English Embroidery - I - Double-Running or Back-Stitch

By Louisa F. Pesel

This is a vintage handbook on double-running or back-stitch, with diagrams and scale drawings taken from seventeenth-century samples and other sources. It was originally intended as a practical aid for embroiderers, especially those interested in English embroidery. "English Embroidery - II - Cross-Stitch" is highly recommended for modern readers with an interest in embroidery, and it would make for a useful addition to collections of related literature. Contents include: "Sampler from Egypt, belonging to Prof. P. Newberry", "Top portion of English Sampler. Dated 1661. 368-1907, V. & A. M.", "Lower portion of Plate II", "English Cross-Stitch and Double-Running Sampler, from the Collection of Lady Egerton", "Diagrams from a Sampler belonging to Mrs. Clement Williams", et cetera. Many vintage books such as this are increasingly scarce and expensive. We are republishing this volume now in an affordable, high-quality edition complete with the original text and artwork.

• Language: English
• Publisher: White Press
• Release date: Sep 6, 2017
• ISBN: 9781473341319

Book preview

ENGLISH EMBROIDERY—I

DOUBLE-RUNNING

OR

BACK-STITCH

By

LOUISA F. PESEL

Author of Practical Canvas Embroidery Stitches from Old English Embroideries

Stitches from Eastern Embroideries Stitches from Western Embroideries

Leaves from my Embroidery Book

WITH A PREFACE BY

MISS ETTA CAMPBELL

Teacher of Embroidery in the School of Art, Winchester

Embroidery

Embroidery is the handicraft of decorating fabric or other materials with needle and thread or yarn. Embroidery may also incorporate other materials such as metal strips, pearls, beads, quills, and sequins. An interesting characteristic of embroidery is that the basic techniques or stitches on surviving examples of the earliest patterns—chain stitch, buttonhole or blanket stitch, running stitch, satin stitch, cross stitch—remain the fundamental techniques of hand embroidery today.

In The Art of Embroidery, written in 1964 by Marie Schuette and Sigrid Muller-Christensen, they noted the ‘striking fact that in the development of embroidery . . . there are no changes of materials or techniques which can be felt or interpreted as advances from a primitive to a later, more refined stage. On the other hand, we often find in early works a technical accomplishment and high standard of craftsmanship rarely attained in later times.’ Embroidery has been dated to the Warring States period in China (5th-3rd century BC). The process used to tailor, patch, mend and reinforce cloth fostered