ELEMENTARY INSTRUCTIONS IN EMBROIDERY.
Undoubtedly the most artistic style of needlework is that termedEmbroidery; not the canvas embroidery of which I treated in Part II. of this work but the yet higher kind of needlework-painting, which aims at producing really pictorial effect, without the mechanical assistance which canvass gives in counting stitches and determining shades.
In embroidery much is left to the eye, and still more to the taste. A few words, therefore, on the subject of selecting colors and harmonizing tints, as well as on the mere stitches employed, will probably be acceptable.
Designs are invariably marked on satin, cloth, or velvet, by means of what are termedpounced patterns. These are prepared in the following manner:—The design is carefully traced on rather thick writing paper; then, with a fine stiletto it is marked in holes, distant from each other not more than the eighth of an inch: from the pattern thus prepared, any number almost may be marked. The material to be embroidered is then laid on the table, and the pattern placed in the proper position over it, and kept there by means of leaden weights. A little pounce, or powdered flake white must then be rubbed over the paper, with a large and flat stump, and, on the paper being raised, the design appears accurately marked on the cloth. It requires to be afterwards re-marked with a fine sable brush, dipped in a mixture of flake white and milk, or an artist’s color, contrasting with the material,mixed up with a few drops of spirits of turpentine.
White satin, or any very light color on which white would not show may be pounced with very finely powdered charcoal, and then marked with a solution of Indian ink.
For drawing a pattern on any washing material a still simpler plan may be adopted. Scrape some red or blue chalk; brush it lightly over a sheet of thin tissue paper, shake off the loose grains, lay the chalked side of the paper on the muslin, and over it the pattern, which you will trace with a hard sharp-pointed pencil, and the design will be clearly marked, and require no further trouble.
When any parts of a pattern are repeated—as the quarters of a cushion or a handkerchief, or the scallops of a flounce—have only the pounced pattern of one quarter or section, and mark all from that one. It will be found a much more accurate mode than that of making the whole paper pattern perfect.
The next step is to put the material in a frame, two or three inches wider than the work it is to receive. I must refer to my Instructions in Berlin Canvas Work, Part II. of this book for the directions for this very important part of the process. The needles used are technically calledshort long eyesandstrands. The latter are like common needles, but unusually long. It injures the work to use too fine a needle, as the small eye frays the silk; on the other hand a needle that is too large makes holes in the cloth.
The materials chiefly used for embroidery are wools, chenille, and silks: there are great varieties of the last-mentioned article, the principal being Mitorse, Dacca, Berlin, fine and coarse flax, crochet, and netting silks. Of the netting silks there are many sizes, which may be used according to the delicacy of the work.
Initials intended to be in gold, for sachets, &c., are almost as effective if rich gold-colored twisted silk be used instead; and the silk will wear for ever, whilst it is almost impossible to obtain gold thread which will not tarnish in a few months.
The common stitch used in embroidery istermedlong-stitch. It closely resembles the Irish stitch of canvass work,[2]only without its regularity. The stitches are taken closely together and of uneven lengths; the second shade is blended with the first by filling up the vacant spaces of the short stitch; the next shade, in the same way, unites with that one, and so on in an irregular form, the outline only presenting, a regular line of stitches, exactly within the limits of the marked pattern. The shading must, of course, be done with artistic accuracy.
2. See Part II.
2. See Part II.
The veinings of leaves are worked in silk rather coarser than that used for the rest of the work. Sometimes this silk is considerably thicker; it is then laid on, and sewed over with very fine silk of the same shade, the ends being drawn through the material. Leaves are frequently veined with gold thread in a similar manner.
Large leaves should be worked from the points to the veins; small ones seldom require to be veined at all. Like stems they are formed of a succession of slanting stitches very evenly laid on, forming curves and lines of the width and dimensions of the patterns, and forming accurate outlines.
When gold bullion is employed in embroidery, it is cut into short lengths, which are then laid on with fine silk of the same hue. Gold thread is sewed over, and the ends brought through the cloth and so passed from one part to another.
The Chinese employ, in their most elaborate embroidery, a very pretty stitch termed, by us, the French Knot. It is made thus:—Bring the needleful of silk to the right side of the work, in the exact spot where the stitch is to be. Hold the needle in the right hand, and with the left take up the silk, at an inch or two from the cloth. Twist the needle twice round the silk, insert it in the same spot you drew it through before, and, with the right hand, draw the needle to the under side, gradually tightening the silk with the left hand. When quite drawn through the knot is formed. The great art in this work is to make the stitches all lie perfectly even.Weseldom use the French Knot for anythingbut the seeds, stamen, or pistils of flowers; but the Chinese execute whole pieces in this stitch, shading them most exquisitely, and only using a coarse white silk or gold thread as an outline to the whole. In bead embroidery, every stitch is generally put on separately, and in its own place; but a very beautiful effect may be obtained in pearl beads imitating grapes, by stringing them with white silk, and letting them cross each other in various directions, still preserving the outline of the cluster.
A very pretty and effective style of embroidery is that done with gold braid and wool on canvass. It is very suitable for slippers, cushions, the bands of smoking caps, blotting cases, and many other things. An outline design in arabesque, or anything else that may appear suitable fortwo colors, should be drawn on paper of the proper dimensions and then marked on the canvass. The gold braid must be cut into pieces of the proper lengths, and laid on piece by piece, the spaces between the pattern being filled with wool of some well-contrasting color—as bright blue, green, or claret—so that the pattern appears in gold on a ground of wool. When leaves are so worked, a rich silk, of a deeper gold colour than the braid, should be used afterwards to vein it.
Having spoken of cushions, it may be well to tell my fair readers how to make them up most comfortably:—Cut some good strong calicobiasof the proper size; line it with two or three thicknesses of good wadding, well fastened to it in every direction; and stuff the bag thus made with down; the pillow to be afterwards covered in any manner that may be desired. Pillows made in this way are not only much softer than others, but they also keep their shape much better, and are not liable to sink after a little wear.
Waistcoats and other articles are now much embroidered insoie ombre, that is, silkshadedin varieties of one colour. I cannot say I think it so pretty as the variety of natural colors, or even a single self-shade. It is however, fashionable.
The Choice of Colors.—I will conclude my instructions for embroidery with a few hints on the choice of suitable colors; as Dogberryobserves, that “reading and writing come by nature,†so I may be excused for asserting that the axiom is (in part, at least) correct, as regards the power of discriminating colors. In a great measure it is a natural gift; still it may be cultivated, nay almost created.
Selecting the necessary wools, silks, &c. is technically called,sorting a pattern. To sort a pattern well, it is requisite to consider the capabilities of the various materials. Wools and silks, silks in flox, and twisted,—though dipped in the same vat, would be found to vary materially in the shade of color when dyed. Hence it is important to select such materials as will blend well together, and also wear well when worked.
The following colors may be said to harmonize perfectly:—
Blue works well with the warmer tints of drab, stone, and fawn.
Yellow with the richest and darkest shades of drab.
Pink with soft stone, fawn, and grey.
Lilac with the cold green tints of the same colors.
Lilac with some greens.
Maize and salmon with green.
Scarlet with a slate tint.
Blue with rich dark claret brown.
Maize with blue.
White with olive green.
Green and blue do not harmonize, whatever the votaries of the present fashion may declare to the contrary. Even green leaves do not look well in the vicinity of blue flowers, unless they partake of the rich autumn tints of olive, yellow, and brown. Then the primitive colors, scarlet and yellow, kill each other; they give color, but not coloring; and yellow and green, scarlet and brown, or scarlet and lilac, are all equally injurious.
It must be remembered that strong contrasts do not of themselves produce beauty; it is rather the delicate adjustment of the various shades. There are numberless varieties of every leading color—greens, whites, and reds especially. The following list may be serviceable:—
White Flowers.—These may be shaded in any of the following colors: green, pure white,grey or slate. The choice depends on the color to be worked, theFleur de lisrequiring, for instance, to be shaded into green. In all the shades, however, the greatest softness is imperative. All sudden contrasts must be avoided.
Damask roses are worked in at least six shades; from black to a pure rose pink; the gradations include deep claret, lighter ditto, scarlet, and a medium shade between the last.
Ordinary roses are shaded from deep scarlet to bright ponceau, and various shades of pink.
The shades of green, for leaves, are quite innumerable.
It is never in good taste to have a group of flowers on a light ground without some one in the group to correspond with it. Not that it should be a prominent object, but that it softens the whole.
Finally, I may be permitted to observe that, as “good wine needs no bush,†so good needlework requires not very gaudy or striking mountings. A well designedportfeuilleor cushion does not look at all better for being so extravagantly finished off, that the eye rests on the fittings rather than the work. Let cords, tassels, linings &c., be as good as possible; let them also beas plain as possible. These are but the frame, the work is the picture; and the valuable part should be also the most attractive.