Embroidery and Tapestry Weaving | Page 2

is, from its having
been so much discussed in books, yet entirely simple when approached,
as here, as a necessary part of workmanship. It is fortunate that we have
not as yet learned to bother our cooks as to which part of their work is
designing and which is merely mechanical. Of course the highest things
of design, as well as of workmanship, come only after long practice and
to the specially gifted, but none the less every human creature must in
some sort be a designer, and it has caused immense harm to raise a
cloud of what Morris called "sham technical twaddle" between the
worker and what should be the spontaneous inspiration of his work.
What such combination has produced in past times, may perhaps best
be understood by some reading in old church inventories of the simply

infinite store of magnificent embroidered vestments which once
adorned our churches. In an inventory of Westminster Abbey I find
mentioned such patterns as roses and birds, fleur-de-luces and lybardes,
angels on branches of gold, roses and ships, eagles and angels of gold,
castles and lions, white harts, swans, dogs, and antelopes.
W. R. LETHABY.
September 1906.

AUTHOR'S PREFACE
In the following pages the practical sides of Embroidery and Tapestry
Weaving are discussed, their historical development being only
incidentally touched upon.
The drawings illustrating design and the practical application of
stitches have been taken almost without exception from actual
Embroidery or Tapestry; the exceptions, where it has been impossible
to consult originals, from photographic representations obtained from
various sources, among which the collection of M. Louis de Farcy
should be mentioned.
I have to thank Miss May Morris and Mrs. W. R. Lethaby for
permission to reproduce pieces of their work, and Miss Killick, Colonel
J. E. Butler-Bowdon, the Viscount Falkland, and the Reverend F. J.
Brown of Steeple Aston for permission to reproduce work in their
possession. Also I must thank the authorities of the Victoria and Albert
Museum for help in various ways, and Mr. J. H. Taylor, M.A. Oxf. and
Cam., for his kindness in reading the proofs.
GRACE CHRISTIE.
Ewell, September 1906.

CONTENTS
PAGE EDITOR'S PREFACE xi
AUTHOR'S PREFACE xvii

PART I
EMBROIDERY

CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION 27
CHAPTER II
TOOLS, APPLIANCES, AND MATERIALS
Needles--Scissors--Thimbles--Frames--Stand and Frame
combined--Tambour Frame--Cord-making Appliance--Requisites for
Transferring Patterns--Pricker--Knife--Spindle--Piercer--Materials
suitable for Embroidering upon--Threads of all Kinds--Stones, Beads,
&c. 34
CHAPTER III
PATTERN DESIGNING
The Difficulties of Pattern Making--A Stock-in-Trade--Some Principles
upon which Patterns are Built Up--Spacing-Out--Nature and
Convention--Shading--Figure Work--Limitations--Colour 51
CHAPTER IV

STITCHES
Introduction--Chain Stitch--Zigzag Chain--Chequered Chain--Twisted
Chain--Open Chain--Braid Stitch--Cable Chain--Knotted Chain--Split
Stitch 75
CHAPTER V
STITCHES--(continued)
Satin Stitch--Long and Short Stitch--Stem Stitch--Overcast
Stitch--Back Stitch--Buttonhole Stitch--Tailor's Buttonhole--Fancy
Buttonhole Edgings--Flower in Open Buttonhole Stitch--Leaf in Close
Buttonhole Stitches--Petal in Solid Buttonholing 95
CHAPTER VI
STITCHES--(continued)
Knots and Knot Stitches--Herring-bone Stitch--Feather Stitch--Basket
Stitch--Fishbone Stitch--Cretan Stitch--Roumanian Stitch--Various
Insertion Stitches--Picots 118
CHAPTER VII
CANVAS WORK AND STITCHES
Introduction--Samplers--Petit Point Pictures--Cross Stitch--Tent
Stitch--Gobelin Stitch--Irish Stitch--Plait Stitch--Two-sided Italian
Stitch--Holbein Stitch--Rococo Stitch 147
CHAPTER VIII
METHODS OF WORK
Couching--Braid Work--Laid Work--Applied Work--Inlaid
Work--Patch Work 164

CHAPTER IX
METHODS OF WORK--(continued)
Quilting--Raised Work--Darning--Open Fillings--Darned Netting 189
CHAPTER X
Methods of work--(continued)
Drawn Thread Work--Hem Stitching--Simple Border Patterns--Darned
Thread Patterns--Corners--Cut or Open Work--Various Methods of
Refilling the Open Spaces 213
CHAPTER XI
EMBROIDERY WITH GOLD AND SILVER THREADS
Introduction--Materials--Precautions for the Prevention of
Tarnish--Ancient Method of Couching--Its various Good
Points--Description of Working Diagram--Working a Raised
Bar--Examples of Patterns Employed in Old Work--Illustrations upon
Draped Figures--Usual Method of Couching--Couching
Patterns--Outline Work--Raised Work--The Use of Purls, Bullions, &c.
229
CHAPTER XII
LETTERING, HERALDRY, AND EMBLEMS
The Uses of Lettering--Marking--Monograms--Heraldry--Emblems 259
CHAPTER XIII
THE GARNITURE OF WORK
Finishing off--Making up--Edges--Use of Cord-making

Appliance--Cord Twisted by Hand--Knotted
Cord--Fringes--Tassels--Knots 271
CHAPTER XIV
PRACTICAL DIRECTIONS
Transferring Patterns--Paste for Embroidery Purposes--Protection and
Preservation of Work--Washing Embroidery--Prevention and Cure of
Puckered Work--Points about the Thread--Dressing the Frame 292

PART II
TAPESTRY WEAVING

CHAPTER XV
INTRODUCTION 307
CHAPTER XVI
NECESSARY APPLIANCES AND MATERIALS
The Loom--Mirror--Bobbins and Needles--The Comb--Embroidery
Frame treated as a Loom--Warp--Wools--Silk--Gold and Silver Thread
315
CHAPTER XVII
PREPARATIONS FOR WORK
Warping the Loom--Dressing the Coat-Stave--Tracing the Pattern upon
the Threads 328

CHAPTER XVIII
THE TECHNIQUE OF WEAVING
Weaving--Commencing and Fastening Off--The Interlocking
Stitch--Fine Drawing--Shading--Added After-stitches 339
NOTES ON THE COLLOTYPE PLATES 355
THE COLLOTYPE PLATES 369
INDEX 402


PART I--EMBROIDERY

CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
In the practice of embroidery the needlewoman has an advantage not
now shared by workers in any other craft, in that the technical
processes are almost a matter of inherited skill. Every woman can sew,
and it is with little more than the needle and thread, which she
habitually employs, that the greatest masterpieces of the art have been
stitched. The art of embroidery, however, is not merely an affair of
stitches; they are but the means by which ideas can be expressed in
intelligible