Artistic Embroidery - Containing Practical Instructions in the Ornamental Branches of Needlework #244461

There is a wide difference between artistic embroidery and mere fancy work. Besides the manufacture of innumerable airy nothings for fairs and other purposes, the patient following of a glaring pat tern in bright wools also comes under the latter head. There is no individuality in this kind of work, nothing that fairly expresses the worker; the pattern being designed by one person, the putting it on canvas done by another, while filling in is frequently the task of a third. A piece of embroidery should have in a degree the same expression as a painting; and there is no good reason why the needle should not be as artistic an implement as the brush. To produce the effect of painting, however, it is necessary to follow very much the same rules; the first of which is that the selection of the materials, the designing of the pattern, and the work itself should be, as far as possible, done by one person.