Fig. 230. Flowers embroidered in the chinese manner.
Often too, instead of combining a number of colours, as we do, the Chinese fill in the whole leaf with long stitches and upon this foundation, draw the veins in a different stitch and colour. Even the flowers, they embroider in the same way, in very fine thread, filling in the whole ground first, with stitches set very closely together and marking in the seed vessels afterwards, by very diminutive knots, wide apart.
Chinese encroaching flat stitch (fig. [231]).—Another easy kind of embroidery, common in China, is done in encroaching flat stitch. The branch represented in our drawing, taken from a large design, is executed in three shades of yellow, resembling those of the Jaune-Rouille series on the D.M.C colour card.[A]
Fig. 231. Chinese encroaching flat stitch.
Materials: Cordonnet 6 fils D.M.C Nos. 20 to 50 or Chiné d’or D.M.C.
Colours—For the cotton: Jaune-Rouille 363, 308, 366.—For Chiné d’or: Red and gold, blue and gold, green and gold.[A]
The stitches of the different rows encroach upon one another, as the working detail shows, and the three shades alternate in regular succession. Flowers, butterflies and birds are represented in Chinese embroidery, executed in this manner. It is a style, that is adapted to stuffs of all kinds, washing materials as well as others, and can be worked in the hand and with any of the D.M.C threads and cottons.[A]
Raised embroidery (figs. [232] and [233]).—Raised embroidery worked in colours, must be stuffed or padded first, like the white embroidery in fig. [191]. If you outline your design with a cord, secure it on the right side with invisible stitches, untwisting the cord slightly as you insert your needle and thread, that the stitch may be hidden between the strands. Use Coton à repriser D.M.C No. 25, for the padding. These cottons are to be had in all the colours, indicated in the D.M.C colour card, and are the most suitable for the kind of work.
