The second pitfall to avoid is any pulling or straining of the material
during the operation of embroidering it. Success in avoiding this
depends primarily upon the various threads being drawn at each stitch to
the proper tension, so that it may just have the proper pull to keep it
in its place and no more--and although a stitch too loose is bad enough,
one too tight is infinitely worse.

(4) The preponderance of appliqué work, and raised work in metal guimps
on embroidered books, especially on velvet, is easily accounted for when
the principles they illustrate are understood, the truth being that in
both these operations the maximum of surface effect is produced with the
minimum of under work.

If the piece appliqué is not very large, a series of small stitches
along all the edges is generally enough to keep it firm; such edge
stitches are in most cases afterwards masked by a gold cord laid over
them. If, however, the appliqué piece is large it will be necessary to
fix it as well with some supplementary stitches through the central
portions. These stitches will generally be so managed that they fit in
with, or under, some of the ornamental work; at the same time, if
necessary, they may be symmetrically arranged so as to become themselves
of a decorative character.


_The Embroidered Books here illustrated._

For the purposes of illustration I have chosen the most typical
specimens possible from such collections as I have had access to. The
chief collections in England are, undoubtedly, those at the British
Museum and at the Bodleian Library at Oxford. The collection at the