LOVELY ART EMBROIDERY

Timaru Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 11577, 12 October 1901, Page 3 (Supplement)

LOVELY ART EMBROIDERY

The Cortioolli Silts. Embroidery has been a royal art from time immemorial, and has passed through many phases, but its latest—by the use of the "delicately shaded Corticelli silks—is certainly among the most artistic of all. These have just been introduced here by the up-to-date firm of Messrs Strange and Co., in whose shop a most charmicg collection of examples of this lovely -work cannot fail to catch the eye. These- silks are specially made, so as to wash without spoiling, and are therefore most suitable for working on linen and other washing materials. A teo,-cosy of white linen has delicate sprays of pink briar-roses, with each portion of the' flower shaded as if painted by an artist. A tray-cloth Los single Iviole'ts scattered over it hi most realistic? fashion, each blossom being so beautifully worked as to seem to lack nothing but the scent of the flower. Thio effect, moreover, may be attajned by the novice if she happens to know anything about light and shade in drawing, for each design is accompanied by full directions for working, together with the numbers of the colours required for that particular design. A notable feature of the skeins of silk is the simple, but cleverly contrived patent holder which contains each one, and prevents the silk from being in the least degree tangled. As for the designs, which cau be transferred 'to the material by means of a hot iron, they have none of the stiffness of the old transfer patterns, but are free and altogether graceful, and, when worked' upon the pale coloured linens which can now be met with everywhere, haye a very lovely effect. Indeed, for sachets, bedspreads, magazine covers, doyleys, etc., nothing could be prettier than Corticelli embroidery.