Art in Needlework

Part 1

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Transcriber's Note:

The printed Errata have been corrected in the text. A few additional printer's errors have been corrected, details of the corrections can be found at the end of this e-text.

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ART IN NEEDLEWORK

TEXT-BOOKS OF ORNAMENTAL DESIGN

ART IN NEEDLEWORK

A BOOK ABOUT EMBROIDERY

LEWIS F. DAY

AUTHOR OF 'WINDOWS,' 'ALPHABETS,' 'NATURE IN ORNAMENT' AND OTHER TEXT-BOOKS OF ORNAMENTAL DESIGN

& MARY BUCKLE

LONDON: B. T. BATSFORD 94 HIGH HOLBORN 1900

BRADBURY, AGNEW, & CO. LD., PRINTERS, LONDON AND TONBRIDGE.

PREFACE.

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

Part 2

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. APPLIQUÉ 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.

Part 3

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 into 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.

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