good taste on either a green
+or crimson ground.
+
+The embroidery is done in couching--the fleur-de-lis and the curved
+stems in gold twist-silk, sewed down with orange. The bands of the
+fleur-de-lis and the trefoils between in white twist-silk, sewed down
+with gold color. The white to be edged with white cord, the gold color
+with gold cord.
+
+The fringe is gold color mixed with the color of the ground.
+
+A conventionalized rose is given in Figure 105, full size, to be used
+in the bordering of a super-frontal.
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 105.--ROSE FOR SUPER-FRONTAL.]
+
+It is edged with gold cord and worked in two shades of pale pink
+floss, long embroidery-stitch. The central ring is of bright green silk
+the diamonds it encloses gold-color couched on a pale green ground;
+the rays, deep rose-color, in long stitches. The outer lines are long,
+loose stitches in gold thread.
+
+The leaves are in two shades of olive green floss in long
+embroidery-stitch; the stem, scroll, and finish are in two shades of
+olive brown, edged with gold thread. This part may be done in couching.
+
+The roses may be in divisions separated by gold-colored lace, or
+alternated with annunciation lilies.
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 106.--READING-DESK WITH HANGING.]
+
+
+                       PULPIT, OR DESK HANGINGS.
+
+These are often needed where no altar covering is used; and are much
+simpler in construction. Figure 106 shows a reading-desk draped; Figure
+107 gives a suitable design for the centre; and Figure 108 a very
+pretty bordering.
+
+The cross and lettering of the central figure are to be done in gold
+thread, or gold-colored silk, and edged with black. On a white or
+crimson ground this would be very effective; and it has the advantage
+of harmonizing with any ground color. It may also be done in appliqué,
+instead of embroidery.
+
+The border pattern may also be done in gold, or in a mixture of gold
+and white.
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 107.--MONOGRAM FOR DESK HANGING.]
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 108.--BORDER FOR DESK HANGING.]
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 109.--BORDER IN APPLIQUÉ AND
+  EMBROIDERY.]
+
+Figure 109 gives a rich pattern in full size for the border of an
+ante-pendium, or desk-hanging. It is embroidered on white silk rep with
+silver and gold thread; and sewn on over a black velvet, rep, or cloth
+centre. The dark patterns are worked in appliqué with black velvet; the
+two other shades in gold and silver brocade.
+
+The embroidery is done in satin-stitch with gold and silver braid, silk
+and cord of the same material.
+
+The border can be worked upon the material for the centre if it is not
+intended to contrast with it. The pattern can also be worked entirely
+in silk with satin-stitch.
+
+
+                         CHURCH BOOK MARKERS.
+
+These are comparatively easy of execution, although to be done
+according to the same rules which govern other church needlework. They
+are made of plain rich ribbon, varying in width from one to three
+inches, in the five ecclesiastical colors of crimson, blue, green,
+white, and violet.
+
+Nothing elaborate in the way of embroidery should be attempted on such
+small articles. A Latin cross on one end, and a simple monogram on the
+other, are always suitable. Or words such as “Creed” and “Collect,”
+as suited to particular parts of the service, may be worked at the
+separate ends, in plain Old English letters, surmounted by a Greek
+cross.
+
+The length of the marker depends upon the size of the book for which it
+is required. A yard, not including fringe, is the ordinary length. This
+makes a double marker, as it can be divided in the middle by a barrel
+or register, to fall over two pages of the book.
+
+A very good contrivance for this purpose is a piece of ivory, of the
+width of the back of the book, pierced with holes, through which pieces
+of silk braid, from which the ribbon is suspended, may be inserted and
+tied. The pieces of ribbon may measure less than half a yard, as the
+suspender, which should be of stout silk braid the color of the ribbon,
+is two or three inches long.
+
+An ordinary book-marker may be properly made from the following
+directions:
+
+The width of the ribbon is two and a half inches; the length, one yard,
+after it is finished. To ensure this, a yard and a quarter of ribbon is
+procured, and a piece of fine linen tightly framed. Upon this, the end
+of the ribbon, to the depth of ten inches, is to be smoothly tacked at
+the extreme edges by fine cotton. Along the bottom edge, and across the
+top of the ten-inch length, the ribbon must also be tacked.
+
+Five inches from the end of the ribbon, the design, traced and cut out
+in cardboard, is to be fixed with small pins and then sewed down, and
+embroidered in gold, silver, or purse-silk, according to circumstances.
+This being done, the work should be covered from dust, and the other
+end of the ribbon (if the framed linen is large enough to receive both)
+tacked down and treated precisely similar, only the pattern must be
+worked on the contrary side of the ribbon, or, as a double marker, it
+will not hang right when in the book.
+
+When the embroidery is finished, the linen should be cut from the
+frame, and then from the back of the ribbon close to the work.
+
+To make up the marker, the plain end below the embroidery is to be
+turned back four and a half inches over the wrong side, leaving half an
+inch of plain ribbon _below_ the design on the right side.
+
+The two edges of the ribbon, to the depth of four and a half inches,
+are now to be sewn together by the neatest stitches of fine silk the
+exact shade of the ribbon. The raw edge of the turned up end is to be
+hemmed across, above the design, by stitches so fine as to be invisible
+on the right side; and the book-marker, which should now appear as neat
+on one side as the other, will be ready for the fringe.
+
+A soft-twist silk fringe two inches deep is best, if the embroidery is
+done in silk. If in gold, a gold fringe is more suitable. Twice the
+length of the two ends, and three inches over for turnings, is the
+proper measurement. The fringe should be sewed along one side of the
+marker singly, and then turned and sewed along the other, so that both
+sides may be perfectly neat and alike.
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 110.--DESIGN FOR ALMS-BASIN MAT.]
+
+Figure 110 is a simple and chaste design for a circular mat of velvet
+to fit the bottom of an alms-dish and deaden the jingling sound of coin
+upon the bare surface of metal.
+
+The mat should be of velvet, lined with silk, and trimmed with a fringe
+of gold or silk, as best suits the embroidery, not over an inch deep.
+
+Small articles like these, of suitable materials and careful
+workmanship, are often most acceptable offerings from those whose
+limited time or means will not justify their undertaking larger pieces
+of church work.
+
+A sermon-case is a very useful present for a clergyman, and may be
+embroidered quite simply, or elaborately, according to the taste and
+means of the worker. As the same rules and designs will apply to this
+as to the other articles described, it will be sufficient to give
+directions for making up the case when worked.
+
+Sermon-cases are made in two ways, either stiff and flat like a
+book-cover, or firm and soft for rolling.
+
+For the book-cover kind, two sheets of stout cardboard must be cut to
+the exact size, and joined at the back by a narrow strip of calico
+pasted along each side. Over this foundation thin lining muslin must be
+smoothly stitched inside and out; after which the velvet may be tacked
+evenly on by stitches drawn over the inside edge. A full half inch of
+velvet should be turned over to make the edges secure.
+
+The silk lining is then to be adjusted and sewed to the velvet with
+neat stitches, every one of which, if rightly taken, will tend to
+tighten the material over the mounting-board.
+
+As a finish, a well-made cord of gold or silk, or a mixture of both, is
+to be sewn all around the case. This cord, which must be about half an
+inch in circumference, should effectually conceal the stitches uniting
+the edges of the velvet and silk. A piece of elastic, a quarter of an
+inch wide, is to be sewed, top and bottom, on the inside of the back,
+for the sermon to be passed through.
+
+The size of the case must be governed by the size of the sermon-paper
+used by the clergyman for whom it is intended. Ten inches by eight is a
+good size for quarto paper.
+
+By using parchment instead of cardboard, and kid or morocco in place of
+lining muslin, the sermon-case may be made to roll.
+
+
+                         DESIGNS ON CARDBOARD.
+
+The use of cardboard designs in church embroidery is a mechanical
+method of working, but it is also quite an effective one. It is
+metallic-looking, however, and should not be used in imitations of
+ancient work. For monograms, letters of texts, and geometrical figures
+which require clear, sharp outlines, the firm edges of a cardboard
+foundation will be particularly serviceable.
+
+Embroidery designs to be worked over cardboard must first be traced on
+thin paper, and then transferred to the cardboard by one of two ways:
+that of placing the drawing on the cardboard, with black transfer
+paper between, and tracing it carefully with an ivory stiletto or hard
+pencil; or by pricking, pouncing, and drawing, as directed for other
+patterns.
+
+A clear outline of the design having been made on the cardboard, it
+should be cut out accurately with sharp scissors. In this cutting
+out, strips of the cardboard, called _stays_, must be left here
+and there to keep together such parts of the design as would separate
+or fall away, if the entire outline were cut around; and these stays
+must not be cut off until the edges of the cardboard pattern are firmly
+secured on the framed material by close stitches of cotton.
+
+After the stays are removed, if the design is to be raised, one row of
+even twine should be sewed down along the centre of the figure; it is
+then to be worked over with the silk. This one row of twine will give
+to the work the bright sharp effect of gold in relief. _More_ than
+one row would spoil it.
+
+The thickness of the twine must be regulated by the size of the figure
+to be raised. To raise the embroidery at all is quite a matter of
+taste, as excellent specimens of work are constantly done over the card
+alone.
+
+For gold, or gold-color silk embroidery, the upper side of the card
+foundation should be painted yellow. This can be done by a wash of
+common gamboge or yellow ochre. The best cardboard for this purpose is
+that known as thin mounting board.
+
+
+                       CHURCH-WORK IN APPLIQUÉ.
+
+This may properly be used for almost any material; and a great deal of
+church decoration is done entirely by this method.
+
+For letterings or labels, appliqué is particularly appropriate; and
+the description of a crimson cloth ground labelled with gold-colored
+letters will explain the method of doing it.
+
+Stout gray holland a few inches longer than the label is first to be
+framed and the piece of crimson cloth pasted on it. When this is dry,
+and while in the frame, the outlines of the label and letters are to be
+pounced and drawn upon it in Chinese white with a camel’s hair brush.
+
+In another frame, a piece of gold-colored cloth is to be prepared on
+brown holland; and upon this the whole of the letters, or as many as
+possible, are to be pounced and drawn in India ink. Over the outlines
+of the letters, a black cord must be closely sewed; and when the
+frameful is completed in this manner, the holland is to be pasted all
+over at the back to secure the stitches and make the letters firm.
+
+When quite dry, the holland with the letters may be taken from the
+frame. They are then to be cut out with sharp nail scissors--leaving
+the sixteenth of an inch of cloth beyond the black cord everywhere,
+and laid in their places on the crimson cloth, fixed with pins, and
+finally sewed down through the black cord by stout _waxed_ silk
+in stitches an eighth of an inch apart. The small edge of gold-colored
+cloth beyond the cord should not be interfered with; it will rather
+improve the effect of the letters on the crimson ground.
+
+A black cord must also be closely sewed along the outline of the label,
+and beyond it a gold silk cord the color of the letters. This done, and
+the work strengthened at the back by paste, the label may be taken from
+the frame. It should then be cleanly cut to within an eighth of an inch
+of its outline all around, when it will present a perfect piece of work
+of its kind, and will be in a condition to transfer or mount to its
+final position.
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 111.--PATTERN FOR LINEN ALTAR-CLOTH.]
+
+The “fair linen cloth” is laid on the thicker covering at the top, and
+falls over the table in front to the depth of the worked border, unless
+there is an embroidered super-frontal beneath, which it would conceal.
+
+It is made of lawn or the finest linen, and bordered with an
+appropriate design in chain-stitch--which may be worked either with
+white or colored cotton. This cloth should be long enough either to
+cover the two sides of the altar; or it may be made only to turn down,
+as at the front, to the width of the border; which, in every case
+should be continued along the two ends from the front of the cloth.
+
+The pattern in Figure 111 may be used for white or colored cottons, or
+for a mixture of both. Crimson and blue are the most suitable colors
+for embroidering altar-linen. The worked border should rest upon a
+plain hem an inch deep.
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER XV.
+
+                          _LINEN LACE-WORK._
+
+
+Much of this is very ancient, and it is often so beautiful that it
+comes properly under the head of art-needlework.
+
+
+                             POINT-CONTÉ,
+
+Best known by its modern name of Guipure d’Art, is almost the only kind
+of ancient work which, in its modern revival, has retained some degree
+of beauty.
+
+Ancient guipure was made of thin vellum covered with gold, silver, or
+silk thread; and the word guipure derives its name from the silk when
+thus twisted round vellum being called by that name. Cotton afterward
+replaced the vellum, and several modern laces are known as guipure; but
+the name is not correct, and is appropriate only to that kind of lace
+where one thread is twisted round another thread or substance, as in
+the ancient Guipure d’Art.
+
+This is effected by netting a foundation, and darning a pattern over it
+with the same linen thread; so that the high-sounding point-conté is
+simply darned netting. But beautiful effects are produced with it, and
+it has a look of old church lace.
+
+The groundwork should be netted with linen thread in the shape of a
+square; and the thread may be coarse or fine according to the purpose
+for which it is intended. The netting is begun with two stitches, and
+one is added at the end of every row, until there is one more stitch
+than is needed for the number of holes. Thus if a square of twenty-six
+holes is required, increase until there are twenty-seven stitches; then
+decrease one at the end of every row until only two stitches are left.
+The last two are knotted together without forming a fresh stitch.
+
+Great care should be taken to have the netting true and even, so that
+it will stretch properly in the little frame used for the work.
+
+Each corner of the netting should be fastened to the corresponding
+corner of the frame; and the lacing should be made as tight as
+possible, as it is much easier to work on than when loose.
+
+The working of the most elaborate patterns in Guipure d’Art depends
+entirely upon a mastery of the stitches, of which there is quite a
+variety. Those in most common use are POINT D’ESPRIT, POINT DE TOILE,
+POINT DE FESTON, POINT DE REPRISE, POINT DE BRUXELLES, and WHEELS AND
+STARS.
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 112.]
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 113.]
+
+POINT D’ESPRIT is a succession of small loops. Beginning in the lower
+right hand corner of the framed foundation, a row of loops should be
+worked of the length required; then the frame should be turned, and
+loops worked on the opposite half of each square, intersecting the
+first loops in the centre of each intervening bar of netting. The
+illustration will make the work quite plain. This stitch is worked
+with finer thread than that used in the foundation, No. 10, perhaps, on
+a netting of No. 6.
+
+POINT DE TOILE, or LINEN STITCH, is merely plain and regular darning
+over and under each cross thread, making the foundation a closer piece
+of network. There must be the same number of stitches in each square
+both ways, to keep the foundation perfectly even; and although the
+illustration has only four squares within each of the larger ones, it
+is often made fine enough to contain six or eight.
+
+POINT DE FESTON is done in overcast stitches. At each stitch the frame
+is turned; the stitches are taken across the square, and increase in
+length at the top of the square.
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 114.]
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 115.]
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 116.]
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 117.]
+
+POINT DE REPRISE, or DARNING, is begun by stretching two or three
+threads over one, two, or more squares. The threads are then darned
+over and under; and the last stitch, while passing through, is arranged
+with the needle to form the next. This is one of the easiest stitches
+to learn; and it is always worked with _coarser_ thread than the
+foundation.
+
+POINT DE BRUXELLES is merely a kind of loose button-hole stitch, and is
+principally used for filling up squares. It will also form leaves when
+the number of stitches is lessened in each row until they finish off in
+a point.
+
+WHEELS are begun in the centre. Four threads are taken across, as shown
+in the first illustration; the thread is twisted in returning to the
+starting point, and the wheel formed by passing thread under and over
+the netting and the crossing threads. It is fastened off at the back of
+the wheel.
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 118.--WHEEL BEGUN.]
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 119.]
+
+The next design is a square wheel. It is worked in the same way as
+the preceding, with the addition of loops in POINT D’ESPRIT, through
+which and under and over the cross-twisted threads four or five rows of
+thread are passed.
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 120.--SQUARE WHEEL.]
+
+STARS are of various forms, as shown in figures.
+
+The first one is worked in POINT DE FESTON around a single square hole,
+which is filled in by a small wheel, or rosette.
+
+The second is worked alternately in POINT DE FESTON and POINT DE
+BRUXELLES around a centre crossed by POINT D’ESPRIT threads.
+
+Figure 123 is more elaborate. Begin at the place marked _a_ (Figure
+124), twist the thread three times round the nearest thread of the
+netting, draw it on to the knot, _b_; repeat this three times,
+following the order of the letters; twist the working thread also
+between the threads, as seen in the illustration, and fasten it
+underneath the knot, _a_; for the wheel, fasten on the cotton afresh,
+and work the rest of the pattern in POINT DE REPRISE.
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 121.--STAR.]
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 122.]
+
+The small square is worked on a foundation which is netted over a mesh
+2 1-10 inches round; this foundation has seven stitches each way. The
+embroidery is in DARNING-STITCH, POINT D’ESPRIT, and WHEELS. The outer
+edge is button-holed. Larger squares can be made in the same way, with
+a few added rows in length and breadth. These pieces are easily joined
+together with a few stitches.
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 123.]
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 124.]
+
+A quarter of a large square is given on page 121. The outer border is
+done in POINT D’ESPRIT; next to this there is a border in
+linen stitch. In each corner there is a large star, which is worked in
+raised darning-stitch, and fastened to the netting at each point; there
+is a wheel edged with button-hole stitch in the centre of the star. The
+pattern for the centre of the square--only a quarter of which is shown
+in the illustration--consists of four branches forming small triangles
+in Point de Bruxelles, four open-work stars or wheels worked over four
+holes of the netting, and a four-branched centre of Point de Feston
+with a wheel in the middle.
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 125.--SMALL SQUARE.]
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 126.--QUARTER OF A SQUARE IN GUIPURE
+  D’ART.]
+
+Fig. 127 is a pretty square that has the advantage of being very
+quickly worked. The border and groundwork are done in Point d’Esprit,
+the centre star in Point de Reprise, the pattern in Point de Toile.
+The four holes in the centres of the darned squares are filled in with
+wheels.
+
+Small squares are very pretty for cuffs, handkerchiefs, or cravat ends.
+They are worked with very fine cotton in the same manner as the larger
+ones, beginning on two stitches in one corner. The different stitches
+in the two patterns given will be recognized as Point de Feston, Point
+de Reprise, Point de Toile, and Point d’Esprit.
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 127.--SQUARE FOR ANTIMACASSAR.]
+
+The handsome square (Fig. 130), is worked in Point d’Esprit, with an
+outline edging of Point de Reprise. This part may also be done in close
+button-hole stitch. The groundwork is in Point de Toile, with Point de
+Reprise worked on it. It is very effective, and large and small squares
+may easily be multiplied by different combinations.
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 128.--SQUARE IN GUIPURE D’ART.]
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 129.--SQUARE IN GUIPURE D’ART.]
+
+
+
+                      ROSETTES, INSERTIONS, ETC.
+
+The first Rosette is worked in Point de Toile and small wheels. The
+central wheel is larger, and is ornamented with a round of overcast.
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 130.--SQUARE IN GUIPURE D’ART.]
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 131.--ROSETTE IN GUIPURE D’ART.]
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 132.--ROSETTE IN GUIPURE D’ART.]
+
+The star-shaped one has a knitted groundwork, which is made by casting
+on six stitches, joining the stitches in a circle, and knitting in the
+first round two stitches in every stitch. For the next eight rounds,
+two stitches in every increased stitch; in all the other stitches,
+one stitch. The last, or tenth round, is worked without increasing.
+The rosette is then darned in darning-stitch, linen-stitch, and Point
+d’Esprit. The edge is worked in button-hole stitch, three button-hole
+stitches to every selvedge stitch.
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 133.--INSERTION IN GUIPURE D’ART.]
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 134.]
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 135.]
+
+The netted foundation of the inserting pattern is six holes wide. Begin
+the netting at one corner with two stitches; work five rows, at the end
+of each of which increase one stitch; continue to work the strip with
+the same number of stitches--alternately decreasing one at the end of
+one row, and _in_creasing one at the end of the next. To decrease,
+net two stitches together; to increase, net two in one hole. When the
+strip is long enough, finish it by decreasing in the same proportion as
+the increasing at the beginning.
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 136.]
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 137.]
+
+The pattern is worked in Point de Feston and star-wheel; the border is
+of Point d’Esprit. The strip is finished on each side with a row of
+button-hole stitches.
+
+The four patterns given above will be found very useful for filling up
+small squares, or for varying the groundwork of Point d’Esprit.
+
+Figure 134 is a succession of Point-de Feston stitches, which half fill
+each square of the netting. This pattern, to look well, must be worked
+very evenly.
+
+Figure 135 is a kind of double Point d’Esprit.
+
+Figure 136 is a twisted thread taken _across_ each square, and
+resembles lace stitches.
+
+Figure 137 is a succession of small, close wheels, mingled with Point
+d’Esprit. This makes a very effective grounding.
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 138.--FLOWER IN GUIPURE D’ART.]
+
+This flower, which can be used for many purposes, is worked in Point de
+Reprise, and may be done either with linen thread or with purse silk in
+colors.
+
+The pretty corners for cushions, handkerchiefs, etc., are worked in
+Point d’Esprit, Linen, and Darning-stitch; and the netted foundation
+is done by casting on two stitches, and working in rows backwards and
+forwards--increasing one stitch at the end of every row.
+
+The corner border requires a strip of netting nine squares wide, cut
+out in Vandykes on one side, and worked round in button-hole stitch.
+The embroidery is done in Darning-stitch, Point d’Esprit, Linen-stitch,
+bars, and wheels. It is edged with button-hole stitch on the outside,
+on which is worked a row of crochet-purl.
+
+For this, work one double in every button-hole stitch; after every
+other stitch draw out the loop on the needle about one-tenth of an
+inch; take out the needle and leave the loop as a purl; take up one
+loop in the last double stitch, and cast it off with the next double
+stitch.
+
+Besides being used for tidies, cushions, etc., this border makes very
+pretty inserting.
+
+But we must leave the fascinating subject of _Guipure d’Art_, and
+turn our attention to one or two other kinds of Linen Lace-Work.
+
+
+                             POINT COUPÉ,
+
+Or Cut-work, improperly called Greek lace, is made on a foundation of
+linen, of which some of the threads are cut away and the others worked
+over, making regular square spaces.
+
+A clearly defined ground plan is thus produced, and the pattern,
+however rich and varied, is subdued and confined by guiding lines,
+and may be made to form stars, circles, crosses, or cobwebs, of a
+geometrical character.
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 139.]
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 140.--CORNER BORDERS.]
+
+This kind of work is very durable, and has all the respectability of
+age. Old specimens of it are frequently seen, and the seventeenth
+century painters were very partial to it, using it for the turned-up
+cuffs of the vandyke dress, and to edge the falling collars. The finer
+kinds of it are very laborious, and one beautiful variety wrought on
+thin linen fabrics is known as Spanish nun-work.
+
+Point Coupé is very effective in furniture decoration, and for this
+purpose it can scarcely be too coarse. Brown packing-cloth makes a good
+foundation; worked with brown thread in a suitable pattern, simple
+enough to be clearly defined by the thick threads, it will make a
+beautiful border. A Macramé fringe, made of the same thread as that
+used for the work, will form a pretty finish, if the knotted pattern
+is simple and unobtrusive, as it should not divide attention with the
+border, to which it is only an appendage.
+
+Cut-work is particularly suitable for the ends of a white linen
+altar-cloth, worked on stout linen with a thick, soft, white linen
+thread, and in a very rich pattern. The lace should be firmly finished
+off with a flat hem of the linen all round, making it complete
+in itself. A fringe of linen thread is a suitable finish to the
+Point-Coupé.
+
+After the cover, of finer linen, has been washed and gotten up without
+starch, the cut-work borders should be sewn on the ends with an open
+stitch, which may be easily cut when the cloth becomes soiled; which
+will occur much oftener than with the borders.
+
+Afternoon tea-cloths, cake-covers, etc., may be very prettily
+ornamented with this linen work. When intended for a border, it should
+be finished with close button-holing to make it strong.
+
+For a tea-cloth, holland or crash makes a good foundation; and a
+suitable pattern for this purpose is made by drawing out nine threads
+each way, and stitching all around the square spaces--taking up three
+threads with every stitch. In the openings thus made, wheels, stars, or
+other figures, are worked.
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 141.--CORNER BORDER IN GUIPURE D’ART.]
+
+
+                              POINT-TIRÉ,
+
+Or drawn-work, is also suited to decorative purposes; it is very simple
+and easy of execution--being very effective in proportion to the labor
+spent upon it. It is an Italian invention, and is very ornamental for
+the ends of table-cloths, toilet-cloths, tidies, or towels--the last
+especially being its original use.
+
+Point-tiré is made in the material of the cloth itself; some of the
+threads being drawn out, and the remainder worked into patterns more or
+less elaborate. A hem-stitch like that used for pocket-handkerchiefs
+is useful in this work; it may be done singly along a row of drawn
+threads, or for a broader line on both sides the row--either taking up
+the same threads as those taken on the other side, so making little
+bars, or taking half the threads from each of two of the opposite
+stitches, and thus forming a zigzag.
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 142.--COVER FOR A SMALL TRAY.]
+
+Other patterns may be made by passing a thick linen thread along the
+centre of a row of threads from which the weft has been drawn, and
+either twisting them over each other or knotting them into groups.
+It adds to the beauty of an article to embroider the spaces of plain
+linen between the rows of drawn work, either with silk, or with red or
+blue embroidery cotton, mixing a little of whichever is used with the
+fringe. The patterns should be very simple: line patterns, dots, stars,
+etc.
+
+Figure 142 is a good specimen of embroidered drawn-work.
+
+The materials used for this cover are white linen and coarse white
+embroidery cotton. The linen must not be very fine, and it should be of
+rather loose texture.
+
+When cut to the desired size the first thing to be done is to ravel
+out the threads for the purpose of forming the fringe, which should be
+about an inch deep. It should at first be ravelled on only three sides:
+the selvedge and the two cross sides--the other selvedge side being
+left until the work is nearly finished.
+
+For the work, draw out twenty-seven threads close together; then leave
+a space, and draw out twenty-seven more in the same manner. The space
+from which the threads are drawn is worked in a kind of open-stitch
+with coarse embroidery cotton. Twelve threads are taken up with the
+needle, and fixed by a back-stitch. Six threads are dropped; and then
+again twelve are taken up in the same way as before--thus forming the
+chain pattern shown in the illustration.
+
+From the middle of the opaque stripe a single thread is drawn, and
+worked in common hem-stitch; and on each side, narrow stripes in
+satin-stitch form a sort of herring-bone pattern.
+
+The work consists entirely of a series of opaque and open stripes. When
+the requisite number of stripes is complete, the fringe may be ravelled
+out on the fourth side, and the cover is finished.
+
+This work washes well; but it should not be starched or ironed. The
+proper way of doing it up is to pin or baste it flat and tight while
+wet, upon a board, or the floor, and let it dry.
+
+
+                      IMITATION OF ANTIQUE LACE.
+
+A very rich kind of work founded upon old lace is done by drawing
+patterns on linen and overcasting or button-holing the outlines. The
+ground between is then cut away, and the patterns enriched with bars,
+cords, and raised work.
+
+This kind of linen embroidery may be made very beautiful and lace-like;
+the exquisite patterns of Venetian, rose, raised, or bone point, can
+easily be reproduced in it, although, while preserving the peculiar
+beauty of their forms and proportions, they should, to adapt them to
+this work, be considerably enlarged and their details much simplified.
+Unless these rules are carefully followed, the linen-work will appear
+only a coarse and unsuccessful imitation of the original lace.
+
+This work is sometimes outlined with gold thread, which has an
+exceedingly rich and beautiful effect; and with a lining of amber, or
+golden-brown satin, a handsome and unique covering may be made for a
+variety of articles.
+
+
+
+
+                          TABLE OF CONTENTS.
+
+
+                    CHAPTER I.--WORSTED EMBROIDERY.
+
+                                                                  PAGE.
+
+    Crewel Work                                                       6
+    The Crewel Stitch                                                 7
+    Articles to be Worked in Crewels                                 12
+    An Embroidered Frieze                                            12
+    A Dado in Crewels                                                12
+    A Worsted-Worked Portière                                        13
+    Curtains with Sprays of Sumac                                    14
+    A Sweet-Pea Table Cover                                          14
+    Screens in Crewel-Work                                           14
+    Carriage Wraps                                                   15
+
+
+                 CHAPTER II.--SIMPLE IDEAS OF COLORS.
+
+
+                    CHAPTER III.--SILK EMBROIDERY.
+
+    The Stitch for Silk Embroidery                                   20
+    Group of Flowers for Silk Embroidery                             21
+    French, or Flat Embroidery                                       23
+    The French Knot                                                  24
+    Stalk-Stitch                                                     24
+    Point Russe                                                      25
+    Herring-Bone, or Feather Stitch                                  27
+    Chain-Stitch                                                     28
+    Ladder-Stitch                                                    31
+    Chinese Embroidery                                               32
+
+
+           CHAPTER IV.--DESIGNING AND TRANSFERRING DESIGNS.
+
+    Transferring Designs                                             40
+
+
+               CHAPTER V.--ARTICLES IN SILK EMBROIDERY.
+
+    A Screen of Peacock Feathers                                     42
+    A Pretty Banner-Screen                                           42
+    Another    „      „                                              42
+    Embroidered Table-Top                                            43
+    Window-Curtain Border                                            43
+    Embroidered Dresses                                              43
+    Panels                                                           44
+    Small Curtains or Hangings                                       44
+    A Wreathed Picture                                               44
+    An Embroidered Room                                              45
+    A Fan Table-Cover                                                45
+    A Chair-Cover                                                    45
+    Fire-Screens                                                     45
+    A Child’s Afghan                                                 46
+
+
+                       CHAPTER VI.--PRINT-WORK.
+
+
+               CHAPTER VII.--SILK EMBROIDERY WITH GOLD.
+
+    Modern Work                                                      49
+    Materials Used                                                   49
+    Gold Cord                                                        50
+    Gold Braid                                                       50
+    Bullion                                                          50
+    Spangles                                                         51
+    Gold Thread                                                      51
+
+
+         CHAPTER VIII.--EMBROIDERED BOOKS AND OTHER ARTICLES.
+
+    A Maroon-velvet Book                                             53
+    A Queen’s Needlework                                             53
+    Petrarch’s Sonnets                                               55
+    Another Royal Book                                               55
+    A Book of Engravings                                             55
+    Scrap-Book Covers                                                57
+    Album Covers                                                     57
+    Letter-Case                                                      58
+    Gold and Silk Embroidery                                         60
+
+
+              CHAPTER IX.--APPLIED WORK WITH EMBROIDERY.
+
+    A Lambrequin in Appliqué                                         65
+    Key-Bag in Appliqué and Embroidery                               71
+    Silk Appliqué Work                                               72
+    Cretonne Work                                                    75
+    Crape Pictures in Appliqué                                       77
+    Linen Appliqué                                                   78
+
+
+                  CHAPTER X.--EMBROIDERY IN CHENILLE.
+
+
+                CHAPTER XI.--SILK EMBROIDERY ON LINEN.
+
+    Embroidered Fruit Doyleys                                        82
+
+
+                             CHAPTER XII.
+
+    Holbein Work                                                     86
+
+
+              CHAPTER XIII.--CHURCH EMBROIDERY.--PART I.
+
+    Implements needed                                               101
+    Stitches                                                        103
+    Basket-Stitch                                                   105
+    Floss Silk                                                      106
+
+
+              CHAPTER XIV.--CHURCH EMBROIDERY.--PART II.
+
+    Pulpit, or Desk Hangings                                        109
+    Church Book-Markers                                             111
+    Designs on Cardboard                                            113
+    Church-Work in Appliqué                                         114
+
+
+                     CHAPTER XV.--LINEN LACE WORK.
+
+    Point-Conté                                                     116
+    Rosettes, Insertions, etc.                                      122
+    Point-Coupé                                                     126
+    Point-Tiré                                                      127
+    Imitation of Antique Lace                                       129
+
+
+
+
+                          ORNAMENTAL DESIGNS
+                                  FOR
+               FRET-WORK, SCROLL SAWING, FANCY CARVING,
+                                  AND
+                           HOME DECORATIONS.
+
+
+Fret Sawing has become an art of such wonderful popularity that the
+interest in it has been shared by both amateurs and professionals to an
+astonishing extent. Hundreds are earning large sums of pocket-money by
+cutting these beautiful household ornaments, and selling among friends
+or acquaintances, or at the art stores.
+
+Ladies and the Young Folks find in it a fascinating recreation, and are
+making dozens of fancy articles at small cost, to decorate their homes
+in a charming manner, or to give as Holiday Presents to friends. The
+following books contain mechanical designs of full size for immediate
+use, and are invaluable alike to amateurs, ladies, young folks,
+mechanics, architects, and all of professional skill:
+
+PART 1. contains full size designs for Picture Frames. Small Brackets,
+Book Racks, Fancy Letters and Figures, Ornaments, Wall Pockets, etc.
+(Has patterns worth at usual prices over $8.) Price 75 cents, post-paid
+by mail.
+
+PART 2. is devoted exclusively to designs of Brackets of medium to
+large size, all entirely new, and of the most tasteful detail and
+execution. (Contains over 50 plans, worth at least $15.) Price, $1.00,
+by mail, post-paid.
+
+PART 3. is devoted to Fancy Work, Ladies’ Work Baskets, Easels,
+Crosses, Match Boxes, Pen Racks, Paper Cutters, Calendar Frames,
+Thermometer Stands, Watch Pockets, Fruit Baskets, Table Platters, etc.
+Nearly 100 designs, many of them really exquisite. Price $1.00.
+
+PART 4.--=FRET SAWYER’S ANNUAL, 1876.= Contains 84 patterns of
+Crosses. Shrine Frame, Photograph Holder, Stereoscopic View Rack,
+Card Receivers, Borders, Cake Baskets, etc. This is a very cheap and
+tasteful book of designs. If sold singly would be worth $2.50. Price of
+book, 50 cents, post-paid by mail.
+
+PART 5.--=SILHOUETTES FOR SCROLL SAWING AND INLAID WORK.= Contains over
+100 exquisite designs of Silhouettes and Fancy Scroll Work, containing
+patterns of Animals, Birds, Children, Horses, Dogs, Crosses, Scenes
+of Poetry and Sentiment, Women, Soldiers, Deer, Flowers, Mottoes,
+and Fancy Ornaments, all ready to saw out, and most beautiful for
+inlaid work. They open a new field in this favorite work, and these
+are the best designs yet published in the United States. They are
+remarkably handsome, many very comical, and some perfectly superb.
+The page of CROSSES is alone worth the price of the book. This book
+also contains many exquisite designs for painting on wood, Furniture,
+and Pottery--also for Mechanical Ornaments, and Fancy Work of all
+descriptions. Price 60 cents.
+
+PART 6.--=FRET SAWYER’S ANNUAL, 1877.= Published Oct., 1877. This
+is composed of new patterns, designed expressly for this season,
+and will be found specially adapted to amateurs or others who have
+hitherto purchased only the cheap and single patterns of more common
+and less pleasing designs. The price of this book is so cheap that it
+will be easily afforded by every one, even the poorest. Contains 29
+new patterns, worth at sheet prices fully $1.50. New Picture Frames,
+Easels, Visiting Card Case, Bracket, Doll’s Carriage, Mirror Frame,
+Fancy Match Box, etc. Price 30 cents by mail, post-paid.
+
+PART 7.--=NEW DESIGNS FOR 1877 and 1878.= This is the latest and most
+artistic volume of the series; will be found by experienced Scroll
+Sawyers the best collection yet published. Contains 62 patterns, worth
+over $3.00--New Easels, Work Baskets, Wall Pocket, Motto “Welcome,”
+Photograph Frames, Wheelbarrows, Crosses, Match Box, Glove Box, Savings
+Bank, Standard Match Safe, etc. Price 60 cents, post-paid by mail.
+
+PART 8.--=FRET SAWYER’S ANNUAL FOR 1880.= Published Jan. 1, 1880.
+Fret Sawing has increased so much within the last few years, that the
+manufacturers of fret saws have thought it worth their while to bring
+their saws as near perfection as possible. Not only does this spirit
+animate the manufacturer, but it stirs with equal force the publisher
+of patterns, so that each new issue of designs is made better, if
+possible, than the last. We claim that this last volume of our issue
+eclipses, for originality of design and beauty of ornamentation, any
+previously issued. It contains patterns for a complete set of articles
+that no room should be without, all done in the Eastlake style, and no
+two articles alike. This book contains over 40 patterns. Price $1.00,
+post-paid, by mail.
+
+
+                  Address ADAMS & BISHOP, Publishers,
+
+                                           46 Beekman Street, New York.
+
+
+
+
+                         HOUSEHOLD ELEGANCIES.
+
+   _The most beautiful Ladies’ Book ever published. Get it for your
+         Work Basket or Parlor. A Beautiful Gift to Friends._
+
+              BY HENRY T. WILLIAMS AND MRS. C. S. JONES.
+
+                 VOL. 2.--WILLIAMS’ HOUSEHOLD SERIES.
+
+     A splendid new book on Household Art, devoted to a multitude
+             of topics, interesting to ladies everywhere.
+
+
+                               CONTENTS.
+
+   Chap. 1.--Transparencies on Glass for Windows, Lamps, Halls,
+               etc.--Diaphanie, Vitremanie. 18 Engravings.
+
+   Chap. 2.--Fancy Work with Leaves, Flowers, and Grasses--Phantom
+               Leaves, Autumn Leaves and Mosses. 23 Engravings.
+
+   Chap. 3.--Spray Work or Spatter Work. 23 Engravings.
+
+   Chap. 4.--Brackets, Shelves, Mantels, etc. 27 Engravings.
+
+   Chap. 5.--Picture Frames. 17 Engravings.
+
+   Chap. 6.--Fancy Leather Work. 29 Engravings.
+
+   Chap. 7.--Wall Pockets. 18 Engravings.
+
+   Chap. 8.--Work Boxes and Baskets. 17 Engravings.
+
+   Chap. 9.--Wax Flowers, Fruit, etc. 21 Engravings.
+
+   Chap. 10.--Indian Painting in imitation of Ebony and Ivory. 14
+                Engravings.
+
+   Chap. 11.--Cone, Spruce, and Seed Work. 35 Engravings.
+
+   Chap. 12.--Miscellaneous Fancy Work. 46 Engravings.
+
+     Hundreds of exquisite illustrations decorate the pages, which
+        are full to overflowing with hints and devices to every
+          lady how to ornament her home cheaply, tastefully,
+           and delightfully, with fancy articles of her own
+               construction. By far the most popular and
+               elegant gift book of the year--300 pages.
+                 Price, $1.50. Sent post-paid by mail.
+
+
+                 _Address ADAMS & BISHOP, Publishers_,
+
+           P. O. Box 2456.      46 Beekman Street, New York.
+
+
+
+
+                      PRETTIEST HOUSEHOLD JOURNAL
+
+                           IN UNITED STATES.
+
+                 _Gem of Beauty! Ladies! Young Folks!
+                       Just the Paper for You!_
+
+                SEND 25 CENTS FOR TRIAL TRIP 3 MONTHS.
+
+                      The Ladies’ Floral Cabinet
+
+                    _AND PICTORIAL HOME COMPANION_.
+
+      Devoted to Household Elegancies, Housekeeping, Art, Music,
+          Home Pets, Ladies’ Fancy Work, Society, Amusements,
+            Flowers, Window Gardening, Cottages, etc. _The
+            Prettiest Ladies’ Paper in America, Beautifully
+           Illustrated. A perfect Gem._ Full of good sense,
+                 and invaluable to every lady for its
+                 refinement, elegance, and rare value.
+
+    Price, $1.30 per year, including beautiful Chromo.
+    Price, 35 cents, three months, including beautiful Chromo.
+    Price, 15 cents, three months, on trial. Specimen copy, 10c.
+    None Free.
+
+          _Agents Wanted. Get up a Club. Premium List Free._
+
+
+                      ADAMS & BISHOP, PUBLISHERS,
+                     46 BEEKMAN STREET, NEW YORK.
+
+   N. B.--Please state where you saw this notice.
+
+
+
+
+                           WINDOW GARDENING
+
+                         BY HENRY T. WILLIAMS.
+
+             Richly Illustrated with Exquisite Engravings.
+
+       An Elegant Book, with 250 Fine Engravings and 300 Pages,
+
+              Containing a Descriptive List of all Plants
+                     Suitable for Window Culture.
+
+
+A ready and invaluable aid to all who wish to adorn their houses in
+the easiest and most successful manner with plants, or vines, or
+flowers. Instructions are given as to the best selection of plants
+for Baskets or Ferneries and Wardian Cases. Several chapters are
+devoted to Hanging Baskets, Climbing Vines, Smilax, and the Ivy, for
+decorative purposes. Bulbs for House Culture are fully described; also
+ornamental Plants for Dinner Table Decoration. Other topics are well
+considered, such as Balcony Gardens, House Top Gardening, Watering
+Plants, Home Conservatories, Fountains, Vases, Flower Stands, Soil,
+Air, Temperature, Propagation, Floral Boxes, the Aquarium, Rustic
+Conveniences for Household Ornament, and directions in detail for the
+general management of in-door plants for the entire year, throughout
+the winter, spring, summer, and fall. The volume is profusely
+illustrated with choice engravings, and pains have been taken to make
+it one of the most attractive books ever issued from the American
+Press. For sale, or supplied by bookstores everywhere, or sent
+post-paid by mail on receipt of price.
+
+                             PRICE, $1.50.
+
+
+
+
+                 Every Woman Her Own Flower Gardener.
+
+               By DAISY EYEBRIGHT (Mrs. S. O. JOHNSON).
+
+
+A delightful little volume, written by a lady fond of flowers, as a
+special help and assistance to others interested in out-door flower
+gardening. Simple directions are given, how to lay out and plant
+Flower Borders, Ribbon Beds, and arrange ornamental plants. Among the
+topics treated are Geraniums, Fuchsias, Bulbs, Ornamental Flowering
+Shrubs, Everlasting Flowers, Ornamental Grasses, Coleus, Pæonies,
+Shade Trees, Garden Vegetables, Old Fashioned Flowers, Annual Flowers,
+Perennials, Ornamental Vines, Lawns, Insects, Manures, Watering Soils.
+When and How to Plant Dahlias, Lilies, Gladiolus, Verbenas, Cannas,
+Balsams, Portulaccas, and nearly all the popular varieties of flowers
+and shrubs. The book contains 148 pages, is charmingly written by one
+deeply in love with the subject, who appreciates the tastes of ladies,
+and aims to do good with agreeable, kindly advice on home gardening.
+For sale, or supplied by Bookstores everywhere.
+
+Price, in handsome Pamphlet Covers, 50 cents; bound in Cloth, $1;
+post-paid by mail.
+
+
+                 _Address ADAMS & BISHOP, Publishers_,
+           P. O. Box 2456.      46 Beekman Street, New York.
+
+
+Transcriber’s Notes:
+
+1. Obvious printers’, punctuation and spelling errors have been
+corrected silently.
+
+2. Some hyphenated and non-hyphenated versions of the same words have
+been retained as in the original.
+
+3. Italics are shown as _xxx_.
+
+4. Bold print is shown as =xxx=.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 76893 ***