CHAPTERPAGE
PREFACE[v]
I.INTRODUCTORY[1]
II.ON MATERIALS, ETC.[3]
III.ON MOUNTING FRAMES AND TRACING DESIGNS[6]
IV.ON GOLD-WORK[9]
V.ON SILK-WORK[15]
VI.ON OUTLINE AND APPLIQUÉ[21]
VII.ON FIGURE-WORK[29]
VIII.ON LITURGICAL COLOURS, FRONTALS, ETC.[39]
IX.ON THE COPE AND MITRE[49]
X.ON EUCHARISTIC VESTMENTS, CHALICE-VEIL AND BURSE[53]
XI.ON BANNERS, ETC.[65]
XII.ON THE PRINCIPAL STITCHES USED IN LINEN-WORK[73]
XIII.ON ALTAR LINEN[79]
XIV.ON THE ALBE, SURPLICE, ETC.[85]
CONCLUSION[91]
APPENDICES[93]
INDEX[101]

CHURCH NEEDLEWORK

CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTORY

This little book (founded on a series of articles on Church Embroidery written for the ‘Treasury’) is intended for the use of those who are desirous of learning by practical experiment how to make the best use of such time and skill as they have at their command; and who, while they are unable to go through the long courses of instruction which are generally indispensable to the attainment of perfection, are yet anxious to devote their ‘labour of love’ to the service of the Church.

There are many Guilds and Associations of such workers rising up all over the country who are ready and willing to be taught, and it is with the hope of assisting these efforts that I am offering the result of many years of study and practical experience.

It is quite beyond the scope of such a manual as this to go into the History of embroidery in general, or even of this particular branch of it. On this point therefore I will say no more than that it is an undoubted fact that from the thirteenth to the fifteenth century English embroidery took a leading place throughout the whole of Christendom, and that from the fifteenth century onward embroidery began to decline as an art till it might almost be reckoned as lost to England until the middle of the nineteenth.

With these few facts in view it is not difficult to determine where to look for the best examples of Church embroidery. It must be among Museums, Picture galleries, and Collections of art treasures of the best periods that one must study to improve the taste and cultivate the intelligent perception of the best ways of doing things, not so much by actual imitation (although that might prove an education in itself!) as by absorbing the spirit of the work and seeing how and why it was done.

I cannot too strongly recommend this method of learning, and it is to this end I have used, wherever possible, such examples as are to be found in our Churches, Public Museums, and Libraries rather than those in the possession of individual collectors.