Chapter 25
LINEN STITCH. FORMATION OF THE CORNERS (fig. 640).—When linen stitch is used for the border of a pattern, and a corner has to be formed, you begin by carrying the threads over a given number of squares. This first layer, especially in the case of long stripes, must be kept very slack, and to ensure the threads being all of the same length, lay a fine mesh or a thick knitting needle at one end and stretch the threads over it. After carrying the second layer across a few squares, take away the mesh or needle. The threads of the first layer become gradually shorter, from the passage of the cross threads in and out between them, and end by being just long enough to prevent the last embroidered squares from being too tightly stretched.
On reaching the corner, you cross the threads of the next row, as shown in fig. 640. The first threads of the second side form the foundation of the corner square; from the second corner square you pass to the third; from the third to the fourth, carrying your thread alternately over and under the threads that were stretched for the first corner.
LOOP STITCH (POINT D’ESPRIT) (figs. 641 and 642).—This is a light open stitch, chiefly used for making a less transparent foundation than plain netting. Fasten the thread to the middle of one bar of the netting, then make a loose loop to the middle of the top bar of the same square, fig. 641, by carrying the thread, from left to right, over one vertical and one horizontal bar of the net and inserting the needle downwards from above under the bar and in front of the working thread. For the second row back, also represented in fig. 641, you draw the needle through, underneath the bar above the loop stitch and make the loop upwards from below; in doing this the working thread must lie to the left, in front of the needle. Fig. 642 shows how to join the rows and pass the needle through the stitches of the preceding row.
STAR COMPOSED OF LOOSE THREADS (figs. 643, 644, 645).—This star covers 16 squares of netting. Fasten the thread to the middle knot of the 16 squares, then carry it diagonally over 4 squares, three times from left to right under a knot of the foundation and three times from right to left. In this way, the bottom rays of the star are formed. For the stitches that complete the figure, you start from the middle and following the direction of the little arrow in the illustration, you cover the netting with 3 horizontal and 3 vertical threads, carried over 4 squares. When you have laid the vertical threads, slip the needle 4 or 5 times round in a circle, under the diagonal and over the straight threads, but always over the bars of the netting. This completes the star, as it is represented in fig. 645. Care must be taken to make the stitches lie quite flat side by side, and not one on the top of the other.
DARNING STITCH (POINT DE REPRISE) (figs. 646 and 647).—Little flowers and leaves are generally executed in this stitch; the first course of the thread is shown in fig. 646. Leaves can be made with one, two or three veins. Carry the needle, invariably from the middle, first to the right and then to the left, under the threads of the foundation and push the stitches close together, as they are made, with the point of your needle. This you will be able to do most easily by holding the work so as to make the stitches towards you.
For a leaf with only one division or vein, like the left leaf in fig. 646, merely run the needle through the middle of the threads, whereas for a leaf with two or three veins, you must run it, over and under, either one, or two threads (see the right leaf in fig. 646).
In working leaves of this kind in darning stitch, you must draw your stitches at the top and bottom of the leaf rather tighter than in the middle, so as to give them the proper shape. If you wish to make them very slender at the bottom, you can finish them off with a few overcasting stitches.
Fig. 647 represents two leaves completed, one with one vein and the other, with two.
POINTED SCALLOPS IN DARNING STITCH (fig. 648).—The simplest way to work these scallops is to carry a thread, as shown in the illustration, to and fro over the square, from the knot in one corner to the middle of the bar above and downwards to the opposite knot, round which the thread is carried and passed upwards again to the middle. As the scallop must always be begun from the top, you will have, two foundation threads on one side and three on the other. Here likewise, you must push the threads as closely together as possible with the needle.
POINTED SCALLOPS IN BUTTON-HOLE STITCH (fig. 649).—Another quite as pretty and easy way of working pointed scallops on a netted foundation is by making two button-hole stitches before crossing to the opposite side. As shown in the foregoing illustration, you begin by stretching single or double foundation threads across; then beginning at the point, you make, alternately right and left, 2 button-hole stitches over the foundation threads, so that the working thread is only carried across to the opposite side after every second stitch.
VEINED POINTED SCALLOPS (fig. 650).—A third way of making pointed scallops is by first stretching a thread to and fro across the middle of the square, after which you slip the needle from left to right under the middle thread, and underneath the left bar from above. Then you carry the needle, from right to left, over the foundation thread and under the right bar and so on. The one thread must be drawn tightly round the other, in order that the stitches may form close and evenly shaped veins, like small cords, on the wrong side of the scallop. There must be enough stitches to completely cover the foundation thread that crosses the middle of the square.
POINTED SCALLOPS IN VENETIAN STITCH (fig. 651).—The prettiest scallops of all are those worked in Venetian stitch. You begin, by making from 8 to 10 button-hole stitches over one bar of the netting, then you work on with the same stitch backwards and forwards, making one stitch less in each row, until you come to the one which forms the point of the scallop and is fastened to the bar above; you carry the working thread back on the wrong side to the lower bar, and then under the button-hole stitches to the next square of the netting. Scallops worked in this manner, can be overcast round the edges in the way described further on, in fig. 660.
WHEELS EMBROIDERED ON NETTING (figs. 652 and 653).—To make wheels or spiders, as they are also called, you have first to fasten the thread to the middle knot of four squares, thence you carry it diagonally right and left, fig. 652, right detail, across the empty squares of netting and the knot, and return to the middle, overcasting your first thread by the way, so as to form a closely twisted cord. This is called cording a thread.
Having reached the centre, carry the working thread round and round, under and over the corded threads and under the bars of the netting till the wheel covers half the bars.
Fig. 653 shows, on the right, a finished wheel, and on the left, another way in which it can be made, and indicates the course of the thread over and under the lines, as in a darn. These details show also how, when the foundation thread of the wheel starts from a corner, it is left single in the first square until the wheel is finished; then the needle is slipped back along the little spoke, opposite to the single thread, and through the wheel, and the single thread is corded like the others.
RIBBED WHEELS (fig. 654).—Make the foundation of the wheels as before, over 8 threads. To form the ribs at the back of the wheels, see fig. 654; make a back stitch, on the right side, over a bar of the netting, and carry on the needle under one bar, so that the thread that lies outside always crosses 2 bars of the netting.
In this case you must make circles of thread enough, to cover the bars completely, not half, as before.
The same stitches, as fig. 654 shows, can be made on either side of the embroidery, and so as to form, either a square or a lozenge (see fig. 655).
WHEELS SET WITH BUTTON-HOLING (fig. 656).—A very pretty lace-like effect is produced by encircling the wheels in large squares of netting with a double setting of stitches. The left detail of fig. 656 shows how the thread, having been passed under the wheel and twisted once round the single thread, is carried all round the square and forms 8 loops.
The arrow shows the way in which the loops are taken up, and the first ring of stitches round the wheel is finished.
The second detail of the same figure explains the course the thread, that forms the second ring, has to take through the loops and between the bars; whilst the white line shows the passage of the thread over the second ring. The third detail represents a wheel, completed.
STAR WITH ONE-SIDED BUTTON-HOLE STITCHES (fig. 657).—The pattern represented in fig. 657, is the quickest to work that we know of. Two button-hole stitches made upon the outside bar of a square and a simple crossing of the thread at the bottom, produce elongated triangles which should always be begun from the knot. Two triangles stand exactly opposite to each other in one square, and the square that comes in the middle of the four thus filled, is ornamented with a small wheel.
ROUNDED CORNERS OF NETTING (fig. 658).—Darning stitches, made over a thread carried diagonally across one square and the adjacent corners of that and two other squares, produce the figure illustrated in fig. 658. The accompanying detail shows the mode of working.
The number of stitches depends on the material you use; there should be no more than can lie quite flat, side by side, on the diagonal thread.
LINEN STITCH, SET WITH DARNING STITCH (fig. 659).—There are some patterns it would hardly be possible to work on netting unless you could soften the outlines by darning stitches, as shown in the foregoing figure.
When employed as a setting to linen stitch, there should be fewer than in fig. 658; you may also, instead of interrupting them at every corner, carry them all round a square, (see the right detail of the figure).
LINEN STITCH SET WITH CORD STITCH (fig. 660).—Many figures are also either corded or edged with twisted thread; both ways are represented in the illustration. In the latter case you can use the same thread as for the linen stitch, or if you wish the setting to be very pronounced, a thicker one. For instance, if the netting be made of Cordonnet 6 fils D.M.C No. 25[A] we recommend Fil à pointer D.M.C No. 15 or 20[A] for the setting. This difference of material is especially noticeable in the old Cluny Guipure, where the figures worked in linen stitch are edged with a thread like a cord. But if the linen stitch be bound with cord stitch, the same thread must be used for it, as for the foundation. A soft material, like Coton à repriser, makes the best padding for the overcasting stitches.
FLOWER IN DOT STITCH ON A FOUNDATION OF LINEN STITCH (fig. 661).—With the help of this stitch, which is described in the chapter on white embroidery and represented in fig. 179, a great variety of little supplementary ornaments can be made, on every description of netted ground.
BORDERING IN BUTTON-HOLE STITCH (fig. 662).—Scalloped edges in netting should be button-holed; 2 or 3 padding threads should be run in first, following the bars of the netting, over which the button-holing is done; the bars of the netting must not be cut away until the edge be finished.
CUT WORK IN EMBROIDERED NETTING (fig. 663).—Cut work here means half covering the bars of the netting with button-hole stitches and half cutting them away with scissors. The inner bars are frequently ornamented with a double button-hole edging and knotted picots, see figs. 698 and 699 in the next chapter. You slightly separate the stitches of the first row of button-holing so as to be able to introduce the thread of the second row between them.
STRAIGHT LOOP STITCH (fig. 664).—In the first row you carry the thread over one bar and slip it through behind a knot; in the second you do the same thing, only that above, your needle will pass under 3 threads, two of them the threads of the loop of the first row and the third a bar of the net. In every square 4 threads cross each other.
WAVED STITCH (fig. 665).—This stitch, which forms a close waved ground, is produced by passing the thread in each row of the netting over a square and behind a knot. When the pattern admits of it, as it mostly does, a considerably thicker thread is used for this stitch and for the stitches represented in figs. 667, 668, 669 and 670, than that in which the netting is made. When the netted ground is of Fil à dentelle D.M.C No. 50,[A] the embroidery upon it may very well be done in Cordonnet 6 fils. D.M.C No. 10[A], or Fil à pointer D.M.C No. 30.[A]
INTERSECTED LOOP STITCH (fig. 666).—Begin by covering the whole surface to be embroidered with plain loop stitches, then stretch threads diagonally across the squares of the netting and the loop stitches; one set of threads running over the stitches and under the knots of the netting, the other under the first and second threads of the loop stitches and over the first crossed threads and the knots.
The laying and stretching of these threads must, it is hardly necessary to say, be systematically and regularly done.
GROUND WORKED IN HORIZONTAL LINES (fig. 667).—Make half cross stitches over 4 squares of netting, by passing the thread alternately over and under 3 knots, and under 3 squares of the netting. In the second row, cross the threads over those of the first row, as is shown in our engraving.
GROUND WORKED IN STITCHES PLACED ONE ABOVE THE OTHER (fig. 668).—Cover a whole row of squares with cross stitches and leave 3 rows of squares empty. When you have a sufficient number of rows of cross stitches, take a long needle and pass it upwards from below, and from right to left, under the two bars of the third upper square; then pass downwards to the first square of the 3 bottom rows and under the bars from right to left, so as again to leave 3 squares between the fresh stitches. The next row of stitches is made in the same manner, so that the stitches are not only set contrary ways but reciprocally cover each other.
LATTICED GROUND (fig. 669).—Begin by running the thread, to and fro, under two vertical bars and over three horizontal ones. When the ground is entirely covered, carry your thread from right to left, under the bars over which the first rows of threads are crossed; then take it over the long crosses, that correspond to 5 squares of netting, and pass it in the same line under the bars of the netting. In coming back, the long stitches cross each other over the stitches of the first rows.
GROUND WORKED IN RUSSIAN STITCH (fig. 670).—Pass the thread from left to right, under a bar of the netting, carry it downwards over 4 squares and pass it again, from left to right, under the bar, then upwards, again over 4 squares of netting and so on. The stitches of the next rows are made in the same manner; you have only to see that the loops formed by the stitches all come on the same line of knots.
GROUND WORKED IN TWO SIZES OF THREAD (fig. 671).—Herewith begins the series of stitches, referred to at the beginning of the chapter, copied in part from one of the oldest and most curious pieces of embroidered netting we have ever met with. The copies were worked with Cordonnet 6 fils D.M.C No. 25 and écru Fil à dentelle D.M.C No. 70[A]; the former being used for the darning and the almond-shaped stitches between; the latter for the button-hole stitches. Wherever two sizes of thread are used for one pattern, all the stitches in the coarse thread should be put in first and those in the fine, last.
GROUND WITH WHEELS AND LOOP STITCH (fig. 672).—You begin with the coarse thread and finish all the wheels first, making them each over 4 threads of the netting; then with the fine thread, you make loop stitches between them, in rows, as shown in figs. 641 and 642.
GROUND WORKED IN DARNING AND LOOP STITCH (fig. 673).—The darning stitches are made in the coarse thread, over 4 squares of the netting, in a horizontal direction, with loop stitches, in the fine thread, made between them, over the same number of squares.
GROUND WORKED IN TWO SIZES OF THREAD (fig. 674).—Carry the coarse thread, from right to left, under the first knot of the netting, and then under the next, from left to right. This has to be done twice, to and fro, so that the squares of the netting are edged on both sides with a double layer of threads.
When the whole foundation has been thus covered, take the fine thread and make loop stitches in the squares between the other rows of stitches, passing the needle for that purpose over the double stitch. Lastly, intersect the loop stitches with straight threads and pass the needle each time through the knot of the netting.
GROUND WORKED WITH CROSS STITCHES IN ONE SIZE OF THREAD (fig. 675).—This pattern, very like the foregoing one, consists of 3 diagonal rows of stitches, worked to and fro, with cross stitches made over them.
You may also begin with the cross stitches, in the fine thread, and work the triple stitches over them, in the coarse.
GROUND WORKED WITH DARNING AND CORD STITCHES (fig. 676).—Patterns, executed chiefly in darning stitches, in a comparatively coarse thread, present a closer and heavier appearance than those we have been describing. Here, every other square of the netting is filled, as closely as possible, with stitches; the empty squares between are intersected diagonally with corded threads.
GROUND WORKED WITH SQUARES AND WHEELS (figs. 677, 678, 679).—A ground very often met with in old embroidered netting, consists of diagonal lines of squares, closely filled with darning stitches, alternating with diagonal lines of squares, each with a small wheel in the middle.
In fig. 678, the darning stitches, and the wheels, which are both worked with the same material, cover 4 squares of the netting.
Larger expanses of netting may also be entirely filled with wheels, fig. 679. To make a really satisfactory grounding of this kind, you should be careful always to carry your thread over the bars of the netting and under the threads that are stretched diagonally across.
GROUND WORKED IN CROSS AND DARNING STITCH (fig. 680).—You begin, as before, by making the close darning stitches, and then proceed to the cross stitches. To give them the right shape, finish all the rows of stitches one way first; in the subsequent rows, that cross the first ones, you introduce the thread between the stitches that were first crossed.
GROUND OF GEOMETRICAL FIGURES (fig. 681).—This pattern, quite different from all the others, consists of simple geometrical lines. Fasten the thread to a knot of the netting, then carry it, always diagonally, under 3 other knots and repeat this 3 times, after which, carry it once round the bar of the netting, to fasten it, and back again to the knot which it already encircles, and from thence begin a new square. Owing to your having always to bring the thread back to the knot whence the next square is to begin, you will have 4 threads on two of the sides and 6 on the two others.
In the second and subsequent rows, the needle has to pass twice under the angles that were first formed, in order that, over the whole surface, all the corners may be equally covered and connected.
NETTED INSERTION WORKED IN PLAIN DARNING STITCH (fig. 682).—The taste for ornamenting not only curtains but bed and table linen also, with lace and insertion of all kinds, to break the monotony of the large white surfaces, is becoming more and more general and the insertion here described will be welcome to such of our readers as have neither time nor patience for work of a more elaborate nature.
The way to make straight netting has already been fully described in figs. 625, 626, 627, 628, 629 and 630, and darning stitch in fig. 637.
To those who wish to be saved the trouble of making the netting themselves, we can strongly recommend various fabrics, intended to take its place, more especially Filet Canevas, which is an exact imitation of the finest hand-made netting. The centre part of the pattern in fig. 682, is worked in rows of horizontal darning stitches, the narrow border in vertical ones.
GROUND OF NETTING EMBROIDERED (fig. 683).—We have already had occasion, in the foregoing explanations, to point out the advantage of embroidering with two sizes of thread, but it is only in a piece of work of a certain size that it is possible really to judge of the excellent effect produced by the use of two threads of different sizes.