STITCHES IN ART NEEDLEWORK.

Otago Witness, Issue 3853, 17 January 1928, Page 67

STITCHES IN ART NEEDLEWORK.

By

Phillipa.

The four stitches shown in the illustrations are all useful in embroidery and are easy of execution. Figure I shows long and short stitches. This is an adaptation of satin stitch used to accentuate floral forms when not desiring to fill them in solidly. The stitches should follow the curvature of the leaf or flower. The monotony of a succession of long stitches is broken by the short ones. The name long, and short stitch is very fre-

quently wrongly applied to plumage stitch, a stitch used for filling in and shading petals of large flowers, or for embroidering large birds such as peacocks, etc. .. ~ Figure 2 shows coral stitch. It is a good decorative line stitch, easily and quickly executed. It is known under several names, such as snail trail and knotted stitch,, etc. It is composed of single knots, worked with the connecting

thread on the surface; sometimes the knots are worked so closely together as to have the appearance of beads, or they may be worked half an inch apart, and in rows, when they make good lines for Piling large spaces or borders. Method of working: Bring the thread through to the front; place the left thumb on it,

beyond the point where the knot is to be made; take a stitch under the held ead at , right . angles to it; draw the ,h S“ Sta’jSJ &r "'“ rki "S " ith Figure 3 shows hemstitching. An ornamental stitch used in drawn thread work £’ / L he na ™ri . lm P lies > an adornment I;n\ hem ’ r l ns stitch is suited for wavs and wJf < ° ther mat ? rial where the wajs and weft are even in thickness and v-if? ng l. e J loug h to be easily withdrawn without breaking the threads. Leave the nnd Ul if! d + Wldth of material for the hem and its turning and draw out a sufficient

number of threads to gather up without puckering, more or less according to the tUm-kness of material, say, from three to 10 threads; then tack the folds of the w nt ° 4i P - la , ce ’ and ’ with a thread of suitable thickness and colour, take a stitch out of the right-hand end of the hem beneath four or five of the drawn threads towards the left. Take the needle back to where it was inserted under the drawn threads and set it under them out^/th y ’ T\i tha t the point c °mes ?” fc l ?il edge + °J tb , e bera ’ thus gatheTing the drawn threads into little sheaflike bundles by a loop. The other edge H,„ tb ® draw ? threads may.be stitched in the same fashion, the stitches either corresponding with the row along the hem or by alternating with them S so as to divide the sheaves of drawn threads and forming thus a zigzag arrangement. figure 4is herringbone stitch. An ornamenta l stitch used for borders and foi hemming the edges of flannel or ma,

terial too thick to fold as an ordinary hem. It may be used as a plain stitch or ornamental with a couching stitch.