Artistic embroidery

The general rules for artistic needlework apply equally well to church embroidery, which is, nevertheless, a distinctive art. In ancient times its magnificence was unparalleled—the workers feeling privileged in working for God’s service, and anxious to spare neither time nor expense on their labor.

This branch of decorative needlework has “narrower limitations, stricter laws of fitness, bonds of symbolism, rules of color, and traditions of style; but a student of art needlework will not find these stricter laws prevent church work from being beautiful and harmonious; indeed, they will be aids rather than hindrances; while the knowledge already acquired of general principles of color and design will be a safeguard against placing vulgar, crude, or tasteless combinations where, in many eyes, they would be not only ugly, but irreverent.”

It has been well said that, in this kind of work, unity of design and harmony of color take a new and deeper meaning; and honesty of workmanship becomes a duty; while a new reason for conventionalism is seen when we remember that we ourselves, when in God’s house, lay aside an ordinary and natural demand.

The descriptions of the richly-embroidered ecclesiastical vestments: robes, sandals, girdles, tunics, vests, palls, altar-cloths, and veils or hangings of various kinds, that were common in churches in the Middle Ages, would almost surpass belief if the minuteness with which they are enumerated in some ancient authors did not attest the fact.

The cost of many of these articles was enormous, for pearls and precious stones were literally interwoven with the needlework, and an almost incredible amount of time and labor was bestowed on them. Several years would frequently be spent on one garment; and some magnificent ninth century vestments are described, which Pope Paschal presented to different churches.

One of these was an altar-cloth of Tyrian purple, having in the middle a picture of golden emblems, with the faces of several martyrs surrounding the Saviour. The cross was wrought in gold, and had round it a border of olive-leaves most beautifully worked. Another had golden emblems, and was ornamented with pearls.

This same pope had a robe worked with gold and gems, with the history of the Ten Virgins with lighted torches beautifully related. He had another of Byzantine scarlet with a worked border of olive-leaves. He had also a robe of woven gold, worn over a cassock of scarlet silk; and another of amber hue embroidered with peacocks in all the brilliant and mysterious shades of their plumage.

Modern church needlework is much more simple and less expensive, and with an ordinary amount of skill and patience and attention to rules and details, almost any embroiderer can accomplish very satisfactory results.

Coarse, prepared linen or muslin, made very stiff, is first stretched in a frame, and the material to be embroidered carefully tacked or pinned on it. This makes a firm ground for working, and gives body to the article to be embroidered. The silk or calico lining is to be placed on the other side of the muslin.

A well-made frame is another important point; and four-piece frames, or frames without stands, formed of two bars with webbing to which the material is sewn, and two laths or stretchers, with holes to receive the pegs, will be found most suitable for this kind of work. They are fastened with screws, and the sizes generally needed range from 20 inches to 6 feet 4 inches.

Figure 95 represents one of these four-piece frames, in which a piece of linen is stretched, and upon it the central figure of an altar frontal in progress of work. It is better not to stretch the frame more than 20 inches at a time, as it is very fatiguing, for a continuance, to take a longer reach than 10 inches from each side bar of the frame.

Great care must be taken not to rub over the material while working; and for this purpose a cambric handkerchief, or an equivalent of soft paper, should be laid upon it. The needlework should always be covered with a soft clean cloth whenever it is left, no matter for how short a space of time.

IMPLEMENTS NEEDED.

The implements used for church embroidery are needles, pins, stiletto, scissors, thimbles, and the piercer for manipulating gold. This latter article is as necessary as the scissors in regulating bullion and other materials, as it is rounded and pointed at one end like a small stiletto, and wider and flat-sided at the other.

Round-eyed sharps, from 7 to 2, are the needles most likely to be required for every kind of silk; the first principally for sewing-silk, the others for crochet and other coarse silks. The best rule for size is to be able to thread a needle instantly, and to draw the needle backwards and forwards through the eye, without the least friction. An experienced worker will choose a needle very large in proportion to the thread it is to hold in preference to a smaller one.

The stiletto is used in many ways, a steel one being the best. The ends of stiff cords should be put through holes made by this instrument; and occasions for its use are constantly arising.

Short pins are needed for transferring designs, instead of basting; and in appliqué work, every part of it is carefully arranged by pinning before the process of sewing begins. Cardboard patterns, too, for modern embroidery, are kept in place by this means.

Two thimbles are needed, as the use of both hands is particularly necessary in this kind of work. Thimbles worn a little smooth are preferable, as the roughness of a new thimble catches the silk.

Sharp, strong nail scissors will be found most serviceable, and they should be as large in the bows as possible to secure the thumb and finger from hurt in cutting out cardboard designs and textile materials for appliqué.

STITCHES.

The stitches used in ancient ecclesiastical embroidery are found on examination to be quite simple, yet capable of producing the most beautiful effects.

In using gold thread, for instance, it was seldom pulled through the foundation, but couched: laid on the surface and sewed down, two or three threads at a time, by stitches taken either somewhat irregularly, or with such method as to produce by a series of them a perfect diapered pattern of color on a gold ground. Figure 96 is an example of what is known as plain couching.

Gold-colored embroidery silk has an almost equally rich effect by making three or four parallel lines with it, and working the cross stitches in the contrasting color.

Wavy couching is as easy as plain, the undulated first line regulating the position of the others to any extent.

Diaper couching is another variety often used in old church embroidery for representing pavements, and frequently for backgrounds to emblems, and figures of saints.

Diamond couching is very pretty, and useful for holding down silk, as well as passing, in the ornamentation of large fleur-de-lis, or other conventional forms. The illustration (see Figure 100) is a diamond of four stitches each way. The size of the diamond depends upon the dimensions of the space to be covered.

The line and cross diaper will be found desirable for covering large spaces with a diapering of needlework. It also makes a very pretty border to enclose a plain ground in which a cross or other design is worked. This pattern is most effective when done with lines of passing caught down at their intersections by a cross of crimson or other bright-colored silk. The dots in the centre may be made either with gold beads or French knots.

Various other combinations will suggest themselves in couching; which is one of the most charming and useful methods in the whole range of embroidery.

BASKET-STITCH.

This is another very effective device, and is particularly ingenious. It is used principally for straight borders, or for the raised parts of a conventional crown, a large monogram, or for any pattern of a formal outline where a plaited and interlaced effect is the aim.

To work a border in basket-stitch, any even number of rows of twine, from four upwards, must first be sewn firmly down upon the framed foundation; and over this the gold is to be carried two threads at a time. The worker begins by taking two threads of passing and stitching them down, first over one row of twine, then over two rows, and over two again, till the single row at the opposite side is reached.

Any number of threads may be carried across in this way before altering the arrangement of sewing down, according to the width decided upon for the divisions of the plait. Say that six threads, or three layers of passing, have been turned backwards and forwards, and caught down precisely alike; the gold is then to be sewn over two lines of twine, each time, from side to side of the border, for three layers more; and so alternated to any extent.

Medium purse silk is best for sewing down the gold; and a close, firm twine, like whipcord, should be used for the lines. The thickness of the twine must be governed by the size of the figure or space that the basket-work is intended to cover.

The border should he finished on each side by a gold or silk cord, or an edging of some kind to hide the looped ends of the passing, which are not pulled through, but turned backwards and forwards as evenly as possible.

FLOSS-SILK.

For large leaves, spaces in scrolls, draperies of figures, or foregrounds, long loose lines of colored floss, secured at intervals by single threads of passing laid across, produce a very good effect. Below is the simple long-stitch, upon which principle all floss-silk embroidery is wrought. It is the petal of a flower worked in two distinct shades of blue, and edged with amber crochet-silk sewed down with white. The light shade is to be used first—beginning from the outer edge of the centre of the petal, and working first to one side and then to the other. Then the dark shade is to be worked in like manner downwards.

Figure 103 shows a scroll in twist-stitch enriched by passing. The twisted effect is produced by working stitches of an even length one behind the other on an even line. The passing is couched after the silk scroll is worked.