Date: Sunday f 20, 2012
Embroidery Materials
Embroidery is not among the things which have to be done, and must be done, therefore, as best one can do them. It is in the nature of a superfluity, the excuse for it is that it is beautiful. It is not worth doing unless it is done well, and in material worth the work done on it. If you are going to spend the time you must spend to do good work, it is worth while using good stuff, foolish to use anything else.
The stuff need not be costly, but it should be the best of its kind, and it should be chosen with reference to the work to be done on it, and vice versa. A mean ground-stuff suggests, if it does not necessitate, its being embroidered all over, ground-work as well as pattern, a worthier one, that it should not be hidden altogether from view, a really beautiful one, that enough of it should be left bare of ornament that its quality may be appreciated.
STUFFS.
It goes without saying, that for big, bold stitching a proportionately coarse ground-stuff should be used, and for delicate work, one of finer texture, whether it be linen, woollen cloth, or silk, your purpose will determine.
Linen is a worthy ground-stuff, which may be worked on with flax thread, crewel, or silk, but they should not be mixed. Cotton is hardly worth embroidering. Of woollen stuffs, good plain cloth is an excellent ground for work in wool or silk, but it is not pleasant to the touch in working. Serge, if not too loose, may serve for curtains and the like, but it is not so well worth working upon. Felt is beneath contempt.
The nobler the material, the more essential it is that it should be of the best. Poor satin is not "good enough to work on," it looks poorer than ever when it is embroidered.
Satin should be stretched upon the frame the way of the stuff, and it should not be forgotten that it has a right and a wrong way up. If it is backed, the linen should be fine and smooth, on a coarse backing, the satin gets quickly worn away, as you may see in many a piece of old work that has gone ragged.
"Roman satin" and what is called "satin de luxe" (perhaps because it is not so luxurious as it pretends to be) are effective ground-stuffs easy to work upon, but there is an odour of pretence about satin-faced cotton.
A corded silk is not good to embroider, the work on it looks hard, but a close twill answers very well. Silk damask makes an admirable ground beautifully broken in colour, if only it is simple and broad enough in pattern. Generally speaking, you can hardly choose a design too big and flat, but something depends upon the work to be done on it. In any case, the pattern of the damask ought not to assert itself, and if you can't make out its details, so much the better.
Brocade asserts itself too much to form a good background. There is a practice of embroidering the outlines, or certain details only, of damask and brocade patterns. That is a fair way of further enriching a rich stuff, but it is embroidery merely in the sense that it is literally embroidered, the needlework is only supplementary to weaving.
Tussah silk of the finer sort is easy to work in the hand. The thinner and looser quality needs to be worked in a frame, and with smooth silk not tightly twisted.
THREAD.
With regard to the thread to work with, The coarser kinds of flax are best waxed before using. The crewel to be preferred is that not too tightly twisted. Filoselle is well adapted to couching, and may be laid double (24 threads). French floss is smooth, and does well for laid work, for fine work bobbin floss, or what is called "church floss," is better, the slight twist in filo-floss is against it, very thick floss may be used for French knots.
For couching gold, a very fine twisted silk does well. Purse silk, thick and twisted, lends itself perfectly to basket work. Working in coloured silks, one should take advantage of the quality of pure transparent colour which silk takes in the dyeing. The palette of the embroiderer in silk is superlatively rich.
GOLD.
The purest gold is generally made on a foundation of red silk. Japanese gold does not tarnish so readily as "passing," which is in some respects superior to it. For stitching through, there is a finer thread, called "tambour." Flat gold wire is known by the name of "plate," and various twisted threads by the name of "purl."
CHENILLE.
A not very promising substance to embroider with is chenille. It came into use in the latter half of the 17th century, and was still in fashion in the time of Marie Antoinette. The use of it is shown, where the darker touches of the roses are worked in it. Chenille seems to have been used instead of smooth silk, much as in certain old-fashioned water-colour paintings gum was used with the paint, or over it, to deepen the shadows. The material is used again in the wreath. It is worked there in chain-stitch with the tambour needle,
it may also be worked in satin-stitch, but the more obvious way of using it is to couch it, cord by cord, with fine silk thread. There is this against chenille, that its texture is not sympathetic to the touch, and that there is a stuffy look about it always. Nor does it seem ever quite to belong to the smooth satin ground on which it is worked.
SHADED SILK.
There is less objection to embroidery in ribbon, which also had its day in the 18th century. It was very much the fashion for court dresses under Louis Seize "Broderie de faveur," as it was called, whence our "lady's favour" faveur being a narrow ribbon. Some beautiful work of its kind was done in ribbon, sometimes shaded. Shaded silk, by the way, may be used to artistic purpose.
There is, for example, in the treasury of Seville Cathedral a piece of work on velvet, 13th century, it is said, rather Persian in character, in which the forms of certain nondescript animals are at first sight puzzlingly prismatic in colour. They turn out to be roughly worked in short stitches of parti-coloured silk thread. The result is not altogether beautiful, but it is extremely suggestive.
RIBBON.
The effect of ribbon work is happiest when it is not sewn through the stuff after the manner of satin stitch, but lies on the surface of the satin ground, and is only just caught down at the ends of the loops which go to make leaves and petals. The twist of the ribbon where it turns gives interest to the surface of the embroidery, which is always more or less in relief upon the stuff, easy to crush, and of limited use therefore.
94. LEATHER APPLIQUE UPON VELVET.
An effect of ribbon work, but of a harder kind, was produced by onlaying narrow strips of card or parchment upon a silken ground, twisted about after the fashion of ribbon. These, having been stitched in place, were worked over in satin-stitch. The work has the merit of looking just like what it is. But neither it nor ribbon embroidery is of any very serious account.
Passing reference has been made to other materials to embroider with than thread. Gold wire, for example, and spangles, coral and pearls, which have been used with admirable discretion, as well as to vulgar purpose. Jewels also were lavished upon the embroidery of bishops' mitres, gloves and other significant apparel, and in default of real stones, imitations in glass, and eventually beads (or pearls) of glass, in which we have possibly the origin of knots. Bead embroidery is at least as old as ancient Egypt.
Even atoms of looking-glass, sewn round with silk, have been used to really beautiful effect (barbaric though it may be) in Indian work. The question almost occurs, with what can one not embroider. In Madras they produce most brilliant embroidery upon muslin with the cases of beetles' wings. In the Mauritius they use fish-scales, in North America, porcupine quills, and everywhere savage tribes use seeds, shells, feathers, and the teeth and claws of animals.
To return to more civilised work, there is embroidery in gold and silver wire, allied to the art of the goldsmith, and on leather, allied to the art of the saddler. It would be difficult to set any limit to the directions in which embroidery may branch out, impossible to describe them all. Happily, it is not necessary. A skilled worker adapts herself to new conditions, and the conditions themselves dictate the necessary modification of the familiar way.
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