The beginning of most drawn thread work is hem stitching, the two edges marking thelimit of the withdrawn threads have usually to be hem stitched before any pattern can becarried out. One method of doing this is in progress in fig. 115. In order to work it, drawout three or four threads of the warp and tack the hem down to the top edge[of theline thus made. The diagram explains the remainder of the working.

Fig. 116 shows in the first example clusters of four threads drawn together at each edgeby hem stitching in such a way as to form a ladder-like pattern. This and the one beloware the ornamentations of a plain hem that are most commonly seen. The variation inpattern in the lower one is obtained by drawing together on the lower edge two threadsfrom two consecutive bunches in the upper row instead of just repeating over again thesame divisioning as before. These two examples are drawn to show the reverse, not theworking side

Another way of disposing of the undrawn threads is to cover them with a kind of darningstitch, as illustrated in fig. 117. This kind of work is more solid than the other, and is forthat reason very durable. This example is commenced at the right-hand corner, where thethreads are drawn loosely in order to explain the working. The needle, which should havea blunt point, takes the thread to and fro alternately over and under two clusters of warpthread, drawing them together a[Pg 218] little during the process; half-way down, theneedle leaves the first set of threads and continues working with the second and a new set(see needle in diagram). When this is worked down to the base the needle takes the threadinvisibly up the centre of the worked part to the point where it is required for thecontinuation of the pattern. The working of this simple pattern explains the principleupon which all kinds of pretty and more complicated designs can be carried out. Thedarning thread may be coloured; in a more intricate design two or three different coloursmight be introduced.

Fig. 118 shows another pattern in the[Pg 219] same kind of work. The darning stitchbegins by working to and fro over and under four clusters of warp threads, part way downit continues over the two central ones only, leaving the outside clusters alone for thepresent. It finishes up, as at the beginning, to and fro over the four. The threads that wereleft are next covered with an overcast stitch, the adjoining ones in each case are caughttogether in the centre in order to form the X shape that recurs along the pattern.

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