I. "Long and Short" Stitches.
Fig. I a. Simple Long and Short Stitch.
A. Simple Long and Short Stitch.—This stitch may be done in the hand, but as already intimated it can be perfectly done only in a frame or hoop, which should be rested on the table edge and held by a weight. The material should be stretched straight with the woof and warp. The stitches are then laid by using both hands, one below and the other above the frame, to send the needle up and down perpendicularly. To make the stitch, bring the needle up on the outline of the design and send it down within the form. When the fabric is held in the hand the needle takes the stitch over and down on the outline and up within the form. Let the first stitch be a long one, one-quarter of an inch to an inch in length in proportion to the size of the form. The next stitch should be but two-thirds as long and should lie parallel with the first or closer to it within the form, if it is a narrowing one, than on the outline; or vice versa, if it is a form increasing in width. The contour of the design must decide the stitch direction. The third stitch should be long, followed by a short one, and so on alternating long and short. We are sometimes told that these stitches should be "irregular." This is both true and it is not. The long stitches should certainly not be all of one length and the short all of another. In this they should vary, but they should be absolutely regular in that they should be even on the surface without piling or yet having spaces between them, and they should form a perfect unbroken surface and the edge should exactly coincide with the outline. This, then, is the "long and short" stitch, and it may be considered complete in itself as far as it goes. It is the first stage of solid embroidery or "opus plumarium." See Fig. I a.
Fig. I b. Feather Stitch.
B. Feather Stitch.—The next step is to lay another row of stitches over these, differing from them in that they shall be long and short on both edges. The long stitch should commence just below the outline and should end further within the form than any of the first row. It should be taken in exactly the same direction as the first row and over them. The next stitch should be started below the first, something less than a third of its length, just beside it, and should reach the same distance below the end of the first. The third should be similar to the first, and so on. It is obvious that every other stitch of this second row is the long one at its start and the short one at its finish. The second row is the same as the first, except that it is long and short on both edges. This is not "irregularity," but absolute regularity. The more regular and the more accurate the alternating is, the smoother the surface will be. This second row should lap well over the first. It should indeed cover two-thirds of it if the colors are to blend instead of appear as rows. This is the secret, or rather, the real principle of shading. It will not do to economize material and expect a rich result. This is likely to be the fault of American embroidery. The preceding rows of stitches must be solid under the succeeding ones. There may be as many rows as are necessary to cover the form, and these should all lap deep over each other so that the under rows show only because of the difference in length of the stitches of the upper edge of the over rows. In this way one shade passes into the next as tones in painting, perfectly clear in themselves yet, because they are distinct, making a luminous and unbroken whole. If the stitches are not placed according to such a method the effect will be—again as in painting when the colors are muddled—broken and harsh and expressionless. By this means shades that differ greatly can be blended and the whole is brought into relief by the raising of one row over the other. The lower ends of the stitches of the last row may adapt themselves in terminating to the form. See Fig. I b.
Fig. I c.
Overlap Stitch.