Split stitch is a most useful one for many purposes. It is difficult to distinguish from a fine chain when done, but in the working it much more resembles stem stitch. It can be carried out in the hand or in a frame. This stitch, frequently seen upon ancient work, was much used for both draperies and features; the lines of the stitching usually, by their direction, expressing moulding of form or folds of drapery. To work it ([fig. 38])—Bring the thread through at the lower end of the traced line, then insert the needle about one-eighth of an inch further along, and bring it through on the line two or three threads nearer the starting-point; whilst bringing it through take it also through the centre of the working thread, which thus splits each stitch.
CHAPTER V
STITCHES—(continued)
Satin Stitch—Long and Short Stitch—Stem Stitch—Overcast Stitch—Back Stitch—Buttonhole Stitch—Tailor's Buttonhole—Fancy Buttonhole Edgings—Flower in Open Buttonhole Stitch—Leaf in Close Buttonhole Stitches—Petal in Solid Buttonholing.
SATIN AND SIMILAR STITCHES
Satin stitch is perhaps the most commonly used of all stitches. It is more quickly worked by hand, but for complicated work the help of a frame is required. Floss silk thread is seen to greatest advantage in a stitch of this kind, for it shows off the glossiness of silk particularly well. It is straightforward in the working and needs no further description than is given by the diagram ([fig. 39]). The stitches may vary in length, they must neither be impracticably long nor, on the other hand, too much cut up, lest the silky effect be partly lost. These stitches lie close together and in parallel lines; the chief difference between satin and several other closely allied stitches being that these others may radiate or vary in direction according to the space to be filled. The stitch is usually worked in oblique lines; stems, leaves, and petals would be treated in this way; sometimes it is worked regularly having regard to the warp and woof of the material; it would be treated thus when used in conjunction with cross or stroke stitch.
