Down (textile)

“ In stained glass we should think of a pattern in lead lines inclosing one of translucent colour, each being interdependent and united to form a harmonious whole. In textile design we should be influenced by the thought of the difference of use, plan, and purpose of the finished material; as the difference between a rich vertical pattern in silk, velvet, or tapestry, to be broken by folds as in curtains or hangings, and a rich carpet pattern, to be spread upon the unbroken level surface of a floor. ”

“ All the human figures, all the beasts, as well as the architecture, are outlined in thin leather or parchment once gilt, but now turned quite black. With the same leather, too, were studded the belts of the king and knight, and the spangles and golden enrichments of the ladies’ dress were of the same material. Saving here and there a few stitches of silk, everything else was of worsted, and that none of the finest texture. With such small means a good art-work was produced, as we see before us. ”

“ This sheen and variety are more or less evident in all textiles, and a good textile pattern only adds to the variety and richness of the surface. [245] The different thicknesses or planes of surface and the difference of their texture caused by the different wefts being brought to the surface of the [246] cloth or silk (from the simplest contrast of line presented by the simplest arrangements of warp and weft, to the complexities of many-coloured silk stuffs and brocade) alone give a value to the surface pattern. ”

“ Thus in textile design for dress and hangings (excepting for tapestries) the fact must never be lost sight of that they will be subject to disturbance by crossing folds and crumplings, which will break up the lines of the pattern. It is therefore evident that a design fitted for a rigid material in a fixed place, such as an architectural decoration in wood, stone, or stucco, must be subject to a treatment different from that which befits an embroidered curtain or panel. ”

“ On garment fabrics the ornamentation should be flat, without shadow or relief. The pattern must enhance and not mar the figure. If flowers, foliage, or other natural objects are used for the designs, they should be conventionalized—not direct copies of nature. A figured textile requires more careful planning than plain material. It may be beautiful when used properly, but it will appear hideous if distorted in the making. A conventional fleur-de-lis pattern, or a long dash which appears and disappears when used in long, [214] graceful folds, adds to the apparent height. ”

“ In primitive times both the texture of the textiles and the habits of the decorator, acquired in textile work, tended towards the geometric style of delineation, and we find that in work in which the fabric lines are not followed at all the designs are still geometric, and geometric in the same way as are similar designs woven in with the fabric. ”

“ For the sake of expedition all the figures were sometimes at once shaped out of woven silk, satin, velvet, linen, or woollen cloth as wanted, and sewed upon the grounding of the article: the features of the face and the contours of the body were then wrought by the needle in very narrow lines done in brown silk thread. At times, even this much of embroidery was set aside for the painting brush, and instances are to be found in which the spaces left uncovered by the loom for the heads and extremities of the human figures are filled in with the brush. ”

“ We must not, however, hide from ourselves the fact that the edges, though so broad and blunt, given by such a use of the hot iron to parts of an embroidery, expose it somewhat to the danger of being worn out more in those than other portions which soon betray the damage by their thread-bare dingy look, as is the case in the example just cited. ”

“ When anything—flower, fruit, or figure—is wrought by itself upon a separate piece of silk or canvas and afterwards sewed on to the vestment for church use, or article for domestic purpose, it comes to be known as cut-work. This kind of work was employed for dresses and vestments; but we find it most commonly on bed-curtains, hangings for rooms and halls, and other items in household furniture. ”

“ Much of the architecture, as well as of the drapery of this personage, is loom-wrought, assisted in places by needle-embroidery. The head, the hands, the feet, are all done by the needle; but the head, neck, and beard are worked upon very fine linen by themselves, and afterwards applied, and in such a manner that the long white beard overlaps the tunic. ”

“ I have already shown that embroidered designs, although not from necessity confined to geometric outlines, tend to take a purely geometric character from the fabric upon which they are executed, as well as from the mechanical processes of stitching. This is well shown in Fig. 348, a fine specimen given by Wiener in his work Pérou et Bolive.
Fig. 348. Embroidery upon a cotton net in which the textile combinations are followed step by step. Ancient Peruvian work.ToList
A life form worked upon a net does not differ essentially from the same subject woven in with the web and woof. ”

“ Down the middle, before and behind, as far as the apparels, is let in a narrow piece of crochet-work like that upon the shoulders, but uninscribed. The two apparels at the feet—one before, the other behind—vary in their dimensions, one measuring 1 foot 1 inch by 1 foot 13⁄4 inches, the other, which is made up of fragments, 1 foot by 113⁄4 inches. Very elaborate and freely designed is the heraldic pattern on the rich stuff which forms the apparels. The ground is of silk, now faded, but once a bright crimson ”

“ The Embroidered Apparel for an Amice; ground, crimson flos-silk, now faded; design, large and small squares, green, blue, and purple, filled in with gold, and modifications of the gammadion, in white or crimson silks. German, 14th century. 14 inches by 51⁄4 inches.
This apparel is made out of three pieces, and stiffened with parchment; and is bordered by a narrow but effective lace of a green ground, [Pg 35] bearing circles of white and red, parted by yellow. The brown canvas upon which it is worked is very fine of its kind; and the gold, which is of a good quality, is of narrow tinsel strips. ”

“ Looking at it however through a glass and turning it about, we found it to have been unmistakably embroidered by the finger in such a way that the stitches for laying down upon the surface, and not drawing through the gold threads and thus saving expense, were carried right into the canvas lining at the back of this thin silk. After this same manner was really done, to our thinking, all the design, both before and behind upon that fine English-wrought chasuble, No. 673, p. 5.
At the latter end of the thirteenth century our women struck out for themselves a new way of embroidery. ”

“ Embroidery in silk upon linen; pattern, men blue, women white, standing in a row hand in hand; the spaces filled up with lozenges in white. The women upon a green, the men upon a white ground. German, 16th century. 83⁄4 inches by 61⁄2 inches.
So very worn away is the needlework, that it is very hard to see the design, which, when discovered, looks to be very stiff, poor, and angular. ”

“ Pleated Insets: Strips of narrow pleating inset in skirts and tunics is a favorite trimming for taffetas and satins. (See Fig. 3.) Stitch the edges of the garment to the strip of pleating, as described in making tucked insets.
Fig. (3) Try pleated insets on your new serge or silk frock
Lattice Work Trimming: One of the new trimmings for silk and cotton dresses is lattice work. It is just what the name implies—a sort of lattice work design set into the goods. You can use almost any braiding design as a foundation for your lattice work. The easiest way is working right over the pattern. ”

“ The success of the finish of every garment depends upon the pressing, whether the material be heavy or light, cotton or wool. Garments are always pressed on the wrong side, when being made. The iron used should neither be too hot nor too heavy and the work should be done on a perfectly smooth, well-covered board. For pressing black or dark cloth, the cover of the board should be dark and free from lint, while a perfectly clean light cover should be substituted when white or light goods are to be pressed. ”

“ The loose threads existing between the figures when the goods leave the loom are usually cut away, leaving a somewhat imperfect figure or spot with a bit of the figuring thread protruding at either extreme edge of the figure or spot. Lappet-figured fabrics are not Brocades.
Lastings.—A plain twill or kindred weave fabric firmly woven from hard-twisted wool or cotton yarns. Smooth in appearance but having a somewhat hard handle, Lasting is a fine, durable, generally piece-dyed, material, of which there are several varieties, such as the Printed and the Figured. ”

“ These hoods worn by the women, these wide sleeves to the gowns, these hanging sleeves to the overcoats, the velvet slip of under-dress, all, in their time, became falsified into ready-made articles. With the hoods you can see for yourselves how they lend themselves by their shape to personal taste; they were made up, all ready sewn; where pins had been used, the folds of velvet at the back were made steadfast, the crimp of the white linen was determined, the angle of the side-flap ruled by some unwritten law of mode. ”

“ The knitted fabric is essentially a weft fabric, the thread being inserted crosswise into the texture after the manner of filling so that the entire structure presents a horizontal appearance which is most evident with ground-coloured stripes when the different colours show themselves crosswise. This proves a serious limitation to the scope of the plain knitted texture, for the clothing trades have small use for horizontal effects as compared with vertical coloured stripes. ”

“ Padded Back Linings.—When a fabric is printed black on one side, or backed, to prevent the printed pattern on the face of the cloth from showing through, it is known as a Padded Back Lining. A natural back lining is a solid-coloured lining printed on one side only. This class of fabric is generally woven from all-cotton yarns, but may include fabrics which contain wool, silk, or other fibres. ”

“ In cloth covers, which are confessedly edition work and machine made, the rules of ornament need not be so sharply enforced. Here embossing still flourishes to some extent. But the decorative problem is essentially the same in cloth as in leather binding, and the best design will be one that triumphs within the conditions, not outside them. The machines and the division of labor have made sad havoc with binding as a craft. ”

“ Light-weight twisted embroidery silk, mercerized cotton, or a linen thread may be used to advantage, for in this work smoothness is the most desirable feature, and the threads should all be placed in such a way as to lie next to one another, but not overlap. ”

“ It takes very little time to trace the markings for darts, seams, and buttonholes from the pattern on the fabric if dressmakers’ carbon and a tracing wheel are used. Trace the markings while the pattern is still pinned to the fabric. Place the carbon waxed side to wrong side of fabric. Both sides may be marked at the same time. Use white or light-colored paper wherever possible. Dark colors have a tendency to work through to the right side. Trace all pattern markings that are essential to making the dress—darts, notches, pleats, openings, and buttonholes. ”

“ Then the whole of the outline is couched over the edges of the work covering the little border of linen left for this purpose on cutting it out of the frame. Two, three, or even four full thicknesses of filoselle, four or more of ‘Stout Floss,’ or of gold thread, make an excellent outline for gold and silk embroidery, according to the coarseness or fineness of the work; for appliqué different coloured cords are useful, and for most work gold thread or brown filoselle would be safe. The couching stitches should be placed fairly close together, and should be done with strong silken thread. ”

“ It is for this acceptance of growth that our days of pioneering together and our slow drawing together of later years form a solid basis. For we are knit, and now the fabric is beginning to be woven into a garment. Some are alarmed at the lack of seams, some anxiously question the color, some shake their heads and say that it will never fit. ”

“ In the thicker fabrics like men's suitings and overcoatings, there may be a double series of warp threads, only one series appearing on the face of the goods, and in the still thicker fabrics, there may be a double set of both warp and filling threads, making double cloth, the two sides of which may be entirely different in color and design. ”

“ Pointed edges are rounded, and rounded edges are pointed, entirely changing the whole aspect of the garment, with such celerity that the lady who had worn the dress in the morning would not have the slightest suspicion that it was the same in the evening. Cotton, wool, rags, and old ropes require no manipulation. ”

“ You will find an arrow on each piece of the pattern that tells you how the pattern is to be placed on your cloth. This mark is called the “grain line.” Learn to recognize marks for fold, seamline, darts, tucks, hems, center front and center back, buttons, and buttonholes.
When you can recognize all the marks on your pattern, trim off the edges and pin it together. Have your leader check it for fit. She will help you make any alterations that are necessary.
Straighten your fabric
Study your fabric. ”

“ Rolled hem and whipped gathers are made with the wrong side of the material next the worker. Make a tiny roll of the edge towards the worker, using the left thumb and index finger, rolling an inch at a time (and no more) before hemming. Make fine, even stitches in the roll and goods. Keep the hem perfectly round, firm and not too large. This hem is adapted only to fine material and the edge across the warp is the more easily rolled. ”