Small pieces, like doylies,
are often wrought with a border of cut-work, but a rapid worker in
button-hole stitch would hardly find a large piece of this work tire-
some, though like all lace work it lacks the relief of color. The Eng-
lish revival of art designs has put in the reach of every one an infinite
number of exquisite patterns for embroidery in South Kensington
stitch and outline work. The details of these artistic stitches are
easily mastered by an ordinary needlewoman, but if desired, instruc-
tion can readily be had at the classes for this purpose. A set of
doylies is an excellent selection for a beginner. If one or two are
spoiled in the first attempts no great loss of time is incurred, as the
embroidery of one doylie is little work. A firm white linen is the
254 THE hearthstone; or, life at home.
material chosen, and a different design is stamped on each of the set.
The stitch used in embroidery is South Kensington. The patterns,
which are in Japanese effect, are usually wrought in solid color with
bobbin silk or crewels. Nodding grasses and a flight of birds, lilies,
clusters of roses, a straying vine or scraps of sea-weed, are some of
the pretty designs. Ceramic patterns, showing a vase, a plaque or
teapot, are in pure Japanese style, and are worked in old Nankin blue.
These doylies add a dainty bit of color to the after-dinner cloth,
placed under a wineglass or a fingerbowl. The tablecloth used with
them may be embroidered around the edge in corresponding designs,
but often a white wine-cloth with a double border woven in old gold,
ruby or Nankin blue, is used with doylies embroidered in a similar
color. The new tidies are about a yard in length by half a yard in
breadth. Soft India pongee silk is now used. The edges of the silk
are hemstitched the desired length, and the ends are finished with
fringe. A vine of English clematis is wrought across the tidy in con-
ventional color to suit the room, or is embroidered with olive leaves
and white or purple flowers. A straggling blackberry vine is often
used for decoration. A spray of golden-rod or sunflowers would be
selected for a room furnished in oriental yellow. Rooms in this color
are so managed by English art decorators that they seem to be in a
continual flood of golden sunshine. Figures in genre style are often
wrought on tidies in outline work, which is easily done and is very
effective. A realistic figure is the pumpkin girl, a buxom beauty who
bears in her arms a sample of the yellow fruit. Though the pumpkin
is not likely yet to be selected as an ornamental climber for garden
trellis, the vine that strays at the feet of the girl is conventionalized
into something like beauty, and the outline curves of the design are
suggestive of golden October days. In an entirely different spirit is
the slender maiden 'neath a moonlit sky " catching lunar moths."
The short waist, short clinging skirts and fluttering scarf of the cos-
tume are like old English pictures of women seen in the " Scottish
Chiefs " and books of that time, and belong to the sentimental type
of woman, of whom Mrs. Hemans sang and lady novelists of her day
wrote.
HOUSEHOLD ORNAMENTATION. 255
Page 164
Presented as published in 1883. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
Small pieces, like doylies, are often wrought with a border of cut-work, but a rapid worker in button-hole stitch would hardly find a large piece of this work tiresome, though like all lace work it lacks the relief of color. The English revival of art designs has put in the reach of every one an infinite number of exquisite patterns for embroidery in South Kensington stitch and outline work. The details of these artistic stitches are easily mastered by an ordinary needlewoman, but if desired, instruction can readily be had at the classes for this purpose. A set of doylies is an excellent selection for a beginner. If one or two are spoiled in the first attempts no great loss of time is incurred, as the embroidery of one doylie is little work. A firm white linen is the
254 THE hearthstone; or, life at home.
material chosen, and a different design is stamped on each of the set. The stitch used in embroidery is South Kensington. The patterns, which are in Japanese effect, are usually wrought in solid color with bobbin silk or crewels. Nodding grasses and a flight of birds, lilies, clusters of roses, a straying vine or scraps of sea-weed, are some of the pretty designs. Ceramic patterns, showing a vase, a plaque or teapot, are in pure Japanese style, and are worked in old Nankin blue. These doylies add a dainty bit of color to the after-dinner cloth, placed under a wineglass or a fingerbowl. The tablecloth used with them may be embroidered around the edge in corresponding designs, but often a white wine-cloth with a double border woven in old gold, ruby or Nankin blue, is used with doylies embroidered in a similar color. The new tidies are about a yard in length by half a yard in breadth. Soft India pongee silk is now used. The edges of the silk are hemstitched the desired length, and the ends are finished with fringe. A vine of English clematis is wrought across the tidy in conventional color to suit the room, or is embroidered with olive leaves and white or purple flowers. A straggling blackberry vine is often used for decoration. A spray of golden-rod or sunflowers would be selected for a room furnished in oriental yellow. Rooms in this color are so managed by English art decorators that they seem to be in a continual flood of golden sunshine. Figures in genre style are often wrought on tidies in outline work, which is easily done and is very effective. A realistic figure is the pumpkin girl, a buxom beauty who bears in her arms a sample of the yellow fruit. Though the pumpkin is not likely yet to be selected as an ornamental climber for garden trellis, the vine that strays at the feet of the girl is conventionalized into something like beauty, and the outline curves of the design are suggestive of golden October days. In an entirely different spirit is the slender maiden 'neath a moonlit sky" catching lunar moths." The short waist, short clinging skirts and fluttering scarf of the costume are like old English pictures of women seen in the " Scottish Chiefs " and books of that time, and belong to the sentimental type of woman, of whom Mrs. Hemans sang and lady novelists of her day wrote.