Chapter I: Preface (1)

Embroidery may be looked at from more points of view than it would be possible in a book like this to take up seriously. Merely to hover round the subject and glance casually at it would serve no useful purpose. It may be as well, therefore, to define our standpoint: we look at the art from its practical side, not, of course, neglecting the artistic, for the practical use of embroidery is to be beautiful.

The custom has been, since woman learnt to kill time with the needle, to think of embroidery too much as an idle accomplishment. It is more than that. At the very least it is a handicraft: at the best it is an art. This contention may be to take it rather seriously; but if one esteemed it less it would hardly be worth writing about, and the book, when written, would not be worth the attention of students of embroidery, needleworkers, and designers of needlework to whom it is addressed. It sets forth to show what decorative stitching is, how it is done, and what it can do. It is illustrated by samplers of stitches; by diagrams, to explain the way stitches are done; and by examples of old and modern work, to show the artistic application of the stitches.

A feature in the book is the series of samplers designed to show not only what are the available stitches, but the groups into which they naturally gather themselves, as well as the use to which they may be put: and the back of the sampler is given too: the reader has only to turn the page to see the other side of the stitching--which to a needlewoman is often the more helpful. Lest that should not be enough, the stitches are described in the text, and a marginal note shows at a glance where the description is given. This should be read needle and thread in hand--or skipped. Samplers and other examples of needlework are uniformly on a scale large enough to show the stitch quite plainly. The examples of old work illustrate always, in the first place, some point of workmanship; still they are chosen with some view to their artistic interest.

In other respects Art is not overlooked; but it is Art in harness. Design is discussed with reference to stitch and stuff, and stitch and stuff with reference to their use in ornament. It has been endeavoured also to show the effect needlework has had upon pattern, and the ways in which design is affected by the circumstance that it is to be embroidered.

The joint authorship of the work needs, perhaps, a word of explanation. This is not just a man's book on a woman's subject. The scheme of it is mine, and I have written it, but with the co-operation throughout of Miss Mary Buckle. Our classification of the stitches is the result of many a conference between us. The description of the way the stitches are worked, and so forth, is my rendering of her description, supplemented by practical demonstration with the needle. She has primed me with technical information, and been always at hand to keep me from technical error. With reference to design and art I speak for myself.

My thanks are due to the authorities at South Kensington for allowing us to handle the treasures of the national collection, and to photograph them for illustration; to Mrs. Walter Crane, Miss Mabel Keighley, and Miss C. P. Shrewsbury, for permission to reproduce their handiwork; to Miss Argles, Mrs. Buxton Morrish, Colonel Green, R.E., and Messrs. Morris and Co., for the loan of work belonging to them; and to Miss Chart for working the cross-stitch sampler.

I must also acknowledge the part my daughter has had in the production of this book: without her constant help it could never have been written.

LEWIS F. DAY.

_January 1st, 1900._

CONTENTS.

CHAP. PAGE

1. EMBROIDERY AND EMBROIDERY STITCHES 1

2. CANVAS STITCHES 12

3. CREWEL-STITCH 26

4. CHAIN-STITCH 38

5. HERRING-BONE-STITCH 47

6. BUTTONHOLE-STITCH 55

7. FEATHER AND ORIENTAL STITCHES 62

8. ROPE AND KNOT STITCHES 71

9. INTERLACINGS, SURFACE STITCHES, AND DIAPERS 83

10. SATIN-STITCH AND ITS OFFSHOOTS 91

11. DARNING 106

12. LAID-WORK 112

13. COUCHING 122

14. COUCHED GOLD 131

15. APPLIQUE 144

16. INLAY, MOSAIC, AND CUT-WORK 153

17. EMBROIDERY IN RELIEF 159

18. RAISED GOLD 165

19. QUILTING 172

20. STITCH GROUPS 175

21. ONE STITCH OR MANY? 180

22. OUTLINE 185

23. SHADING 188

24. FIGURE EMBROIDERY 198

25. THE DIRECTION OF THE STITCH 208

26. CHURCH WORK 216

27. A PLEA FOR SIMPLICITY 225

28. EMBROIDERY DESIGN 232

29. EMBROIDERY MATERIALS 242

30. A WORD TO THE WORKER 250

DESCRIPTIVE LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

1. TAPESTRY--to illustrate work on a warp not on a web. From Akhmin in Upper Egypt. Ancient Coptic. (In the Victoria and Albert Museum.)

2. DRAWN-WORK ON FINE LINEN, embroidered with gold and colour. Oriental. (From the collection of Mrs. Lewis F. Day.)

3. DARNING AND SATIN-STITCH on square mesh--The darning leaf, green, follows the lines of the stuff; outlined with yellow, veined with pink and white; stem, yellow, its foliation pink, outlined with white, and ribbed with blue and white. Italian. 17th century. (V. & A. M.)

4. CROSS-STITCH UPON LINEN. Hungarian. Compare Illustration 45.

5. CROSS-STITCH SAMPLER--A and B, solid; C, line work; D, stroke-stitch--called also Holbein-stitch; E, stroke and cross stitches combined.

6. CANVAS-STITCH in coloured silk upon linen. The band Italian, the foliated diaper Oriental. (Mrs. L. F. D.)

7. CANVAS-STITCH--Design comparatively free, but showing in its outline the influence of the rectangular lines of the weaving. Cretan. (Mrs. L. F. D.)

8. CANVAS-STITCH SAMPLER--A, tent-stitch; B, half-cross-stitch; C, cushion-stitch; D, Moorish-stitch, so called; E, plait-stitch; F, couching on canvas.

9. CUSHION AND SATIN-STITCHES UPON CANVAS--The Satin-stitches follow the lines of the stuff, and form a diaper built upon them. Compare Illustration 71.

10. TWO VARIETIES OF CANVAS-STITCH, the pattern in the bare linen, the background worked--A, plait-stitch, the ornament outlined; B, stitches drawn tightly together so as to pull the threads of the linen apart, giving very much the effect of drawn-work. Compare Illustration 2. (Mrs. L. F. D.)

11. CREWEL-STITCH SAMPLER--A and C, crewel-stitch; B and D, outline-stitch; E, back-stitch; F, spots; G and H, stem-stitch; J, crewel and outline-stitches in combination.

12. BACK OF CREWEL-STITCH SAMPLER.

13. CREWEL-WORK--the stem only worked in crewel-stitch. Embroidered in green, blue, and brown wools upon white cotton. Old English. (Coll. of Miss Argles.)

14. CREWEL-WORK, in which crewel-stitch hardly occurs. Embroidered in coloured wools upon white cotton. Old English. (Coll. of J. M. Knapp, Esq.)

15. CREWEL-STITCH IN TWISTED SILK. The scroll in green upon a brownish-purple ground; the smaller leafage upon the scroll in brighter green; the flowers and butterflies in blue and pink. Modern. (Mrs. L. F. Day.)

16. CHAIN-STITCH AND KNOTS--Part of the same piece of work as Illustration 24. Indian. (V. & A. M.)

17. CHAIN-STITCH SAMPLER--A, chain-stitch solid and in line; B, magic stitch; C, church chain; D, cable chain; E, Vandyke chain; F, Mountmellic chain; G, Mountmellic cable--all so called.

18. BACK OF CHAIN-STITCH SAMPLER.

19. CHAIN AND SURFACE STITCHES--the latter a kind of buttonholing, only occasionally worked _in_to the stuff. Part of a lectern cover in white thread upon a thin, greyish white linen stuff. German, 14th century. (V. & A. M.)

20. HERRINGBONE SAMPLER--A, B, C, varieties of herring-bone; D, a combination of A and C; E, fishbone; F, a close variety of A; G, tapestry stitch, so called.

21. BACK OF HERRINGBONE SAMPLER.

22. BUTTONHOLE SAMPLER--A, B, C, ordinary buttonhole and variations upon it; D, two rows of buttonhole worked slanting one into the other; E, crossed buttonhole; F, tailor's buttonhole; G, ladder (called also Cretan) stitch; H, herringbone buttonhole; J, buttonhole diaper.

23. BACK OF BUTTONHOLE SAMPLER.

24. BUTTONHOLE, CHAIN, AND KNOT STITCHES--chiefly in white floss silk on dark purple satin, with touches of crimson at the points from which the stitches radiate. The rings on the outer ground are not worked, but done in the dyeing of the satin. Part of the same piece of work as 16. Modern Indian from Surat. (V. & A. M.)

25. FEATHER-STITCH SAMPLER--A to G, ordinary feather-stitch and its variations; G G, feather chain.

26. BACK OF FEATHER-STITCH SAMPLER.

27. ORIENTAL-STITCH SAMPLER--A to E, Oriental-stitch and its varieties; F, Oriental-stitch worked into buttonhole; G, not properly a form of Oriental-stitch, though bearing some resemblance to it.

28. BACK OF ORIENTAL-STITCH SAMPLER.

29. ROPE AND KNOT-STITCH SAMPLER--A, rope-stitch; B, open rope-stitch; C, what is called German knot-stitch; D, open German knot-stitch; E, Old English knot-stitch, so called; F, bullion-stitch; G, French knots.

30. BACK OF ROPE AND KNOT-STITCH SAMPLER.

31. A TOUR-DE-FORCE IN KNOTS--Worked entirely in the one stitch; the drawing lines expressed by voiding. In white and coloured silks upon a very dark blue ground. Chinese. (Mrs. L. F. D.)

32. INTERLACING-STITCH SAMPLER--A, Interlaced crewel-stitch; B, interlaced back-stitch; C, back-stitch twice interlaced; D, interlaced chain-stitch; E, interlaced darning; F, interlaced herringbone; G, herringbone twice interlaced; H, an interlaced version of C in Illustration 20; J, interlaced Oriental-stitch; K, interlaced feather-stitch.

33. BACK OF INTERLACING SAMPLER.

34. SURFACE-STITCH SAMPLER--A, D, G, various surface stitches; B, surface buttonhole; H and C, surface darning; E, Japanese darning, as it is called; F, net passing; J, surface buttonhole over bars; K, surface buttonhole over slanting stitches.

35. LACE OR SURFACE-STITCH AND SATIN-STITCH, much of it worn away. In straw-coloured floss upon pale blue silk. Part of a dress. French. Late 18th century. (Mrs. L. F. D.)

36. SATIN-STITCH SAMPLER--Worked in floss, the stitch in various directions, to give different effects. Incidentally it shows various ways of breaking up a surface in satin-stitch. Compare with Illustration 38, which shows the effect of the stitch in twisted silk.

37. BACK OF SATIN-STITCH SAMPLER.

38. SATIN-STITCH IN COARSE TWISTED SILK.

39. SATIN-STITCH IN TWISTED SILK--Outlines voided. Worked in white and occasional red and yellow upon black satin. Indian. Modern. (V. & A. M.)

40. SATIN-STITCH AND, on the birds' bodies, PLUMAGE-STITCH--The ends of the stalks worked in French knots; the veins of the leaves in fine white cords laid on to the satin stitch. The outlines voided, and the voiding occasionally worked across with stitches wide enough apart to show the ground between. In white and bright-coloured silk floss upon a black satin ground. Chinese. (Mrs. L. F. D.)

41. SAMPLER--Showing offshoots from satin and crewel stitches, and incidentally illustrating various ways of shading. A, crewel-stitch; B, plumage-stitch, worked in the hand; C, split-stitch; D, plumage-stitch, worked in the frame.

42. BACK OF SAMPLER 41.

43. DARNING SAMPLER--Except in the background the stitches follow the lines of the drawing, regardless of the weaving of the stuff. The customary outlining of the pattern is here omitted, to show how far it may, or may not, be needful.

44. DARNING--DESIGNED BY WILLIAM MORRIS. In delicate colours upon a sea-green ground, outlined with black and white. Part of the border of a table-cloth, the property of Messrs. Morris & Co.

45. FLAT DARNING--Solid and open, following the lines of a square mesh, and stepping in tune with it; the outline voided; all in white thread. Old German. (Gewerbs Museum, Munich.)

46. LAID-WORK SAMPLER, showing various ways (split-stitch and couching) in which the sewing down may be done, and the various directions it may take--vertical, horizontal, following the ornamental forms, or crossing them.

47. LAID-WORK--The couching crosses the flower forms in straight lines; and in the eye of the flower where the threads cross, the two are sewn down at a single stitch. The spiral stems a sort of laid cord. Flower in blue, sewn with blue and outlined with gold; leaves, a bright fresh green stitched with olive. Japanese. (V. & A. M.)

48. LAID-WORK. The sewing down of the leaves crosses them in curved lines which suggest roundness. The stem in gold basket pattern. Part of a coverlet. Worked upon a cedar-coloured ground chiefly in dark blue and white, the blue couched with white, the white and other colours couched with red. Indo-Portuguese. 17th century. (V. & A. M.)

49. LAID-WORK AND SOME SURFACE-STITCH. The stitching which sews down the floss takes the direction of the scroll, &c., and gives drawing. The surface work in the stems is done upon a ladder of stitches across. Part of a chalice veil. Italian. Early 17th century. (V. & A. M.)

50. LAID-WORK SAMPLER--The straight lines of laid floss varied in colour to suggest shading. The stalk padded, and the pattern made by the stitching upon it thereby emphasised.

51. BULLION AND COUCHED CORD--A, The somewhat loose design of the border in bullion shows rather plainly the way it is done. B, The solid discs of spiral cord are unusual, but most characteristic of the method of couching. The stitches sewing down the cord are not apparent. Oriental. (Mrs. L. F. D.)

52. SAMPLER OF COUCHED SILK--The broad central band and the narrow beaded lines are in floss, and show the effect of sewing it more or less tightly down. The two intermediate bands are in cord couched with threads in the direction of its twist, not very easily distinguishable unless by contrast of colour.

53. COUCHING IN LOOPED THREADS--The effect is not unlike that of chain-stitch or fine knotting. Rather over actual size. Worked in bright colours upon a pale green crepe ground. Chinese. (Mrs. L. F. D.)

54. REVERSE COUCHING--Showing on the face of it no sign of couching. (After the manner of the Syon Cope.)

55. BACK OF REVERSE COUCHING--Showing the parallel lines of couched linen thread which sew down the silk upon the surface (Illustration 54). The zigzag pattern of the stitching might equally well have taken other lines.

56. COUCHED GOLD SAMPLER--A, B, C, D, flat work; E, part flat, part raised; F, G, H, J, basket and other patterns raised over cords.

57. COUCHING IN VARIOUS DIAPER PATTERNS, OUTLINED IN PART WITH "PLATE." Silver on pale pink silk. (Coll. of Mrs. T. Buxton Morrish.)

58. GOLD COUCHING IN OPEN THREADS--A, The lines of gold which form a scale pattern on the dragon's body, are wide enough apart to let the red ground grin through. Elsewhere the couching, contrary to mediaeval practice, follows the shapes, line within line until they are occupied. The floss embroidery, in white and colours, is in surface-satin-stitch. Chinese. B, The open lines of gold look somehow richer than if the metal had been worked solid upon the crimson ground. Old Venetian. (Mrs. L. F. D.)

59. COUCHED OUTLINE WORK; only an occasional detail worked solid; suggests damascening. The border is in gold, the filling in silver, thread on a greyish-green velvet. Part of an Italian housing or saddlecloth. 16th century. (V. & A. M.)

60. APPLIQUE--Satin upon velvet, outlined with two threads of gold couching.

61. APPLIQUE PANEL--Designed and executed by Miss Mabel Keighley, illustrating a poem by William Morris. (The property of the artist.)

62. A. COUNTER-CHANGE PATTERN, INLAY OR APPLIQUE.--Yellow satin and crimson velvet. The outline, which is in gold, falls chiefly upon the yellow, so as not to disturb the exact balance of light and dark, which it is essential to preserve in counter-change. Part of a stole. Spanish. 16th century (V. & A. M.)

B. APPLIQUE, of deep crimson velvet upon white satin, outlined with paler red cord. The outlines, meeting together, form a stem of double cord. Italian. 17th century. (V. & A. M.)

63. APPLIQUE, with couched outline, and stitching upon the applique band or ribbon. The dots in the centre of the grapes are French knots. The pattern is in satin of various colours, upon a figured green silk damask, outlined with yellow silk sewn down with yellow. Italian. (V. & A. M.)

64. INLAY IN COLOURED CLOTHS, outlined with chain stitch. Magic stitch also occurs. A characteristic example of the kind of work done at Retsht, in Persia. (Mrs. L. F. D.)

65. CUT-WORK IN LINEN--A fret of this kind was often outlined with coloured silk, and the detail within the fretted outline further embroidered in coloured silk. (Coll. of Mrs. Drake.)

66. SAMPLER OF RAISED WORK, showing underlays: A, of cloth; B, of twisted cords; C, of parchment; D, of cotton wool; E, first of cotton cord and then of cotton thread; F, of cord; G, of string; H, of sewing.

67. RAISED WORK, showing underlay of linen, and the way it is sewn down--The work is in flax thread, red, yellow, and white, upon a blue linen ground. The stem is dotted with white beads, the ground with gold spangles. Part of an altar frontal. German. 15th century. (V. & A. M.)

68. RAISED GOLD BASKET PATTERNS, &c., upon white satin. The stalk in flat wire. Spanish. 17th century. (Mrs. L. F. D.)

69. QUILT, WORKED IN CHAIN-STITCH from the back--which has precisely the effect of back-stitch. Yellow silk upon white linen. Old English. (V. & A. M.)

70. RAISED QUILTING, in black silk upon pale sea-green satin. Part of the border of a prayer cushion. Old Persian. (Mrs. L. F. D.)

71. DIAPER OF SATIN-STITCH IN THE MAKING--Something between canvas-stitch and satin-stitch. The leafage is in tent-stitch. Compare with Illustration 9. (V. & A. M.)

72. STITCHES IN COMBINATION--Among them Oriental, ladder, buttonhole, chain, crewel, satin, and herringbone stitches, worked in dark blue silk upon unbleached linen. Old Cretan, so called. (Mrs. L. F. D.)

73. FINE NEEDLEWORK UPON CAMBRIC--the substance of which is apparent upon the upper edge of the work. In the ground-work of the pattern generally the threads are drawn together to form an open net. The stitches occurring in the collar of which this is part are, buttonhole, satin, chain, herringbone, cross, and back stitches. The outline is mostly in fine cross-stitch. Nothing could exceed the delicacy of the workmanship, which is in its kind perfect. Old English. (Coll. of Col. Green, R.E.)

74. PART OF A DESIGN BY WALTER CRANE, cunningly adapted to execution in needlework. Shows the direction of the stitch, and the part it can be made to play in expressing form. Worked in coloured silks upon linen by Mrs. Walter Crane, whose property the work is.

75. SHADING IN CHAIN-STITCH in silk and chenille upon a satin ground. The shading very deliberately schemed by the designer. In natural colours upon white. French. Louis Seize. (V. & A. M.)

76. SHADING IN SHORT STITCHES; picturesque to the point of a touch of white in the glistening yellow of the dove's eye. Chenille, in chain-stitch, is used for the wreath and in the leaves of the flower sprigs. These are in colours, the birds are in silvery greys, all on a white satin ground. French. Louis Seize. (V. & A. M.)

77. SHADING IN LONG-AND-SHORT AND SPLIT STITCHES, with more regard to expression of form than to neatness of execution. German. 16th century. (V. & A. M.)

78. CHAIN-STITCH, showing in the figures of the little men what a draughtsman can express in a few stitches. Full size. Chinese. (Mrs. L. F. D.)

79. FIGURE WORK--The flesh in straight upright stitches, the drapery laid and couched. English. 15th century. (V. & A. M.)

80. CONSUMMATE FIGURE EMBROIDERY--Canvas ground entirely covered. Flesh in coloured silks, short-stitch; drapery coloured silks over gold, which only gleams through in the lighter parts. Architecture closely couched gold. Part of an orphrey. Florentine. 16th century. (V. & A. M.)

81. CHINESE FIGURES--The flesh in short satin-stitches, the rest in chain-stitch; chiefly in blue and white upon a figured white silk ground. About actual size. (Mrs. L. F. D.)

82. SATIN-STITCH, showing the influence of its direction upon the tone of colour. The pattern is all in one shade of yellow-brown floss upon white linen. The outline steps with the weaving, and so shows connection between satin and canvas stitches. Italian, 17th century. (V. & A. M.)

83. MEANINGLESS DIRECTION OF STITCH--Satin and herring-bone stitches. From an altar-cloth. German. 17th century. (V. & A. M.)

84. MORE EXPRESSIVE LINES OF STITCHING--To compare with Illustration 83.

85. SATIN AND PLUMAGE STITCHES chiefly, the bird's crest in French knots, the clouds about him in knotted braid. The direction of the stitch is most artfully chosen, and the precision of the work is faultless. The satin ground is of brilliant orange-red; the crane, white, with black tail feathers, scarlet crest, and yellow beak and legs; the clouds, black and white and blue. Japanese. (Mrs. L. F. D.)

86. RENAISSANCE CHURCH WORK IN GOLD AND SILVER, partly flat, partly in relief, upon pale blue satin, with touches of pink and crimson silk to give emphasis. Spanish. 18th century. Compare the stem with Illustration 66, B. (V. & A. M.)

87. GOTHIC CHURCH WORK--The flesh, &c., in split-stitch; the vine-leaves green, getting yellower as it nears the crimson silk ground. Part of a cope embroidered with a representation of the Tree of Jesse. English. Ca. 1340. (V. & A. M.)

88. MODERN CHURCH WORK ON LINEN, in long-and-short stitch. Veins padded with embroidery cotton and worked over with two threads of filo-floss, a green and a blue; the rest of the leaves worked in one shade of stout floss. All this applied to velvet with a couching of brown filoselle, and the tendrils added. Designed and executed by Miss C. P. Shrewsbury. (The property of the artist.)

89. SIMPLE STITCHING ON LINEN, the broader bands in a canvas stitch in yellow, the finer lines in back-stitch in pale grey silk. Italian. (Mrs. L. F. D.)

90. SIMPLE COUCHED OUTLINE WORK, in purplish silk cord upon linen. Part of an altar-cloth. Italian. 16th century. (V. & A. M.)

91. RENAISSANCE ORNAMENT--Most gracefully designed arabesque. The raised outline (couched) has somewhat the effect of cloisons, the satin-stitch (in colours) of brilliant enamel. It is upon a white satin ground. The foreshortened face in the picture is _painted_ upon satin. Italian. Ca. 1700. (V. & A. M.)

92. APPLIQUE DESIGN, in yellow satin upon crimson velvet--Double outline; next the red, white, sewn with pale blue; next the yellow, gold. Midrib of the leaf couched silver. Spanish, 16th century. (V. & A. M.)

93. SATIN-STITCH--except that the heart-shaped features at the base and the lily-shaped flowers, of which only the tips are shown, are outlined with fine white cord. Part of a fan, worked by Miss Buckle, from a design by L. F. D. (The property of the worker.)

94. LEATHER APPLIQUE UPON VELVET--The stitching well within the edge of the leather.

ERRATA.

Page 30. Diagram belongs to G (Stem-Stitch) described on page 32, not C (Thick Crewel-Stitch).

Page 125, 2nd line. For "lower" read "upper."

ART IN NEEDLEWORK.

EMBROIDERY AND STITCHING.

Embroidery begins with the needle, and the needle (thorn, fish-bone, or whatever it may have been) came into use so soon as ever savages had the wit to sew skins and things together to keep themselves warm--modesty, we may take it, was an afterthought--and if the stitches made any sort of pattern, as coarse stitching naturally would, that was _embroidery_.

The term is often vaguely used to denote all kinds of ornamental needlework, and some with which the needle has nothing to do. That is misleading; though it is true that embroidery does touch, on the one side, _tapestry_, which may be described as a kind of embroidery with the shuttle, and, on the other, _lace_, which is needlework pure and simple, construction "in the air" as the Italian name has it.

The term is used in common parlance to express any kind of superficial or superfluous ornamentation. A poet is said to embroider the truth. But such metaphorical use of the word hints at the real nature of the work--embellishment, enrichment, _added_. If added, there must first of all be something it is added _to_--the material, that is to say, on which the needlework is done. In weaving (even tapestry weaving) the pattern is got by the inter-threading of warp and weft. In lace, too, it is got out of the threads which make the stuff. In embroidery it is got by threads worked _on_ a fabric first of all woven on the loom, or, it might be, netted.

There is inevitably a certain amount of overlapping of the crafts. For instance, take a form of embroidery common in all countries, Eastern, Hungarian, or nearer home, in which certain of the weft threads of the linen are _drawn out_, and the needlework is executed upon the warp threads thus revealed. This is, strictly speaking, a sort of tapestry with the needle, just as, it was explained, tapestry itself may be described as a sort of embroidery with the shuttle. That will be clearly seen by reference to Illustration 1, which shows a fragment of ancient tapestry found in a Coptic tomb in Upper Egypt. In the lower portion of it the pattern appears light on dark. As a matter of fact, it was wrought in white and red upon a linen warp; but, as it happened, only the white threads were of linen, like the warp, the red were woollen, and in the course of fifteen hundred years or so much of this red wool has perished, leaving the white pattern intact on the warp, the threads of which are laid bare in the upper part of the illustration.

It is on just such upright lines of warp that all tapestry, properly so called, is worked--whether with the shuttle or with the needle makes no matter--and there is good reason, therefore, for the name of "tapestry stitch" to describe needlework upon the warp threads only of a material (usually linen) from which some of the weft threads have been _withdrawn_.

The only difference between true tapestry and drawn work, an example of which is here given, is, that the one is done on a warp that has not before been woven upon, and the other on a warp from which the weft threads have been _drawn_. The distinction, therefore, between tapestry and embroidery is, that, worked on a warp, as in Illustration 1, it is tapestry; worked on a mesh, as in Illustration 3, it is embroidery.

With regard, again, to lace. That is itself a web, independent of any groundwork or foundation to support it. But it is possible to work it _over_ a silken or other surface; and there is a kind of embroidery which only floats on the surface of the material without penetrating it. A fragment of last century silk given in Illustration 35 shows plainly what is meant.

Embroidery is enrichment by means of the needle. To embroider is to work _on_ something: a groundwork is presupposed. And we usually understand by embroidery, needlework in thread (it may be wool, cotton, linen, silk, gold, no matter what) upon a textile material, no matter what. In short, it is the decoration of a material woven in thread by means still of thread. It is thus _the_ consistent way of ornamenting stuff--most consistent of all when one kind of thread is employed throughout, as in the case of linen upon linen, silk upon silk. The enrichment may, however, rightly be, and oftenest is, perhaps, in a material nobler than the stuff enriched, in silk upon linen, in wool upon cotton, in gold upon velvet. The advisability of working upon a precious stuff in thread _less_ precious is open to question. It does not seem to have been satisfactorily done; but if it were only the background that was worked, and the pattern were so schemed as almost to cover it, so that, in fact, very little of the more beautiful texture was sacrificed, and you had still a sumptuous pattern on a less attractive background--why not? But then it would be because you wanted that less precious texture there. The excuse of economy would scarcely hold good.

In the case of a material in itself unsightly, the one course is to cover it entirely with stitching, as did the Persian and other untireable people of the East. But not they only. The famous Syon cope is so covered. Much of the work so done, all-over work that is to say, competes in effect with tapestry or other weaving; and its purpose was similar: it is a sort of amateur way of working your own stuff. But in character it is no more nearly related to the work of the loom than other needlework--it is still work _on_ stuff. For all-over embroidery one chooses, naturally, a coarse canvas ground to work on; but it more often happens that one chooses canvas because one means to cover it, than that one works all over a ground because it is unpresentable.

Embroidery is merely an affair of stitching; and the first thing needful alike to the worker in it and the designer for it is, a thorough acquaintance with the stitches; not, of course, with every modification of a modification of a stitch which individual ingenuity may have devised--it would need the space of an encyclopaedia to chronicle them all--but with the broadly marked varieties of stitch which have been employed to best purpose in ornament.

They are derived, naturally, from the stitches first used for quite practical and prosaic purposes--buttonhole stitch, for example, to keep the edges of the stuff from fraying; herring-bone, to strengthen and disguise a seam; darning, to make good a worn surface; and so on.

The difficulty of discussing them is greatly increased by the haphazard way in which they are commonly named. A stitch is called Greek, Spanish, Mexican, or what not, according to the country whence came the work in which some one first found it. Each names it after his or her individual discovery, or calls it, perhaps, vaguely Oriental; and so we have any number of names for the same stitch, names which to different people stand often for quite different stitches.

When this confusion is complicated by the invention of a new name for every conceivable combination of thread-strokes, or for each slightest variation upon an old stitch, and even for a stitch worked from left to right instead of from right to left, or for a stitch worked rather longer than usual, the task of reducing them to order seems almost hopeless.

Nor do the quasi-learned descriptions of old stitches help us much. One reads about _opus_ this and _opus_ that, until one begins to wonder where, amidst all this parade of science, art comes in. But you have not far to go in the study of the authorities to discover that, though they may concur in using certain high-sounding Latin terms, they are not of the same mind as to their meaning. In one thing they all agree, foreign writers as well as English, and that is, as to the difficulty of identifying the stitch referred to by ancient writers, themselves probably not acquainted with the _technique_ of stitching, and as likely as not to call it by a wrong name. It is easier, for example, to talk of _Opus Anglicanum_ than to say precisely what it was, further than that it described work done in England; and for that we have the simple word--English. There is nothing to show that mediaeval English work contained stitches not used elsewhere. The stitches probably all come from the East.

Nomenclature, then, is a snare. Why not drop titles, and call stitches by the plainest and least mistakable names? It will be seen, if we reduce them to their native simplicity, that they fall into fairly-marked groups, or families, which can be discussed each under its own head.

Stitches may be grouped in all manner of arbitrary ways--according to their provenance, according to their effect, according to their use, and so on. The most natural way of grouping them is according to their structure; not with regard to whence they came, or what they do, but according to what they are, the way they are worked. This, at all events, is no arbitrary classification, and this is the plan it is proposed here to adopt.

The use of such classification hardly needs pointing out.

A survey of the stitches is the necessary preliminary, either to the design or to the execution of needlework. How else suit the design to the stitch, the stitch to the design? In order to do the one the artist must be quite at home among the stitches; in order to do the other the embroidress must have sympathy enough with a design to choose the stitch or stitches which will best render it. An artist who thinks the working out of his sketch none of his business is no practical designer; the worker who thinks design a thing apart from her is only a worker.

This is not the moment to urge upon the needlewoman the study of design, but to urge upon the designer the study of stitches. Nothing is more impractical than to make a design without realising the labour involved in its execution. Any one not in sympathy with stitching may possibly design a beautiful piece of needlework, but no one will get all that is to be got out of the needle without knowing all about it. One must understand the ways in which work can be done in order to determine the way it shall in any particular case be done.

Certain stitches answer certain purposes, and strictly only those. The designer must know which stitch answers which purpose, or he will in the first place waste the labour of the embroidress, and in the second miss his effect, which is to waste his own pains too. The effective worker (designer or embroiderer) is the one who works with judgment--and you cannot judge unless you know. When it is remembered that the character of needlework, and by rights also the character of its design, depends upon the stitch, there will be no occasion to insist further upon the necessity of a comprehensive survey of the stitches.

A stitch may be defined as the thread left on the surface of the cloth or what not, after each ply of the needle.

And the simple straightforward stitches of this kind are not so many as one might suppose. They may be reduced indeed to a comparatively few types, as will be seen in the following chapters.

CANVAS STITCHES.

The simplest, as it is most likely the earliest used, stitch-group is what might best be called CANVAS stitch--of which cross-stitch is perhaps the most familiar type, the class of stitches which come of following, as it is only natural to do, the mesh of a coarse canvas, net, or open web upon which the work is done.

A stitch bears always, or should bear, some relation to the material on which it is worked; but canvas or very coarse linen almost compels a stitch based upon the cross lines of its woof, and indeed suggests designs of equally rigid construction. That is so in embroidery no matter where. In ancient Byzantine or Coptic work, in modern Cretan work, and in peasant embroidery all the world over, pattern work on coarse linen has run persistently into angular lines--in which, because of that very angularity, the plain outcome of a way of working, we find artistic character. Artistic design is always expressive of its mode of workmanship.

Work of this kind is not too lightly to be dismissed. There is art in the rendering of form by means of angular outlines, art in the choice of forms which can be expressed by such lines. It is not uncharitable to surmise that one reason why such work (once so universal and now quite out of fashion) is not popular with needlewomen may be, the demand it makes upon the designer's draughtmanship: it is much easier, for example, to draw a stag than to render the creature satisfactorily within jagged lines determined by a linen mesh.

The piquancy about natural or other forms thus reduced to angularity argues, of course, no affectation of quaintness on the part of the worker, but was the unavoidable outcome of her way of work. There is a pronounced and early limit to art of this rather naive kind, but that there is art in some of the very simplest and most modest peasant work built up on those lines no artist will deny. The art in it is usually in proportion to its modesty. Nothing is more futile than to put it to anything like pictorial purpose. The wonderfully wrought pictures in tent-stitch, for example, bequeathed to us by the 17th century, are painful object lessons in what not to do.

The origin of the term cross-stitch is not far to seek: the stitches worked upon the square mesh do cross. But, falling naturally into the lines of the mesh which governs them, they present not so much the appearance of crosses as of squares, reminding one of the tesserae employed in mosaic.

[Sidenote: TO WORK CROSS STITCH.]

To explain the process of working cross-stitch would be teaching one's grandmother indeed. It is simply, as its name implies, crossing one stitch by another, following always the lines of the canvas. But the important thing about it is that the stitches must cross always in the same way; and, more than that, they must be worked in the same direction, or the mere fact that the stitches at the _back_ of the work do not run in the same way will disturb the evenness of the surface. What looks like a seam on the sampler opposite is the result of filling up a gap in the ground with stitches necessarily worked in vertical, whereas the ground generally is in horizontal, lines. On the face of the work the stitches cross all in the same way.

The common use of cross-stitch and the somewhat geometric kind of pattern to which it lends itself are shown in the sampler, Illustration 5.

The broad and simple leafage, worked solid (A) or left in the plain canvas upon a groundwork of solid stitching (B), and the fretted diaper on vertical and horizontal lines (C), show the most straightforward ways of using it.

The criss-cross of alternating cross-stitches and open canvas framed by the key pattern (C) shows a means of getting something like a tint halfway between solid work and plain ground. The mere work line--or "stroke-stitch," not crossed (D), is a perfectly fair way of getting a delicate effect; but the design has a way of working out rather less happily than it promised.

The addition of such stroke-stitches to solid cross-stitch (E) is not at best a very happy device. It strikes one always as a confession of dissatisfaction on the part of the worker with the simple means of her choice. As a device for, as it were, correcting the stepped outline it is at its worst. Timid workers are always afraid of the stepped outline which a coarse mesh gives. In that they are wrong. One should employ canvas stitch only where there is no objection to a line which keeps step with the canvas; then there is a positive charm (for frank people at least) in the frank confession of the way the work is done.

There are many degrees in the frankness with which this convention has been accepted, according perhaps to the coarseness of the canvas ground, perhaps to the personality of the worker. The animal forms at the top of Illustration 6 are uncompromisingly square; the floral devices on the same page, though they fall, as it were inevitably, into square lines, are less rigidly formal. The inevitableness of the square line is apparent in the sprig below (7). It was evidently meant to be freely drawn, but the influence of the mesh betrays itself; and the design, if it loses something in grace, gains also thereby in character.

There is literally no end to the variety of stitches, as they are called, belonging to this group, and their names are a babel of confusion. Florentine, Parisian, Hungarian, Spanish, Moorish, Cashmere, Milanese, Gobelin, are only a few of them; but they stand, as a rule, rather for stitch arrangements than for stitches. A small selection of them is given in Illustration 8.

[Sidenote: TENT-STITCH A.]

What is known as tent-stitch (A in the sampler opposite) is a sort of half cross-stitch; its peculiarity is that it covers only one thread of the canvas at a stroke, and is therefore on a more minute scale than stitches which are two or three threads wide, as cross-stitch may, and cushion-stitch must, be. It derives its name from the old word tenture, or tenter (_tendere_, to stretch), the frame on which the embroidress distended her canvas. The word has gone out of use, but we still speak of tenter-hooks. The stitch is serviceable enough in its way, but is discredited by the monstrous abuse of it referred to already. A picture in tent-stitch is even more foolish than a picture in mosaic. It cannot come anywhere near to pictorial effect; the tesserae will pronounce themselves, and spoil it.

[Sidenote: CROSS-STITCH B.]

This kind of half cross-stitch worked on the larger scale of ordinary cross-stitch would look meagre. It is filled out, therefore (B), by horizontal lines of the thread laid across the canvas, and over these the stitch is worked.

[Sidenote: CUSHION-STITCH C.]

Cushion-stitch consists of diagonal lines of upright stitches, measuring in the sampler (C) six threads of the canvas, so that after each stitch the needle may be brought out just three threads lower than where it was put in. By working in zigzag instead of diagonal lines, a familiar pattern is produced, more often described as "Florentine;" but the stitch is in any case the same.

[Sidenote: CANVAS-STITCH D.]

The stitch at D (sometimes called Moorish stitch) is begun by working a row of short vertical stitches, slightly apart, and completed by diagonal stitches joining them.

Unless the silk employed is full and soft, this may not completely cover the canvas, in which case the diagonal stitches must further be crossed as shown on Illustration 89.

If the linen is loosely woven and the thread is tightly drawn in the working, the mesh is pulled apart, giving the effect of an open lattice of the kind shown at B, on Illustration 10, in which the threads of the linen are not drawn out but drawn together.

[Sidenote: CANVAS-STITCH E.]

The way of working the stitch at E is described on page 51, under the name of "fish-bone." Worked on canvas it has somewhat the effect of plaiting, and goes by the name of "plait-stitch." It is worked in horizontal rows alternately from left to right and from right to left.

[Sidenote: CANVAS-STITCH F.]

The stitch at F is a sort of couching (see page 124). Diagonal lines of thread are first laid from edge to edge of the ground space, and these are sewn down by short overcasting stitches in the cross direction.

Admirable canvas stitch work has been done upon linen in silk of one colour--red, green, or blue--and it was a common practice to work the background leaving the pattern in the bare stuff. It prevailed in countries lying far apart, though probably not without inter-communication. In fact, the influence of Oriental work upon European has been so great that even experts hesitate sometimes to say whether a particular piece of work is Turkish or Italian. In Italian work, at least, it was usual to get over the angularity of silhouette inherent in canvas stitches by working an outline separately. When that is thin, the effect is proportionately feeble. The broader outline (shown at A, Illustration 10) justifies itself, and in the case of a stitch which falls into horizontal lines, it appears to be necessary. This is plait stitch, known also by the name of Spanish stitch--not that it is in any way peculiar to Spain. It is allied to herring-bone-stitch, to which a special chapter is devoted.

Darning is also employed as a canvas stitch. There is beautiful 16th century Italian work (in coloured silks on dark net of the very open square mesh of the period), which is most effective, and in which there is no pretence of disguising the stepped outline; and in the very early days of Christian art in Egypt and Byzantium, linen was darned in little square tufts of wool upstanding on its surface, which look so much like the tesserae of mosaic that it seems as if they must have been worked in deliberate imitation of it.

Again, in the 15th century satin-stitch was worked on fine linen with strict regard to the lines of its web; and the Persians, ancient and modern, embroider white silk upon linen, also in satin-stitch, preserving piously the rectangular and diagonal lines given by the material. They have their reward in producing most characteristic needlework. The diapered ground in Illustration 9 (page 20) is satin-stitch upon coarse linen.

The filling-in patterns used to such delicate and dainty purpose in the marvellous work on fine cambric (Illustration 73) which competes in effect with lace, though it is strictly embroidery, all follow in their design the lines of the fabric, and are worked thread by thread according to its woof: they afford again instances of perfect adaptation of stitch to material and of design to stitch.

Satin and other stitches were worked by the old Italians (Illustration 3) on square-meshed canvas, frankly on the square lines given by it, for the filling in of ornamental details, though the outline might be much less formal. That is to say, the surface of freely-drawn leaves, &c., instead of being worked solid, was diapered over with more or less open pattern work constructed on the lines of the weaving.

A cunning use of the square mesh of canvas has sometimes been made to guide the worker upon other fabrics, such as velvet. This was first faced with net: the design was then worked, over that, on to and into the velvet, and the threads of the canvas were then drawn out. That is a device which may serve on occasion. The design may even be traced upon the net.

CREWEL-STITCH.

For work in the hand, CREWEL-STITCH is perhaps, on the whole, the easiest and most useful of stitches; whence it comes that people sometimes vaguely call all embroidery crewel work; though, as a matter of fact, the stitch properly so called was never very commonly employed, even when the work was done in "crewel," the double thread of twisted wool from which it takes its name.

[Sidenote: TO WORK A.]

CREWEL-STITCH proper is shown at A on the sampler opposite, where it is used for line work. It is worked as follows:--Having made a start in the usual way, keep your thread downwards under your left thumb and below your needle--that is, to the right; then take up with the needle, say 1/8th of an inch of the stuff, and bring it out through the hole made in starting the stitch, taking care not to pierce the thread. This gives the first half stitch. If you proceed in the same way your next stitch will be full length. The test of good workmanship is that at the back it should look like back-stitch (Illustration 12), described on page 30.

[Sidenote: TO WORK B.]

OUTLINE-STITCH (B on sampler) differs from crewel-stitch only in that the thread is always kept upwards above the needle, that is to the left. In so doing the thread is apt to untwist itself, and wants constantly re-twisting. The stitch is useful for single lines and for outlining solid work. The muddled effect of much crewel work is due to the confusion of this stitch with crewel-stitch proper.

[Sidenote: TO WORK C.]

THICK CREWEL-STITCH (C on sampler) is only a little wider than ordinary crewel-stitch, but gives a heavier line, in higher relief. In effect it resembles rope-stitch, but it is more simply worked. You begin as in ordinary crewel-stitch, but after the first half-stitch you take up 1/8th of an inch of the material in advance of the last stitch, and bring out your needle at the point where the first half-stitch began. You proceed, always putting your needle in 1/8th of an inch in front of, and bringing it out 1/8th of an inch behind, the last stitch, so as to have always 1/4th of an inch of the stuff on your needle.

[Sidenote: TO WORK D.]

THICK OUTLINE-STITCH (D on sampler) is like thick crewel-stitch with the exception that, as in ordinary outline-stitch (B), you keep your thread always above the needle to the left.

[Sidenote: TO WORK E.]

In BACK-STITCH (E), instead of first bringing the needle out at the point where the embroidery is to begin, you bring it out 1/8th of an inch in advance of it. Then, putting your needle back, you take up this 1/8th together with another 1/8th in advance. For the next stitch you put your needle into the hole made by the last stitch, and so on, taking care not to split the last thread in so doing.

[Sidenote: TO WORK F.]

To work the SPOTS (F) on sampler--having made a back-stitch, bring your needle out through the same hole as before, and make another back-stitch above it, so that you have, in what appears to be one stitch, two thicknesses of thread; then bring your needle out some distance in advance of the last stitch, and proceed as before. The distance between the stitches is determined by the effect you desire to produce. The thread should not be drawn too tight.

[Sidenote: TO WORK G.]

You begin STEM-STITCH (G) with the usual half-stitch. Then, holding the thread downwards, instead of proceeding as in crewel-stitch (A) you slant your needle so as to bring it out a thread or two higher up than the half-stitch, but precisely above it. You next put the needle in 1/8th of an inch in advance of the last stitch, and, as before, bring it out again in a slanting direction a thread or two higher. At the back of the work (Illustration 12) the stitches lie in a slanting direction.

[Sidenote: TO WORK H.]

To work wider STEM-STITCH (H). After the first two stitches, bring your needle out precisely above and in a line with them, and put it in again 1/8th of an inch in advance of the last stitch, producing a longer stroke, which gives the measure of those following. The slanting stitches at the back (Illustration 12) are only two-thirds of the length of those on the face.

CREWEL AND OUTLINE STITCHES worked (J) side by side give somewhat the effect of a braid. The importance of not confusing them, already referred to, is here apparent.

CREWEL-STITCH is worked SOLID in the heart-shape in the centre of the sampler. On the left side the rows of stitching follow the outline of the heart; on the right they are more upright, merely conforming a little to the shape to be filled. This is the better method.

[Sidenote: TO WORK SOLID CREWEL-STITCH.]

The way to work solid crewel-stitch will be best explained by an instance. Suppose a leaf to be worked. You begin by outlining it; if it is a wide leaf, you further work a centre line where the main rib would be, and then work row within row of stitches until the space is filled. If on arriving at the point of your leaf, instead of going round the edge, you work back by the side of the first row of stitching, there results a streakiness of texture, apparent in the stem on Illustration 13. What you get is, in effect, a combination of crewel and outline stitches, as at J, which in the other case only occurs in the centre of the shape where the files of stitches meet.

To represent shading in crewel-stitch, to which it is admirably suited (A, Illustration 41), it is well to work from the darkest shadows to the highest lights. And it is expedient to map out on the stuff the outline of the space to be covered by each shade of thread. There is no difficulty then in working round that shape, as above explained.

In solid crewel the stitches should quite cover the ground without pressing too closely one against the other.

It does not seem that Englishwomen of the 17th century were ever very faithful to the stitch we know by the name of crewel. Old examples of work done entirely in crewel-stitch, as distinguished from what is called crewel work, are seldom if ever to be met with. The stitch occurs in most of the old English embroidery in wool; but it is astonishing, when one comes to examine the quilts and curtains of a couple of hundred years or so ago, how very little of the woolwork on them is in crewel-stitch. The detail on Illustration 13 was chosen because it contained more of it than any other equal portion of a handsome and typical English hanging; but it is only in the main stem, and in some of the outlines, that the stitch is used. And that appears to have been the prevailing practice--to use crewel-stitch for stems and outlines, and for little else but the very simplest forms. The filling in of the leafage, the diapering within the leaf shapes, and the smaller and more elaborate details generally were done in long-and-short-stitch, or whatever came handiest. In fact, the thing to be represented, fruit, berry, flower, or what not, seems to have suggested the stitch, which it must be confessed was sometimes only a sort of scramble to get an effect.