bird. Opus Plumarium, or Feather-Stitch. 231 Like opus pulvinarium, it appears ing been transferred to it by the aid of in the inventory, dated 1295, of vest- embroidery stitches so exquisitely set ments belonging to St. Paul's that only an expert can detect the procOpus plumarium, or Cathedral, printed by Dug- ess. The design is of graceful interfeather-stitch. dale. This stitch, under its lacing scrolls, in palest blue shaded modern title, feather-stitch, is chief in with gray, and deepening to black at importance to the needlewoman of to- the edges. The scrolls at crossing are day, by whom it is often incorrectly intersected by flowers, suggesting the termed "Kensington" or "crewel" old Flemish flower - pieces — tulips, stitch. roses, iris, carnations, and anemone, tinted in low tones of color, most of them shading from reddish pink to cream. Overlapping the border on either side are oak leaves shading from cream to brown. The petals and cen Feather-stitch is used both for handwork and for frame-work, the stitches, of varying length, so taken in and between each other as perfectly to blend the colors of silk or crewel. In hand embroidery the needle is kept on the surface of the material. Feather-stitch is most suitable for embroidering flowers, whether natural or conventional. By observing the direction of the stitches in our illustration, the worker will be able to gain a clear idea of this necessary stitch. Thread your needle with a strand of crewel about half the length of the skein; without knotting it, work the edge of a petal in stitches forming at close even edge on the outline, and converging irregularly toward the centre. Then, with stitches longer on the surface than on the under side, work between the uneven lengths of the first set of stitches, and fill up all bare places by stitches starting from the centre and carried between those already worked. When finished, the stitches should be indistinguishable one from the other-the effect of the whole surface smooth, rich, and even. It would be difficult to find a more beautiful illustration of old opus plumarium than that on three strips of Renaissance convent embroidery, bought in France by their present owner, and almost the only-certainly the finest examples of early feather-stitch, in pure crewel-work, we have been able to discover in New York. The ground of garnet velvet is modern, the work hav Feather-Stitch. one back on the under side, working from left to right. In beginning the stalk of a flower, insert your needle at the lower end of the line marked upon the pattern, and P Stem-Stitch. work upward until you reach the junction of a leaf or some other interrupting point; then take the needle. under to the other line and work back, continuing in this way until the stem is solid. When working a leaf in outline, simply follow the direction for serrated leaves, as given above, afterward adding the veining, in ordinary stemstitch. Stem-stitch may be varied ac cording to the subject. If an even line. is required, take care that the needle, when inserted, is in a straight line with the preceding stitch. With a curved line, the stitches may be sloped by inserting the needle at a slight angle. With feather-stitch and stem-stitch at your command, you are already well advanced upon the road to art embroidery. An interesting specimen of ancient needlework, owned by the Marchioness of Bute, is an altar-cloth, said to be Lutheran, worked entirely in fine hand stem-stitch, in red silk, on a cotton or linen ground. It is an excellent example of this style of embroidery, and as beautiful as rare. Split-stitch is stem-stitch varied by splitting the preceding stitch with the needle to give a firm and even line. It is employed with fine silk on outline work of the most delicate quality. Split-stitch. Always work the stalk of a plant lengthwise; it is a common error to carry the lines across. Reaching a leaf, you make use of the same stitch to work around the right side to the top, taking care that the needle is to the left of the thread as you draw it out. When the point of the leaf is gained, reverse the operation by working down the left side toward the stalk again, keeping the needle to the right of the thread, instead of to the left, as in going up. This supplies the necessary serration to the edge. Work in the two halves of the leaf, separately, with close stem-stitch, with the needle to the left of the thread. In shading leaves, work one-half darker than the other. Whenever shading is used, either for leaf or petal, work the outer edge first, allowing the inner row of stitches to blend with the others, as suggested in opus plumarium, Satin-Stitch. The superb Chinese embroideries, of which examples have been recently sold for a song, by a great importing house overstocked with small squares and table covers in rather unmanageable shades of dark blue, which are the Plumetis, Button-hole-Stitch and the French Knot. same on both sides, are done in satinstitch. An antique hanging of peachblossom silk, owned by a lady in New York, is covered with small landscapes and Chinese figures worked entirely in satin-stitch, and colored conventionally without regard to imitation of the natural colors, according to the independent methods of these Asiatic artificers. Specimens of needlework from almost all other nations, in all periods, show the use of satin-stitch; but in modern times it is less employed, except for small masses of embroidery in which rich effects are required. After stem-stitch and feather-stitch the mechanical regularity of satin-stitch seems uninteresting to the worker of to-day. Plumetis is the variety of satin-stitch known to us in French work on cotton or linen textiles. It is done by passing the thread evenly from one outline of the pattern to the other, as in the accompanying sketch. Blanket, or button-hole-stitch, should require no introduction. Blanket-stitch Blanket, or but is used in combinations, ton-hole-stitch. such as three stitches in a group, then a space; or five stitches of irregular lengths, connected by a Blanket-Stitch. long loop with the five stitches following, for finishing the edge of some embroideries. 233 Button-hole-stitch appears to great advantage in a table-cover of cream linen, where old Spanish embroidery is edged by a border of randa or Spanish darned netting. A pattern of scrolls worked in close satin-stitch with écru cotton has graceful, radiating tendrils made by setting button - holestitches back to back, like thorns upon a stem. Button-hole-stitch is used in modern work for the edge of draperies, and for finishing the edge of large conventional patterns in appliqué. It is not recommended for the petals of small flowers in appliqué-producing a ridgy effect in the outline. Montenegrin work combines several stitches mentioned. Although resemMontenegrin bling that of Turkey, it is, work. like everything else done in the isolated little principality, vigorous and individual. Embroidery is profusely used upon the costumes of Montenegro. A scarf, charmingly wrought with silk chrysanthemums on cotton, and other bits of Montenegrin work, are to be seen at the Metropolitan Museum. Embroideries from Salonica, exhibited in the same case, are very interesing. French knot. French knot has the merit of great antiquity, appearing in early ecclesiastical embroideries to represent the hair of "men and angels," as well as in the elaborate landscape specimens of the time of James I., where it came into play for the foliage of trees and shrubs; also in, some ancient Chinese embroidery, executed entirely in knots skilfully disposed. Describing certain examples of the latter, a recent writer observes that the design appears to have been printed in flat, low colors, on a cotton fabric, and that over the ground thus diversified are worked knots of silk, which have the effect at a short distance of a stippled drawing on a large scale. The flesh in the figures, and some other portions of the design, are worked entirely in close knots. To-day we make use of it for the centres of certain flowers, where the knots lie like a row of small regular beads, and in other patterns requiring French Knot. an effect of raised work. Bring your needle through the material at the exact point where the knot should be; hold your thread of silk or crewel in the left hand, and twist it once or twice around the needle; then pass the point of your needle through the material close to the spot where it came up, and draw the thread through with your right hand, while the thumb of your left holds the knot in place until secure. When large knots are required, use more strands of wool or silk, and increase the number of twists around the needle. non Rock, "worked in circular lines, and relief given to parts by hollows sunk in the faces and other portions of the persons, constitute the elements of the opus Anglicum, or embroidery after the English manner." Chain-stitch was much employed during the seventeenth century in Germany, Spain, Portugal, and England, for work almost always done in maizecolored silk upon linen. It is said that in Spain the patterns were copied from Eastern importations by the Portuguese. A quilt of this work, once belonging to an archbishop of Toledo, was lent by Lady Cornelia Guest to the Special Exhibition of Embroideries at South Kensington, in 1873. At a museum in Madrid is preserved a handsome quilt worked with yellow silk on linen, with solid chain-stitch embroidery representing men and animals. A Portuguese bed-cover of the same style and period is owned by a gentleman of New York. This is a curious and beautiful example of chain-stitch embroidery, in maize silk upon cotton, which well merits the prolonged inspection necessary to follow out its infinitely varied traceries. In the centre is a king seated in state, attended by pages and giving audience to sundry wry-necked petitioners. Above, are a queen's head and shoulders, the rising sun and a crescent moon on either side p Chain-Stitch. of her. of her. Forming a wide border, and filling up every portion of the ground, are the following designs: warriors, men storming a castle, grotesques with heads of weasels riding upon tigers and blowing horns; hunting scenes, flying harts and antelopes, double - headed eagles, lions, imps with cloven feet Tambour-work and Other Varieties of Chain-Stitch. shooting arrows at deer, dove-cots with doves, birds, rabbits, boats, flying-fish, mermaids, a gaping whale, men playing on musical instruments-none repeated exactly, in any part! The ground of this marvel of antique needlework is of coarse cotton, the lining of chintz in gaudy flowers, joined in rude patchwork patterns. The ground between the figures, and the flesh surfaces, are both done in small stitches like backstitch, taken in lines following the direction of the figure. The fringe is made of twisted yellow silk, and the general effect of color suggests Endymion's "Coverlids, gold-tinted like the peach, Or ripe October's faded marigolds." Modern Portuguese work, exactly imitating this, fails entirely in producing the luminous glow conferred by Time upon it. Tambour-work, high in favor with the colonial belles of America, is a variety of chain-stitch worked with a hook in a frame. Limerick lace is still made in Ireland upon the old tambourframes, and we sometimes see splendid specimens of ancient Turkish tambourwork, as well as the rich gold embroideries we have learned to regard as belonging to that country. A bed-cover of lovely French tambour-worked rosebuds scattered upon linen, was brought here from Paris after the Reign of Terror, and is carefully preserved. The gay embroideries on cloth, which flaunt like banners on the walls of Eastern bazaars in Paris and New York, are done as described by Mr. Eugene Schuyler, in his interesting work on Turkestan. He says: "Embroidery here (in Tashkent) is a trade chiefly practised by men. (Evi dently an old practice, for a Chinese envoy sent to Tchinghiz Khan, in 1220, says: Sewing and embroidery are executed by men.') The cloth, on which the pattern is roughly marked out in 235 chalk, is stretched over a hoop, and the workman, with a needle in shape somewhat like a crochet-needle, set in a wooden handle, pulls the silken thread through in a sort of chainstitch, with the greatest rapidity. The labor is so light, and the materials so inexpensive, that prices for embroidered articles are comparatively low. The natives use embroidery principally on their caps and their wide leather riding-trousers; but since the Russians have come, there has been such a demand for pillows, table-covers, etc., as to give a great impetus to the business and to raise the prices." Chain-stitch is used in modern embroideries, principally for outlines and arabesque designs. Twisted Chain-Stitch. Twisted chain-stitch is also called Charles II. stitch, though it is difficult to associate ideas of industry with any of the debonair beauties who smile down from their frames at Hampton Court. It resembles an ordinary chain, except that, instead of starting the second stitch from the centre of the loop, the needle is taken back to half the distance behind it, and the loop is pressed to one side to allow the needle to enter in a straight line with the former stitch. This is pretty when done with Dacca silk in a boldly outlined design upon satin, sateen, or linen, as described in Darning-Stitch for Grounds. English quilts of the seventeenth century show yellow silk embroidery on linen, combining both button - hole and chain stitch. The "Wardrobe Accounts" of Queen Elizabeth contain, in the last year of her reign, the following entry: |