d coming
up on the other side. The effect on the right side, however, is not so
good, so this method cannot be recommended.

One of the technical difficulties with satin stitch is to get a neat
firm line at the edges of the filled space; this is excellently attained
by the Chinese and Japanese, who use this satin stitch a great deal.
They frequently work each petal of a complicated flower separately,
leaving as a division, between each one and the next, a fine line of
material firmly and clearly drawn.

[Illustration: Fig. 40.]

The stitch is much used for raised work, and also lends itself well to
gradation of colour. Fig. 40 is an example of shading in satin stitch.
In this case each new row of stitches fits in just between those of the
last row; this is a bold but very effective method of expressing
gradation. A variation upon this is shown in fig. 42; the bands of
different colour are here necessarily worked in a chevron pattern which
makes the shading rather more gradual. An example of the same thing can
be seen in fig. 44 in the leaf upon which the squirrel sits. Apart from
gradation of colour, the surface to be covered by satin stitch has often
to be partitioned up in some way in order to make the satin stitches of
a practical length.

[Illustration: Fig. 41.]

Long and short stitch is a very slight variation, if any, from satin
stitch. The name describes the method of working, for it is carried out
by working alternately a long and a short stitch, the stitches being
picked up just as in satin stitch. It is useful for close fillings and
shaded work, and also as a solid outline for any kind of open filling.
The working of the stitch can be seen in fig. 41, where the band of
lightest colour on the upper part of the leaf is worked in long and
short stitch. The advantage of this way of working can be seen at once,
it makes a firm outline on the one edge and a nicely broken-up one on
the other, just ready for another shade to be worked in. In order to
carry out the rest of the shading on the leaf in the same way the
stitches can be all of the same length; this will always ensure a broken
line at the edge, which is a necessity for this method of gradation.
Long and short stitch used as an outline for a leaf with an open filling
can be seen on page 209. The _opus plumarium_ or feather stitch that we
read of in the descriptions of the old embroideries was a similar stitch
to this, and so called, some say, because i