Maize with blue.
White with olive green.
Green and blue do not harmonize, whatever the votaries of the present fashion may declare to the contrary. Even green leaves do not look well in the vicinity of blue flowers, unless they partake of the rich autumn tints of olive, yellow, and brown. Then the primitive colors, scarlet and yellow, kill each other; they give color, but not coloring; and yellow and green, scarlet and brown, or scarlet and lilac, are all equally injurious.
It must be remembered that strong contrasts do not of themselves produce beauty; it is rather the delicate adjustment of the various shades. There are numberless varieties of every leading color—greens, whites, and reds especially. The following list may be serviceable:—
White Flowers.—These may be shaded in any of the following colors: green, pure white, grey or slate. The choice depends on the color to be worked, the Fleur de lis requiring, for instance, to be shaded into green. In all the shades, however, the greatest softness is imperative. All sudden contrasts must be avoided.
Damask roses are worked in at least six shades; from black to a pure rose pink; the gradations include deep claret, lighter ditto, scarlet, and a medium shade between the last.
Ordinary roses are shaded from deep scarlet to bright ponceau, and various shades of pink.
The shades of green, for leaves, are quite innumerable.
It is never in good taste to have a group of flowers on a light ground without some one in the group to correspond with it. Not that it should be a prominent object, but that it softens the whole.
Finally, I may be permitted to observe that, as “good wine needs no bush,” so good needlework requires not very gaudy or striking mountings. A well designed portfeuille or cushion does not look at all better for being so extravagantly finished off, that the eye rests on the fittings rather than the work. Let cords, tassels, linings &c., be as good as possible; let them also be as plain as possible. These are but the frame, the work is the picture; and the valuable part should be also the most attractive.