Back-Stitch
This stitch was largely used in the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries for the adornment of articles of personal clothing, as well as of quilts and hangings, hence it is natural that it is prominent in the samplers of the period. In the older specimens the bands of back-stitch patterns are worked with exquisite neatness, both sides being precisely alike; but in those of later date signs of carelessness are apparent, and the reverse side is somewhat untidy. In no sampler examined by the writer, however, has the back-stitch been produced by working a chain-stitch on the wrong side of the linen, as is the case in some of the embroidered garments of the period.
The samplers illustrated in [Plates III.] and [VII.] are noticeable for their good bands of back-stitching. A small section of [Fig. 5] is shown on an enlarged scale in [Fig. 75]. In some modern text-books of embroidery, it may be added, the old reversible or two-sided back-stitch is distinguished as Holbein-stitch.
Fig. 74.—Satin-stitch and Combination of Types of Open-work:
Enlarged from the Sampler reproduced in [Fig. 4]. 17th Century.