o the processes of what I called "needle weaving," since the
needle was really used as a shuttle to carry threads over and under the
already fixed warp, the next decision rested upon the subject of this
new application of the art and the knowledge we had gained by study and
practice and love of textile art. With a courage which we now wonder at,
we selected perhaps the most difficult, as it certainly is the most
beautiful, of surviving tapestries, "The Miraculous Draught of Fishes,"
the cartoon of which, designed by Raphael, is at present to be seen and
studied at the Kensington Museum in London. The decision to copy this
was perhaps influenced by the fact that it was the only original cartoon
of which I had knowledge, and my summer holiday in London was spent in
its study, and schemes for its exact reproduction. As it was spread upon
a wall in museum fashion, a drawing could not be actually verified by
measurements, but an expedient came to me which proved to be
satisfactory. I had two photographs, as large as possible, made from
the cartoon, and one of them, being very faintly printed, copied exactly
in color; the other was ruled and cut into squares, and was again
photographed and enlarged to a size which would bring them, when joined,
to the same measurements as the original cartoon. These, very carefully
put together, made a working drawing for my tapestry copy, and the
lighter photograph, which had been most carefully water-colored, gave
the color guide for the copy.

It was interesting to find the perforations along the lines of the
composition still showing in the photographed cartoon, and we made use
of them by going over them with pin pricks, fastening the cartoon over
the sheet of silk canvas woven for the background, so that there was no
possibility of shifting. Prepared powder was sifted through the lines of
perforation and fixed by the application of heat, and we then had the
entire composition exactly outlined upon the ground. After that the work
of superimposing color and shading by needle weaving was a labor of love
and diligent fingers during many months. Every inch of stitchery was
carefully criticized and constantly compared with the colored copy,
and at last it was a finished tapestry and was hung in a north light on
one of the great spaces of the studio, where it was an object of expert
examination and general admiration.

[Illustration: APHRODITE

Designed by Dora Wheeler for needle-woven tapest