Fig. 116. The right side of shadow stitch
To work the shadow stitch, place your work over your embroidery hoop with the design side up. Start to work a petal from the heart of the flower. Do not use a knot. The stitch is like cat-stitching (see [Figure 98]). First you take a stitch on one side of the petal, then you pass over to the other side. Be sure you take the same length stitch every time. The stems are worked in outline stitch. Shadow work from the right side looks like back-stitching ([Figure 116]). It is used on aprons, shirtwaists, or bureau scarfs where a good effect is wanted with very little work.
There are two ways of working the leaves of daisies or chrysanthemums in shadow work: First, and the best in my opinion, is to start and work from the top of the leaf to where the midrib commences in the design. Now work from the midrib to the outer edge on the right side of the leaf. The left-hand side is yet to be filled in. Start from the base of the leaf and instead, however, of putting the needle through the material by the midrib catch one thread upon the midrib and then take a stitch on the left-side edge of the leaf, up to where the midrib ends.
The other way of working a leaf is to outline the midrib first. Then start from the base of the leaf and work across the entire leaf. The former way is the better, because there is not such a wide stretch of thread on the wrong side as in the latter method.
Batiste, organdy, and lawn are the usual materials used in America for shadow work, but in England, where more substantial materials are generally liked, tea cloths of linen in shadow stitch are often seen. Tiger lilies are good for any large piece.
The effect of shadow work on linen is as if a padded design was placed on the material.
White is the nicest for working shadow stitch on waists, especially as colour is apt to cheapen the effect.
Remember that a design drawn out in pencil soils the cottons or silks and necessitates the article being washed before it is used. You can buy patterns for embroidery so cheap and in such excellent taste that it pays one in the end to use them instead of drawing on the material. There is the perforated design that can be had from five cents up. It is the oldest and in some ways the most expensive pattern. The perforated paper is laid, with the rough side up, over the material on the ironing table or any other flat surface. An especially prepared powder that embroidery shops sell for stamping designs is the best to use. A pouncet is several layers of felt rolled together, or a piece of wood covered with felt. Rub the pouncet in the powder. See that the pattern is weighted down so that it will not slip while you are working on it. Rub the powder in with a circular movement. Lift the weights from the lower edge of the paper, and gently raising the pattern see that the design is well on before removing the pattern. A hot iron will be necessary now to set the powder. Every time you use the iron just clamp it down on the design. Wipe it off on an old piece of cloth before you press it again on another section of the design. Each time the iron touches the powder, part of it adheres to the iron and the design would be spoiled if the iron was used again before wiping it. After the design has been set, the iron can be used freely over the whole work.