Chapter 2

SEWING ON PIPING (fig. 37). Piping is a border, consisting of a cord or bobbin, folded into a stripe of material, cut on the cross, and affixed to the edge of an article to give it more strength and finish. It is a good substitute for a hem or binding on a bias edge, which by means of the cord, can be held in, and prevented from stretching. Cut your stripes diagonally, across the web of the stuff, and very even; run them together, lay the cord or bobbin along the stripe, on the wrong side, 5 m/m. from the edge, fold the edge over, and tack the cord lightly in. Then lay it on the raw edge of the article, with the cord towards you, and with all the raw edges turned away from you. Back-stitch the piping to the edge, keeping close to the cord. Then turn the article round, fold in the raw outside edge over the others, and hem it down like an ordinary hem.

FIXING WHALE-BONES (fig. 38).—Before slipping the whalebone into its case or fold of stuff, pierce holes in it, top and bottom, with a red hot stiletto. Through these holes, make your stitches, diverging like rays or crossing each other as shown in fig. 38.

HERRING-BONING (fig. 39).—This stitch is chiefly used for seams in flannel, and for overcasting dress-seams, and takes the place of hemming, for fastening down the raw edges of a seam that has been run or stitched, without turning them in. Herring-boning is done from left to right, and forms two rows of stitches. Insert the needle from right to left, and make a stitch first above, and then below the edge, the threads crossing each other diagonally, as shewn in fig. 39.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Our readers should be provided with a French metre, with the English yard marked on the back for purposes of comparison.

[A] See at the end of the concluding chapter, the table of numbers and sizes and the list of colours of the D.M.C threads and cottons.

Mending.

The mending of wearing-apparel and house-linen, though often an ungrateful task, is yet a very necessary one, to which every female hand ought to be carefully trained. How best to disguise and repair the wear and tear of use or accident is quite as valuable an art, as that of making new things.

Under the head of mending, we include the strengthening and replacing of the worn and broken threads of a fabric, and fitting in of new stuff in the place of that which is torn or damaged. The former is called darning, the latter, patching.

DARNING.—When only a few of the warp or woof threads are torn or missing, a darn will repair the mischief, provided the surrounding parts be sound. When the damage is more extensive, the piece must be cut out.

In some cases the warp of the stuff itself can be used for darning, otherwise thread as much like the stuff as possible should be chosen.

MATERIALS SUITABLE FOR MENDING.—Coton à repriser D.M.C is used for most kinds of darning. It can be had in 18 different sizes, from Nos. 8 to 100, white and unbleached, and in all the colours of the D.M.C colour-card in Nos. 12, 25 and 50.

It is but very slightly twisted and can be split or used double, if necessary, according to the material. For all the coarser articles of house-linen, unbleached cotton is the best, and for the finer white fabrics, Coton surfin D.M.C Nos. 110, 120 and 150[A]. This cotton, which is not the least twisted, and is to be had both white and unbleached, can be used, by subdividing it, for darning the finest cambric.

VARIETIES OF DARNING.—These are four, (1) Linen darning, (2) Damask darning, (3) Satin or Twill darning, and (4) Invisible darning, called also, Fine-drawing.

(1) LINEN DARNING (figs. 40 and 41).—All darns should be made on the wrong side of the stuff, excepting fig. 54, which it is sometimes better to make on the right side. The longitudinal running, to form the warp, must be made first. The thread must not be drawn tightly in running your stitches backwards and forwards, and be careful to leave loops at each turning, to allow for the shrinking of the thread in the washing, without its pulling the darn together.

Run your needle in, about one c/m. above the damaged part, take up one or two threads of the stuff and miss the same number, working straight to a thread; on reaching the hole, carry your cotton straight across it, take up alternate threads beyond, and proceed as before. Continue the rows backwards and forwards, taking up in each row, the threads left in the preceding one. Turn the work round and do the same for the woof; alternately taking up and leaving the warp threads, where the cotton crosses the hole. The threads must lie so alone both ways, that the darn, when completed, replaces the original web. The threads are only drawn so far apart in the illustrations, for the sake of clearness.

When the material to be darned does not admit of a fleecy thread, such as Coton à repriser D.M.C, one that as nearly as possible matches the material, should be chosen from the D.M.C cottons.[A]

DIAGONAL LINEN DARNING (fig. 42).—Darns are sometimes begun from the corner, so as to form a diagonal web, but they are then much more visible than when they are worked straight to a thread, and therefore not advisable.

(2) SATIN OR TWILL DARNING (fig. 43).—By twill darning, the damaged web of any twilled or diagonal material can be restored. It would be impossible to enumerate all the varieties of twilled stuffs, but the illustrations and accompanying directions will enable the worker to imitate them all.

Begin, as in ordinary darning by running in the warp threads, then take up one thread, and miss three. In every succeeding row, advance one thread in the same direction. Or, miss one thread of the stuff and take up two, and as before, advance, one thread in the same direction, every succeeding row. The order in which threads should be missed and taken up, must depend on the web which the darn is intended to imitate.

When the original is a coloured stuff, it is advisable to make a specimen darn first, on a larger scale, so that you may be more sure of obtaining a correct copy of the original web.

(3) DAMASK DARNING (figs. 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49).—A damask darn is begun in the same way as all other darns are; the pattern is formed by the cross-runnings and will vary with the number of warp threads taken up and missed, in each successive running. The woven design which you are to copy with your needle must therefore be carefully examined first.

Figs. 44 and 45 show the wrong and right sides of a damask darn, in process of being made.

Fig. 46 represents a completed one. In the case of coloured webs, a light shade of cotton is generally used for the warp, one that matches the stuff, for the shot or woof.

Figs. 47 and 48, illustrate two specimens of darning, formerly done in the convents, from which it will be seen, that the warp and the woof were first drawn in with rather fine thread and the pattern then worked into this foundation with coarser, or else, coloured thread. When this kind of darn is in two colours, take, for the darker shade, Coton à broder D.M.C, or Coton à repriser D.M.C, which are both of them to be had in all the bright and faded shades, to match alike both old and new linen.

Fig. 49, which is executed in two colours, and is likewise copied from an old work on darning, shows you the manner in which a dice-pattern is to be reproduced.

(4) DARNING, LOST IN THE GROUND (fig. 50).—A kind of darn used for repairing rents, the edges of which fit exactly into one another. Neither the torn threads of the material nor the rough edges must be cut off; the torn part is to be tacked upon a piece of oil-cloth, wrong side uppermost, and the edges, drawn together by a thread, run in backwards, and forwards, across them. The stitches must be set as closely together as possible, and regularly inverted, as in every other darn. A much finer thread relatively than that of which the material is composed should, in all cases be used for darning. In this instance also, for the sake of greater distinctness, the size of the thread has been magnified in the illustration. Coton surfin D.M.C, will be found the best for darning both calico and linen.

FINE DRAWING (fig. 51).—The art of making invisible darns in cloth, though such a useful one, is all but unknown. It is a tedious process and one which, though easy enough to understand, requires great care in the execution.

Use as fine a needle as possible and thread it with hair, instead of silk, or any other kind of fibre. Red and white hair is the strongest, and stronger than the ravellings of the stuff. Of course the hair has first to be carefully cleansed from grease. Pare the edges of the rent, on the right sides, quite clean and even, with a razor, so that both rent and stitches may be lost in the hairy surface of the cloth. Scissors do not cut so closely, and are liable moreover, to disturb the nap, and render the darn more visible. When this is done, fit the edges exactly together, and overcast them. Then thread a needle with a hair by the root, and slip it in, 2 or 3 m/m. from the one edge and back again pointed towards you, through the other, so that, neither needle nor hair, are visible on either side. The stitches should be set slightly slanting and must be quite lost in the thickness of the cloth. The needle must always be put in, exactly at the place where it came out, and the hair not be too tightly drawn.

When the darn is finished, lay the article on a bare table, or ironing-board, cover it with a damp cloth, and iron it. The sharpest eye will fail to detect a rent, when carefully darned in this manner.

PATCHING.—As we have already said, when the defective part is past darning, it must be cut out, and a new piece of stuff inserted in its place. If the garment be no longer new, it should be patched with a slighter material than that of which it was originally made. The patch should be of the same shape, and cut the same way of the stuff, as the piece it is to replace, it should also be, just so much larger, as to allow for the turnings in, and can either be top-sewn, or else, run and felled in.

BACK-STITCHING AND FELLING IN A PATCH (fig. 52).—Tack in the new piece, so that its edges overlap the edges of the hole. The back-stitching must be done on the article itself, as this renders it easier to do the corners neatly. The hem is turned down on to the patch. Make a little snip at the corners with your scissors to prevent puckering. The back-stitching should form a right angle at each corner.

TOP-SEWING IN A PATCH (fig. 53).—To do this, the edges of the hole and of the patch, must first be turned in, and either overcast or hemmed, to prevent their fraying, after which, sew the two edges together. The raw edges may also be turned in with herring-boning as in fig. 39, putting the needle, only through one layer of stuff.

DRAWING IN A PATCH (fig. 54).—Take a square piece of the original stuff, 5 or 6 c/m. larger each way, than the hole it is to fill, draw out threads on all the four sides, till the piece exactly matches the hole, and tack it into its place. Thread a very fine needle with the two ends of a thread of silk or Fil d’Alsace D.M.C No. 700, run it in at the corner of the stuff, and draw it out, leaving a loop behind. Into this loop, slip the first of the threads, which as it were, form a fringe to the patch, and tighten the loop round it, and so on with each thread, alternately taking up and leaving threads in the stuff, as in ordinary darning.

To put a patch into a thin material, in this manner, you must darn in the threads, a good long way, into the material, in order that the double layer of threads may be less visible.

FOOTNOTES:

[A] See at the end of the concluding chapter, the table of numbers and sizes and the list of colours of the D.M.C threads and cottons.

Single and cut Open-work.

The above heading comprises every sort of needle-work, to which the drawing out of threads is a preliminary. By sewing over the single threads that remain, and drawing them together in different ways, an infinite variety of patterns can be produced. Many pretty combinations also, can be made of open-work, cross-stitch, and other kinds of embroidery.

MATERIALS SUITABLE FOR OPEN-WORK.—For all the coarser stuffs, such as Holbein-linen, Java and linen-canvas and the like, now in such favour for the imitation of old needlework, it will be best to use: Fil à pointer D.M.C, No. 30[A] and Cordonnet 6 fils D.M.C, Nos. 10 to 20,[A] and for the finer stuffs, such as antique-linen and linen-gauze; Cordonnet 6 fils D.M.C Nos. 50 to 150,[A] Fil d’Alsace D.M.C, Nos. 20 to 100, and Fil à dentelle D.M.C, Nos. 25 to 80.

Coloured patterns can also be executed in open-work, with Coton à broder D.M.C Nos. 16 to 35, and Coton à repriser D.M.C, Nos. 25 to 50[A].

THE TWO DIFFERENT KINDS OF OPEN-WORK.—The one is called, single open-work, the Italian Punto tirato, in which the first step is to draw out one layer of threads; the other, cut open-work, the Italian Punto tagliato, for which, both the warp, and the woof threads, have to be drawn out.

SINGLE OPEN-WORK (PUNTO TIRATO).—This, in its simplest form, is the ornamental latticed hem, in common use where something rather more decorative than an ordinary hem (fig. 8) is required, and consists in drawing out one layer of threads, either the warp or the woof.

SINGLE HEM-STITCH (fig. 55).—Draw out, according to the coarseness of the stuff, two or four threads, below the edge of the turning, and tack your hem down to the line thus drawn. Fasten your thread in to the left, and work your hem from right to left, taking up three or four cross-threads at a time, and inserting your needle, immediately above, into the folded hem, three or four threads from the edge, and then drawing it out.

The same stitch is used for preventing the fringes, that serve as a finish to so many articles of house-linen, from ravelling.

SECOND HEM-STITCH (fig. 56).—Prepare your hem as for fig. 55, and work from left to right; with this difference, that after drawing two or three cross-threads together, from right to left, you skip the same number of perpendicular threads you took up below, and insert your needle downwards from above, bringing it out at the bottom edge of the hem.

These stitches, which can be used for the right side also, form a kind of little tress, along the edge of the hem.

LADDER STITCH HEM (fig. 57). Complete the hem, as already directed in fig. 55, then draw out three or five threads more, turn the work round, and repeat the process, taking up the same clusters of threads which you took up in the first row of stitches, thus forming little perpendicular bars.

DOUBLE HEM-STITCH (fig. 58). Begin as in fig. 55, forming your clusters of an even number of threads; and then, in making your second row of stitches, draw half the threads of one cluster, and half of the next together, thereby making them slant, first one way and then the other.

ANTIQUE HEM-STITCH (figs. 59, 60, 61 and 62). In the old, elaborate, linen needlework, we often meet two kinds of hem-stitching seldom found in modern books on needle-work. Figs. 59 to 62 are magnified representations of the same. At the necessary depth for forming a narrow hem, a thread is drawn, in the case of very fine textures where the edge is rolled, not laid; then fasten in the working thread at the left, and work the stitches from left to right. Passing your needle, from right to left, under three or four threads, draw the thread round the cluster and carry your needle on, through as many threads of the upper layer of stuff, as you took up below, so that the stitch may always emerge from the middle of the cluster.

ANTIQUE HEM-STITCH (figs. 61 and 62).—These show, the right and wrong sides of the hem; here the rolled hem is prepared as above, but the stitches are worked from right to left, and the thread is carried round the little roll, so that, as shown in fig. 62, it is visible on both sides of the hem. The needle does not enter the stuff, but is carried back at once, from the outside, and put in again between two clusters of threads.

SLANTING HEM-STITCH (figs. 63 and 64).—Bring out your needle and thread, two or three threads above the edge of the turning, between the first and second of the three cross-threads that compose the cluster, and then slip it under the cluster, from right to left. The loop must lie in front of the needle. When you have drawn up the stitch, put the needle in, one thread further on, and take up two threads. Fig. 64 shows the stitch on the right side.

DOUBLE-ROWED ORNAMENTAL SEAM (figs. 65, 66, 67).—Begin with any one of the hems already described, then counting as many threads downwards, as are clustered together in the first row, draw out a second thread, and cluster the perpendicular threads in this second line together, as shown in figs. 65 and 66. On the right side the stitch is straight (fig. 67). Coloured cottons should be used for all the above patterns of hem-stitch, when they are to be introduced into coloured embroideries.

SINGLE THREE-ROWED OPEN-WORK (fig. 68).—This, and the following patterns, are suitable for the headings of hems, and for connecting stripes of embroidery, and are also often used instead of lace, and lace insertion.

Fig. 68 will be found specially useful, in cases where the object is, to produce a good deal of effect, at the cost of as little labour as possible. Make six rows of hem-stitching, as in fig. 55; the first and sixth rows to serve as a finish, above and below.

The second and third, after drawing out six threads, the third and fourth after drawing out eight. The clusters must all consist of an even number of threads. The upper and the lower band of open-work is to be copied from fig. 58, the centre one, from fig. 57. Divide the threads of the perpendicular clusters in two; insert the needle, from left to right, underneath half the second cluster, turn the needle’s eye, by a second movement, from left to right, and take up the second part of the first cluster, drawing it under, and at the same time, in front of the first half of the second cluster. Be careful not to draw your thread too tightly.

OPEN-WORK WITH TWO THREADS DRAWN THROUGH (fig. 69).—One such wide lane of open-work, between two finishing rows of stitches, may have two threads drawn through it.

OPEN-WORK WITH THREE THREADS DRAWN THROUGH (fig. 70). Overcast both edges with single stitches; draw the clusters together in the middle, as in fig. 68; then above and below the middle thread, draw in first one thread and then a second, straight above it, securing the latter with back-stitches to enclose the clusters between two threads.

CLUSTERED OPEN-WORK (fig. 71).—Draw out from sixteen to eighteen threads, between two hem-stitched edges. Fasten your thread in, 3 m/m. above the seam-edge, and wind it three times round every two clusters, passing the needle, the third time, under the two first rounds, to fasten the thread. The thread, thus drawn through, must be left rather slack. A second row of stitches, similar to the first, and at the same distance from the bottom edge, completes this pattern. To give it greater strength, you may if you like, work back over the first thread, with a second, taking care to pass it under the knot, which was formed by the first.

DOUBLE-ROWED CLUSTER-OPEN-WORK (fig. 72).—A very good effect can be obtained by making the above stitch in such a manner, as to form groups of three clusters each, between hem-stitched bands of the stuff.

TURKISH CLUSTER OPEN-WORK (fig. 73).—After portioning off, and sewing up the clusters on one side, draw out twelve or fourteen threads, and make your connecting-stitch and hem, all in one, as follows: bring out the thread before the cluster, and pass it round it, then from right to left, over three horizontal and under four perpendicular threads, again from left to right, over the four threads just passed over, and out at the second cluster; laying it over this, you bring it out behind the first cluster, wind it round the middle of them both, and pass it through, between the overcasting stitches back to the hem; encircle the second cluster with a loop-stitch, and carry your thread again over three horizontal and four perpendicular threads, and upwards, slanting underneath the stuff, out in front of the next cluster.

OPEN-WORK WITH DARNING STITCH (fig. 74).—Draw out from eight to twelve threads, according to the quality of the stuff. Insert your needle and thread between two clusters, and pass it, as if you were darning, backwards and forwards over them, until they are encased half way down with stitches. In so doing, work with the eye of the needle forward, and the point towards your thimble. To pass to the next cluster, take one stitch back, under the one just darned, and bring your thread underneath the threads of the stuff, to the second cluster.

OPEN-WORK IN THREE COLOURS (fig. 75).—This pattern which is to be done in the same way as fig. 74, requires the drawing out of, at least, eighteen threads. Every cross-line of three clusters is to be worked in one colour. The colours may all be different, or you may if you prefer, take shades of the same colour.

OPEN-WORK INSERTION (figs. 76 and 77).—For both these, the edges are to be overcast, and the darning stitches packed sufficiently closely together, for the threads of the stuff to be entirely covered.

Fig. 76 requires the drawing out of eighteen threads, fig. 77, of thirty. Both admit of several colours being used.