The square may be used for a scarf-end in connection with the edging No. 53 seen on page 91, if the braid selected is sufficiently fine. When coarser braid is chosen, the square will be pretty for doilies, tidies or the center of a table spread. The design may be daintily made up of ribbon, with silk for the stitches. In this event it may be set into a scarf or drapery of China or Surah silk with charming results.
[Illustration: No. 54.--Square in Modern-Point Lace.]
This is a very popular decoration for curtains and vestibule doors and is made of heavy écru or white net and braid. The design selected is generally a border with a corner piece, and sometimes a center piece. The specimen here given is simply a square of the net decorated as illustrated to convey an idea of this at present fashionable curtain lace. The design is first traced on tracing cloth that is then underlaid with brown paper to hold it stiffly in place. The net is then laid over this and smoothly basted down so that the tracing shows through plainly. Then écru or white Battenburg braid is used to follow the design, and is shaped into the leaves and flowers seen, rings being used for the centers of the blossoms and écru or white cord for the stems. The net is cut from under the rings at the centers of the large roses, and each opening is filled in with point de fillet and English wheels. The effect is very rich and the work is not difficult to do.
When a curtain is thus embroidered or decorated with braid, it is bordered the same as the square illustrated, or upon that principle, with rows and points of Battenburg braid. Ribbon is often used in this way for tidies, bureau scarfs and various other little household decorations, and in this event the flower and foliage tints may be carried out in the design.
[Illustration: No. 55.--Louis XIV. Curtain-Lace.]
DARNED-NET SCARFS, KERCHIEFS, TIDIES, EDGINGS, INSERTIONS, ETC., ETC., WITH DESIGNS FOR THE SAME AND OTHER ARTICLES.
Bobbin net, or "bobbinet," or "net" as it is now commonly called, was first made by machinery in 1809, and was so called because the threads from which it was made were wound upon bobbins, and _twisted_ into meshes instead of being _looped_ in knitting style as they were previous to the invention of the machine. The latter was invented by John Heathcoat, the son of an English farmer; but to France must be given the credit of introducing the "darned work" by which some of its costliest net laces were first made. From these laces originated the industry of darning net by machinery and by hand, and in all grades from fine silk-blonde and Brussels net to the coarsest wash net, such as is used for curtains and draperies.