Broidery

“ Here we take a peep at the private female life in ages gone by, and learn how women, high-born and lowly, spent or rather ennobled many a day of life in needlework, not merely graceful but artistic. Here, in fine, in strict accordance with the intended industrial purposes of this public institution, artizans, designers, and workers in all kinds of embroidery, may gather many an useful lesson for their respective crafts, in the rare as well as beautiful samples set out before them. ”

“ In recording the changes in the style and purposes of embroidery, from the days of homespun and home-dyed crewel to the almost living flowers wrought with lustrous flosses upon breadths of satin which were the best of the world's manufacture, one unconsciously traverses the ground of domestic and political history, from the days of the Pilgrims to the pomp of colonial courts. ”

“ The garments worn by high personages in the embroidery, and meant to imitate a golden textile, were done in gold passing sometimes by itself, sometimes with coloured silk thread laid down alternately aside it, so as to lend a tinge of green, crimson, pink, or blue, to the imagined tissue of the robe, as if it were made of a golden stuff shot with the adopted tint. ”

“ She was reared with her father and mother in honour and indulgence and learnt rhetoric and penmanship and arithmetic and cavalarice and all manner crafts, such as broidery and sewing and weaving and girdle-making and silk-cord making and damascening gold on silver and silver on gold, brief all the arts both of men and women, till she became the union-pearl of her time and the unique gem of her age and day. ”

“ To a careful student each small difference [5] in the art tells its own story in its own language. The hammered gold of Eastern embroidery tells not only of the riches of available material, but of the habit of personal preparation, instead of the mechanical. The little Bible description of captured "needlework alike on both sides" speaks unmistakably of the method of their stitchery, a cross-stitch of colored threads, which is even now the only method of stitch "alike on both sides." ”

“ There was in every piece of embroidery done under the instruction of the accomplished and devoted Sisters certain virtues, certain effects of conscientious and patient work, mingled with the love of good and beautiful art, which were plainly visible. It had in all its flower pieces, and they were many, the quality of beautiful charm. The ministry of nature may have had something to do with this, since the lives of the executants were open to its influences. ”

“ To embroider is to work on something: a groundwork is presupposed. And we usually understand by embroidery, needlework in thread (it may be wool, cotton, linen, silk, gold, no matter what) upon a textile material, no matter what. In short, it is the decoration of a material woven in thread by means still of thread. It is thus the consistent way of ornamenting stuff—most consistent of all when one kind of thread is employed throughout, as in the case of linen upon linen, silk upon silk. ”

“ Scarce fifty years since, an expiring relic of this art might be sometimes seen on the white smock-frock of the English labourer, which, independent of elaborate stitching, was enriched with an insertion of cut-work, running from the collar to the shoulder crossways, like that we see decorating the surplices of the sixteenth century.
Drawn-thread embroidery is another cognate work. The material in old drawn-work is usually loosely-woven linen. Certain threads were drawn out from the linen ground, and others left, upon and between which needlework was made. ”

“ The Moravian teaching and practice spread the principles of needlework art so widely that it developed in many different directions. The wonderful silk embroidery applied to flowers was, like the arts of drawing and painting, capable of being used in copying all forms of beauty. ”

“ Fine embroidery was to New England women and girls a delight. The Indians at an early day called the English women "lazie Squaes" when they saw the latter embroidering coifs instead of digging in the fields. Mr. Brownell, the Boston schoolmaster in 1716, taught "Young Gentle Women and Children all sorts of Fine Works as Feather works, Filigree, and Painting on Glass, Embroidering a new Way, Turkey-work for Handkerchiefs two new Ways, fine new Fashion purses, flourishing and plain Work." ”

“ Many of the charming pieces of embroidery stored up in our museums give us an idea of what can be done in this way, and though we lack, perhaps, both time and patience nowadays, there is no reason why we should not, by cultivation of our tastes, raise the level of the art considerably above its present standard and [Pg 25] prove that we can still produce embroidery—of the modest, reticent type—adapted to our own conditions of life, which will reveal both refinement and artistic delight. ”

“ Nothing can exceed the exquisite beauty of the embroidery on cambric and lace executed by some of the peasant women, and which comes from their skilful fingers so perfectly white and pure that it is fit for the wear of a princess the moment it is freed from the paper on which the design had been traced, and over which it had been worked. ”

“ Our mediæval countrywomen were so quick at the needle that they could make their embroidery look as if it had been done in the loom—really woven. Not long ago, a shred of crimson cendal, figured in gold and silver thread with a knight on horseback, armed as of the latter time of Edward I., was shown us. At the moment we took the mounted warrior to have been, not hand-worked, but woven, so flat, so even was every thread. ”

“ Embroidery Wools.—Wools and yarns, particularly the types known as fingering, in three, four, and five-ply, are reliable both in colour and quality. It is always advisable to shrink wools before using them for [Pg 10] embroidery if they are to be applied to articles which require frequent washing. Crewel and tapestry wools, to be had in hanks, “white heather” mending in balls, are very convenient for needle-weaving and canvas work, and they may be had in beautiful colours. ”

“ It is almost a depressing sight to watch these embroiderers at work—so different are they from the happy boisterous metal-workers talking and laughing amid the clanging of their little hammers. They are sad and silent. You will be in a roomful of these people for perhaps a whole morning, and not one of them will utter a word. They work on and on, with heads bent down, picking up thread after thread of the one piece of embroidery that they have been constantly working on for months, or perhaps for years. ”

“ When I saw, at the World's Columbian Exposition, the napery of the world, wrought by all races of women, I was delighted to see that the line of linen embroidery which was the direction of the common effort did not in the least surpass the work sent by the Decorative Art societies of most of our American cities. ”

“ Embroidery as an art, as we have already seen, antedates silk weaving. The youngest of the three arts is tapestry. The oldest embroidery stitches are: "the feather stitch," so called because they all took one direction, the stitches over-lapping, like the feathers of a bird; and "cross-stitch" or "cushion" style, because used on church cushions, made for kneeling when at prayer or to hold the Mass book. ”

“ In the practice of embroidery the needlewoman has an advantage not now shared by workers in any other craft, in that the technical processes are almost a matter of inherited skill. Every woman can sew, and it is with little more than the needle and thread, which she habitually employs, that the greatest masterpieces of the art have been stitched. The art of embroidery, however, is not merely an affair of stitches ”

“ There are abundant suggestions to be had from fields, hedgerows, flowers, plumage of birds, etc., for the embroideress who can adapt them to her purpose, but a simpler plan for the beginner is to choose her colour scheme from a good picture, a coloured illustration, a piece of chintz, cretonne or good brocade, or, when possible, to study the various pieces of old embroidery preserved in our museums, as a record of the time [Pg 17] when we could compete with other countries, when embroidery was almost the sole occupation of women of rank, as it was of the occupants of the convents. ”

“ I therefore presume that the embroidery is carried on in spare moments as a labour of love, like the fancy-work that employs the fingers of our young ladies at home, and is not expected in any other way to repay the labour expended upon it. ”

“ A poet is said to embroider the truth. [2] But such metaphorical use of the word hints at the real nature of the work—embellishment, enrichment, added. If added, there must first of all be something it is added to—the material, that is to say, on which the needlework is done. In weaving (even tapestry weaving) the pattern is got by the inter-threading of warp and weft. In lace, too, it is got out of the threads which make the stuff. In embroidery it is got by threads worked on a fabric first of all woven on the loom, or, it might be, netted. ”

“ The story of embroidery includes in its history all the work of the needle since Eve sewed fig leaves together in the Garden of Eden. We are the inheritors of the knowledge and skill of all the daughters of Eve in all that concerns its use since the beginning of time. ”

“ In as far as materials are essential to the art of embroidery, I must restrict myself to the history of silk, wool, flax, cotton, and gold. With these all the finest works have been executed for the artistic adornment of dress and hangings. All other materials have been occasional experiments, or else were resorted to in the absence or ignorance of the above five most important factors in our domestic civilization. The history of wool must take precedence as being that of the original, if not the first, of textile materials. ”

“ 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.) ”

“ Care must be taken to arrange the colors harmoniously, using neutral tints to separate violently contrasting hues. Having arranged all your pieces to your own satisfaction, the next step is to work all the seams with fancy stitches in various colors. All your odds and ends of embroidery silks will now be useful. Spangles, gold and silver thread, and flat gold braids are also used with good effect. ”

“ Insertings of darned footing, alternating with bands of muslin, were largely used in the construction of gowns, and, in short, this style of needlework, while not as universal or absorbing as French embroidery, continued longer in vogue and perhaps amused or solaced some who had little skill or time for the more exacting methods of embroidery. ”

“ We express ourselves and our ideas in embroidery by means of stitches and colour.
To have pleasure in the craft, the needlewoman must have a fairly accurate knowledge of the technique. Stitchery should at all times be as simple as possible, and carefully adapted to the material and the design. ”

“ They are shaded with exquisite art, the leaves and tendrils in different stitches, the clusters in rich raised work, the effect of which it is impossible to describe.
A bridal scarf of rich embroidery on a white ground, as pure as the bridal dress itself, is one of the next most costly importations. No other house uses so much embroidery as Brodie, and we are assured by him that the French needle-work, exquisite as it is, can be excelled in this country. His establishment alone affords employment to hundreds in this branch of female industry, through the busy seasons of the year. ”

“ She should endeavour to suit the stitchery to the work, to produce the desired effect without too much labour—not that work should ever be done in a hasty or untidy manner—but, as said before, she should adapt it to its purpose. It is well to remember that large pieces of embroidery, generally seen from a distance, demand bold, effective treatment ”

“ The chenille must pass through the material freely, so as not to draw it. It looks well done in velvet, with occasional introductions of gold and silver thread.
Raised Embroidery.—Draw the pattern on the material as before. Work the flowers, &c., to the height required, in soft cotton, taking care that the centre is much higher than the edges. A careful study of nature is indispensable to the attainment of excellence in this kind of work. Pursue the same method with your colors, as in flat embroidery, only working them much closer. ”

“ Some of the quaint pattern books of those days still exist, and they consist mostly of elements—dainty flower sprays, sprigs, fruits, birds, animals, fishes, border patterns and geometrical forms—all intended to assist the workers in the composition and building up of their designs and patterns.
In the busy world of nowadays, we cannot hope ever to attain to such perfection, nor to regain for embroidery the high position it once held in this country; but we still have many clever needlewomen who could produce beautiful work provided they had a better knowledge of how to set about it. ”

“ Sampler making was a home rather than a school taught industry, going down from mother [55] to daughter along with darning and other processes of the needle, and having no relation, except that of its dexterity, to the distinct style of decorative embroidery called crewelwork, which accompanied it, or even preceded it.
The collecting of samplers has become rather a fad in these days, and as they are almost exclusively of New England origin, it gives an opportunity of acquaintance with the little Puritan girl which is not without its charm. ”