THE CRAFTS 
Under the management of Miss Emily Peacock, 232 East 2 7 th Street, New York. All inquiries in regard to the various 
Crafts are to be sent to the above address, but will be anszvered in the magazine under this head. 
All questions must be received before the 10th day 0} month preceding issue, and will be answered under "Answers to Inquiries" only. Please do not send 
stamped envelope for reply. The editors will answer questions only in these columns. 
in the fabric, these are most interesting for their crude con- 
ventionalizations of the human and of animal forms and 
for the perfect subjection of the design to the demands and 
limitations of the method of construction. The result is 
beauty of design, however grotesque in itself each unit of 
that design may be. 
The Metropolitan Museum ofjArt^has^also many cases 
filled with fragments of embroidery and textiles of Greek, 
Roman and Alexandrian origin, these are easy of access and 
beautiful both in color and design. ^ ■ ' 
Whatever motif be chosen for the work in hand, it 
must be simplified to meet the requirements of the material 
upon which it is wrought, hence the value of studying care- 
fully these early results of distaff and loom, so harmonious, 
even in crudity, because the decoration is perfectly adapted 
to the material of which it is made. . 
Given now the definite problem of a portiere (a simple 
curtain) for a summer room which is light and cool in its 
appointments. For a material we may use Cheviot burlap; 
though inexpensive it has a soft silvery sheen of surface 
quite delightful. In a room with more color and heavier 
furnishings, arras cloth is better, being richer in texture and 
hanging in heavier folds. 
Provide an ample quantity of burlap, several very 
large strong darning needles and an abundance of floss — a 
moderate quantity of cream white and dark dull green and 
more of a lighter shade of the same soft green (if preferred 
browns may be used in the place of green). The color 
scheme of the room of course determines the colors used for 
curtain and for needlework. 
Any untwisted, or loosely twisted, floss of linen, silk or 
mercerized cotton may be used. There will also be needed 
plenty of paper, pins, and a bit of soft white crayon. A 
hem of six inches is first turned on the right side, thoroughly 
Pillow Slip — Mrs. Dorrance 
THE NEEDLEWROUGHT DECORATION OF HOMESPUNS 
SarcCh Francis Dorrance 
THERE can now be found in the shops an ever increas- 
ing group of textiles which are peculiarly adapted to 
housefurnishing and other decorative uses. Among these 
are a few really homespun and handwoven fabrics, such as 
the Russian crashes and other linen stuffs woven abroad, 
and many more, including the burlaps, arras cloths and the 
like, which, though machine made, are loosely woven and 
approach in character the more artistic handwork. In the 
Southern mountains also cotton, flax and wool are hand- 
spun and woven as in colonial times. These latter textiles 
are of course more difficult to obtain than the materials of 
the shops, but certain schools, as Berea College in Kentucky, 
are trying to preserve these industries and to create a 
demand for their finished work. 
The usefulness of such materials for decorative pur- 
poses is at once evident, but a simple method of applying 
ornament to so loosely woven a fabric is less apparent; it is 
too coarse in texture to be easily decorated with design in 
applique" while the surface is too rough to seem consistent 
with rich embroidery. It is a simple needlewrought decora- 
tion of such textiles as these which is now to be considered. 
First the character of such a material demands the 
utmost simplicity in method of treatment, decoration on 
such fabric should itself be as simple in design as in manner 
of rendering — the coarser the surface, the heavier and sim- 
pler the design. By darning into the surface of the material 
some fiber or floss of suitable color and texture, designs may 
be freely rendered with effects quite as pleasing as those 
produced by more labored methods. 
This method is so simple and one requiring so little 
time that one's best strength should be spent in planning 
the design ; this, in fact, is not only desirable but essential. 
If one has access to Museums of Art or Ethnology, a veritable 
storehouse of suggestion for the designer of textiles is found 
therein. In New York the American Museum of Natural 
History has a peculiarly rich collection of prehistoric 
Peruvian or Aztec textiles, the designs of which are woven 
Table Runner — Mrs. Dorrance 
