Morning journal and courier., 1884-07-18
The Wheeler Tapestry.

CONSTANCE Cary Harrison in Harpers Magazine
for August
For some years past Mrs. Wheeler has been
experimenting in varieties of stitches applied
to varieties in material, while aiming to pro-
duce an embroidered surface which should
possess all the softness of painting in water
eolors, yet have the enduring quality of an
Gent hand-wrought tapestries. To find a
suitable ground for such work proved her
main difficulty, and it was only while stand
ing by the jacquard loom one day watching
the progress of a bit of silk-weaving to her
order, that she observed one portion of the
design suggesting the very arrangement of
threads so long desired. A discarded remnant
of imperfect texture was found having the idea
still better carried out for her purpose. This
was made to serve model for the new
silk canvas, which was promptly put under
way.
The result is stuff woven of three shades
of color (as, for instance, in the olive canvas,
black, light green and dark green), having
raw silk back, with silk warp and face 1t
resembles, in effect, 'laid-work," or ''couch-
ing" as seen in the grounds Of so many old
embroideries, as well as that variety of deco
ration recently revived under the name of
"Queen Anne's darned-work." Next fol-
lowed a series of experiments in stitches to
preserve the elasticity of the textile, while
allowing the introduction of additional warp
threads without changing the plane of the
surface
The method of working this tapestry final
ly adopted may be best understood by call
ing to mind the much-neglected domestic art
of stocking daTning, which, in these days of
machine-made hosiery, has been tossed into
the waste-basket of oblivion. This homely
stitch is still seen in some Turkish embroi-
deries, and was once made famous by old
Flemish workers, as well as by those of Italy
and Germany. In the Wheeler tapestry the
darned threads are carried across either the
wool or warp of the ground according to the
desired effect of texture, and are not crossed
by returning thread, in ordinary basket
darning. When finished it is difficult even
for a practiced eye to discern how they have
apparently become incorporated with the
stuff. The impression gained is that of
vignette, where the atmosphere fades into
the ground tint of the stuff. In many cases
the last range of stitches is supplied by using
the travelled silk of the original material
The general effect of color aimed at in
these needle-work pictures is fiat, but the ar
fist who continually oversees them while I'M
der the workers hand cannot resist a sugges-
ton of light or shadow here and there,
deepening of tone in the hollow of plat or
fold, a loving touch of the brush, as it were,
supplying the gradations of tint that trans
form ifeless surface of needle-work into a
spirited portrayal, as by pigments, of some
form of natural beauty. What will no doubt
recommend it to the artistic amateur is that
there are no fixed rules for the stitches to be
taken. Wherever, by changing the direction
of them, good effect can be rendered, it is
done unhesitatingly. But, at the same time,
experienced workers will see how impossible
would be the undertaking of such labor as
one of these tapestries without constant SUI
pervision from the eye of a trained artist.
After the design is sketched upon the can
vas strong outline in silks is supplied, I'M
like that made with the brush in china paint
ing in that it precedes instead of finishing
the work. The worker is supplied with
carefully colored sketch of the subject and
some idea of the labor necessary to complete
a piece of this tapestry may be gained from
the fact that the atmosphere" alone, sur
rounding breezy nymph now being clothed
with substance upon the frame, will require
to perfect it fully four months time of
steady workwoman.