Art in Needlework: A Book about Embroidery. Lewis F. Day

      Published by Good Press, 2019

       [email protected]

      EAN 4057664653758

Table of Contents

       PREFACE.

       DESCRIPTIVE LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

       Errata.

       ART IN NEEDLEWORK.

       EMBROIDERY AND STITCHING.

       CANVAS STITCHES.

       CREWEL-STITCH.

       CHAIN-STITCH.

       HERRING-BONE STITCH.

       BUTTONHOLE-STITCH.

       FEATHER AND ORIENTAL STITCHES.

       ROPE AND KNOT STITCHES.

       INTERLACINGS, SURFACE STITCHES, AND DIAPERS.

       SATIN-STITCH AND ITS OFFSHOOTS.

       DARNING.

       LAID-WORK.

       COUCHING

       COUCHED GOLD.

       APPLIQUÉ.

       INLAY, MOSAIC, CUT-WORK.

       EMBROIDERY IN RELIEF.

       RAISED GOLD.

       QUILTING.

       STITCH GROUPS.

       ONE STITCH, OR MANY?

       OUTLINE.

       SHADING.

       FIGURE EMBROIDERY.

       THE DIRECTION OF THE STITCH.

       CHURCH WORK.

       A PLEA FOR SIMPLICITY.

       EMBROIDERY DESIGN.

       EMBROIDERY MATERIALS.

       A WORD TO THE WORKER.

       INDEX.

PREFACE.

       Table of Contents

      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