Mediaeval Sinhalese Art c27.21

c27.21

Stitches The stitches most used are illustrated in Fig. 141. Most of the work is done with chain stitch. If the background is blue, the pattern is outlined in white and red chain stitch, the red inside, the white outside. The double outline is a very characteristic feature. The borders of betel-bags are also separated from each other by three rows of chain stitch, red or blue between two white lines. The stitch is often complicated by intertwining red or blue threads, or one thread of each colour, as the work proceeds, as indicated in Fig. 141, 6. Embroidery Binding stitches are especially characteristic and well developed. Fig. 141, No. 1, shows a stitch used for binding together the outer cloth and the lining of the upper part of a betel- Stitches bag, along the opening. It gives a firm edge, and is easy to work. The first stitch goes straight through the edge of the stuff; the second catches up the threads where they cross in the middle, as shown in the figure, without going through the cloth again. The stitches shown in Fig. 141, Nos. 1-4, are all binding stitches, and must be imagined as binding over the raw edges of cloth, or covering a seam; they are drawn quite flat for the sake of clearness. In these figures, small Roman figures indicate the order of making the stitches. Thus in 1, the needle, inserted at 1., goes from 1. to 11. in front, then from 11. to 111. through the thickness of the material, and then between 111. and 1v. two buttonhole stitches are made, looping into the first stitch. Each loop of the succeeding stitches embraces the loop immediately preceding. In 2 and 3, the single loop is replaced by two and three loops respectively. The two last especially make a very firm and useful edge. They are sometimes strengthened and elaborated by intertwining a coloured thread along each side, below the edge of the material. No. 2 is called amu karala, ‘amu ear’ (ear of corn).