SOME EXQUISITE INDIAN EMBROIDERY

Ladies' Mirror, Volume I, Issue 4, 2 October 1922, Page 23

SOME EXQUISITE INDIAN EMBROIDERY

Selected by M.L.T.

TT is an interesting and curious thought that stitches—as stitches are much the same the world over— Eastern and Western—ancient and modern, and one comes to realise that it is not so much that each nation or period has a distinctive stitchery of its own, as that it is in the application and choice of. stitches that individuality is obtained.

For instance, we find applique on Egyptian tapestries stitched exactly as the patches were sewn on the quilts of our great grandmothers.

Wonderful laces of many countries are exclusive in design, and yet that same medium of actual stitchery is employed in all. India especially is rich in-needle-craft, and offers a wonderful field of investigation to the modern applier of stitches, while it is also interesting to note that probably through the medium of Mission workers, many English forms of embroidery are now being combined with Indian design. It is also a well-known fact that “Irish” hand-made lace does not all come from Ireland. _ Most New Zealanders have at some time had an opportunity of seeing exquisite work that has been brought to our shores through the agency of the Indian Mission workers, and some of these are illustrated here. They are particularly delightful examples, and are a blend of East and West in stitchery and design—stitches from Western necdlecraft being combined with an occasional quaint Eastern pattern, offering an interesting comparison, , and an extremely dainty result that will be sure to appeal to the Western housewife.

Fig. 2 shows a supper cloth, worked on delicate but durable Indian lawn, which is undoubtedly Eastern in design, and the embroidery is a wonderful combination of English feather and shadow stitching. The butterflies shown in Figs. 3 and 4 are well worthy of the attention of any 'lover of dainty work,

being executed in a combination of shadow work and open stitch done with a very coarse needle. When held up against the light it almost gives the impression that the butterflies are really alive and delicately quivering. The edge, by the way, is distinctly Western, but India comes into her own in the quaint motif that alternates with the butterflies.

Fig. 1 is an exquisite bit of work in solid stitchery, of tiny blossoms and wheat ears, and bears witness to a patience and lightness of fingering

that many a Western girl might envy, The thread em-

ployed in this work

nr is a soft four-ply '' weave, very pliable and adaptable, a single strand only being used for the open hem-stitch in the butterflies, while, as the threads blend together when stitched side by side, it is particularly suitable for shadowwork, much more so than a tightlywoven single thread of heavier make.

This work is an insight into the patient, persistent character of the young girls of India, many of them married to old men and widowed while in their early teens, and so becoming, according' to the Indian idea, useless encumbrances to society. It is here that Mission workers have stepped in, offering profitable work to the unhappy little widows and an ever-increasing interest in

life—a life which would otherwise be one of pathetic waiting—with very little to look forward to.

One can well imagine the keen interest displayed by them, doing work that has another object than just filling in time.