PICTORIAL PATCHWORK

Dominion, Volume 21, Issue 117, 15 February 1928, Page 17

PICTORIAL PATCHWORK

. Textile hangings for walls, which a necessity imposed on our ancestors by the poor house-building, have been revived in our time as an aid to beautv and comfort, says an oversea writer. Ui old, wall hangings might range from tne very expensive, painfully wrought tapes-* trie’s to rich silk and gold thread embroideries , In modern pictorial patchwork the picture is first sketched out full slze > and then the various parts are cut out from appropriately coloured cloth, silk, velvet, linen or other suitable material. One of the aims in this kind of work is to introduce variations in texture as well as colour to suit the object represented and to emphasise the effects of light and shade. The patches are next ebed on to the background of canvas, details also being put in by means of

stitcliery carried out in black or white thread or coloured cottons and silks to obtain the desired results.

It is in this particular stage of the work that the individuality of a craftswoman is often shown. Thus we find some deliberately interpreting the sketches broadly, applying large patches by preference, smaller ones only by necessity, and utilising visible stitcliery as little as possible, unless rusticity is aimed at by means of a coarse outline This style is well adapted to large panels. Other workers, on the contrary, aim at greater realism. By careful choice of material, the introduction of many small patches (which permits of nicety in the graduation of colour) aided by suitably varied stitches, they succeed in suggesting roundness, light and shade, and are able to put in more detail, to give ex-

pression to faces. This style is better reserved for the smaller panels and friezes.

It will be understood that such patchwork panels are susceptible of indefinite variations. There is first the question of composition or design. Hie subjects mav be figure groups, animals, figures and animals amid scenery, flowers or still life; they may be elaborate pictures, even copies of well-known paintings or purposely simple to . attune with plain, • flat treatment, in which modelling and perspective play

little part. As stated, the texture and colour may be anything desired, and . there are almost endless kinds of stitches, which may be coarse or . fine as conditions dictate, further differences being introduced according to the thickness, character and colour of the threads used For some purposes a simple thread is best, in others a heavy corded silk, or else soft floss, is indicated. It is wonderful to see how the different descriptions of turf and undergrowth., of foliage, can be indicated bv a little stitcliery on a good background. Strong colour is usual in patchwork panels, but it is not, of course, obligatory. Soft tones can be adopted, and, with a suitable choice of subject, monochromes have the appearance of stamped velvet.