Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1881-07-30
The Nesa1emork craza.

Now that art needlework is a fashiona-
bic craze, materials for fancy work OF some
sort form part OF every ladys outfit for
the summers holiday. Great variety is
shown IN these and the buyer has wide
choice, ranging from linen crash to silk
plush, from embroidery cotton to iloselle
and beads Of real gold.
Most of the embroidery takes the form
! OF home decoration-table covers lambre.
/ quins, mats, screens, chair. backs, panels,
| etc. The designs for embroidery show q
| decided change. There are fewer reeds
and long stalks, while peacock feathers
| and the sorrowful-looking one-legged stork
! have given place TO brlght-h ued flowers
with humming birds and butterflies hover
! ing over them. Wild roses, apple bios
! SONS and daisies still hold their own, but
| sunhowers have yielded favor TO holly
/ hooks and lilies and thistles done in the
/ new raised stitch, which makes each
/ flower stand up in ife-like relief, from the
! cloth on which it is executed. Autumn
| leaves also form favorite design, and are
| wonderfully effective in embroidery done
| partly in silk, partly In erewell and partly
in beadwork.
Very effective borders are of plush with
grass cloth inserted, the embroidery done
on the grass cloth and the plush cut into a
1 fsneiful frame work, with border Of braid
or 6loselle or Of needle-work in coiored
| silks. Another new border is OF Soanish
lace applique on plush or cloth or satin
sheeting the figure OF the lace being fol-
! lowed with long stitches in colored silks,
the shades chosen to harmonic with the
| design, whether leaf, shell, arabesque OF
flower. Still more striking are bands Of
Utrecht or embossed velvet, with the pat
tern filed in with raised embroidery in
silk, outlined and rimed with brilliant
beads.
Sofa cushions of plush or Of cloth are
nearly covered with appliques of satin,
overseamed and rined with embroidery
silks, to which gay spangles Of gold and
steels are often added.
Persian embroidery holds its own with
all who can afford it, and, indeed, the rich
Oriental needlework, transferred neatly to
background of plush, is wonderfully ef-
fective.
0ld-fashioned patchwork is revived, and
very pretty cushions and table covers are
made Of bits of silk and velvet ard plush,
carefully pieced together after the fashion
Of our grandmothers. a quantity pretty
table cover is formed altogether of bits of
silk cut into irregular shapes, overlapping
each other, and every edge battonhole
stitched IN silk, which contrasts effectively
with the pieces it joins.
| Cushions for wicker chairs are made OF
plush or satins decorated with applique
work, and are tied in with bows of satin
ribbon to match. Others, more easily
made, are of two three-cornered pieces
with wide band Of another color through
the middle and strips of velvet or satin
ribbon covering the joints and fastened on
with pointe Russo stitches of embroidery
| silks in many gay colors. Less expensive
cushions are of Turkish toweling or linen
NOME cloth, with cloth applique, or else
with outline embroidery in the quaint K ate
! Greenaway and Mother Goose figures now
so popular. There Is a revival of the old
style French mhroidery-done on white
canvas and filed In with zephyr or silk
after the manner of the Berlin work with
which we are all familiar. Slippers, cush-
/ ions, chair stripes, etc, are shown in this.
and the designs are exquisite !; for instance,
. hair-stripe, with sweet briar and forget
me-nots, and another with daisies and
| peoples in effective contrast. Such a
! chair-stripe, filed in and mounted on
| plush, makes a handsome chair, and while
| the materials are costly, the work necessary
for finishing may be done by the merest
tyro.
Outline embroidery on linen, SO popular
| last year, is now even more so. The ma
| terials are inexpensive, the work is easy
and the uses to which it may be applied
are legion. Chair backs. which is the cor
rect name for the present form of tidy, are
| shown of linen, the size of bath towel,