CHAPTER VIII

ON LITURGICAL COLOURS, FRONTALS, ETC.

The question of liturgical colours need not be very fully discussed here, as this is pre-eminently a practical manual and not a treatise on ritual. Although the embroidress naturally studies the reason and uses of the things she makes, it does not properly rest with her whether the ‘Use of Sarum’ or that of any other special diocese be followed. There certainly seems to have been no very hard and fast rule observed in this matter in the early ages of the Church or even in medieval times. From the old inventories we gather that altar-frontals and vestments existed of almost every known colour and shade (and some indeed _unknown_ ones, to us at least!). This of course may be to some extent accounted for by the votive offerings so frequently made by kings and nobles of their own magnificent vestments and of spoils taken in war.[7] These would be accepted and used in the Church quite irrespective of colour and design.

We might conclude from the old English illuminations that red, blue, purple, white, and gold were the colours most generally used, or considered most ideally correct; but on more careful investigation I think we should be driven to the conclusion that while the careful miniaturist drew the _forms_ of what he was accustomed to see in the ordinary services of the Church, he coloured them according to his own ideas of beauty or according to the limitations of his palette. A row of clergy in one illumination, for instance, would have their albes alternately blue and red; and I remember another of an outdoor procession in which the same arrangement prevailed, with the priests’ stoles coloured blue over the red albes and red over the blue ones.

The four colours above-named being the Levitical ones, it is probable that a particular significance was attached to them; but green and black were common before the end of the fifteenth century; and the English use, which was supposed to be definitely settled by the ‘second year of Edward the Sixth,’ certainly includes them.

This gives us an authorised sequence of at least five colours—viz. white, red, violet, green, and black. Cloth of gold may be considered as glorified white. Blue, violet, indigo, and purple _may_ be all separate colours, or they may be included in the one term ‘violet,’ as popularly understood. ‘Purple’ indeed is such a wide-embracing word that it may, in ancient documents, signify a _material_ (velvet), while as a colour it may range anywhere between crimson and blue, but it always means something rich and gorgeous.

The altar-frontal, giving the keynote for the colour, should be arranged for first; then the vestments worn by the ministers; and, lastly, all the other textile decorations, which must harmonise with the whole. It should not be necessary to change these latter whenever the altar-frontal is changed, except for Lent. It becomes all the more desirable therefore to choose such hangings as will look equally well with white, green, or red.

For Lent they will all be mostly violet—violet and red—(red decoration on violet should be edged with black)—violet and white—by which I do not mean a bleached, cold, dead white, but a warm, brownish cream, or silver. The violet also must not be crude; blue is preferable generally, and it need not be as dark as it too often is, tending to blackness, especially in velvet. Indigo seems to me the ideal colour for Lent. When one speaks of _blue_ for Lent, of course one does not mean bright or cerulean blue, or azure. These are the blues of our Lord’s garments, of the Blessed Virgin, and of the Seraphim, and have nothing to do with penitence.

The green should not be too blue in tone, and the red is best kept to tawny shades, or real, true red. However beautiful any one colour may be alone, its behaviour in company with others must be tested if it is to be used with them. I must plead for forgiveness if I seem to press this point unduly, on the ground that I am constantly made to suffer from a disregard to this principle when I am asked to devise new decorations to ‘go with’ impossible crudities.

Wherever possible, it is best to arrange all the textile hangings, vestments, &c., to be used in a church at the same time, and to have a definite scheme of design and colour to work upon. Even when the funds necessary to carry it out are not available all at once, the general idea could be fixed upon and the accomplishment of it could follow by degrees. Too often there appears to be a sort of haphazard effect in the decoration of churches—a want of unity, as though each separate thing were an after-thought, bearing no relation to what had been done before. If there are valuable embroideries, &c., already in use, which only require to be supplemented by others, it is merely reasonable to insist upon, and not difficult to arrange, that the new ones do not clash with the old. I do not myself think it necessary to keep rigidly to one date or style so long as the work harmonises _as a whole_, neither is it necessary for all the shades of every colour used to be identical; but it is quite essential that they should be harmonious.

The principal hangings in use in our time are the Altar-frontal, Super-frontal, Dorsal and Wings. Curtains are also sometimes used to partition off part of the church for a vestry, a belfry, or an organ-chamber.

Besides these there are hangings simply for the purpose of covering bare walls, in the chancel or elsewhere.

As a general principle one may say that curtains which were originally intended to be drawn or looped back may hang in folds, while those used merely as a covering should hang plain.

Wings or riddells, portières, &c., should be full; altar-frontals, dorsals, and tapestries for bare walls should hang plain, and may be treated more pictorially.

The altar strikes the _keynote_, so to speak, for the whole church. To it, as the culminating point, all the decoration is directed; and by it we are led through the different seasons of fast and festival, marking these seasons by the change of vesture as definitely as by the changes in the ritual and service.

An altar-frontal is rather a large piece of work for one person to undertake, unless she has had considerable practice (which enables her to work quickly) and has plenty of time to devote to it, and is also possessed of sufficient patience to keep on with one thing till it is finished.

A frontal can very well be worked by several ladies, each taking a separate piece on her own frame. Almost every kind of design can be worked in this way, and that is why Church work is so often done on linen and applied to the silk or velvet afterwards. There is a popular idea that it _must_ be done so, but this is by no means the case; it is merely a matter of convenience. It is more _ideally_ perfect as a matter of _principle_ to work directly on the material to be beautified.

In describing how to make up a frontal we will take one for an 8-foot altar, 3 feet 4 inches high. We will suppose the various details of an Early English one (such as Fig. I.) to be already worked and pasted at the back with embroidery paste as described in the chapter on Appliqué-work, cut out of the frames and neatly ‘trimmed’ round the edges, leaving such a line of linen as will be perfectly covered with the outline with which it is couched down to the material the frontal is to be made of. Supposing it to be damask, with a pattern that repeats every 3 feet, and that it is from 25 to 27 inches wide; 4 yards only would be required, as there would be no extra length wanted to make the patterns join exactly at the seams. There would be three seams, which must be neatly sewn, either with very fine over-sewing, or with back-stitching, in silk of the same colour, taking the greatest care to match the halves of the pattern all along the seam. When this is done there will be a continuous surface of damask 36 inches wide and 100 or more inches long.

A large strong frame must be prepared with stout linen mounted in it, rather larger than the frontal is to be—say 8 feet 6 inches × 3 feet 6 inches.

Now it makes no difference to the convenience of working how _long_ the frame is; but no woman could work to the centre of one mounted 42 inches wide. One cannot comfortably work further in than about 13 inches; therefore, although the linen should be of the full width, not more than twice 13, viz. 26 inches, should be presented to be worked upon at one time. The easiest way to arrange this is to run a tuck along the top and bottom of the linen before it is put into the frame, or two tucks along the bottom, according to the particular requirements of the design. A chain-stitch sewing machine would do this firmly and quickly, as it is only to reduce the width temporarily, and it could be as quickly undone after it had served its purpose.

If the long bars of the frame be _round_ instead of _flat_, both linen and silk may be wound upon it to reduce the width to start with. This involves the removal of the sidebars each time the work is ‘let out’; they should not be taken out altogether, neither should the lacing be quite undone, but merely loosened sufficiently for the bars to slip gently out of their sockets; there should be one person stationed at each side-bar while this is being done, to see that it is moved evenly and laced up as before, only with additional lacing where it has been let out.

A straight line should be marked down the middle of the linen; it is best run in with coloured silk or cotton to show on both the under and the upper sides, as this will be the starting-point for all measurements.

The central line of the damask is next found, and tacked down to the one on the linen. The seams will have been pressed open and flat, and the selvedges nicked pretty deeply with sharp scissors all along; if there is a hard edge, it should be cut off. The damask should then be well stretched over the linen, which should not, as yet, be made as tight as it will go; _after_ the silk is on (fastened first by pins and then sewn all round), the whole must be stretched up as well and evenly as possible. See that the angles of the frame are right angles, whether the sides are set in with pegs or screws; all measurements should be taken quite accurately by means of a tape that will not ‘give.’ Chesterman’s metallic ones are perfect, but require care in using, as they easily break and get out of order. A large ‘straight-edge’ and ‘set-square’ are also necessary. The frontal is now ready for the embroidery. The central ornament is placed on first; then those on each side; then the others beyond.

The measure can be pinned at each end of the frame to see that the upper points are even, and again to verify the lower ones. Sometimes the design of the damask may be taken as a guide if evenly woven; and _quite_ accurately put on the frame; but that should be tested first.

When each flower has been carefully placed and kept in position by means of numerous fine steel pins stuck vertically through the work, they must all be tacked firmly with stitches of fine strong silk or cotton straight down the centre and then into any outstanding points. These stitches should be very small on the ‘right’ side of the work so that they need not be taken out after it is finished. Then the whole of the outline is couched over the edges of the work covering the little border of linen left for this purpose on cutting it out of the frame. Two, three, or even four full thicknesses of filoselle, four or more of ‘Stout Floss,’ or of gold thread, make an excellent outline for gold and silk embroidery, according to the coarseness or fineness of the work; for appliqué different coloured cords are useful, and for most work gold thread or brown filoselle would be safe. The couching stitches should be placed fairly close together, and should be done with strong silken thread.

When the more solid ornaments are securely attached to the frontal, the scroll-work belonging to them may be added as far as can be reached without interfering with the tucks in the linen, which may then be let out.

When the lowest row is finished and the scroll-work, the fringe is sewn on while the work is still in the frame, a line being first drawn (with tailor’s chalk on a dark ground, or coloured chalk, yellow by preference, on a white ground) straight along the bottom, where it will be just covered by the upper edge of the fringe.

Now the FRINGE is a feature of the work to which I would draw particular attention, because it has a distinct artistic value of its own, which is too often neglected or not understood and appreciated as it should be.

The use of a fringe as a decorative finish to every kind of textile is common to all countries and all ages. In early Assyrian sculpture we see it on the garments of warriors. In the Holy Scriptures we read of the fringe of golden bells on Aaron’s ephod, also of the fringes on the garments of the people of God as symbols of their consecration; while the fringes at the edges of rugs and tapestries, both ancient and modern, are so universal as to simply suggest their origin—viz. the loose threads of the warp left when cutting them off the loom.

A handsome fringe is at the same time the most beautiful and the most natural finishing touch to the lower edge of any hanging, whether plain woven or embroidered. It may also with propriety go down the sides—though this should be narrow and preferably uncut.

Generally speaking, 2½ inches is deep enough for the bottom of the frontal, 1½ inch for the super-frontal, and ¾ inch for the sides. In arranging the colours of the fringe a large proportion should be given to that of the ground-work, damask, &c., and then a fair quantity to each of the principal colours used in the embroidery. Measurements of the spacing required, and good-sized patterns of the colours, with a diagram of their order in the fringe, should always be sent to the manufacturer when ordering it. The heading of the fringe should be also specially designed, or it is nearly certain to be ugly. If gold thread is used in the embroidery, it should also appear in the fringe, if not in the ‘fall,’ at least in the ‘head.’

It should first be tacked, then stitched on, the upper edge just covering the line, starting from the centre and working towards each side. It must be stitched firmly with strong thread or silk of the same colour as one of those used in the head; the fringe must not be pulled at all tight from end to end, but rather ‘eased’ on, or it will ‘draw’ when taken out of the frame. A few extra inches should be allowed for this shrinkage when giving the measurements to the manufacturer.

When this is all done it is ready for the making up.

Some may consider this mere upholsterer’s work, and think they may very well, at this stage, hand it over to the commercial workshop; but as it is a point of religious as well as artistic sentiment, that at least the same guiding spirit, if not actually the same pair of hands, should see the work through to the end, we will proceed.

An inner lining of firm, evenly woven hemp or sail-cloth should be cut exactly true to the size which the frontal is to be, allowing 2 inches at the bottom to be turned up. In our supposed case it will be 8 feet long and 3 feet 6 inches wide. If there are any creases in it, it should be laid on a wet cloth and ironed all over with a heavy, hot flat-iron and not folded again. It is made wide enough to use without seams. It ought not to be stiffened with glue, or contain ‘dressing’ of any kind, and should be of sufficient substance without it. A large table, or a board that can rest on the trestles of the mounting frame, should be covered with a white sheet and the frontal laid on it, _face downward_, on taking it out of the frame. A line ruled down the centre of the hempen cloth must be placed to the central line of the frontal, and the two tacked together, taking care that the needle does not damage any delicate part of the embroidery. All knots should be on the ‘right’ side of the frontal if the tacking threads are to come out afterwards, which may or may not be necessary; the edges are then turned evenly, first along the bottom and then the two sides, beginning from the bottom when doing each side. It is then to be turned _face uppermost_, and the top edge sewn to the hemp.

The method of hanging the frontal must now be decided upon. It can be made with a piece of the linen to go right over the altar and hang down behind, weighted with a rod in the hem; or it can be hung by rings or buttonholes from hooks under the altar-slab. The former method is the simpler where there is no gradine with heavy ornaments to be lifted down every time the frontal is changed. The super-frontal (_frontlet_ is perhaps the more correct term) can then be made in one with the frontal, as seen in many old examples; but the latter method seems to be the most common, possibly from the economical practice of making one frontlet serve for many frontals. If then we are making it in this way and the frontlet is already provided, we must take two careful measurements—one from the floor to the hooks on the altar, the other from the floor to the lower edge of the frontlet. If the latter is 7 inches deep it will allow 33 inches of the frontal to _show_ beneath: the actual height of it will depend on the position of the hooks.

The linen lining is cut to allow turnings of about an inch down the sides and along the bottom, and to _turn over_ the top hem covering the raw edge of the silk on the right side, where it has been sewn down to the interlining. The linen lining is now to be firmly stitched all along with strong back-stitching; the other edges may be hemmed round on the ‘wrong’ side after tacking them in place. A wooden lath may be slipped through the hem at the bottom, and a brass one along the top; in this case buttonholes may be worked in the upper one wherever the hooks would come, instead of rings sewn on.

The lining should be of a stout pure linen and may be of the same colour as the frontal.

I have given somewhat minute directions as to the making up of the altar-frontal, as the method is very similar for all this kind of work. Curtains do not require an interlining, neither do vestments unless the stuff is poor, which of course it ought not to be. An interlining of soft coarse muslin, or very thin unbleached calico, perhaps helps to keep it in shape and does not interfere with the grace of the folds; but anything which makes a vestment stiff or cumbersome should be avoided.

Altar-frontals are frequently stretched and nailed to a light wooden frame—a plan which is extremely convenient, and perhaps helps their preservation where they are frequently changed—but their textile grace is greatly diminished; when such a frame is used I would suggest covering it first with a light-textured linen and _sewing_ the frontal to this, instead of _nailing_ it on.

If the super-frontal, or frontlet, has not been already provided, we shall have to consider the question of the depth it ought to be made. Again I can only give general principles. The beauty of the whole depends on the due proportion of its parts. As altars are usually nearly of the same height, whatever their length may be, it follows that a deep frontlet reduces the proportion of the frontal to a mere _ribbon_ if it is very long. Therefore we may say, the longer the altar the narrower the super-frontal should be.

That part of the super-frontal which lies flat on the top of the altar should always be made of pure linen. It may be of the same colour as the border which hangs down (if the fair linen cloth with a cover on it is not kept on always), but it is really more practical when made of undyed linen.