Church Needlework: A manual of practical instruction

This little book (founded on a series of articles on Church Embroidery written for the ‘Treasury’) is intended for the use of those who are desirous of learning by practical experiment how to make the best use of such time and skill as they have at their command; and who, while they are unable to go through the long courses of instruction which are generally indispensable to the attainment of perfection, are yet anxious to devote their ‘labour of love’ to the service of the Church.

There are many Guilds and Associations of such workers rising up all over the country who are ready and willing to be taught, and it is with the hope of assisting these efforts that I am offering the result of many years of study and practical experience.

It is quite beyond the scope of such a manual as this to go into the History of embroidery in general, or even of this particular branch of it. On this point therefore I will say no more than that it is an undoubted fact that from the thirteenth to the fifteenth century English embroidery took a leading place throughout the whole of Christendom, and that from the fifteenth century onward embroidery began to decline as an art till it might almost be reckoned as lost to England until the middle of the nineteenth.

With these few facts in view it is not difficult to determine where to look for the best examples of Church embroidery. It must be among Museums, Picture galleries, and Collections of art treasures of the best periods that one must study to improve the taste and cultivate the intelligent perception of the best ways of doing things, not so much by actual imitation (although that might prove an education in itself!) as by absorbing the spirit of the work and seeing how and why it was done.

I cannot too strongly recommend this method of learning, and it is to this end I have used, wherever possible, such examples as are to be found in our Churches, Public Museums, and Libraries rather than those in the possession of individual collectors.

Embroidery may be defined in a general way as an ornamentation of textiles by means of the needle.

This being the case, one ought to expect from it something different from what can be attained by weaving, or something which cannot be done so well or so readily by that means.

Some of the earliest forms of embroidery were, it is evident, direct copies of woven patterns, but these were quite appropriately placed, either on material which did not lend itself happily to being woven into patterns, or where the surface so decorated was too small to be worth while weaving; or again, where the ornamental material (such as gold and silk) was too precious to be lost on the under-side of the work, as would be the case in all woven work wherever the ‘ground’ shows between the patterns.

The superiority we expect to see in needlework as compared with woven decoration consists chiefly in three points:—

1. The more harmonious gradation of colour.

2. The absence of mechanical repetition of pattern.

3. Freedom of line in the drawing.

It is this very freedom from mechanical restraint in all these three respects of colour, design, and treatment which has proved such a pit-fall to the unartistic English needlewoman.

Much of the beauty of the foreign peasant work is due to the restrictions imposed by their traditional style and limited range of colour.

There is practically no limit to the number of shades available in the present day, and without a cultivated ‘colour-sense’ an embroiderer can run riot among an embarras de richesse with most disastrous results!

A good colour-scheme is even more necessary in embroidery design than in any other (except, perhaps, stained glass) because of the brilliance of its possibilities—at once its highest merit and its greatest danger.

The colour-scheme, then, being an essential part of the design, must be decided upon in accordance with it; and the actual materials with which the work is to be carried out should be chosen all at the same time if possible.

It is necessary for the designer of Church needlework to have a very clear idea of the capabilities and the limitations both of the methods and the materials by which the design is to be completed as a work of art, and also a fair knowledge of the traditions of ecclesiastical art from early times up to the present day.

It is equally necessary for the embroiderer to be able to enter into the ideas and intentions of the designer. It adds considerably to the interest of the work when it is carried out by the person who designed it, but I must protest against the notion gaining ground largely in certain educational circles, that the embroiderer ought to design her own work. There are very many women capable of executing perfect stitchery and of entering into the highest ideals of beauty and devotion who are not fitted by nature or training to artistic design. The designer for ecclesiastical art may be compared to the composer of sacred oratorios—he needs the co-operation of many minds, hearts, and hands to perfect the realisation of his idea, and the many count it a joy to be led by him. The more entire the sympathy throughout, the more perfect will be the result. And they will consider their time and labour well-spent in practising for this. Even so the embroiderer with patient stitches will endeavour to express the ideal set before her by a master of the craft and will meet with a like reward. This is the utmost that the majority of us can hope to attain, and I cannot insist too strongly upon the statement that it is better to work from the designs of good artists, and to do again and again what has been proved excellent, than to attempt an originality which may be attractive only by its novelty.

Whether the worker be her own designer or not, too much care and attention can hardly be bestowed on the choice and arrangement of the design. The principal requirements to be fulfilled are Beauty, Fitness, and Practicability.

BEAUTY comes first as it is simply the raison d’être of embroidery. If decoration does not really add to the artistic value of the thing it is applied to, it is worse than useless as it destroys a certain real kind of beauty which exists in simplicity.

FITNESS comes next, as it almost amounts to an axiom that without fitness a thing which is beautiful in one place may be quite ridiculous or improper in another.

And PRACTICABILITY is essential because it is in vain to draw a beautiful design which cannot be carried out by the needle and thread. In embroidery the finished work ought always to be more, not less, beautiful than the coloured drawing.

Then there is the position it is to occupy—the style of architecture, method of lighting and amount of light, size of the church, &c. A large church and a dark chancel, for instance, require bolder design and brighter colour than would be suitable for a small church or one so lighted that every detail is evident at a glance.