Braising

“ Two or three fastening off stitches should be worked when each circle, half circle, or rounded curve of a pattern is finished, as the drawing or gathering thread remains in the work, and forms an important, though unseen, part of its structure.
As much of the beauty of point lace depends upon the manner of placing the braid, ladies cannot bestow too much pains upon this part of the work, which is a little troublesome to beginners. Many fancy shops now undertake this braid-placing for ladies, who can have their own pattern braided and commenced or braided alone at trifling expense. ”

“ The braiding of the sleeve and collar is not such a difficult matter as was formerly the case, but it will be found an advantage to have the sleeve seam sewn and pressed open before any braiding is attempted. Whatever the pattern of braiding to be followed, care should be taken to have it as correct as possible, when putting on braid or cord, special care must be taken not to get it on short. For pressing gold lace the iron used should be moderately cool, a piece of cloth should be put over the lace to be pressed, and a piece of lining put on top of the cloth. ”

“ Braiding makes a very effective trimming and the work goes quickly so that even when deep bandings are in fashion one can have a handsome costume with a comparatively small amount of work and expense. All the newest and smartest transfer designs for braiding will be found in NEEDLE-ART while the DELINEATOR and BUTTERICK FASHIONS show the correct use of braid trimmings whenever they are in style. ”

“ The outlines of any design in Point Lace are made in braid of various sorts, in thread, or sometimes in linen. The braid used is either French linen or cotton braid, or that now known as Italian braid. French braid is a simple plait, more or less wide; Italian braid is, in fact, a pillow lace insertion, somewhat resembling a tape, but with edges like those seen in all other pillow lace. It enters very much into the composition of Venetian and other valuable Italian lace, whence the name Italian braid has been given to it. ”

“ Braid is always a favourite style of ornamentation with the high-class ladies' tailor; and, when nicely done and the braid of good quality, it needs nothing else to stamp the garment as a high-class production. Braid is generally arranged on symmetrical designs, that is, the one side is an exact repetition of the other, only in reverse. When the ladies' tailor has to braid a skirt, he either has to get a ready prepared design that can be transferred to the material with a hot iron, or has to design one himself, which, if he has any idea of drawing, is a very easy operation. ”

“ TO PLACE THE BRAID.--No. 442 shows the design traced upon paper or tracing cloth, and lightly tacked to a foundation of leather or toile cirée. Run on a straight line of braid for the lower edge, with fine stitches, working as shown from left to right. Take another piece of braid, or the other end of the same piece, and begin to lay the braid by "running" stitches in its centre, keeping it as smooth and even as possible. The outer edge presents no difficulty, but the inner edge will not lie evenly without being drawn in by a needle and thread, as follows:--Thread a No. ”

“ Braiding should always be done with a strand of the silk of which the braid is made. Before beginning, cut off a yard of the braid and draw out the threads for sewing with. Thread the end of the braid on a large darning-needle, and draw it through the silk to the wrong side for the commencement, and do the same at every necessary break, sending the ends down. Run the braid on very smoothly, taking the stitches across it slanting and cut along the centre, as is usually done. The braid should lie perfectly flat, and the edges be smooth and even. ”

“ Another cross-stitch design
A very simple thing to do is to braid a dress for yourself. Now that all the large pattern houses are carrying transfer patterns you can get a design [107] for braiding very cheap. A little girl I know braided a dress for herself and one for her mother last summer. She used light blue chambray and braided it with white. There are several kinds of braid, but the easiest to use is soutache, whether it is cotton or silk. It is a flat braid and varies in width from one to three eighths of an inch. ”

“ She was silent. She had not looked at me while she spoke.
"May I lift your braid?" I asked her. "What a lovely braid—how very beautiful it is!"
"My friend has kissed it," she said, and pushed back my hand.
"Forgive me," I said then, and my heart pounded more and more. "May I not look at your ring—it shines so golden and is also so very beautiful. I should like to look at it and admire it for your sake." ”

“ The girls very frequently use the braids to make circular or other shaped mats. They also braid rags and make rugs of them. Hay, grass, clover stems, or varied colored strings are braided and from these are made necklaces, watch chains, bracelets, or rings; corn husks and silks are braided and used for doll's hair. The boys use the braided cord, grass, straw, leather, or willow bark, for harness, whips, fish nets, swings, to make bows or as belts for machines. Boys have a greater interest in saving string and when they find a cord of any kind it usually finds its way into their pockets. ”

“ After you have the small braids all completed and prepared, as required in the explanation, sew them together at one end, so they all lie smooth and flat, then divide them off in twos, using each two as one strand, and plait them together; commence at the right side, take one strand at a time, and lift over one and under two till you get to the center, then commence on the left side and braid the same way, and so on till finished. Then sew the ends well, trim them, and put on a little shellac to fasten them in the clasps. ”

“ Cluny pattern
Group A.—Cluny laces demand great ingenuity in execution. The most simple are made entirely by braiding in such a way as to produce an effect of interlacing (sketch y.) . The braids are formed of four threads; when the interlacing is more important they become more complicated. At times the braids group themselves to form the flat surface or toile which later will resolve again into braids. ”

“ Great care and patience must be exercised in covering a hat with straw braid. The lines which are to be emphasized should be carefully studied, as there are several methods used in laying the braid on the frames. (See illustration.)
The stitch used for sewing braid is always the same—a very short stitch on the right side, and a stitch one-quarter of an inch long on the wrong side. The thread must not be pulled too tight, or the position of the stitches may be seen; also always match the thread to the straw. ”

“ The Nos. 1 and 2 are for braiding chains over—the No. 1 for small chains, and the No. 2 for large sizes. No. 3 is used for braiding tight or open work braids, of from thirty to forty strands. No. 4 is used for the same braids, with from forty to sixty strands in a braid. The mold may be made any length, to accommodate the work.
[131]
The above cuts show the size of forms used for tight or open work braids. ”

“ These are not so often used in tailoring, still we do occasionally see garments braided without any apparent design—a sort of higgledy-piggledy arrangement, but in the midst of this disorder, these must be order introduced, if it is to become ornament: thus the outline of the braiding must be clearly defined, either by a border limiting its outline. In nature we frequently find a fine disorder which produces a beautiful effect, but the charm which nature throws over her works by careless foliage of trees, the dasies in the field, the stars in the heavens, cannot be reproduced in costume. ”

“ Sometimes a contrasting color is used for the small stitches, as black mercerized embroidery cotton to catch down a light blue heavier cotton. This combination would be effective on a linen dress.
Fig. (7) The position of the needle in couching
Braiding: Flat black silk, military braid is used on woolens. Stitch the braid on as shown in Fig. 8. Soutache braid is often stitched on in a plaid design at the lower edge of a skirt. (See Fig. 9.) ”

“ Select any article you may wish to make, and by referring to the patterns, you can easily find the style and directions whereby to braid it. We might have given twice the number of patterns, or even more, but any person can, after a little experience, readily invent new and different styles of braids, and by so doing, each can satisfy their own peculiar taste. ”

“ This being assured, arrange a braid or cross-bar of material round the outer part; tack it at the outer edge with bright-coloured wool on to the paper foundation, then adjust the bars and panels, allowing the ends of the braids to slip under the outer braid. Circles or squares of ribbon, velvet, or tinsel, placed in the most important parts and tied to the outer edges with lines of braid or ribbon, which, in turn, might be connected with open stitchery, fork-pin insertion (Fig. 73) , or some small beads, are very pretty. All give scope for individual taste and ingenuity in colour and material. ”

“ The braiding is done in the same way as that described for the leash, beginning with the upper right strand. (Fig. 16.)
When only one foot of lacing is left, form the loop of the lanyard by folding the braid back as in figure 41. Cross the two lower strands behind the main braid (Fig. 42) , and finish with the square or spiral braid and the lock knot as described for the leash. If you wish the square braid to slip along the lanyard, braid it loosely.
The alternative pattern shown is made by arranging the strands at the start as in figure 43.
Fig. 40
Fig. ”

“ To make: 1. Cut 12′′ middy braid. Fold in half and roll raw ends around pearl and continue rolling braid on itself to form disk, place pin thru end and pearl to hold. Hand tack securely. Repeat for other motifs.
2. Hand tack circles together in form of cross with braid ends to inside.
3. Cut 11′′ middy braid. Fold in half and glue together. Starting between side disks bury raw ends and glue braid around entire outside curving to fit entire shape. Pull up 1′′ of braid at top to form loop and hand tack. Continue gluing to end. Insert chain into loop. ”

“ Embroidery stitches can be made use of for couching down other threads; a bunch of threads may be laid upon the material, and an open chain, buttonhole, or feather stitch worked over in order to fix it in place.
Fig. 89.
Braid work is quickly and easily executed; it needs only a suitable pattern and a pretty braid for couching down to be most successful. There are a few points to be observed about the technique—the cut edge of a braid is awkward to manage, for it must, with a special needle, be taken through to the back of the material and there made secure and flat ”

“ The square foot of glass where Jess sat in her chair
and looked down the brae.
Ah, that brae! The history of tragic little Thrums is sunk into it like the stones it swallows in the winter. We have all found the brae long and steep in the spring of life. Do you remember how the child you once were sat at the foot of it and wondered if a new world began at the top? It climbs from a shallow burn, and we used to sit on the brig a long time before venturing to climb. As boys we ran up the brae. As men and women, young and in our prime, we almost forgot that it was there. ”

“ A very pretty design for insertion is here given. The braid may be basted as seen in the picture, and then the bars may be made of single threads, and of single threads over-wrought with button-hole stitches. Or, any of the bars or other stitches described, may be used to connect the braid and fill in the spaces. Tiny "spiders" are already used to fill in the circles. ”

“ A braid was long enough to reach from the thigh around under the foot and up again to the other side of the thigh. A husker would try the newly made braid with his foot as he held the ends in his hands. Unless this was done a weak place in the string might escape notice and the braid break, and all the others would then laugh.
“Small ears were tossed into one place. ”

“ The execution is extremely easy, it being worked entirely in darning stitch; but the drawing should be copied with great accuracy and the wide braid very carefully sewn on with close stitches round the squares, which are filled in with darning stitches made in Ganse turque No. 12.
Any netting pattern can be copied in this braid, and the simplest piece of work of the kind is worth mounting on a rich foundation of silk, brocade, velvet or plush. To give a single example, the insertion here described and illustrated, was mounted on slate-blue plush and has been universally admired. ”

“ After the braid has been made it can be sewed together for a mat. In joining a strand insert the new piece so that it extends a little beyond the braid. If a long braid is desired it is best to have the strands of different lengths so that the joinings will not be all in one place (Figure 225) .
When braiding or weaving with rags cut the strips about three quarters of an inch wide. Old rags can be used for this, cutting out the weak parts. Cheap cotton fabrics when new make excellent mats.
Weaving on frames is very interesting and not such a difficult task as you imagine. ”