Gold embroidery

“ Gold embroidery may be divided roughly into three main classes, outline work, solid flat work, and raised work. Outline work is, as far as technique is concerned, one of the simplest forms of gold embroidery. ”

“ To be a skilled worker with gold thread needs considerable application and practice. There is much variety in the work, some branches of it being more simple to manipulate than others. It is desirable for all workers to understand something of gold work, for it is frequently employed in conjunction with other embroidery, as well as alone. Fig. 123 shows a couched line of gold thread outlining some silk embroidery, which gives a pretty jewel-like effect of something precious in a setting of gold. ”

“ But now, when it is the fashion to decorate every kind of fancy article, whether of leather, plush, or velvet, with monograms and ingenious devices of all descriptions, the art of gold embroidery has revived and is being taken up and practised with success, even by those to whom needlework is nothing more than an agreeable recreation. ”

“ 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. ”

“ The cloth of gold and silver, the fine satins and velvets, the embroidery, more exquisite than anything we have time or patience for now—embroidery of gold thread which we hear of, an uncomfortable sort of luxury, even upon the linen of great personages—would there be put forth and inspected by gallants in all their fine array, or by the ladies in their veils, half or wholly muffled from public inspection. ”

“ Gold embroideries were by the Romans attributed to the Phrygians. All gold work was vaguely supposed to be theirs, as all other embroidery was included in the craft of the Plumarii in Rome.
It has been disputed whether needlework in gold preceded the weaving of flat gold or thread into stuffs, or whether it was an after-thought, and an enrichment of such textiles. I imagine that the embroidery was the first, and that the after-thought was the art of weaving gold. Babylonian embroideries appear to be of gold wire, as we see them in the Ninevite marbles. ”

“ Nevertheless, a great deal of beautiful embroidery is to be met with, in silk and gold thread upon quite common stuffs; Persian and Moorish embroidery for instance, both remarkable for their delicacy and minuteness, and executed upon ordinary linen, or cotton fabrics.
As a fact, the material is quite a secondary matter; almost any will do equally well as a foundation, for the stitches described in these pages. Flat stitch, and some of the other stitches used in gold embroidery, can be worked with any kind of thread, but best of all with the D.M.C cottons. ”

“ Gold embroidery.—Up to the present time, dating from the end of the eighteenth century, gold embroidery has been almost exclusively confined to those who made it a profession; amateurs have seldom attempted what, it was commonly supposed, required an apprenticeship of nine years to attain any proficiency in. ”

“ Woollens are not long lived. Crewels, beautiful as they are, are not salient in their effect. Silks, satins and velvet, and gold brocades, [548] or groundings worked in with gold thread, are [Pg 346] the only materials worthy of bearing fine embroidery, fit to receive them, and capable of keeping them for centuries. Plushes and worsted velvets are unworthy, indeed they are worthless.
The gold we employ must be either pure “passing,” or else the Chinese or Japanese gold threads which differ in colour, but have each their own value, and never tarnish, even in the coal smoke of London. ”

“ Lines of gold are used to mark out the border pattern, and are fastened down with the couching stitch. When sewing on the gold it is very important to keep it tightly stretched, as if put on loosely it is not effective. If the work is at all puckered, iron it with a warm but not hot iron on the wrong side before laying down the gold thread. Leek embroidery is sold by the yard in strips, varying from one inch to twelve inches in width, and costing from 6d. ”

“ I cannot close this chapter without naming the many schools of gold embroidery in Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain. The King of Bavaria has an establishment for gold work, and this is very finely carried out, highly raised, and richly designed. [222] In Spain there is also a Royal School, where stately works are executed.
It is to be regretted that the modern designs are motiveless, and not so beautiful as the old ones, and it is very difficult to have any ancient piece of work copied exactly. [Pg 151] Little modernisms creep in wherever the pattern has to be fitted into a new shape ”

“ Fig. 236. Embroidery frame for gold embroidery.
Every gold embroidery, on whatever material it may be executed, requires a stout foundation, which has to be sewn into the frame, in doing which, hold the webbing loosely, almost in folds, and stretch the stuff very tightly. Sew on a stout cord to the edges of the foundation, which are nearest the stretchers, setting the stitches, 3 or 4 c/m. apart. Then put the frame together and stretch the material laterally to its fullest extent, by passing a piece of twine, in and out through the cord at the edge and over the stretchers. ”

“ Plate consists of narrow plates of gold or silver stitched on to the embroidery by threads of silk, which pass over them.
The French and English gold thread is made of thin plates of metal cut into strips, and wound round strands of cotton in the same manner as the Japanese gold. If the metal is real, the cost is of course great. It is sold by weight, gold being about 20s. ”

“ The front of her bodice is low and resembles a stomacher, with trimmings of gold embroidery to match the petticoat. The sleeves are very striking, and, so far as I know, are not in Elizabethan style. There are tight, very much puffed under sleeves of white satin, over which are large open wings of pink satin embroidered in green satin thread. The accessories of this beautifully dressed lady include a crown of gold paper ornamented with gold and green beads, a high lace ruffle, several rows of tiny pearls to which a cross of gold beads is attached, and white leather shoes with gold rosettes. ”

“ The shorter the pieces are, and the more closely you set the knots together, the handsomer and richer the effect will be.
Fig. 244. Diamond stitch.
Chinese gold embroidery (figs. 245 and 246) .—We recommend the imitation of Chinese gold embroidery to our readers as an easy and grateful recreation. It consists simply in laying down a gold thread, on a delicately outlined pattern and securing it by stitches. It can be done on any material, washing or other, the costliest as well as the most ordinary.
Fig. 245. Chinese gold embroidery. First part. ”

“ Rhenish, 14th century. 83⁄4 inches by 33⁄4 inches.
So sadly has the whole of this embroidery suffered, apparently from damp, that the tints of its silk are gone, and the gold about it all become black. That this is but one of several figures in an orphrey is very likely; it gives us the saint with the palm-branch of martyrdom in one hand, a book in the other, and an arrow slicking in her neck, the instrument of her death; being of blood royal, she wears a crown; emblem of heaven and paradise, the ground she treads is all flowery. ”

“ Almost all ecclesiastical and royal ancient embroideries were illuminated with golden grounds—golden outlines or golden flat embroideries. Later still, raised gold thread work has imitated gilt carvings or goldsmiths’ jewellery; and we feel that it was at once removed from its place as embroidery, and became an elaborate imitation of what [Pg 204] should belong to another craft. [329] Such deviations from the proper office and motive of needlework are so dangerously near to bad style and bad taste, that they always and inevitably have fallen into disrepute. ”

“ Silk Velvet Plush (a new material) can only be used in frame work, and must be backed. It is useful in “appliqué” from the many beautiful tones of colour it takes. As a ground for silk or gold embroidery it is also very good. ”

“ The enrichment may, however, rightly be, and oftenest is, perhaps, in a material nobler than the stuff enriched, in silk upon linen, in wool upon cotton, in gold upon velvet. The advisability of working upon a precious stuff in thread less precious is open to question. It does not seem to have been satisfactorily done; but if it were only the background that was worked, and the pattern were so schemed as almost to cover it, so that, in fact, very little of the more beautiful texture was sacrificed, and you had still a sumptuous pattern on a less attractive background—why not? ”

“ The gold thread which is freely made use of all over the cope, upon the draperies, nimbi, and surrounding foliage, is marvellously bright and sparkling, although nearly six hundred years old. The manufacture of untarnishable gold for embroidery purposes seems beyond present day enterprise.
Width of nimbus, two and a half inches.
Plate III.—A small portion of a Quilted Coverlet, probably of Sicilian work. Date about 1400.—In this interesting example of quilting, which is exhibited in the Victoria and Albert Museum, the ground is composed of a buff-coloured linen. ”

“ The Japanese make very effective use of gold thread embroidery, in some cases carrying the whole of the work out in gold upon a dark ground, or using it as a partial enrichment on printed textiles such as kimonos or robes; in other kinds, notably in dark, rich, full-coloured embroidered hangings, by introducing disks of gold thread, formed by stitching the thread down upon the ground in closely twisted spiral forms, which catch the light very effectively when hung upon the wall. ”

“ The limitations of embroidery are not so rigidly marked as the boundaries of many another craft. There is little technical difficulty in representing flowers, for example, very naturally—too naturally for any dignified decorative purpose. Embroiderer or embroidery designer will, as a matter of fact, be constantly inspired by flower forms, and silk gives the pure colour of their petals as nearly as may be. But, though the pattern be a veritable flower garden, the embroidress will not forget, to use the happy phrase of William Morris, that she is gardening with silks and gold threads. ”

“ Velvet is very troublesome to work upon, the pile preventing any delicate embroidery being done directly upon it, hence the prevalence of gold cords and appliqué work on canvas or linen, on which of course the embroidery may be executed as delicately as may be desired. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Introduction—Materials—Precautions for the Prevention of Tarnish—Ancient Method of Couching—Its various Good Points—Description of Working Diagram—Working a Raised Bar—Examples of Patterns Employed in Old Work—Illustrations upon Draped Figures—Usual Method of Couching—Couching Patterns—Outline Work—Raised Work—The Use of Purls, Bullions, &c.
Gold and silver threads have always played an important part in embroidered work, and are a most valuable addition to the worker's stock of materials, for they give a splendour and richness that is not obtainable in any other way. ”

“ Women in the middle ages were so ready at the needle that they could make their embroidery look as if it had been done in the loom, really woven. A shred of crimson cendal figured in gold and silver thread with a knight on horseback, armed as of the latter time of Edward the first, was shown to us some time ago. ”

“ Piece of Purple Silk Embroidery in gold and silver; pattern of interlaced dragons, human figures, and birds. North German, 12th century. 81⁄2 inches by 71⁄4 inches.
This small sample of needlework is as remarkable for the way in which it is wrought, as for the wild Scandinavian mythology which is figured on it.
The usual process for the application of gold and silver in textiles and embroidery is to twine the precious metal about cotton thread, and thus weave it in with the shuttle or stitch it on by the needle. ”

“ It was but a short time after this that women began to realize how much gold and silver had gone into all forms of needlework. They looked upon rare and beautiful embroidery with greedy eyes, and a deplorable fashion sprang up, known in France as “parfilage” and in England as “drizzling.” This was nothing more or less than ripping up, stitch [Pg 53] by stitch, the magnificent old hangings, quilts, and even church vestments, to secure gold and silver thread. Lady Mary Coke, writing from the Austrian Court, says: “All the ladies who do not play cards pick gold. ”

“ The fine gold threads for embroidery, which have preserved their brilliancy for so many centuries, such as we find worked in Charlemagne’s dalmatic, in Aelfled’s maniple, and in the mitres of Thomas à Becket, are certainly Oriental. To England they came in the bales of the merchants who brought us our silk, and even our needles, from India. Later we imported and copied the different ways of giving effect to inferior metals, and the Spaniard’s gilt parchment thread reached us from their Moorish manufactories. ”