Silk scarf

“ For a lighter scarf use No. 4 bone needles and cast on 48 or 50 stitches. The larger needles with loose knitting will give work much more open. If desired one may introduce rows of fancy knitting instead of the colored stripes. In fact, having made one scarf, the worker will find it possible to vary it in many ways, and will find such variation a pleasing study.
Many like to use a thread of silk or mercerized crochet-cotton with the Shetland floss or other wool which may be chosen. ”

“ A scarf of black silk, large, conspicuous, and expensive, yet constituting no part of the proper garments of the wearer, is given by the person who invites, and worn by every one who accepts the invitation. ”

“ The ground is composed wholly of white beads, one being dropped on every stitch; where, therefore, the scarlet and slate silks are worked without beads, they appear to be in intaglio. A scroll of steel beads below the group is intermixed with the white, and the top and bottom of the square end are finished off with vandykes of plain scarlet without beads. At the bottom is an open pattern in scarlet, to which is attached the fringe.
Begin with the plain scarlet silk, with which make a chain of 100 stitches, and close it into a round. Work one round in scarlet, using in the end of white silk. ”

“ They do not shave the head, but gather all their hair into a knot at the top, which—in the case of the females—they decorate with rolls of brilliantly colored silks, generally scarlet or emerald green. The dress of the ladies is far more graceful than that of their "celestial" sisters, for though they wear the indispensable trousers, yet that masculine garment is hid by a long sack-like robe, something after the style of a priest's toga, of—in nearly every case—emerald-green silk, a color which seems to harmonise well with their complexion. The men wear a similar garment of black silk. ”

“ For hangings it can be chosen of a loose large texture, and covered with bold work executed in silk, linen thread, or wool, or it can be chosen of the finest thread, and covered with minute delicate stitches; it can be worked equally well in the hand, or in a frame, and usually the more it is handled the better it looks. A thick twisted silk is excellent for big and coarse work on linen, the stitches used being on the same scale, big and bold, and finer silk used sparingly if needed. ”

“ Or if silk were preferred, the silks of past centuries were at once thick, firm, soft and pure, quite free from the dress or artificial thickening, by whose aid a silk nowadays tries to look rich when it is not. The oatmeal cloth, diagonal cloth, cotton-backed satin, velveteen and plush, so much used now, are very inferior materials as grounds for needlework to the hand-loom linens and silks on which so large a part of the old embroidery remaining to us was worked. ”

“ It is not impossible that the curtains for the tabernacle as well as the girdles for Aaron and his sons, of fine linen and violet and purple and scarlet twice dyed, were wrought with this very pattern, so that in the “burd Alisaunder” we behold the oldest known design for any textile. This stuff in the middle ages was a silken web in different coloured stripes, and specimens also may be found at South Kensington. Though made in many places round the Mediterranean this silk took its name, at least in England, from Alexandria. ”

“ It injures the work to use too fine a needle, as the small eye frays the silk; on the other hand a needle that is too large makes holes in the cloth.
The materials chiefly used for embroidery are wools, chenille, and silks: there are great varieties of the last-mentioned article, the principal being Mitorse, Dacca, Berlin, fine and coarse flax, crochet, and netting silks. Of the netting silks there are many sizes, which may be used according to the delicacy of the work. ”

“ The
dress worn when trying criminal cases, attending church officially, and on “red letter days” in the courts, consists of a scarlet gown, with a broad black belt, a tippet trimmed with white fur, known by courtesy as “ermine” (this is worn only on state occasions) , and a scarlet casting-hood, always worn with the scarlet gown, the end of which is passed under the belt. For summer the robes are of thinner stuff, faced with slate-coloured silk instead of ermine. The full-bottomed wig is worn on state occasions ”

“ In practically all these fabrics the lustre is imparted by the warp yarns, which are likely to be of better silk than the filling. The filling yarns are twisted harder than for ordinary cloth. The hard twisting of any yarn will so curl up the fibres that they will not lie parallel and so will not reflect light and give lustre. All-silk Crêpe de Chine fabrics have a width of about 40 inches, whilst all-cotton and cotton and silk mixtures average 27 inches in width. ”

“ If it is a question of the 89fancy stitches, it is required to bring out the features of these with yarns clear in surface and neat in structure so that the eye may follow the intersections of the yarns in the fabric. The silk and artificial silk productions belong to the most highly valued of the ornamental branches of the knitting industry, and these may be utilized to bring out in the clearest effect stitches such as shogged patterns, rib varieties and lace designs where definiteness of stitch and brilliance of colour combine to give results of a high value for elegant garments. ”

“ Many do not understand the great difference in embroidery silks, and often inferior kinds are sold them by unscrupulous clerks. Corticelli Silk is smooth working, of high luster, and is free from imperfections in stock or finish, while the dyes used are remarkable for brilliancy and absolute fastness of color. Magnificent mills, modern machinery, and sixty years experience in manufacturing silk enable the Nonotuck Silk Company to produce as perfect embroidery silk and floss as can be made. ”

“ The raised spots of No. 198 should be worked in black silk, in satin [171] stitch, the branched sprays in point Russe in scarlet and gold, the four largest being in scarlet and the intermediate sprays in gold silk. Medallion No. 199 is worked entirely in point Russe, and may be embroidered in one colour, or in alternate branches of scarlet and gold, or scarlet and black.
200.--Work-Bag.
Materials: Drab cloth; small pieces of cloth of different colours; embroidery silk of different colours; scarlet satin; red silk braid; red cord; cardboard; cotton wool ”

“ The warp runs the long way of woven fabric or parallel with the selvage and it must be strong, elastic, and not easily parted by rubbing. To prepare the warp, two threads of raw silk are slightly twisted. Twist is always put into yarn of any kind to increase its strength. These threads are united and twisted together and this makes a strong thread capable of withstanding any reasonable strain in the loom and it will not roughen. For the woof or tram which is carried across the woven cloth on the shuttle, the thread should be as loose and fluffy as possible. ”

“ After colour in draperies come texture and quality, and these need hardly be discussed in the case of silken fabrics, because silk fibre has inherent qualities of tenacity of tint and flexibility of substance. Pure silk, that is silk unstiffened with gums, no matter how thickly and heavily it is woven, is soft and yielding and will fall into folds without sharp angles. This quality of softness is in its very substance. Even a single unwoven thread of silk will drop gracefully into loops, where a cotton or linen or even a woollen thread will show stiffness. ”

“ Out of the several specimens here from Tartary and India, during our mediæval period, we pick one or two which show well the meaning of those words uttered by that great Venetian traveller, while speaking about the textiles he saw in those countries. The dark purple piece of silk, figured in gold with birds and beasts, of the thirteenth century, No. 7086, p. 137, is good; but better still for our purpose is the shred, No. 7087, p. 138, of blue damask, with its birds, its animals, and flowers wrought in gold, and different coloured silks. ”

“ The woven embroidery now so much the style, where bouquets, wreaths, etc., are brocaded on a plain ground, is [382] brought into service the present season. The Oriental scarf we notice, as combining richness of material and effect, with plainness of form and decoration. It has a deep border of palm leaves in bright shades, gold predominating, on a plain ground of royal purple; the heavy fringe is of the same hue. The form is the simple close-fitting mantilla scarf. ”

“ 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. ”

“ I sew'd it up with scarlet silk
⁠Last night upon my knee,
And my heart grew sad and sore to think
⁠Thy face I'd never see.
I sew'd it up with scarlet silk,
⁠As I lay upon my bed:
Sorrow! the man I'll never see
⁠That had my maidenhead. ”

“ Generally speaking there are two large classes into which silk goods may be divided, those in which the threads are colored before weaving and called yarn-dyed goods, and those dyed or printed after weaving and called piece-dyed or printed goods. In dyeing yarns, the silk is first ungummed and cleaned by boiling in soap and water, then washed in cold water. If the thread is to be weighted, as is frequently done, tin salts, iron, or other heavy material is deposited on the fiber. If carried far, this is injurious, making the silk tender and weak. Sometimes there is more weighting than silk. ”

“ Sewing silk is made by winding and doubling the raw product, then twisting into tram, giving it a slack twist, doubling and twisting in the reverse direction under tension. Machine twist is similar, but three ply.
The principal fabrics made of silk are: silk, satin, plush, chenille, crêpe, crepon, gauze, damask, brocade, pongee, and ribbons. Silk thread and cord are also extensively used. The United States is among the leaders in the manufacture of silk fabrics. ”

“ The perfect scouring of silks removes from 20 to 27% of their weight, according to the character of the silk and the amount of soap or oil used in the working. Scouring renders all common silks, whether white or yellow in the raw, a brilliant pearly white, with a delicate soft flossy texture, from the fact that the fibres which were agglutinated in reeling, being now degummed, are separated from each other and show their individual tenuity in the yarn. ”

“ The narrow stripes are repeated round the back of the slipper; they are gold colour, blue, scarlet, white, and green.
For a moderate-sized gentleman’s slipper in crochet silk, the toe might be commenced with twenty-four stitches, and increased in the succeeding rows, until the width across the instep were eighty stitches,—but, as some persons work so much tighter than others, a positive number cannot be given. The silk also may [87] vary in size, as well as the dimensions required for a slipper. The increasing is made by the addition of a stitch on each side of the work. ”

“ The principal use of spun silk is in mixed fabrics, in conjunction with wool, cotton, or raw silk, the spun silk thread generally being used as filling rather than warp. The better grades are made into velvet and plush and various types of knit goods. Although high quality spun silk often has the strength and wearing quality of thrown silk, it never can compete with the latter in regard to lustre. ”

“ These fronts can be made very light, and seeing that there is no net and but little galloon, ventilation does not suffer impediment. Proceed as follows:—Set up the weaving frame as shown in Fig. 21, but instead of nine silks there are now to be twelve. Tie them in threes as before, and intertwine a piece of straight, twelve-inch hair according to the following directions:—Hold the root end, pointing downwards, firmly between the thumb and finger of the left hand, and also the lower silk. Push the long hair through, pass two silks, and bring the hair to the front again. ”

“ If silk is employed for the entire fabric, much of it is lost by intersecting on the back, only a tithe of the material being visible on the face. There is no real advantage in having silk on the back of the texture, and fuller effectiveness and greater comfort and weight are attained by bringing a heavier material on to the back, preferably a woollen thread with the silk showing on the face only. The back woollen thread by its bulk gives greater proportional weight and at the same time pushes the silk yarn prominently on to the surface and enables it to exhibit its full lustre. ”

“ In some few instances, gold and silver gilt star-like flowers are to be found sewed upon the silks or amid the embroidery from Venice and other provinces in Italy, and from southern Germany. Some fragments of silk damask, no. 8612, are curious examples of Italian taste. These at one time have been thickly strewed with90 trefoils cut out of gilt metal but very thin, and not sewed but glued on to the silk: many of the leaves have fallen off, and those remaining turned black. ”