er it will be noticed that lines have been drawn
for the guidance of the worker. These are always four in number,
indicating at once, that the stitch is made with four strokes of the
needle, and the points at which it is put in and out of the stuff.

[Sidenote: TO WORK G G.]

In working G G, suppose four guiding lines to have been drawn as
above--numbered, 1, 2, 3, 4, from left to right. Bring your needle out
at the top of line 1. Make a chain-stitch slanting downwards from line 1
to line 2. Put your needle into line 3 about 1/8th of an inch lower
down, and, slanting it upwards, bring it out on line 4 level with the
point where you last brought it out. Make a chain-stitch slanting
downwards this time from right to left, and bring your needle out on
line 3. Lastly, put your needle into line 2, 1/8th of an inch below the
last stitch, and, slanting it upwards, bring it out on line 1.

Feather-stitch is not adapted to covering broad surfaces solidly, but
may be used for narrow ones.

ORIENTAL-STITCH is the name given to a close kind of feather-stitch much
used in Eastern work. The difference at once apparent to the eye between
the two is that, whereas for the mid-rib of a band or leaf of
feather-stitching (25) you have cross lines, in Oriental-stitch (27) you
have a straight line--longer or shorter as the case may be.

Oriental-stitch, sometimes called "Antique-stitch," is a stitch in three
strokes, just as feather-stitch is a stitch in four. It is usually
worked horizontally, though shown upright on the sampler, Illustration
27. Like feather-stitch (see diagram), it is worked on four guiding
lines, faintly visible on the sampler.

[Sidenote: TO WORK A, B, C.]

Stitches A, B, and C are worked in precisely the same way. Bring your
needle out at the top of line 1. Keep the thread under your thumb to the
right and put your needle in at the top of line 4, bringing it out into
line 3 on the same level. Then put it in again at line 2, just on the
other side of the thread, and bring it out on line 1 ready to begin the
next stitch.

[Illustration: 27. ORIENTAL-STITCH SAMPLER.]

[Illustration: 28. ORIENTAL-STITCH SAMPLER (BACK).]

It will be seen that the length of the central part (or mid-rib, as it
was called above) makes the whole difference between the three varieties
of stitch. In A the three parts are equal: in B the mid-rib is narrow:
in C it is broad, as is most plainly seen on the back of the sampler
(28). The d