Embroidery and Tapestry Weaving | Page 2

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 form, and memories of all kinds of things be pictured on stuffs.
To laboriously train the hand is scarcely worth while unless it is capable of expressing something that is at least pretty. Nowadays much embroidery is done with the evident intent of putting into it the minimum expenditure of both thought and labour, and such work furnishes but a poor ideal to fire the enthusiasm of the novice; happily, there still exist many fine examples showing what splendid results may be achieved; without some knowledge of this work we cannot obtain a just idea of the possibilities of the art.
It is obvious that much advantage can be gained from studying the