ive. If the work is at all puckered, iron it
with a warm but not hot iron on the wrong side before laying down the
gold thread. Leek embroidery is sold by the yard in strips, varying from
one inch to twelve inches in width, and costing from 6d. to 2s. the
yard. These strips are used for mantelpiece borders, table borders,
chair backs, and curtain bands, according to their width. They look best
mounted upon plush or velveteen, but are often mounted upon Liberty's
Oriental silks, or made up as perfectly plain bands. When used for chair
backs or for hanging firescreens the background should be handsome, and
either ruby or dark blue in colour, and the work arranged either
straight down its centre or crossing it in a number of diagonal lines.
This manner of making up is newer and more effective than merely laying
it on as an edging. Bands of unmounted Leek embroidery, simply lined
with twill, are much used for looping up summer curtains, and give
richness to the soft, creamy materials now employed for curtains.

As dress trimmings Leek embroidery is good, the wide bands making a
waistcoat front and the narrow the cuff trimmings. To a velveteen winter
dress a waistcoat and cuffs so made are an admirable finish as long as
the embroidery is kept subdued by rich colours, and the gold carefully
put on, while for dinner dresses a broad panel of embroidery is carried
down the skirt, and the waistcoat cut low, and no trimming required for
the sleeves.

Oriental embroidery cannot be made up in so many different ways as Leek
embroidery, but it is quite new, and aims at reproducing early Eastern
designs. The foundation material is surah silk, the silk sold in large
squares as Liberty's handkerchief being correct in colouring and
texture. Upon this foundation the patterns, which all consist of single
petalled flowers resembling single dahlias, sunflowers, or
chrysanthemums, are worked with Oriental silk, which are silks of a
thick make, but very soft and with a gloss on them similar to the gloss
on floss silk. The leaves surrounding the flowers are of the shape of
the jessamine, and to these are added tendrils and queer-looking bunches
of seed-vessels.

There is little variety in the design, as the embroidery is entirely
executed in one stitch (that of a close herringbone), but there is great
variety and great scope for good shading in the colouring. Oriental
silks are all dyed in the shades of blues, yellow pinks, terra-cotta
reds,