Encyclopedia of Needlework Part 30

COLOURED STAR WORKED INTO A LIGHT GROUND (fig. 443).--Begin with 3 chain, join the ring = 2 plain on each of the 3 chain; then for the foundation, 1 plain with the dark thread, and 1 with the light on each of the 6 plain.

In each subsequent row, make one dark st.i.tch more, increasing regularly, that is, making 2 st.i.tches on the last light st.i.tch that comes before the dark ones.

Proceed in this manner until you have 6 or 8 dark st.i.tches, in all and then begin to decrease in every row by one, until there is at last only one dark st.i.tch remaining.

These stars are used in the making of purses, cap-crowns and mats for lamps, etc.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 423. COLOURED STAR WORKED INTO A LIGHT GROUND.]

TUNISIAN CROCHET.--Tunisian crochet is also called crochet-knitting because, you have to cast on all the first row of st.i.tches, as in knitting.

MATERIALS--Every kind of cotton, as well as wool and silk, can be used for Tunisian crochet: the st.i.tches look equally well in all these materials, but for things that require frequent was.h.i.+ng or cleaning, a good was.h.i.+ng material should be selected, such as Coton a tricoter D.M.C and Cordonnet 6 fils D.M.C[A], both strong and suitable in all ways.

As we have already said, Tunisian crochet requires to be done with a long straight needle, with a k.n.o.b at one end and it can only be worked on the right side.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 444. PLAIN TUNISIAN CROCHET.]

PLAIN TUNISIAN CROCHET (fig. 444).--After making a foundation chain of the required length, begin the first, or loop row as it is called. Put the needle into the 2nd chain st.i.tch, draw a loop through and so on, until you have taken up all the chain st.i.tches on the needle. After having made the last st.i.tch of the loop row, make 1 chain st.i.tch and then pa.s.s to the second row that completes the st.i.tch. Turn the thread round the needle, draw it through two loops, turn the thread round again, and again draw it through two loops, and so on to the end.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 445. STRAIGHT PLAITED TUNISIAN St.i.tCH.]

STRAIGHT PLAITED TUNISIAN St.i.tCH (fig. 445).--Worked thus: miss the first loop in the 1st row, take up the second, and come back to the first, so that the 2 loops are crossed. Work the second row in the same manner as the second row of the preceding figure.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 446. SLANTING PLAITED TUNISIAN St.i.tCH.]

DIAGONAL PLAITED TUNISIAN St.i.tCH (fig. 446).--Worked like the preceding, taking up first the second loop and then the first: the second row also, in the same way as before. In the third row, take up the first st.i.tch, and draw the third through the second, so as to produce diagonal lines across the surface of the work.

OPEN TUNISIAN St.i.tCH.--This is an easy kind of Tunisian crochet. The first row is worked as in fig. 444. In the row of plain st.i.tches, you alternately join 2 and 3, or 3 and 4 loops of the preceding row together, and replace them by as many chain st.i.tches.

DECREASING AND INCREASING IN TUNISIAN CROCHET (fig. 447). Our ill.u.s.tration shows how to decrease on both sides and by that means form scallops.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 447. DECREASING IN TUNISIAN CROCHET.]

You miss a st.i.tch alternately on the right and left. On the right you crochet the first two st.i.tches together, and at the end of the row, the last two, and so on, to the end. You increase in the same order, first on the right and then on the left.

HAIRPIN CROCHET (figs. 448, 449, 450).--So called because it is worked on a kind of large steel hairpin or fork with two or more p.r.o.ngs. Wooden and nickel varieties of this implement, which are patented by Mme Besson, of Paris, are also used.

Very pretty laces, fringes, gimp headings and the like can be made in this kind of crochet work. It is often used in combination with ordinary crochet and plain and scalloped braids and gimps, or as a heading for fringes made of tufts and pendant b.a.l.l.s. There are a great many st.i.tches which can be worked in hairpin-crochet. We shall only describe those here that will best teach our readers how the work is done.

MATERIALS.--For was.h.i.+ng laces, Cordonnet 6 fils D.M.C is the best; for furniture fringes, the lower numbers of Coton a tricoter D.M.C, and for producing the appearance of filoselle, the lower numbers of Coton a repriser D.M.C are to be taken.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 448. STEEL HAIRPIN FOR CROCHET.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 449. WOODEN FORK FOR CROCHET.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 450. FORK WITH SEVERAL p.r.o.nGS FOR CROCHET.]

St.i.tCHES.--Begin by a chain st.i.tch, made with an ordinary crochet needle, take the needle out of the loop, and insert the left p.r.o.ng of the fork upwards from below, holding the fork between the thumb and finger of the left hand. The thread should always be in front. Then put the thread over the right p.r.o.ng and the needle into the loop on the left p.r.o.ng, take up the thread, draw it through the loop, put the thread over the needle and draw it through the loop that is on the needle, twist the loop round the left p.r.o.ng, turn the needle round to the right (the thread will now be wound round the right p.r.o.ng); put the needle into the loop on the left p.r.o.ng, throw the thread over the needle, draw it through, tighten the loops and so on.

These st.i.tches may be doubled, or you may make several trebles on each loop, or arrange the plain st.i.tches in different ways.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 451. HAIRPIN INSERTION.

MATERIALS: Fil a pointer D.M.C No. 20 or 30, or Cordonnet 6 fils D.M.C Nos. 4 to 15, white or ecru.[A]]

HAIRPIN INSERTION (fig. 451).--Begin by making stripes with the fork, covering each thread with two plain st.i.tches. Then join the stripes together by the loops, drawing the left loop over the right one and the right one over the left. When you come to the end of the stripes fasten off the last loops by a few st.i.tches. To strengthen the edges, join two loops together by 1 plain, 2 chain, 1 plain and so on.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 452. HAIRPIN LACE

MATERIALS--For the hairpin work: Fil a pointer D.M.C Nos. 20 to 30, or Cordonnet 6 fils D.M.C Nos. 3 to 10, white or ecru. For the edge. Coton a tricoter D.M.C Nos. 16 to 30.

COLOURS: Rouge-Cardinal 347, or Jaune-Rouille 364, or Brun-Marron 406.[A]]

HAIRPIN LACE (fig. 452).--When, by making two half trebles in each loop, you have got the necessary length of hairpin crochet, join the loops two and two, by means of a coloured thread which makes a good contrast with the thread of which the hairpin crochet is made. Work 1 plain st.i.tch joining 2 loops on the right, 2 chain, 1 plain joining the 2 loops on the left; then 2 chain and come back to the right, and so on, until you have taken up all the loops. This forms the zig-zag in the middle.

1st row--join 3 loops by: 1 plain, 5 chain.

2nd row--on the 5 chain st.i.tches: 1 plain, 1 half-treble, 3 trebles, 1 picot, made with 5 chain (for the chain picots, see p. 237), 1 half-treble, 1 plain. The footing of this lace is made like the one in fig. 451.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 453. HAIRPIN FRINGE WITH Ta.s.sELS.]

HAIRPIN FRINGES (figs. 453, 454, 455, 456).--Fig. 453 is made with a fork composed of one branch and 3 or 4 rulers, round which the thread is wound in succession, so as to form loops of different lengths. You may use for this, either a single very coa.r.s.e thread, or else several fine ones, used together as one.

The heading of the fringe is plain, and heavy ta.s.sels are fastened into the loops. The ta.s.sels are made as follows: take a thick skein of the same thread the fringe is made of, pa.s.s it through the loop, leaving just the length required for the ta.s.sel, at one end, thread a needle with the same thread and twist it round the skein, the right distance from the top to form the head of the ta.s.sel and then cut the ends even, at the bottom. As the loops are of different lengths, the ta.s.sels will hang in steps and the fuller and heavier they are, the handsomer the fringe will be.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 454. HAIRPIN FRINGE WITH Ta.s.sELS.

MATERIALS: Coton a tricoter D.M.C Nos. 6 to 16.[A]

COLOURS: ecru and Jaune-Rouille 363, 368, or Gris-Tilleul 331 and Rouge-Cornouille 449 and 450, or three other shades.[A]]

Fig. 454 represents another pattern of fringe, the first part of which is made with the same fork as the preceding one. Instead however of winding the thread round the several p.r.o.ngs in succession, you pa.s.s it alternately round the two first and the fourth, thus making loops of two lengths only. Ta.s.sels of a length, suited to the purpose the fringe is intended for, depend from these loops and may be varied in the second row by b.a.l.l.s made to issue from the middle, or by long meshes, which are made over the whole width of the fork and affixed to the loops.

Figs. 455 and 456 represent two pretty patterns of fringes made of ecru cotton with a strong twist. These are very suitable for was.h.i.+ng articles, as the cotton b.a.l.l.s wash perfectly.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 455. HAIRPIN FRINGE WITH ONE LINE OF b.a.l.l.s.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 456. HAIRPIN FRINGE WITH TWO LINES OF b.a.l.l.s, ONE ABOVE THE OTHER.

MATERIALS--For the crochet-work: Cordonnet 6 fils D.M.C Nos. 3 to 10, or Fil a pointer D.M.C Nos. 10 to 30. For the b.a.l.l.s: Coton a repriser D.M.C Nos. 8 to 16.]

The loops in fig. 455 are all of one length and a ball hangs from every third. In the last chapter but one, a minute description is given of the way in which these b.a.l.l.s are made. The heading of the loops is formed by a row of chain st.i.tches, varying in number from four to six, according to the size of the cotton. The edge is ornamented with little picots.

The fringe, in fig. 456, consists of three long and three short loops alternately, which causes, the b.a.l.l.s that are made to depend from them, to form two parallel lines.

If you join the loops of the heading together, three and three, you will have to make enough chain st.i.tches to cover the s.p.a.ce that is to be filled.

The picots are made with 6 chain st.i.tches, you put the needle back into the fifth st.i.tch after closing the picot, make 1 chain, 2 plain, in the preceding row, 1 picot and so on.

FRINGE MADE WITH LACET OR BRAID (fig. 457).--This is an easy fringe to make and a very effective tr.i.m.m.i.n.g for table-cloths, curtains etc., which are embroidered on coa.r.s.e stuffs.