CHAPTER V.

IMPLEMENTS, APPLIANCES, AND MATERIALS USED IN EMBROIDERY.

In all artistic handicrafts good workmanship is obviously an essential quality, and, in ordinary circumstances, to obtain technical excellence, good tools are necessary. The embroideress requires but few tools and appliances, and these should be the simplest and best that are made.

Needles. It is a mistake to use a very fine needle. The silk thread or crewel must pass loosely into the eye. Unless the eye is relatively larger than the silk, it does not make a sufficiently large hole in the material, and the silk is then roughened and pulled out of shape each time it is taken through the too-small hole.

For general purposes needles known by the name of long-eyed sharps are recommended. When a thick twisted silk is being used, a needle with a roundish eye is the most ser

viceable. For darned net work (lacis work) and canvas work, needles with blunt points are the best. For gold work the needle should have a long eye and a sharp point— a rug needle" is useful for carrying cord through the material.

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Thimbles.-Workers usually prefer ivory or vulcanite thimbles. Both steel and silver ones are used, but unless they are well made or worn smooth, they destroy the thread. Two thimbles are employed for frame work.

Scissors. Short, sharp, and finely pointed scissors are the best. For cutting out work a fairly large pair with one sharp and one rounded point is required.

Frames. The drawing given on page 221 illustrates a common type of frame. It consists of two round pieces of wood, which have a mortise at each end. Strips of webbing are securely nailed along these, extending the full length of the wood between the mortisesto this webbing the work is sewn. For the sides of the frame two flat pieces of wood, with holes pierced at regular intervals, are used; these pass through the mortises, and the width of the frame is adjusted and the work kept tightly stretched by means of

metal pins, which are inserted in the holes by each mortise. String is laced through the material and round the flat side-pieces of wood to stretch the work in the opposite direction.

There is another kind of frame, which has,

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Embroidery Frame.

in place of the flat laths with metal pins, wooden screws fitted with movable nuts to adjust the width of the frame.

A fixed stand for the frame is often used; they are very convenient, but not always necessary. The worker can rest the frame against a table, or on the back of a chair, if she is not using a very large one. Trestles