Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1885-01-14
Art Needle W -sf.

"Has there been any improvement il
art needlewOrkp" asked "A reporter of a
lady artist, who was busily putting the
| finishing stitches to a beautiful desigE
on satin
''Oh, yes, many, and of truly arts.
tic nature. Everything nov seems t.
tend to high art. The Oscar Wilde
craze has come again, believe and is
likely to remain. Etching art work with
the needle is quite The rage now, 1t re-
quires an artistic taste, an inbOrn fac
ulty you might aay, to produce on sa
tin or cloth of any kind designs or pic.
lures which so resemble nature, and
look like etching in art. For instance.
here is tidy of that style. See how
the delicate shades of thread are sc
bended as to give life and tone to the
sketch as whole. 1t looks more like
fine art on canvass than needlework OF
cloth"
Haven't you special cloth to work
on?"
''There are many different kinds of
cloth that can be used, but of them all
satin is the favOrite. Plush Is used fire.
quently. Of late three new black.
grounds have been introduced: BATHS.
transparent canvas and Chi. i.eSe Grape.
Wonderful results in design and shad.
ing are accomplished on these surfaces.
The work is at all times tedious, but
not arduous. 1t requires patients and
a good eye for cOloring To be first
class artist in needlework art, besides
years of experience. Some nevey learn
it. To convince you that it is not
merely mechanical, | have frequently
given one or two lessons to a lady, ex-
planning the methods fully and have
been astoniShed at the rapid progress
she has made. Others | have taught
for many months, without success.
Hence you see lady must have ability
in that direction or else no progress can
be expected, every color thit flower
has can be stitched on canvas, even to
the minute shading of the leaves. The
most popular stitch in art nesdle-wOrk
Is the kensington outline stitch. Ii
would he impossible for me to explain
to You the way kenslngton stitch Is
made; it has to be seen while it is be-
ing done to fully comprehend its COM
pleXion.
Another popular method of this art
work is Rocco work of ribbon embroi-
derry and can he done very rapidly.
Combinations of ribbons, flowers and
arrasene leaves can be made superbly
artistic. The best flowers for the work
are the wild rose, forget-me-nots, wild
clematis, daisy and Russian snow flow
er. The method of working is as fol-
lows: For a rose take three or five
shades of rose pink gros grain ribbon
No. or Surah silk, cut the same width;
cut five pieces Zone of each shaded two
inches long, commence with the dark
est shade; make two small plaits in one
end and tack it on the outer end of the
petal end with few strong stitches;
then bring the other end of the ribbon
over and pass it down through Il slit
made in the centre of the rose, being
careful to draw the selvages little
tighter than the center in order TO make
the petal stand out soft and puffy make
the other petals IN the same manner,
then fill the center with French knots
of maize embroidered silk, also make
the stamens by carrying stitches of silk
up onto the ribbon, with French knot
at the end TO represent pollen. Other
flowers with large petals, requiring wide
ribbon are made in the same manner;
but for the finer flowers like forget-me-
nOts, the ribbon may be threaded into a
large sized needle and worked through
and through, taking single stitch for
each petal"
The designs are generally flowers.
are they nOt?''
Eyes, flowers of rare beauty, grouped
in every conceivable shape are more
than figures of nymphs or he
rOes clad in bright armOr. Remember
to embroider nicely and shade, is art