![[larger image]](#3236892679087161087_i152.jpg.id-3785501996839962131.wrap-0.html.html){kind=link}
54. REVERSE COUCHING.
The value of a couched cord as an outline to stitching (satin-stitch in this instance) is shown in Illustration [91], in which the singularly well-schemed and well-drawn lines of the ornament are given with faultless precision. This is a portion of an altogether admirable frame to an altogether foolish picture in needlework, of which a fragment only is shown.
The appropriateness of couched cord to the outlining of inlay or of appliqué is seen in the two examples which form Illustration [62]. In the one (A) it defines the clear-cut counterchange pattern; in the other (B), being of a tint intermediate between the ground and the ornament, it softens the contrast between them. An interesting technical point in the design of this last is the way the cord outlining the leaves makes a sufficiently thick stalk, coming together, as it naturally does, double at the ends of the leaves.
![[larger image]](#3236892679087161087_i153.jpg.id-3395757701408849850.wrap-0.html.html){kind=link}
55. REVERSE COUCHING (BACK).
This occurs again in Illustration [63], where the double threads which form the stalks, though separately stitched down, are couched again at intervals by bands crossing the two—at the springing of the stalks and tendrils, for example, where joins inevitably occur. The cords forming the central stalk are in one case looped.