Red.—Red, when used as the predominant or combining colour, looks best on a dark blue or a cream background. With a dark blue ground, white or cream, bright greens and a touch of dull orange will work in well with the reds, the former combining to make the latter less assertive. With a white ground and the same colours, the work becomes suggestive of some of the beautiful Bokhara embroideries in which reds, greens, blues and yellows—the latter used sparingly—are combined so gaily and instinctively.
CHAPTER III
CONSTRUCTION AND DESIGN
“A cunning workman, an embroiderer in blue and in purple and in fine linen.”
We shall now discuss the decorative points.
The construction and the building up of the pattern may be taken together.
A Simple Pattern in Needle-weaving.—The simplest design for an initial effort should be one which could be executed in needle-weaving such as is illustrated in Plate I. Here the spaces for the decoration are marked off on the material, there being no necessity to put any design on to paper—the weaving may be done in any simple primitive pattern, or from some of the more interesting darning pattern samplers, or it may follow some idea or fanciful invention of the worker. It should be more or less symmetrical in colour and form, and provided that sufficient thought is taken in arranging the colour scheme and that the technique is good, the result should be both pleasing and decorative. (See [Chapter V]. on needle-weaving.) Supposing the material and the colour scheme to have been already decided, and that a loosely woven texture—which demands a simple conventional pattern with bold stitchery and bright colour effects—has been chosen (let it be a runner, table cover or any article suitable for household use). It would be best, as simplicity must be the keynote, to have a marginal or border design, built up entirely on straight lines and geometrical forms. First plan out the material and arrange for the decoration; decide whether the pattern is to be placed on to a wide hem, or inside a narrow one, or whether it is to be applied as wide bars at the ends and edges of the runner. The limited space at the disposal of the designer will often aid and suggest the pattern.
The decoration should, when possible, strengthen the construction. Be careful at all times to place it where it will not interfere with the usefulness of the object. A cushion, for example, ornamented with raised embroidery or with large beads, conveys the idea of discomfort rather than of comfort, which is, after all, the raison d’être of a cushion, the addition to a room, by means of colour and decoration, being a secondary point.
In the early days, when decoration was so freely applied by primitive peoples to seams, hems, shoulder-straps, indeed to all objects, it was their aim to increase the usefulness of the article rather than to decorate it.
A Border Pattern.—When the above-mentioned points have been decided, take squared paper, ruler, and pencil, and draw a few nicely spaced lines; duplicate the outer ones to give weight to the edges. All these lines crossing at the corners will form the framework of the design. Regularity and order are as essential in needlework as in most crafts, therefore the care and precision taken in the earlier stages will aid in the working of the later.