A crewel needle is threaded with a single strand of silk, the same shade or lighter or darker if you desire. Fasten the silk ends down neatly on the back of the material with the single thread and bring it up one quarter of an inch from the hole and span the cluster of silk threads. The threads are caught down in this manner at quarter-inch intervals. When the end of the line is reached, the cluster of threads is again taken through to the back of the material.
Couching is a stitch that you will hear more about in later chapters.
The Turkish or Ismet stitch is another name for cat-stitching or herring-boning. See [Figure 98]. The stitch is taken vertically instead of horizontally, as in cat-stitch. Turkish stitch gets its name from the embroideries from Turkey ([Figure 115]). It seems to be the favourite stitch of the Turkish ladies.
Fig. 115. Turkish stitch
Have you ever noticed how many pieces of Turkish embroidery are worked on coarse unbleached muslin or tan linen? The colours are generally bright green, blue, coral pink, chestnut brown, purple and then outlined in black or gold thread.
Shadow work, is not that a funny name for embroidery? But you can understand why it is called that when you see a piece worked. It gives the appearance of a design under the cloth, as all the stitches are taken from the wrong side of the material. The design is drawn or stamped on the wrong side. Lawn is usually selected for the background of shadow work because of its transparency. A heavy cotton such as No. 16 or No. 20 marking cotton or D. fine lustre is necessary.
Daisies or chrysanthemums are most popular for shadow work on account of the smoothness on their edges. Not that it is impossible to work an indented edge, but it is more difficult.