The Plates: Forms and Fillings

Plate 2

1. A group of blue leaves, etc., taken from some old cushions at Knole Park, Sevenoaks.
2. No. 1. Stem stitch contour: Maidenhair in buttonhole stitch. Star in buttonhole stitch on background of small crosses.
3. No. 2. Stem stitch.
4. No. 3. Stem stitch contours. Centre in loop stitch.
5. No. 4. Stem stitch contours. Centre loop stitch and maidenhair in buttonhole stitch.
6. No. 5. Stem stitch.

Plate 3

1. No. 1. Stem stitch contour: diaper work done in coral stitch, with a French knot filling in each alternate square. Four rows of buttonhole stitch at top of flower.
2. No. 2. Stem-stitch, coral stitch and darning.
3. No. 3. Buttonhole stitch, French knot and stem stitch.
4. No. 4. Stem stitch and buttonhole stitch.
5. No. 5. Coral stitch. (These tendrils occurred all over the work and were very effective.)
6. No. 6. Buttonhole stitch: centre and stalk in stem stitch.
7. No. 7. Stem stitch and loops.

Plate 5

1. No. 1. Contour in stem stitch, filled in lightly with buttonhole stitch, and darning and long-and-short stitch.
2. No. 2. Ditto, with the addition of herring-bone stitch on two upper petals.
3. No. 3. (Stalk) herring-bone stem stitch with loops between.

Plate 7

MOST of the stitchery shown here is similar to that on the preceding plates, but has the addition of the plait stitch[4] edged with buttonhole stitch in the veins of the big leaf, and the close knots on the sheaf of the foxgloves, while the sheaf of the convolvulus has veins of stem stitch and small French knots.

In all this piece of work there is to be noted a great deal of buttonholing and darning.

[4] A variation of herring-bone stitch.

Plate 9

1. treats of button-holeing stitch done in a variety of ways.
2. No. 1 has groups of three button-hole stitches and crosses in centre, and is edged by chain stitch and arrow-heads.
3. No. 2. Button-hole stitch centre and edge.
4. No. 3. Button-hole stitch with stalks in stem stitch.

Plate 10a

THIS leaf, having a contour of chain stitch, is filled in at the top with a brown and blue branch in stem stitch, edged with short-and-long stitch. The green turnover is in chain stitch with blue chain stitch veins, and the blue turnovers at base of leaf are done in a lace surface stitch, while the rest is filled in with small darning stitches, coral stitches and a little bit of button-hole stitching. The three central leaves crossing stem are in red and green, and blue and green; the brown stalks are worked in stem stitch. Loops are worked round the outside of the leaf here as in all the bigger leaves on this work. The spike on the left of the sketch is in herring bone stitch edged with arrow heads.

Plate 12

1. No. 1. One of the many conventional foliations in this design, carried out in stem stitch, buttonhole and darning.
2. No. 2. Close chain stitch for the circles with herring bone for the stalk running through them.
3. No. 3. The same stem as in foxgloves but with darning introduced up the centre.
4. No. 4. The sheafs of the foxgloves are worked in crochet stitch edged stem stitch.
5. The contours of flowers in back stitch, filled in short-and-long stitches and darning.

Plate 14

A group of fillings in which darning plays an important part, the backgrounds of two of the leaves were carried out in indigo, the veinings were worked in solid rows of outline stitch in brown shading to a lighter bronze green, the central vein in the upper leaf was in chain-stitch in dark blue and the outline of leaf was carried out in two rows of chain stitching in darkest indigo. The shamrock leaf has a darned contour of double threads, the filling was in stem stitch, solid, with bars of a darker colour worked across it. The little band at the bottom of the group was a mixture of satin, chain, stem and French knots.

Plate 16

THIS bold leaf is mainly carried out in block shading, but the colours are unusual. Indigo for the outside edge, soft brown the central block, and light green for the inner; in the second leaf the green is employed only for the line of veining; the two leaves or sections on the right-hand side are treated as follows—The upper one has outlines of brown, between which blocks of “buttonhole” in indigo are worked, the intervening spaces being simply decorated by a loop stitch in green wool. The sprays are in satin stitch, which is one of the best for small sprays to be worked solid.

Plate 18

MORE fillings taken from a piece of work executed in the late 17th century.

I Is one of the diverse methods of treating the large tree stems in a design. Within the fan-like outlines traced down on the linen is a solid filling of satin stitches, varying row by row from pale fawn at the foot to dark chestnut brown round the top, the direction of the stitches is shewn in the drawing.

1. II Here we have a fancy lattice of three strands of laid wool couched with small French knots at the intersecting points, the outline is in stem stitch and fanciful back stitches are used as fillings.
2. III Has first rows of long single threads thrown across, caught down with stars and groups of satin stitching crossed.
3. IV A light treatment for stems, the filling, shells in buttonhole stitches, with second outline in darning.
4. V One of the examples of the introduction of lace stitches that is to be noted in work of the late 17th century, the alternate blocks are in basket stitch, the others in double cross stitch in contrasting colours.
5. VI Quaint example of couched work.

Plate 20

THESE two sketches were taken from an 18th century (?) curtain done in solid crewel work, in somewhat bright colouring. The brown veining which occurs in I and in nearly all the leaves was most effective; in this plate is also shown a good example of basket stitch stem work. The acorn cup was worked in close French knots.

II The large leaf is a good example of solid work. The contour was in stem stitch, the serrated edges turned over on to the brown surface were in shading stitch, the red veinings in satin stitch.

Plate 22

WE have here a large leaf very characteristic of the complicated detail introduced by the conventional treatment of foliage in early English work.

The curved point of the leaf is outlined in rope stitch in a dark shade of soft bronze green, the heavy double cross lines are in crewel stitch and of a lighter shade of bronze in which the square lattice is also carried out, the French knots in the centres are of a dark olive green.

The round medallion is outlined similarly to the above but in darker shade, the centre being worked solid in slanting satin stitches set in rows, each row taken at the opposite angle to its neighbour; the next leaf is outlined inside, in two rows of chain, the turnover of the leaf being solid satin stitch in three shades of green. The stem is double back stitch, and the other leaves are worked solid in shading stitch in graduated shades of green.

The two small leaves, I & II example: 1st, rope stitch with alternate fillings of darning and outline stitch, and 2nd, rows of outline stitch for one-half the back leaves and one-half grey knot stitch and blue snail trail in alternative, the end leaf being in rows of outline of brown colour.

Plate 24

EXAMPLE of a bird introduced into the late 17th century work.

It is executed in simple feather stitch for the tail feathers and satin stitch very evenly shaded. The dark centres of the short feathers are in crimson, the rest in shades of buff, the breast feathers also worked in satin stitch are in putty colour, legs and beak are brown and the crest in crimson.

Plate 26

GROUP of animals usually disporting on the terra-firma at base of large designs.

Worked always in long and short stitch.