392 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



December, 1905 



before the ma- 

 terial begins to 

 fray, using cotton 

 or silk exactly the 

 color of the 

 ground. These 

 stitches are after- 

 ward covered by 

 a cord or couched 

 silks ; when very 

 neat workman- 

 ship is required 

 the edges are 

 done in art or 

 satin stitch. The 

 child's coverlet 

 and the tomato 

 design were done 

 in this way. For a 

 portiere it really 



An Arras Cloth Portiere that Can Be 

 Quickly Made in Applique 



seems a waste of time, for if the de- 

 sign was outlined by couched threads 

 it would look quite as effective and 

 take a great deal less time to do. The 

 stems are worked in crewel stitch or 

 stem stitch, as a rule, but every now 

 and then designs can be seen with the 

 stems formed by tiny silk cords. 



A child's coverlet was made of 

 two pieces of coarse Holland, the 

 back of it being cut larger than the 

 front and brought over and joined 

 four inches from the edge. This 



is concealed, by a line all around it, of blue-green embroidery 

 worked in satin stitch. The leaves and stems are cut in one 

 piece and are made of olive-green linen. Some of the flowers 

 are peach color, while some are a tomato red. The flowers 

 are all outlined in the deepest shade of red, worked also in 

 art stitch, the leaves being outlined with the blue-green used 

 on the hem line. This piece of work is very beautiful, 

 though nearly the same effect could be gained by couching 

 the outline. Couching is a thick strand of linen flax or 

 crewels laid around the applied design, and stitched at regular 

 intervals by threads crossing the couching line at right 

 angles. Cord is applied in the same way. The couching 

 may be made of filoselle or embroidery silk, according to the 

 texture of the material used. Some workers prefer the linen 

 flax or mercerized cottons on coarse linens, but many find the 

 silks easier to work; the effect is so much the same that it is 

 best for the worker to use what she likes best to work with. 



A tray cloth would require a light couching stitched about 

 one-quarter of an inch apart. On an arras cloth portiere 

 with a large design the couching might have six strands of 

 heavy linen flax and be stitched an inch apart. 



Stem stitch is the best stitch to use for stems and places 

 where no applique is needed; it is simply a long stitch for- 



ward on the surface of the material and a shorter one back 

 on the under side, working from left to right. 



Art stitch or satin stitch is the same on both sides, and is 

 done by passing the thread evenly from one outline of the 

 pattern to the other. 



A design which can be adapted for sideboard cloths or 

 portieres is the one used as a curtain in a lattice window. 

 It is made of cadet blue and deep olive linen on a ground of 

 white, and is embroidered like the child's coverlet. This 

 clever design was used on a portiere with the base of the de- 

 sign forming a three-inch band of deep color on the side of 

 the portiere, the same piece of linen forming the leaves and 

 stem, while the fruit was of a contrasting color. 



I also used the same design enlarged for a frieze treatment 

 on a blue arras cloth portiere. The applique was in two 

 harmonizing shades of blue linen and was most attractive 

 in a blue room with mahogany furniture. The drawing is 

 so simple an amateur who had little technical knowledge 

 could take the design and draw it from the illustration. 



A cushion design on blue-gray linen had an applique of 

 blue linen for the leaves couched with 

 the same shade of linen flax. The bird 

 was in ecru linen on a ground of blue a 

 shade paler than the leaves. The de- 

 sign can also be used as a stencil. 



A tablecloth of gray-blue had the 

 groundwork left for the leaves, the ap- 

 plique being one large piece of dull 

 green linen. This was an intricate piece 

 of work, as every leaf and all the green 

 surrounding were outlined in satin 

 stitch exactly the shade of the ground- 

 work. It must have taken hours to 

 make, and no doubt would have been 

 just as beautiful with a couched edging. 



Child's Coverlet on Holland with Green 

 and Red Linen Applique 



A curtain of 

 arras cloth, with 

 the design out- 

 lined in cord, and 

 the flower motif 

 held in place by 

 blanket stitch, 

 shows what I 

 mean by quick 

 needlework giv- 

 ing the effect of 

 good applique 

 work although re- 

 quiring much less 

 labor. An inex- 

 pensive curtain 

 can be made of 

 green arras cloth 

 with a tapestry 

 border obtainable 

 at any uphol- 

 sterer's. It h a s 

 leaves and flowers. 



Cushion in Blue Linen and Table Cover in 

 Green and Blue Linen 



