Artistic embroidery

Altar-covers have often been made in a style of great magnificence, and are the most costly articles of church embroidery. It is not necessary in a small work like this to give one entire, especially as many modern Gothic churches have richly-carved stone or wooden altars for which only a super-frontal of needlework is required.

The fleur-de-lis pattern in Figure 104 is both simple and effective; and wrought in white and gold would be in good taste on either a green or crimson ground.

The embroidery is done in couching—the fleur-de-lis and the curved stems in gold twist-silk, sewed down with orange. The bands of the fleur-de-lis and the trefoils between in white twist-silk, sewed down with gold color. The white to be edged with white cord, the gold color with gold cord.

The fringe is gold color mixed with the color of the ground.

A conventionalized rose is given in Figure 105, full size, to be used in the bordering of a super-frontal.

It is edged with gold cord and worked in two shades of pale pink floss, long embroidery-stitch. The central ring is of bright green silk the diamonds it encloses gold-color couched on a pale green ground; the rays, deep rose-color, in long stitches. The outer lines are long, loose stitches in gold thread.

The leaves are in two shades of olive green floss in long embroidery-stitch; the stem, scroll, and finish are in two shades of olive brown, edged with gold thread. This part may be done in couching.

The roses may be in divisions separated by gold-colored lace, or alternated with annunciation lilies.

PULPIT, OR DESK HANGINGS.

These are often needed where no altar covering is used; and are much simpler in construction. Figure 106 shows a reading-desk draped; Figure 107 gives a suitable design for the centre; and Figure 108 a very pretty bordering.

The cross and lettering of the central figure are to be done in gold thread, or gold-colored silk, and edged with black. On a white or crimson ground this would be very effective; and it has the advantage of harmonizing with any ground color. It may also be done in appliqué, instead of embroidery.

The border pattern may also be done in gold, or in a mixture of gold and white.

Figure 109 gives a rich pattern in full size for the border of an ante-pendium, or desk-hanging. It is embroidered on white silk rep with silver and gold thread; and sewn on over a black velvet, rep, or cloth centre. The dark patterns are worked in appliqué with black velvet; the two other shades in gold and silver brocade.

The embroidery is done in satin-stitch with gold and silver braid, silk and cord of the same material.

The border can be worked upon the material for the centre if it is not intended to contrast with it. The pattern can also be worked entirely in silk with satin-stitch.

CHURCH BOOK MARKERS.

These are comparatively easy of execution, although to be done according to the same rules which govern other church needlework. They are made of plain rich ribbon, varying in width from one to three inches, in the five ecclesiastical colors of crimson, blue, green, white, and violet.

Nothing elaborate in the way of embroidery should be attempted on such small articles. A Latin cross on one end, and a simple monogram on the other, are always suitable. Or words such as “Creed” and “Collect,” as suited to particular parts of the service, may be worked at the separate ends, in plain Old English letters, surmounted by a Greek cross.

The length of the marker depends upon the size of the book for which it is required. A yard, not including fringe, is the ordinary length. This makes a double marker, as it can be divided in the middle by a barrel or register, to fall over two pages of the book.

A very good contrivance for this purpose is a piece of ivory, of the width of the back of the book, pierced with holes, through which pieces of silk braid, from which the ribbon is suspended, may be inserted and tied. The pieces of ribbon may measure less than half a yard, as the suspender, which should be of stout silk braid the color of the ribbon, is two or three inches long.

An ordinary book-marker may be properly made from the following directions:

The width of the ribbon is two and a half inches; the length, one yard, after it is finished. To ensure this, a yard and a quarter of ribbon is procured, and a piece of fine linen tightly framed. Upon this, the end of the ribbon, to the depth of ten inches, is to be smoothly tacked at the extreme edges by fine cotton. Along the bottom edge, and across the top of the ten-inch length, the ribbon must also be tacked.

Five inches from the end of the ribbon, the design, traced and cut out in cardboard, is to be fixed with small pins and then sewed down, and embroidered in gold, silver, or purse-silk, according to circumstances. This being done, the work should be covered from dust, and the other end of the ribbon (if the framed linen is large enough to receive both) tacked down and treated precisely similar, only the pattern must be worked on the contrary side of the ribbon, or, as a double marker, it will not hang right when in the book.

When the embroidery is finished, the linen should be cut from the frame, and then from the back of the ribbon close to the work.

To make up the marker, the plain end below the embroidery is to be turned back four and a half inches over the wrong side, leaving half an inch of plain ribbon below the design on the right side.

The two edges of the ribbon, to the depth of four and a half inches, are now to be sewn together by the neatest stitches of fine silk the exact shade of the ribbon. The raw edge of the turned up end is to be hemmed across, above the design, by stitches so fine as to be invisible on the right side; and the book-marker, which should now appear as neat on one side as the other, will be ready for the fringe.

A soft-twist silk fringe two inches deep is best, if the embroidery is done in silk. If in gold, a gold fringe is more suitable. Twice the length of the two ends, and three inches over for turnings, is the proper measurement. The fringe should be sewed along one side of the marker singly, and then turned and sewed along the other, so that both sides may be perfectly neat and alike.

Figure 110 is a simple and chaste design for a circular mat of velvet to fit the bottom of an alms-dish and deaden the jingling sound of coin upon the bare surface of metal.

The mat should be of velvet, lined with silk, and trimmed with a fringe of gold or silk, as best suits the embroidery, not over an inch deep.

Small articles like these, of suitable materials and careful workmanship, are often most acceptable offerings from those whose limited time or means will not justify their undertaking larger pieces of church work.

A sermon-case is a very useful present for a clergyman, and may be embroidered quite simply, or elaborately, according to the taste and means of the worker. As the same rules and designs will apply to this as to the other articles described, it will be sufficient to give directions for making up the case when worked.

Sermon-cases are made in two ways, either stiff and flat like a book-cover, or firm and soft for rolling.

For the book-cover kind, two sheets of stout cardboard must be cut to the exact size, and joined at the back by a narrow strip of calico pasted along each side. Over this foundation thin lining muslin must be smoothly stitched inside and out; after which the velvet may be tacked evenly on by stitches drawn over the inside edge. A full half inch of velvet should be turned over to make the edges secure.

The silk lining is then to be adjusted and sewed to the velvet with neat stitches, every one of which, if rightly taken, will tend to tighten the material over the mounting-board.

As a finish, a well-made cord of gold or silk, or a mixture of both, is to be sewn all around the case. This cord, which must be about half an inch in circumference, should effectually conceal the stitches uniting the edges of the velvet and silk. A piece of elastic, a quarter of an inch wide, is to be sewed, top and bottom, on the inside of the back, for the sermon to be passed through.

The size of the case must be governed by the size of the sermon-paper used by the clergyman for whom it is intended. Ten inches by eight is a good size for quarto paper.

By using parchment instead of cardboard, and kid or morocco in place of lining muslin, the sermon-case may be made to roll.

DESIGNS ON CARDBOARD.

The use of cardboard designs in church embroidery is a mechanical method of working, but it is also quite an effective one. It is metallic-looking, however, and should not be used in imitations of ancient work. For monograms, letters of texts, and geometrical figures which require clear, sharp outlines, the firm edges of a cardboard foundation will be particularly serviceable.

Embroidery designs to be worked over cardboard must first be traced on thin paper, and then transferred to the cardboard by one of two ways: that of placing the drawing on the cardboard, with black transfer paper between, and tracing it carefully with an ivory stiletto or hard pencil; or by pricking, pouncing, and drawing, as directed for other patterns.

A clear outline of the design having been made on the cardboard, it should be cut out accurately with sharp scissors. In this cutting out, strips of the cardboard, called stays, must be left here and there to keep together such parts of the design as would separate or fall away, if the entire outline were cut around; and these stays must not be cut off until the edges of the cardboard pattern are firmly secured on the framed material by close stitches of cotton.

After the stays are removed, if the design is to be raised, one row of even twine should be sewed down along the centre of the figure; it is then to be worked over with the silk. This one row of twine will give to the work the bright sharp effect of gold in relief. More than one row would spoil it.

The thickness of the twine must be regulated by the size of the figure to be raised. To raise the embroidery at all is quite a matter of taste, as excellent specimens of work are constantly done over the card alone.

For gold, or gold-color silk embroidery, the upper side of the card foundation should be painted yellow. This can be done by a wash of common gamboge or yellow ochre. The best cardboard for this purpose is that known as thin mounting board.

CHURCH-WORK IN APPLIQUÉ.

This may properly be used for almost any material; and a great deal of church decoration is done entirely by this method.

For letterings or labels, appliqué is particularly appropriate; and the description of a crimson cloth ground labelled with gold-colored letters will explain the method of doing it.

Stout gray holland a few inches longer than the label is first to be framed and the piece of crimson cloth pasted on it. When this is dry, and while in the frame, the outlines of the label and letters are to be pounced and drawn upon it in Chinese white with a camel’s hair brush.

In another frame, a piece of gold-colored cloth is to be prepared on brown holland; and upon this the whole of the letters, or as many as possible, are to be pounced and drawn in India ink. Over the outlines of the letters, a black cord must be closely sewed; and when the frameful is completed in this manner, the holland is to be pasted all over at the back to secure the stitches and make the letters firm.

When quite dry, the holland with the letters may be taken from the frame. They are then to be cut out with sharp nail scissors—leaving the sixteenth of an inch of cloth beyond the black cord everywhere, and laid in their places on the crimson cloth, fixed with pins, and finally sewed down through the black cord by stout waxed silk in stitches an eighth of an inch apart. The small edge of gold-colored cloth beyond the cord should not be interfered with; it will rather improve the effect of the letters on the crimson ground.

A black cord must also be closely sewed along the outline of the label, and beyond it a gold silk cord the color of the letters. This done, and the work strengthened at the back by paste, the label may be taken from the frame. It should then be cleanly cut to within an eighth of an inch of its outline all around, when it will present a perfect piece of work of its kind, and will be in a condition to transfer or mount to its final position.

The “fair linen cloth” is laid on the thicker covering at the top, and falls over the table in front to the depth of the worked border, unless there is an embroidered super-frontal beneath, which it would conceal.

It is made of lawn or the finest linen, and bordered with an appropriate design in chain-stitch—which may be worked either with white or colored cotton. This cloth should be long enough either to cover the two sides of the altar; or it may be made only to turn down, as at the front, to the width of the border; which, in every case should be continued along the two ends from the front of the cloth.

The pattern in Figure 111 may be used for white or colored cottons, or for a mixture of both. Crimson and blue are the most suitable colors for embroidering altar-linen. The worked border should rest upon a plain hem an inch deep.