Decorative use can be made of the colour of the couching thread; a hot colour warms the tone of the gold and a cool one does the reverse; and the more contrasting the colour the more it is in evidence.
Fig. 133.
The gold thread may be couched solidly in straight lines, as the above figure shows, or it may be arranged in wavy lines either close or open, as in [fig. 133]. The thread is waved by bending it round the pointed end of a piercer just before fixing down. This waving line is particularly suitable for the gold thread, since the slight change in direction allows the light to play upon the metal very prettily. For this reason gold is often couched solidly in circular or shell form over a ground. In gold embroidery, therefore, the direction of the thread is a specially important matter.
At the end of a line a technical difficulty sometimes arises in the turning of the thread, which is apt to be clumsy. This difficulty is overcome in various ways; the most usual is to return the doubled thread as neatly as possible and continue the next line; another is to cut the thread sharp off, secure it close to the end with a double stitch, and recommence in like fashion; the thread can sometimes be passed through to the back and brought up in position for working the next line. The fine point of a leaf may present difficulties in the same way; sometimes one of the two threads is temporarily let slip and the point completed with the single one, the left thread being picked up upon the return (see [fig. 134]). For such occasions as this it is more practical to wind the two threads of passing upon separate bobbins, and bring them together at the working. Another way of overcoming the point difficulty is shown at [fig. 135].