in crewels or silk should be washed in bran water, and well rinsed.
Many recommend washing silks before working. To do this they should be cut into lengths and boiled in soft water for five minutes, then skimmed out on to a soft towel to dry; sufficient crewels or silks should be purchased to last through the work as it is often extremely difficult to match the shades exactly.
A very pretty "all over" design for a chair-back or tidy is shown in Fig. 17. It can be worked in outline on a darned background or in filled in embroidery.
Fig. 17.
But few patterns are given in this chapter for the reason that the space is too limited to give working designs, and new patterns ready for working are so easily procured. Originality is a great beauty in such designs, and when they are met with in a manual, the eye soon becomes weary of them.
Perforated patterns with the materials for stamping can now be bought for a mere trifle, and the work done from them will prove more satisfactory than when your design stares you constantly in the face from the pages of a book.
HOLBEIN STITCH, POINT RUSSE, TICKING WORK, ETC.
Holbein stitch, so called because this style of ornament is found in Holbein's painting, is in reality only
Fig. 18.
a modification of true Point Russe, the latter name having, however, been applied to a quickly executed and sketchy kind of work. In what is generally called Point Russe, the patterns are all designed to suit the stitch, that is, they have sharp and frequent angles. To work it, bring the needle up from the back of the work at one end of a line, and put it through to the back at the other end. The whole design is thus worked in straight lines. If a line is too long to work neatly with a single stitch,
Fig. 19.
divide it into two or three equal lengths and work each division as a single line.
The peculiarity of all the real Point Russe is that it presents the same appearance on both sides of the work, which makes it a very useful stitch for decorating towels, and other objects which are seen from both sides. Designs for Holbein stitch must always be arranged as for cross stitch, and if worked on material in which counting the stitches is difficult or impossible, must be worked over canvas basted on the material. The principle on which this stitch is worked, is that of working over two threads and under the two following, reversing the arrangement as you come back. Sometimes the design is worked so as to present the effect of ordinary cross stitch, sometimes the stitch follows the outlines of a small square. The designs (Figs. 18-20)
Fig. 20.
show in what direction these stitches are to be taken, but the principle is always the same; where the thread comes on the right side in the first working, it must be on the wrong side in returning.
Strong reds and blues are the most appropriate colors for this work, black being' sometimes combined with them. Any good cross stitch border will give a pattern, and as the work is done over threads no stamping is needed. Holbein stitch is generally used in connection with drawn work. In fine material baste a piece of canvas on, and work over it, drawing out the threads when the work is completed.
RAILWAY STITCH.
Designs for this stitch should always be of small flowers and leaves, such as daisies, etc., arranged in detached sprays. Trace them lightly. Commence to work from centre; and make each petal with one stitch. Bring the needle up from the back and put in close to where it came out, holding thread down with left hand, and bringing it out at the point of the petal. Draw up, making a long loop held in centre by the drawn up thread. Put the needle down again just outside the loop, thus making a very small stitch at the end of the petal: run the needle out at the middle of the flower, and repeat. Finish the centre with French knots or button-hole stitch, or pierce with a stiletto. The leaves should be made with a single railway stitch. Fig. 21 shows the manner of working this stitch in connection
Fig. 21.
with herring-bone. The centre of the flower is worked in French knots.
A SHOE BAG.
Cut two pieces of ticking, one seventeen and a hall inches long by fifteen wide, the other eleven inches long by twenty wide. On the longest piece, which is the back of the bag, the braid need only be put on for seven or eight inches, as the longer part is hidden by the front piece. Having stitched on red braid on the alternate white stripes, work the uncovered white stripes with fancy stitches, arranging the colors as follows:— First, yellow; second, brown; third, green; fourth, brown; fifth-yellow; sixth, blue. Now begin again with yellow, and repeat the colors in the same order.
Work the stripes in herring-bone, feather, and other fancy stitches. Bind the top of the short piece with braid, and stitch a piece of braid across the bottom of the work on the longer piece to conceal the raw edges of the work. Divide each piece into three equal parts, and baste the front to the back at these divisions, stitching them firmly down. Then lay the fulness thus formed into three box-plaits, forming three pockets, and baste the bottom edges together. Bind the whole bag round with braid, and make three loops by which to hang it up.
Handsome chair and table-covers, bracket and mantel draperies, can be made of ticking by using narrow velvet and embroidery silk instead of braid and worsted. For a table cover, work a square piece for the centre. The border should be worked in long strips, each as long as the side of the centre piece, and twice the width of the strip over. Sew the long strips to the centre piece, letting it project an equal distance at either end. Baste the corners together with a slanting seam, which will make the border fit perfectly smooth. Cut away the superfluous cloth and stitch the seams firmly; cover the joining of the border to the centre with velvet, and finish the edge with a chenille fringe, or with a row of velvet.
Catch-all bags made of four pieces, square at the upper end, and cut to a point at the bottom, are very useful hung near a sewing machine. They should be finished with a tassel from the point at the bottom, and kept open by a piece of rattan or wire run into a sheathing at the top.
Fig. 22 gives a good idea of the plainer kind of ticking work. Where the stripes to be worked are wide enough
Fig. 22.
flowers worked in railway stitch may be used. Some of the French tickings come in stripes of varying width. A few stitches useful in this work are here described.
Tête de Bœuf—is so named from its fancied resemblance to a cow's head with the horns attached. To work it mark very lightly a line down the centre of the stripe, or run a basting thread to mark it. Make two slanting stitches meeting at the bottom on the central line. Bring out your needle (after putting it through to the back in making the second slanting stitch), near the bottom of the left hand stitch and on the upper side. Holding your thread as if making a chain stitch, put your needle in at the same position on the right hand side, and bring it to the front again on the central line about one quarter of an inch below the slanting stitches. Put your needle to the back of the work just below the chain stitch, thus holding it in position. Repeat this stitch at regular intervals.