This very handsome and
artistic piece of work brings in the innovation of color – most attractive when
one considers the use for which it is intended, a scarf or runner for the
library or living-room table. Three
shades of one color are employed, light, medium and dark; and this color may
accord with the other fittings of the room, thus entering harmoniously into the
general scheme or tone. For the model
pink was sued; but green, wood-brown, delft-blue, or any desired color may be
selected instead.
The scarf, too, may be of
any length required, the border being carried along each side from one end to
the other. The piece illustrated is
forty inches in length and twenty-five inches wide, and the foundation is of
heavy-threaded scrim, eighteen threads to the inch, cream-color or
unbleached. For weaving the bars and for
the lace-stitches No. 25 linen thread was used, and for the embroidery
rope-linen or an equally heavy mercerized embroidery-cotton or rope silk; the
latter would, of course, be especially handsome.
As has been suggested, it
is wiser to at least outline an article of this kind on “the whole cloth,”
before cutting to the required dimensions.
If cut, the edges should be carefully overcast to prevent raveling, and
a sufficient allowance be made so that there will be enough material for
working the complete pattern. There can
be nothing more vexing or disheartening than to find, when nearing the end or
side, that there are lacking a few threads for the last stitches; and this is
very apt to happen unless one is sure of the weave not alone of her own goods
but of the fabric on which the work she is copying was done. Hence at least one inch extra should be allowed,
and it is better not to cut the goods at first, as suggested.
Commencing just halfway
across the end of your scarf, and using the medium color, make a block of five
stitches over four threads. Directions for
these blocks have been so many times given that it seems needless to repeat
them. Simply bring your needle up
through a hole between threads, carry it over four threads, and put it down
through a hole in direct line with the first.
Make four more stitches in the same way, side by side. The middle stitch of the first block – which is
worked horizontally – will come exactly in the middle of the scarf-end, with
two stitches at each side; make a second block at right angles to this, the
first stitch coming in the same hole with last stitch of preceding block. *Then make another horizontal block at right
angles to the last, again a vertical block, repeat from * and make a horizontal
block. This gives you five blocks to the
depth of point. Work downward or toward
the edge, and the fourth following block will be like the first made. Continue in this way to the sixth point,
which is continued – with fourteen blocks in all – across the corner. Then continue the outlining along the side,
and entirely around the piece. Start the
first block, if your goods are cut, eight or ten threads from the edge.
Count up twenty threads
from the first block, leaving space for three open squares between, and make a
block exactly like the first. Make four
more blocks up, following the line of the first row, then toward the edge
again; after the last horizontal block miss thirteen threads and work forty
stitches, or – without counting – to a point where, after missing four threads,
you will work a block corresponding to the first block of this row. Then proceed with the regular outlining for
two points beyond the corner, where the long block is again put in. The illustration of the scarf, with the
detail, will give you a perfect idea of how the work is done.
Above the second row of
outlining, a row of perpendicular blocks, each consisting of nine stitches, is
put in, one over each block of the outlining.
Four threads above the upper of these blocks runs a straight row of
outlining-stitches, taken side by side, and extending entirely along the
border, save where the corner or end pattern comes to the edge. This line is also in the light shade. Each of the plain, pointed spaces thus formed
is filled with twisted bars of the dark shade, extending from the center of
space to the corner of each long block, and twisting back to the point of
departure (see detail).
At each side of the
central point, in second row of outlining one point is omitted and the same between
third and fourth points up from the corner; that is, the space which would have
been occupied by the fourth point, had the work been continued regularly is
filled by blocks consisting of seven, nine, eleven and more stitches, these
blocks being separated by four threads, and the larger spaces marked off in
tiny squares by single stitches taken across and up and down from the corners
of blocks. Explicit instructions and
counting of stitches would be confusing rather than helpful, when the design
can be so readily copied brim the engraving.
The irregular openings or
drawn spaces at corners and center of scarf-end are buttonholed, using the
light shade, the filling (of long blocks and lattice-stitch) being done with
the medium shade. The center opening
starts just over the first point made.
Buttonhole up sixteen stitches each side, taking each stitch over four
threads, then work to right and left as indicated. It is a good plan to run in a thread,
outlining these open sections accurately before doing the buttonholing. The upper edge of the central opening is in
block-stitch, followed by a row of points, each taken over two threads, then
over three, four and five, again over four, three and two. These points are in the light shade, and are
continued along the straight border. Connecting
with this row of points, at each end, is
a block of thirty stitches; above this, missing five threads at the further
end, is another long block, then another and another; then a line of stitches
commences in the same way and extends the length of the border, at the sides,
and across the top of the central opening.
This work is done in the medium shade.
The buttonholing of the edge is done with the dark shade, and is done in
regular points, not following the block-stitches of the outlining as is so
frequently the case. It is a very wise
plan to first trace the points with needle and thread, and if they can be
stitched son the machine, before buttonholing – the stitching following the
tracing-thread – all the better because stronger. One great complaint regarding Hardanger work
is that unless very carefully done it is extremely apt to pull out, even with
the most gentle handling.
The cutting and drawing
of thread in this class of needlecraft has also been explicitly described. One should always cut along the edge of a
block or block-stitches, pressing the latter back with the thumb0nail and
cutting carefully. The stitches when
released fall over the edge of the space.
Leave the four threads at side of stitches, these forming the bars The spaces between the first and second rows
of outlining blocks are separated by single bars, the weaving being done by
passing the needle under two threads and over two, back and forth. The double bars of the inner openwork are
woven in the same manner, taking two threads to a bar and weaving over one
thread, under one, back and forth, until smoothly and evenly filled. The lace-stitch is the simple but effective “festoon-stitch”
familiar to all who do even a very little decorative stitchery, and clearly
shown by the detail: Fasten in at the middle of a bar, take a loop across the
corner of space to middle of next bar, bringing the needle out at the back in
order to twist the loop, and repeat until the space is surrounded and a tiny
square of thread is made in the center.
A very handsome square to
match the scarf is made by bringing the ends together, or shortening the sides
as required to produce the square. The
plain border, omitting the irregular blockwork pattern at the ends, is
attractive for many purposes.
A great many workers like
to wash and press the material, after putting in the kloster- or
block-stitches, before cutting and drawing the threads for weaving bars and
filling-stitches. In using colors, one
should be careful that they are as fadeless as possible to procure. A needle with blunt point, which will not catch
into and divide the threads of the fabric, is invariably chosen, and the
scissors for cutting should be very sharp.
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