h knots or chain-stitch: it is really another
method of all-over couching.

A double course of couching forms the outline in Illustration 92, one
of filoselle and one of cord, separately sewn; but the tendrils, which
are of silver thread, are sewn down both threads at a time with double
stitches, very obvious in the illustration. Over the couched silver
threads which form the main rib of the leaf a pattern is stitched in
silk.

_A propos_ of couching, mention must be made of a way of working used in
the famous Syon Cope by way of background, and figured overleaf
(Illustration 54). The ground stuff is linen, twofold, and it is worked
in silk, which lies nearly all upon the surface. The stitch runs from
point to point of the zigzag pattern; there it penetrates the stuff, is
carried round a thread of flax laid at the back of the material, and is
brought to the surface again through the hole made by the needle in
passing down. That is to say, the silken thread only _dips_ through the
linen at the points in the pattern, and is there caught down by a thread
of flax on the under-surface of the linen. The reverse of the work
(Illustration 55) shows a surface of flax threads couched with silk, for
which reason the method may be described as reverse couching. On the
face it gives an admirable surface diaper, flat without being
mechanical. It is easily worked with a blunt needle; with a sharp one
there would be a danger of splitting the stitch. It is a kind of work on
which two persons might be employed, one on either side of the stuff.

COUCHED GOLD.

In olden days silk does not appear to have been couched in the East. On
the other hand, it was the custom to couch gold thread in Europe at
least as early as the twelfth century; so that the method was probably
first used for gold, which, except in the form of thin wire or
extraordinarily fine thread, is not quite the thing to stitch with.
Besides, it was natural to wish to keep the precious metal on the
surface, and not waste it at the back of the stuff.

A distinguishing feature about gold is that by common consent it is used
double and sewn down two threads at a time. This is not merely an
economy of work; but, except in the case of thick cords or strips of
gold, it has a more satisfactory effect--why it is not easy to say.
Panels A, B, C, in the sampler, Illustration 56, are couched in double
threads, D in single cords.

Gold couching is there used, as it mostly i