Page 36 - Chiense TExtiles, MET MUSEUM Pub 1934

THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART
or conventional, on canvas or scrim, or sometimes on
tough paper, which is then cut down to the pattern,
leaving the embroidered motives ready to be applied to
any desired surfuce. This type of applique is the least
difficult and consequently, in the impatient China of to-
day, is most employed. The theory that applique em-
broidery originated with the desire to make the patches
on garments beautiful as well as practical seems a likely
one.
Since the Han dynasty the satin stitch has been used
constantly by the Chinese in their embroideries, the
stem stitch more rarely, and the buttonhole and quilt-
ing stitches almost not at all.
After the Han dynasty we do not seem to find any
new stitches until we come to textiles of the Ming and
Ch'ing dynasties, when several new ones appear. Curi-
ously enough, all of these later stitches require a back-
ground of gauze, canvas, or a loose plain weave. They
could all be called counted canvas stitches, for that is
what they actually are, but several of them are desig-
nated by specific names borrowed from the West. Two
of the best known are the Florentine and petit-point
stitches. These are much the same in appearance, and the
Florentine is often wrongly called petit point. The dif-
ference in technique is slight: the Florentine stitch is
darned on the background in vertical lines and the
petit point at a 45° angle. Another variation of the
counted canvas stitch is known as a surface darning
stitch. This we have not found as yet on any examples
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