CHAPTER V

ON SILK-WORK

Although the foregoing chapter was devoted exclusively to the description and illustration of the stitches most generally used in gold-work, most of them can with equal propriety be worked in silk. But the reverse does not hold good: there are many stitches useful for silk and thread, &c., which cannot well be worked with gold, because the needle and thread are taken right _through_ the material, from the upper to the under side and up again, in and out, all the time; whereas nearly all gold-work is done on the surface, the beginning and end only of the gold being taken through the material. It is true that in some of the old embroidery, flat strips of metal were sometimes worked through the stuff, also thin solid wire, and the fine tambour is still used in the same way; but it is not practicable to any extent with Japanese gold, or passing; while purl and bullion, being in the form of a hollow coil, are obviously unsuitable for being drawn through the surface as thread. It would also involve an unnecessary waste of gold to take it through the stuff and leave it behind each stitch.

The accompanying sampler does not include any of the stitches shown in the former one, except couching. Although, in principle and in method of working, couching is the same, whether it be carried out in silk or in gold, yet, the effect being very different, it seems desirable to repeat it here. It is introduced also for the purpose of pointing out clearly the difference between it and another stitch which in some circumstances looks very similar, but is worked in quite another way and is called ‘Laid-work.’

In both couching and laid-work the principal threads lie on the surface and are sewn down with auxiliary stitches by means of a separate needle and thread. In couching, these stitches are planted at short intervals, all along the line, on each row of threads, while they are being placed; but in laid-work the whole surface is covered first, and the few stitches required to keep the mass of silk in place are added afterwards. Couching is generally worked in solid heavy threads, such as gold and silver, purse-silk, cord and filoselle, while laid-work is only suitable for floss, its chief merit being the perfection with which it shows the bright sheen of that beautiful silk. It is light and soft in effect and a very expeditious means of covering a large surface. It does not wear very well unless caught down at frequent intervals with the couching or other over-stitching, as in the example (p. 63) of a chalice-veil at South Kensington, where all the foliage is done in laid-work, the ‘laid’ stitches going _across_ the leaves and the couching following the curves, indicating simple veining.

Both laid and couched work, when used as a filling, are best adapted to decidedly conventional designs, laid-work especially to broad and flat effects, and couching to outlines.

Although shading and even an appearance of modelling to a slight degree may be legitimately obtained by the placing of different shades of silk side by side and by the direction of the underlying and over-stitching silks, still it is not well to attempt too much in this direction, as there are many other stitches more suitable; and stitches, like other things, are much more beautiful when in their natural and proper place than when forced into a position for which they are unfit.

This sampler is intended to be worked in coloured silks. I will mention them by their numbers on Pearsall’s colour-card No. II., as it can be bought or referred to at any ordinary needlework shop, and therefore seems the most practicable means of explaining about shades, &c., to those who have never used floss silk before. While to others I would say it is certainly not necessary to use these particular colours, or this particular make of floss, so long as the silk is good, the colours harmonising with each other, and being sufficiently distinct in shade to avoid confusion.

Three shades of blue, Nos. 41, 42, and 43; four shades of a bronze-green, Nos. 112, 113, 113A, 113B; three shades of a greyer green, Nos. 113A, 134, 135; a soft reddish-brown, No. 105, and one of gold-colour, No. 92, are suggested for this sampler.

Linen thread may be used instead of silk, on a coloured or a white linen ground, for practice, but it is necessary for the embroidress to get used to working in floss[1] from the first, because it is always needed for the best and richest work, and it requires a great deal of practice before it can be dexterously handled. Ornamental rings, bracelets, &c., should not be worn when working with floss silk, particular attention must be given to keep the hands in good condition, clean and smooth; it is a good plan, if they are apt to get rough, to rub in one or two drops of pure glycerine after washing in hot water _before_ drying them. The hands should then be rubbed perfectly dry with a linen towel. If, on the other hand, they are at all inclined to be moist, they should be frequently washed in water as hot as it can be borne, then dipped into cold water, rubbed dry, and lastly dusted over with boracic powder. Carbolic, sulphur, arsenical or other ‘complexion’ soaps should never be used before working with either gold or silver or very delicate silks; indeed, it is safest to use none but pure vegetable soaps as free from chemicals as possible. A fine white-linen apron with a bib and sleeves, or an ‘overall,’ should always be worn, and the work kept covered with a soft silk or linen handkerchief. Too much care cannot be taken with floss silk, as it is apt to catch in everything it comes near and is very easily damaged. For the same reason the needlefuls should not be long, and if the silk be bought in skeins it should be carefully wound at once, on smooth reels or cards, keeping a separate one for each shade, which should be duly named and numbered.

Of all the stitches which are worked with silk, I think SATIN-STITCH, with its many offshoots and variations, is the foremost both for usefulness and beauty. The smooth brightness of the surface; the clean-cut outline it makes of itself, when nicely done, requiring nothing further to finish it off; the ease with which shades and colours melt and blend in soft gradations or bold effects, make it _the_ stitch _par excellence_ for floss-silk work, whether coarse or fine.

The Flower marked _A_ on the sampler is worked thus:—

Take a needleful of the palest of the three shades of blue floss and run round the traced outline of the upper portion of one of the petals. Never begin with a knot, but run a few stitches into a part that will be covered afterwards; to fasten it firmly just take a back-stitch and do not cut off the end till you have worked a few more stitches; always begin and end a needleful on the ‘right side’ of the work so as to have no loose ends at the back. Then bring the needle up from behind to the surface near the centre of the petal; set it in just over the outline at the top; draw it down with one hand and set it in with the other. (It ought to become, by practice, a matter of indifference which hand is at any time above and which below.) The next stitch must be shorter, the next longer, and so on till the edge of the petal is reached. The other half of the petal is filled in the same way, beginning from the middle, and keeping the ends of the stitches even along the top and quite irregular along the bottom of the row. The stitches should be just so close together as to make a firm clear edge without either overcrowding or thin weak places.

The next row is done with the middle shade of blue; after fastening the end of the thread, take the needle through to the back, then bring it up between the two long middle stitches and about halfway from the top, set it in again to make a stitch about the same length as the others were, and continue working in the same way; the only difference between the first row and the second being that the second is worked from the upper part downwards and that both ends of the stitches are irregular in length instead of only the lower ends. Also there will be fewer stitches in each row as they get nearer the bottom.

The number of rows required will depend on the size of the petal, so will the actual length of the stitches. To give some idea of the proportion, I will suppose this petal to be an inch and a half in length and an inch and a half in width at the widest part; the stitches would then be from a half to three-quarters of an inch long at the longest; it would take four rows of stitches, and there would be about thirty of them in the top row of the petal when using the full thickness of Pearsall’s ‘Stout Floss.’ The central stitches should all be vertical, and all the others radiating—that is, slanting outwards, towards the edge of the petal; this direction of the stitches must be very carefully managed, not to be too sudden in change, and the rows of stitches should ‘dovetail,’ as it were, into each other. In this example two rows of the middle shade are used, and only one each of the lightest and darkest.

This application of satin-stitch is known by a number of other names, such as ‘Long-and-short’ stitch, ‘Plumage’ or ‘Feather’ stitch; the latter name is rather misleading, as there is a well-known stitch of that name, quite different in appearance and method of working, in common use in linen embroidery. In reading descriptions of silk embroidery one should bear in mind that when Feather-stitch is mentioned it _may_ mean the one described above.

_B_ is worked in the three lightest shades of the bronze-green—Nos. 112, 113, and 113A. The method is precisely the same as in _A_ above, only the radiation is different and requires even more care in the arrangement of the stitches. Radiation of lines from a centre follows a principle of natural growth, as anyone may observe by taking the separate petals of any similar flower; all the lines and veinings, however much branched or netted, will be seen to converge towards the point where it is inserted into the calyx. In the leaf the place where they converge is the midrib—an extended centre, so to speak—and in ‘B’ the stitches are aimed in the same direction. Imagination has to be called upon to suggest where the lines should run in the part of the leaf which turns over, but it should always be done intelligently.

_C_ is more conventional, by which I mean less regard is paid to natural growth. It is a favourite method with the Chinese and Japanese, who work this form of satin-stitch to such perfection, that the ‘right side’ and ‘wrong side’ are almost exactly alike. This may be considered a test of good workmanship. It is best to begin with the part nearest the centre, with the darkest shade of blue. Each stitch of one petal is parallel with the others and in a vertical direction; there is no radiation in the working of individual petals, only in the arrangement of the petals themselves in the whole flower; and the edge of each shade is sharply defined by a voided line instead of melting or ‘shading’ into the next. A voided line is a narrow space of the ground left bare between the rows of stitches; it should be so narrow and so even as to look like a fine line or indentation in the silk. This kind of satin-stitch is equally suited to work done all in one shade or in white on white ground.

_D_ is also worked in parallel lines, but the direction is horizontal, the shades lying side by side close together. In quite small flowers the stitches would go straight across each petal, but in larger ones, like these, half is worked at a time, a voided line being left down the middle of each. In the sampler it is also left to define each shade, but _D_ is a simpler form for practice.

_E_ is worked somewhat like _A_, only the stitches follow all along the curve equally as the veins do in lily-leaves, &c., instead of radiating. This should be begun with the darkest of the bronze-greens, No. 113B. Two rows may be worked with this, then one of the next shade, 113A, then three of the next, 113, then one of 113A to finish with.

The three berries marked _F_ on the sampler are slightly raised. The preparation may be the same as that described in the chapter on gold-work; padding thread sewn across and across in several directions, or by layers of parchment cut to the shape. In any case the padding must be covered with stitches of silk, worked straight across, in the opposite direction to that with which it is covered eventually. The same shade, No. 105, may be used for all berries, but each should be worked in a different direction, to show the effect that such a change has on the tone of the colour.

The centres of the flowers, marked _G_, are begun with the brown silk, with surface satin-stitch, in which, as its name implies, nearly all the silk is on the surface of the material. It is just taken through and brought up again close to, but not exactly in, the point where it went down, leaving a very small stitch at the back, then taken across the space to be covered, and through again on the opposite side in the same manner. The stitches may lie either horizontally or vertically. Over this work a single thread of No. 92 is drawn diagonally, at regular intervals, to form a lattice. These overlying stitches, again, are sewn down by a small cross-stitch at each intersection.

This lattice-work may be used independently, without any under-stitching, showing the ground instead; it has a very pretty light effect among more solid work. Another pattern is shown at _G2_.

SPLIT-STITCH.—This is a stitch found much in use in the earliest specimens of ecclesiastical needlework. I believe that the faces and heads of nearly all the figure work done before the fifteenth century were in split-stitch. The effect is something like several others. When very fine and rather tightly worked it looks like satin-stitch; when looser, like fine chain-stitch; when coarse and rather loose, like crewel-stitch worked backwards and forwards. Each stitch is worked by making a small satin-stitch and bringing the needle up from the back _through_ the middle of it, or by threading the needle with _two_ strands of silk and bringing the point up _between_ them. See illustrations of ancient Coptic work, where the frayed ends of silk show plainly that it was done in this way.

The silk is thus pierced through or ‘split’—hence its name.

_H_ on the sampler is worked thus:—

With a needleful of No. 135 begin at the lower end of the inside half of the leaf and follow the inner curve as far as the point of the first lobe. Almost every alternate row of stitches is carried only halfway down, or less, to keep the radiation right. When the first lobe is filled, take the next shade (134) and work in the same manner up to the top point of the leaf. The other half of the top point and the upper part of the next lobe is worked with the lightest shade, 133A, and the last with 134; _h_ shows the upper part of the leaf in course of being worked.

We now come to laid-work, the general character of which I have already described above.

The first process is to cover the surface with the silken threads, lying all in one direction—vertical at _I_, horizontal at _J_, on the sampler.

They can be laid at any angle, provided that the stitches are kept parallel with each other, and that due consideration is given to the direction the over-stitching will take. It ought to cross the laid stitches as nearly as possible at right angles to keep it nicely in place. Of course, it is impossible to keep strictly to this, but if the principal veinings are placed thus the others will naturally approximate sufficiently.

The silk may either be carried through the material and the needle brought up a very little way further on along the outline, as in surface-satin; or the silk may be turned back on the surface, as in couching, with a stitch at each end. The middle and darkest shades of grey-green (134, 135) are used for the leaf, and the middle and darkest blues for the vase. The over-stitching of the leaf is in the lightest grey-green, done with split-stitch; the vase with the darkest blue in couching.

The band _K_ at the bottom of the sampler may be worked in the same way, using back-stitching to keep it down. With back-stitching a pattern can be formed which is something like that made by couching, only it is softer-looking and more quickly done. If it is a border of any considerable length a number of skeins may be all begun together; then, pinning them all down with a long fine pin, the stitches are set in at regular intervals to make the pattern. The floss-silk in this case requires no needle, but, when once begun, is ‘paid off’ the reel or card by degrees as required.

Laid-work makes a beautiful background; the over-stitching may be either of split-stitch, couching, or back-stitch, and may be done either in a pattern or by simple lines, diagonal, vandyked, or at right angles with the silk laid down. Compare _k_, which is laid, with _q_, which is couched. Both may be worked with the middle shade of blue sewn down with gold-colour, No. 92.

_M_ is worked in the same manner as _B_, but with the two shades of bronze-green, Nos. 113 and 113A.

_N_ is filled with darning-stitch, the lines following the direction of the curve. Darning cannot be done in a frame in the same manner as when held loose in the hand. The needle must go in with one hand and be drawn down with the other, the same as with all work done in a frame. The stitches are about a quarter of an inch long and a very little of the ground is left between each. The rows of stitches also lie close together. The shading and proportion should be done to match _E_, and the different shades should ‘dovetail’ into each other as in the satin-stitch.

The parts of the leaves marked _O_ are worked with the grey-green, No. 135, in radiating lines, not quite close together, showing about an equal quantity of the ground between. This partial filling, both in couching and in darning, is very effective for light work, but an outline is absolutely necessary, and is really the principal part of the work. The outline may be either couched or worked in crewel-stitch, like _p_.

Crewel-stitch, like darning, is not worked in the frame in the same way as in the hand. After fastening on the thread, bring it out at the bottom of the work and set the needle in about an eighth of an inch higher up on the traced line. Draw it down and bring it up again close to the place where it was brought out at first. Set it in again an eighth of an inch higher than the first stitch, that will make a stitch a quarter of an inch long: keep them about this length all the time. (In turning a sharp curve they should be shorter, and in a long straight line they may be a very little longer, worked in coarse silk.) Care must be taken not to pierce the stitch when bringing the needle through from the back; the method of working is the same as in split-stitch, with this exception, which makes all the difference! It may be necessary to hold back the stitch to avoid piercing it, especially on the inner side of a curved line, for the needle must always be kept on the same side of the stitch as it is begun, otherwise it will make a break in the curve. It has, moreover, a different name when worked on one side from that which it has when worked on the other—_crewel_ when the needle comes out on the Left, _outline_ when it comes out on the Right. There are other names given to this stitch, according to the many slight variations in the way of working it. When, for instance, instead of bringing the needle out on the line, it is taken a little way off it, so as to make a more slanting stitch, it is called stem-stitch (see stems marked _R_ on sampler), but as this is in reality a narrow strip of satin-stitch, worked diagonally, it does not seem to require a name of its own.

_U_ is couched with the dark grey-green silks, the shades being placed side by side.

_S_ and _T_ are narrow strips of slanting satin-stitch. All straight-lined Lettering looks well worked thus, outlined with an edge of couched gold or silver.