MODERN EMBROIDERY

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 74, Issue 190, 13 August 1931, Page 2

MODERN EMBROIDERY

POPULAR FANCY STITCHES Fashion decrees that embroidery is to be used for trimming oh many ot the spring and summer frocks and blouses. This is excellent news for the home dressmaker, since, with the exercise of a little originality, she can provide herself with up-to-date garments at a relatively low cost. The first thing of importance, when undertaking needlework of this kind, is to select the right embroidery threads for the par-! ticular material. For instance, tool coarse a thread, or the use of a cotton or wool thread where silk should have been chosen, makes all the difference between a good effect and a bad. When working on a silk material, it is advisable to use a silk thread. Mercerised cotton looks well on cotton, and silk on velvet. Bright coloured wools find a suitable setting on loosely woven tweeds and coarse linen. It must ..Iso be borne in mind that embroidery today is used to emphasise a particular line or cut; the frock is not to be regarded as au excuse for showing off elaborate designs, says a correspondent. A plainly cut frock of an unpatterned material can be given a note of individuality by eyelet work. This is a series of round holes grouped together to make a design, and is first in popularity because it can be done on almost all materials. If you arc clever at drawing, design your own pattern on a piece of thin paper, using a wax crayon fur the outlines. Pin the design into position and iron off the design. The heated wax will leave a faint impression on the material, and can be used as a guide. Otherwise, buy a ready prepared transfer. Punch the indicated holes with a stiletto, and work the edge of each hole with a tiny satin stitch. Entire hems of skirts, panels of all descriptions, and cuffs ant! collars can be trimmed with this mode of embroidery, which when finished has the appearance of broderie Anglaise. Choice of colours will depend on the frock itself, but different coloured threads produce pretty results. Shirring and Tucking. Another modern and favourite method

oi trimming is tu use rows of shirring, consisting of parallel rows of gathers. I These louk extremely well on velvet or i rich satins, and are useful for gathering I in the waist-line or giving a slim line J to the sieves below the elbows. Popular, although not quite so easy to do, is the new kind of tucking, which gives the effect of flat padding. The work is done on the wrung side of the material, aud is better known to dressmakers as double back-stitch or close herring-bone stitch. The stitch is worked between two lines, a little material being taken up on top and bottom, so I that the needle goes where the last I stitch ends each time. Ou the right side of the material two parallel lines of back-stitch are shown with a slight j padding of stitchery between. For a lung time we have associated ’ smocking mainly with children’s frocks and overalls, but it has gained enormously in favour recently for the trimming of grown-up frocks. Always, when preparing for smocking, allow three limes the width required for the finished smocking. Iron the smocking transfer on to tac material and run gather ing threads in the lines indicated by the dots, taking up just a tiny bit of the material in each case, so that only a wee stitch shows on tlie right side. If possible, get someone to hold the work at the top and bottom while you pull the gathering threads tightly. This will ensure that the plaits are even to start with. {Secure each gatheringthread by winding it round a pin placed at the end of each row. Begin smocking from the left, using an ordinary back-stitch. In each stitch take up just a little at the top of each • ])lait. Ike chief variation of the stitches is made by taking the stitches with the thread from the previous stitch, held firmly by the thumb, below or above the needle as the case may be. Continue in this way, and when finish--1 cd pull out the gathering threads. Personally 1 know of no easier or ! more pleasing method of embroidery than cross-titch. This, worked on pockets, belts, collars and cuffs, transforms a dull frock into a picturesque garment. Threads of various colours can

be woven into a single design, orange, green, yellow and black making a bright combination on a beige or brown material.