Width of cutwork detail, six inches.
[Plate X.]—An Embroidered Sampler.—The work is carried out in coloured silks in minute cross-stitch and occasional rows of satin stitch, upon a ground of fine single-thread canvas. It is dated 1798, and was worked by Alice Knight, the author's great-grandmother. The birds, trees, and flowers, the charming little border patterns, and the comical cats standing on either hillocks or housetops, are all characteristic of sampler work. Working the sampler was once the regular introduction to mending, marking, and embroidery, and one was done by almost every XVIIIth century child as a part of education, indeed the practice of working samplers was continued some decades into the XIXth century.
Actual size of original, eighteen inches by twelve.
[Plate XI.]—An Example of Persian Embroidery.—Formerly in the collection of Lord Leighton, and now in that of the London County Council's Central School of Arts and Crafts. The embroidery is carried out almost entirely in chain stitch with brilliantly coloured silks, upon a fine semi-transparent ground. The flowers that appear dark in the reproduction are worked in a bright rosy red, others are yellow and orange, and the leaves are in pale grey green outlined with a dark myrtle shade of the same.
Size of panel, about five feet by four.
[Plate XII.]—A Detail from an Embroidered Tablecloth.—The entire surface of this fine white linen cloth is strewn with a profusion of beautiful flowers, worked in floss silk in bright colours. The flowers were all drawn directly from nature by the worker, Mrs. W. R. Lethaby.
[Plate XIII.]—An Embroidered Altar Frontal, executed by Miss May Morris, designed by Mr. Philip Webb.—The work is carried out with floss silk in bright colours and gold thread, both background and pattern being embroidered. The five crosses, that are placed at regular intervals between the vine leaves, are couched in gold passing upon a silvery silk ground.
[Plate XIV.]—Two Pieces of Ancient Weaving taken from Tombs in Egypt.—These are exhibited in the Victoria and Albert Museum. The upper example is about five inches square, dated IIIrd to VIIth century, Egypto-Roman work, and is said to have decorated a child's tunic. It is woven in coloured silks upon a green ground; the colours are still wonderfully fresh and bright. Weavers may see various interesting technical as well as other points in this early work. For instance, how the difficulty of the narrow detached vertical lines, necessitated by change of colour in the weft, has been overcome by using surface stitching instead, the easier horizontal lines being woven in the usual way. A good deal of this surface stitching can be seen in the ancient weaving; sometimes an entire pattern is picked out by this method, the ground having been first woven all over in some plain colour.
The lower border pattern is a band of weaving about two inches in width, Saracenic work. It is woven in coloured silks and linen thread upon the actual warp threads of the garment that it decorates. The weft threads were probably omitted for the space of one and a half inches when the fabric was being made in order that some ornamentation might be put in, in this way. Some of the weft threads have perished, leaving the warp exposed to sight; this enables the student to understand better the manner in which it was carried out.
[Plate XV.]—An Example of a Tapestry Field strewn with Flowers.—This kind of decoration is characteristic of many tapestry grounds, for the style is particularly suited to the method of work, and very happy in result. The detail shown in this plate is taken from a piece of late XVIth century Flemish work; it carries on, however, a much earlier tradition. The ground is of a dark blue colour, and the flowers varied as in nature.