Embroidery and Fancy Work. Anonymous
the band being powdered as described, or the flowers and foliage could be formed into a continuous design, more or less conventional.
Here is an idea for another counterpane, say for a crib. Divide the linen into squares with some pretty fancy stitch, working in the centre of each square a flower, or one of the many appropriate pictures to be found in the Kate Greenaway books or in Walter Crane's "Baby Opera." You need not reproduce every line; only those that are necessary to tell the story completely.
A screen is often a useful piece of furniture. Here is a description of a simple one, suitable for a bedroom or nursery. The frame should be a firm one, and can be made by any carpenter of pine wood. It can be either ebonized by staining it with a solution of logwood, and afterwards applying vinegar in which iron has been
|
|
lying for some time, and rubbed to a dull surface after it has been treated to a coat of varnish; or it can be painted black and decorated with a few dashes of gold paint in a vague Japanese style. For the screen itself, use unbleached muslin. Having measured it to fit the screen, put on a dado of dark blue cambric, proportioning it duly to the height. On the upper part, sketch a Japanese group, such as you can find on many of the advertising cards and fans. Or, if this seems beyond you, powder the blue muslin sparingly with outline plum blossoms (you will find a suggestion in Fig. 3), and run a branch up beyond the dado in the manner of the illustration alluded to.
Fig. 4 is a screen in which the work is of rather a novel character, being a combination of painting and embroidery, and is much more quickly worked than one would think. Sketch the design, enlarged to suit your screen, on the material, which in the original is olive satin, making the outline delicate. Have your work stretched firmly in an embroidery frame, which may be made on the same principle as an old-fashioned quilting frame. Figs 4a and 4b give enlarged details which will enable the worker to clearly understand the directions. Gold, silver, copper, and black paints are used, mixing them when they need diluting with gum water. Paint the stones, grasses, leaves, flowers, and the stalks of the cactus in gold, shading lightly with black or copper color. Make the thorns of fine strokes of copper color, and then worked with a loose lying stitch of moss green filoselle or floss. Gold thread can also be used with effect. Where there are well-defined leaves as in Fig. 3,
Fig. 44.
they are painted in silver and veined with stitches of green. The flowers are worked with two shades of dark red in a close satin stitch, the calices being in white or yellow. The bird's beak is painted in gold, as also are the upper part of the wings, the lower feathers being painted in silver and bronze, divided by stitches of white silk. The breast is covered with button-hole stitches in claret red silk, so worked as to catch into each other, imitating the plumage. The upper part of the wing is also worked to show the markings of the feathers. The long tail feathers are worked in gold thread.
A cover for a parlor organ can be made of linen, with the design either worked on a band of blue denim, which is afterwards feather-stitched on to the cover, or else worked on the material itself. Bars of music with lines
Fig. 4a.
and notes in gold silk, and the words "Hal-le-lu-jah! hal-le-lu-jah! A-men!" worked in the same silk would form an appropriate border; or one composed of musical instruments, such as lyres, reeds, trumpets, and cymbals, intermingled with scrolls, might be used. Symbolic flowers, such as the palm, lily, or passion flower, would also be appropriate. Finish with a deep hem-stitched hem, with a line of open work above, or with a knotted fringe in which blue and gold silk are mixed with the linen threads. Line with deep blue silesia.
Chain-stitch is not much used at present; but for some purposes it is very convenient. It is made by taking a
Fig. 4b.
stitch from right to left, and before the needle is drawn the thread is carried under the point of the needle from left to right. The next stitch is taken from the point of the loop thus formed forward, and the thread again kept under the needle, each link thus forming a link in the chain.
Twisted chain stitch (Fig. 5) is useful for outline work
Fig. 5.
on coarse materials such as felt, and other heavy woolen goods. Instead of beginning the second stitch inside the point of the first, both threads of the first are pushed a little aside, and the needle is inserted about halfway up the first stitch, thus securing a rope-like effect. It should be worked with double crewel or tapestry wool. It is also very effective worked on gold-faced felt, in double silk, and both chain stitch and twisted chain are useful for edging appliquéd patterns.
DARNED WORK.
In combination with outline stitch, the darned work so popular in Queen Anne's time has been revived, and is remarkably effective. The stitch is, as its name implies, the one used in darning cloth or stockings, only that it is made purposely irregular, being quite long on the right side and very short on the wrong side. It is used not only for backgrounds but also for filling in boldly outlined designs. Says a writer in the Art Interchange:
"Judiciously used, it is capable of producing almost iridescent effects, and adding greatly to the richness of the embroidered work. Done in heavy filoselles — and linen takes these admirably — in two shades of one color, in two colors, or else in a shade lighter or darker than the fabric, it will produce several color effects. The colors may be introduced irregularly or alternately, by stitches of varying length. A combination of dull green or dull gold filoselles, will produce three, if not four color effects, according to the ground, and the light in which the work is shown; in one light there will be a shading of dull green, in another a touch of old gold, in a third a glimmer of bronze green. When deeper, fuller coloring is employed—for instance, in rich antique blues, and old bronze—the changing sheen of peacock's feathers will be seen. In two shades of gray silk, silvery and steel effects are attainable; in dull pinks and ambers, purple and citrine, green and russet, pale violet and lemon, and other combinations, the most lovely transformations are wrought by this simple grounding. Where darned work is used for filling in outlines, the design should be so composed that the unworked spaces may present ornamental shapes, for they will attract the eye, and hold as important a part in the finished work as flower and leaf spaces on a darned background. In darning within the outlines, it is not necessary to darn the whole composition, though it may thus be treated and stand boldly out on a plain background with artistic effect; certain portions all through the design, say the blossoms of an apple or cherry design, may be simply outlined and veined in silk or crewel, while the fruit and leaves are darned in one or two colors, or shades of color. Care must be taken to so distribute the darned or open spaces as to avoid striping or spottiness. As it not possible to follow nature in round effects by darned work, which is conventional, it is best to use conventional coloring, or else, low tones of the natural color of the subject. Light grounds look best with a well diffused design, and dark grounds well with the design wrought in silk of a lighter shade than their own color."
The Art Amateur thus describes a remarkable table-cover worked by the Decorative Needle-Work Society in London:—
"In looking at the picture, many persons imagine that the cloth is embroidered with silver; but this is not the case, the beautiful, bright effect being produced by very simple means. The material is cream satin, and the design is outlined in blue and green silks, while the ground of the pattern is