time the
shape of the space to be filled, as well as its extent, will suggest the
appropriate ornament. The diaper design is not, of course, drawn on the
stuff, but points of guidance may be indicated through a kind of fine
stencil plate.

The patterns used for background diapering need not, as a rule, be
intrinsically so interesting as those which diaper the design itself,
nor are they usually so full. They take more often the form of spot or
sprig patterns, not continuous, in which the geometric construction is
not so obvious, nor even necessary. In either case the prime object of
the stitching is not so much to make ornamental patterns as to give a
tint to the stuff without entirely hiding it with work; and the worker
chooses a lighter or heavier diaper according to the tint required. If
the work is all in white it is texture, instead of tint, that is aimed
at.

For a background, simple darning more or less open, in stitches not too
regular, is often the best solution of the difficulty. The effect of the
ground grinning through is delightful.

SATIN-STITCH AND ITS OFFSHOOTS.

SATIN-STITCH is _par excellence_ the stitch for fine silkwork. I do not
know if the name of "satin-stitch" comes from its being so largely
employed upon satin, or from the effect of the work itself, which would
certainly justify the title, so smooth and satin-like is its surface.
Given a material of which the texture is quite smooth and even, showing
no mesh, satin-stitch seems the most natural and obvious way of working
upon it. In it the embroidress works with short, straight strokes of the
needle, just as a pen draughtsman lays side by side the strokes of his
pen; but, as she cannot, of course, leave off her stroke as the penman
does, she has perforce to bring back the thread on the under side of the
stuff, so that, if very carefully done, the work is the same on both
sides.

Satin-stitch, however, need not be, and never was, confined to work upon
silk or satin. In fact, it was not only worked upon fine linen, but
often followed the lines of its mesh, stepping, as in Illustration 9, to
the tune of the stuff. This may be described as satin-stitch in the
making--at any rate, it is the elementary form of it, its relation to
canvas-stitch being apparent on the face of it. Still, beautiful and
most accomplished work has been done in it alike by Mediaeval,
Renaissance, and Oriental needleworkers.

[Sidenote: TO WORK A, 36.]

To co