Another stitch for working narrow leaves is shown in Fig. 14. It has, like Janina stitch, a formal look, and should be chiefly used for conventional designs.
Fig. 14.
In working the different stitches so far described it will sometimes be found that the work is puckered or drawn. This is particularly liable to be the case with beginners. In some cases it will be sufficient to cover the right side with a clean cloth, and then stretch it tightly right side down by means of pins on a table; and then thoroughly dampen it on the wrong side. If very badly wrinkled, it may be advisable to pass a hot flat-iron rapidly over the wrong side. Of course, care must be taken to only dampen, not wet, the material. I have generally found it most satisfactory to wring a thin cloth very tightly out of clear water and pin it over the wrong side of the work. If an iron is used great care must be taken not to have it too hot, so as to scorch the work.
Couching or laid embroidery is chiefly used for ecclesiastical or conventional designs, and must be worked in a frame. The leaf or petal is first covered with lines resembling satin stitch, but lying almost entirely on the right side. Over this, lines are laid at regular intervals and caught down by a few small stitches from the back.
Couching can be varied in many ways, either by laying the couching lines at different angles, or omitting them altogether; the fastening threads can be made to form numerous figures, such as diamonds, squares, zig-zags, etc. This is called diaper couching. Gold thread is used with great effect in this style of work. When the couching lines are made of a heavy material, such as cord, ribbon, or coarse wools, a stiletto must be used to make the holes through which the lines are taken to the back of the work.
Couching must always be done in a frame. Convenient patented frames can be procured in many cities, but very satisfactory ones are made of four pieces of wood fastened together at the corners by pegs. The work is fastened to the end pieces by sewing it to strong linen securely attached to the wood. These end pieces are then fastened in place by means of the pegs, and the sides of the work tightly and evenly fastened to the side pieces of the frame. The work must be very tightly stretched or it will soon become difficult to work it nicely. Should the material be too light to admit of stretching it firmly, stretch a piece of strong linen, and pin the work firmly on it. Both hands are employed when working in a frame, one above and the other below the work, and practise will enable you to work with either. Care should be taken to keep the frame in such a position that the worker will not be obliged to stoop.
Very much of the beauty of all varieties of embroidery depends on the harmonious arrangement of the colors, and this cannot be taught in any manual. To some, the color sense seems utterly, or in large part, wanting. Such can only copy. But with many a few hints will start them on the right road. In embroidery, the coloring must always be largely modified by the surroundings of the design, the background, etc. While the design should always be so far conventionalized as to be perfectly flat, the colors must often be still further conventionalized. The following remarks from the Art Interchange Manual on "Filled in Embroidery," will prove suggestive:—
"In coloring in decorative embroidery, unity and harmony are more desirable than contrast. For a beginner especially, unity should be the aim; contrasts are very fine, but they can only be correctly carried out by those who are skilful with the needle, and who have a natural talent for, or have had experience in, the use of colors. It is better to begin with two shades, and to use those correctly, than to attempt the mixture of a variety of shades and hues."
"There can be as well defined unity in coloring as in designing an ornamental pattern. One scheme of color can run through an entire design. As a flower or leaf in the drawing is taken as a centre around which others cluster, so a color can be selected as the central point to which all the shades must relate. To follow out this idea, we will suppose curtains are to be made of a peacock blue fabric. Blue in this case would be the ruling color, and all the greens used in working on it must be bluish in hue; if a flower be added to the pattern, it must represent the primary in its purity, and no colors formed of red or yellow must be introduced. If maroon is the ground tone, the greens must have a russet hue, and the flower must be red. This method of coloring is capable of varied and exquisite treatment."
When a closer imitation of nature is attempted, the natural colors must be used in working them, and great care must be exercised in choosing a background, as carelessness in this respect may ruin a piece of work otherwise well designed and wrought out. A friend, wishing to ornament a dark blue flannel dress inexpensively, bethought her of working a simple design in crewels on revers and cuffs. She worked a small flower in orange shades, and the result was—well, the reverse of refined; substituting shades of dark red, her embroidery became an ornament, as it was intended to be, instead of attracting the eye by its "loudness." The authority already quoted says on the subject of a background:—
"There are a few other facts in the science of color which can be an assistance in the selection of a background. We are told that no 'one color can be viewed by the eye without another being created.' This is because the eye requires that all three primaries should be present; and, when this is not the case, it will of itself supply the deficiency. To exemplify this, let us suppose we worked a blue pattern on a neutral gray ground. The eye, in looking at it, would create the missing red and yellow; and as these in combination form orange, the grayish ground would have an orange hue. This is an important fact, and inattention to it will result in very serious defects. We often wonder why a piece of work which has for its foundation color black, looks rusty or dingy, when we may have taken great pains to select a rich, perfect black. The reason is, that if the design is worked in blue, orange is reflected on the black; if in red, a greenish hue is given; and in yellow, a purplish hue is the result. This difficulty is obviated by selecting for the ground work a dark shade of the same color as the pattern; and when this is almost invisible, its color becomes neutralized by the tints thrown upon it, and it gives the effect of black. When the pattern is variegated in color, this difficulty will not occur."
Great care must be used in working designs containing different colored flowers, to choose such as will harmonize with each other. The greens of the leaves also must be selected with regard to both the background and the colors used for the flowers. Thus, yellow and blue flowers should have the leaves worked in russets and brown-greens.
In shading, as has been intimated, no attempt should be made to give a rounded or realistic representation of the flower used in the design, but merely an indication of the varied shades of color, as in the rose for instance, which often varies from a deep pink to so delicate a tint that it is almost white. Great care must be taken to have whatever shading is employed, worked so that in no place can the point where one shade begins and another ends be perceived. In this matter everything depends on the skill and taste of the worker.
It is well in beginning such work to undertake only small pieces, such as chair backs, table scarfs, etc., so that discouragement may be avoided, and failures may not be so disastrous. But to a skilful and persevering worker it is well worth while to put the time and pains into one large piece of work, which is often frittered away on a vast number of smaller undertakings. The work is so durable, in fact improves so with age, the colors becoming mellow with time, that an enthusiastic work-woman may well feel she is working for posterity, as she bends over her portière, screen or curtain.
For convenience sake borders are often worked in strips, and afterwards applied to the foundation. In this case a number of fancy stitches are often employed, not only to conceal the line of junction, but also to emphasize the design or to bring into harmony the two colors of the strip and the real foundation. Several of these stitches are described later on, and many more can be found by carefully noticing borders on embroideries, china, or any other decorative work. Herringbone and coral stitch are both used for this purpose. Mrs. Glaister says concerning these stitches:
"A great deal of the finished effect of all decorative needle-work depends on the apparently unimportant lines and borders with which the patterns are bounded and kept together—often they have to be put in after the work is otherwise finished; a thick