Encyclopedia of Needlework Part 53

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 637. ORDINARY DARNING St.i.tCH.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 638. LINEN St.i.tCH. FIRST St.i.tCHES.]

The number of st.i.tches depends, to a certain extent, on the material employed; with Coton a broder D.M.C for example, you will have to make more st.i.tches than with one of the coa.r.s.er numbers of Coton a repriser D.M.C.

This is the st.i.tch generally used for reproducing a cross st.i.tch pattern on a netted ground and is especially to be recommended for covering large surfaces, curtains, counterpanes and so forth, as it is quickly done and shows up the pattern well.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 639. LINEN St.i.tCH. SECOND St.i.tCHES.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 640. LINEN St.i.tCH. FORMATION OF THE CORNERS.]

LINEN St.i.tCH (figs. 638 and 639).--This is the st.i.tch most often met with in the old embroideries, it being the one the solid parts of the leaves and flowers, and the borders are generally worked in.

Fasten on the thread to a knot of the netting and carry it twice to and fro, over and under the threads of the netting, so that at the end of the row, every second thread pa.s.ses under and over the thread of the netting, as it is carried upwards again.

This const.i.tutes the first layer of threads, the second completes the linen st.i.tch and is made in the same way, only across the first, alternately taking up and missing a thread as is done, in darning. The thread may also be carried both ways over the threads of the squares. In this case you must draw an uneven number of threads through the squares, otherwise the crossing of the threads will be irregular in the last square.

LINEN St.i.tCH. FORMATION OF THE CORNERS (fig. 640).--When linen st.i.tch is used for the border of a pattern, and a corner has to be formed, you begin by carrying the threads over a given number of squares. This first layer, especially in the case of long stripes, must be kept very slack, and to ensure the threads being all of the same length, lay a fine mesh or a thick knitting needle at one end and stretch the threads over it.

After carrying the second layer across a few squares, take away the mesh or needle. The threads of the first layer become gradually shorter, from the pa.s.sage of the cross threads in and out between them, and end by being just long enough to prevent the last embroidered squares from being too tightly stretched.

On reaching the corner, you cross the threads of the next row, as shown in fig. 640. The first threads of the second side form the foundation of the corner square; from the second corner square you pa.s.s to the third; from the third to the fourth, carrying your thread alternately over and under the threads that were stretched for the first corner.

LOOP St.i.tCH (POINT D'ESPRIT) (figs. 641 and 642).--This is a light open st.i.tch, chiefly used for making a less transparent foundation than plain netting. Fasten the thread to the middle of one bar of the netting, then make a loose loop to the middle of the top bar of the same square, fig. 641, by carrying the thread, from left to right, over one vertical and one horizontal bar of the net and inserting the needle downwards from above under the bar and in front of the working thread.

For the second row back, also represented in fig. 641, you draw the needle through, underneath the bar above the loop st.i.tch and make the loop upwards from below; in doing this the working thread must lie to the left, in front of the needle. Fig. 642 shows how to join the rows and pa.s.s the needle through the st.i.tches of the preceding row.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 641. LOOP St.i.tCH. 1ST AND 2ND COURSE OF THE THREAD.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 642. LOOP St.i.tCH. SEVERAL ROWS COMPLETED.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 643. STAR FORMED OF LOOSE THREADS LAYING THE UNDERNEATH THREADS.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 644. STAR FORMED OF LOOSE THREADS. LAYING THE UPPER THREADS.]

STAR COMPOSED OF LOOSE THREADS (figs. 643, 644, 645).--This star covers 16 squares of netting. Fasten the thread to the middle knot of the 16 squares, then carry it diagonally over 4 squares, three times from left to right under a knot of the foundation and three times from right to left. In this way, the bottom rays of the star are formed. For the st.i.tches that complete the figure, you start from the middle and following the direction of the little arrow in the ill.u.s.tration, you cover the netting with 3 horizontal and 3 vertical threads, carried over 4 squares. When you have laid the vertical threads, slip the needle 4 or 5 times round in a circle, under the diagonal and over the straight threads, but always over the bars of the netting. This completes the star, as it is represented in fig. 645. Care must be taken to make the st.i.tches lie quite flat side by side, and not one on the top of the other.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 645. STAR FORMED OF LOOSE THREADS. FINISHED.]

DARNING St.i.tCH (POINT DE REPRISE) (figs. 646 and 647).--Little flowers and leaves are generally executed in this st.i.tch; the first course of the thread is shown in fig. 646. Leaves can be made with one, two or three veins. Carry the needle, invariably from the middle, first to the right and then to the left, under the threads of the foundation and push the st.i.tches close together, as they are made, with the point of your needle. This you will be able to do most easily by holding the work so as to make the st.i.tches towards you.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 646. LEAVES WORKED IN DARNING St.i.tCH. BEGUN.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 647. LEAVES WORKED IN DARNING St.i.tCH. COMPLETED.]

For a leaf with only one division or vein, like the left leaf in fig.

646, merely run the needle through the middle of the threads, whereas for a leaf with two or three veins, you must run it, over and under, either one, or two threads (see the right leaf in fig. 646).

In working leaves of this kind in darning st.i.tch, you must draw your st.i.tches at the top and bottom of the leaf rather tighter than in the middle, so as to give them the proper shape. If you wish to make them very slender at the bottom, you can finish them off with a few overcasting st.i.tches.

Fig. 647 represents two leaves completed, one with one vein and the other, with two.

POINTED SCALLOPS IN DARNING St.i.tCH (fig. 648).--The simplest way to work these scallops is to carry a thread, as shown in the ill.u.s.tration, to and fro over the square, from the knot in one corner to the middle of the bar above and downwards to the opposite knot, round which the thread is carried and pa.s.sed upwards again to the middle. As the scallop must always be begun from the top, you will have, two foundation threads on one side and three on the other. Here likewise, you must push the threads as closely together as possible with the needle.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 648. POINTED SCALLOPS IN DARNING St.i.tCH.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 649. POINTED SCALLOPS IN b.u.t.tONHOLE St.i.tCH.]

POINTED SCALLOPS IN b.u.t.tONHOLE St.i.tCH (fig. 649).--Another quite as pretty and easy way of working pointed scallops on a netted foundation is by making two b.u.t.tonhole st.i.tches before crossing to the opposite side. As shown in the foregoing ill.u.s.tration, you begin by stretching single or double foundation threads across; then beginning at the point, you make, alternately right and left, 2 b.u.t.tonhole st.i.tches over the foundation threads, so that the working thread is only carried across to the opposite side after every second st.i.tch.

VEINED POINTED SCALLOPS (fig. 650).--A third way of making pointed scallops is by first stretching a thread to and fro across the middle of the square, after which you slip the needle from left to right under the middle thread, and underneath the left bar from above. Then you carry the needle, from right to left, over the foundation thread and under the right bar and so on. The one thread must be drawn tightly round the other, in order that the st.i.tches may form close and evenly shaped veins, like small cords, on the wrong side of the scallop. There must be enough st.i.tches to completely cover the foundation thread that crosses the middle of the square.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 650. VEINED POINTED SCALLOPS.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 651. POINTED SCALLOPS IN VENETIAN St.i.tCH.]

POINTED SCALLOPS IN VENETIAN St.i.tCH (fig. 651).--The prettiest scallops of all are those worked in Venetian st.i.tch. You begin, by making from 8 to 10 b.u.t.tonhole st.i.tches over one bar of the netting, then you work on with the same st.i.tch backwards and forwards, making one st.i.tch less in each row, until you come to the one which forms the point of the scallop and is fastened to the bar above; you carry the working thread back on the wrong side to the lower bar, and then under the b.u.t.tonhole st.i.tches to the next square of the netting. Scallops worked in this manner, can be overcast round the edges in the way described further on, in fig. 660.

WHEELS EMBROIDERED ON NETTING (figs. 652 and 653).--To make wheels or spiders, as they are also called, you have first to fasten the thread to the middle knot of four squares, thence you carry it diagonally right and left, fig. 652, right detail, across the empty squares of netting and the knot, and return to the middle, overcasting your first thread by the way, so as to form a closely twisted cord. This is called cording a thread.

Having reached the centre, carry the working thread round and round, under and over the corded threads and under the bars of the netting till the wheel covers half the bars.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 652. LAYING THE THREADS FOR A WHEEL AND BEGINNING OF THE WHEEL.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 653. WHEELS WORKED IN TWO WAYS.]

Fig. 653 shows, on the right, a finished wheel, and on the left, another way in which it can be made, and indicates the course of the thread over and under the lines, as in a darn. These details show also how, when the foundation thread of the wheel starts from a corner, it is left single in the first square until the wheel is finished; then the needle is slipped back along the little spoke, opposite to the single thread, and through the wheel, and the single thread is corded like the others.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 654. RIBBED WHEELS.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 655. RIBBED SQUARES OR LOZENGES.]

RIBBED WHEELS (fig. 654).--Make the foundation of the wheels as before, over 8 threads. To form the ribs at the back of the wheels, see fig. 654; make a back st.i.tch, on the right side, over a bar of the netting, and carry on the needle under one bar, so that the thread that lies outside always crosses 2 bars of the netting.

In this case you must make circles of thread enough, to cover the bars completely, not half, as before.

The same st.i.tches, as fig. 654 shows, can be made on either side of the embroidery, and so as to form, either a square or a lozenge (see fig.

655).

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 656. WHEELS SET WITH b.u.t.tONHOLING.]

WHEELS SET WITH b.u.t.tONHOLING (fig. 656).--A very pretty lace-like effect is produced by encircling the wheels in large squares of netting with a double setting of st.i.tches. The left detail of fig. 656 shows how the thread, having been pa.s.sed under the wheel and twisted once round the single thread, is carried all round the square and forms 8 loops.

The arrow shows the way in which the loops are taken up, and the first ring of st.i.tches round the wheel is finished.

The second detail of the same figure explains the course the thread, that forms the second ring, has to take through the loops and between the bars; whilst the white line shows the pa.s.sage of the thread over the second ring. The third detail represents a wheel, completed.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 657. STAR WITH ONE-SIDED b.u.t.tONHOLE St.i.tCHES.]

STAR WITH ONE-SIDED b.u.t.tONHOLE St.i.tCHES (fig. 657).--The pattern represented in fig. 657, is the quickest to work that we know of. Two b.u.t.tonhole st.i.tches made upon the outside bar of a square and a simple crossing of the thread at the bottom, produce elongated triangles which should always be begun from the knot. Two triangles stand exactly opposite to each other in one square, and the square that comes in the middle of the four thus filled, is ornamented with a small wheel.