rom a particularly fine example of this work lately added to
the Victoria and Albert Museum collection.[2]

In what went by the name of Berlin wool work, popular in the early XIXth
century, we have before us a degenerate offshoot of this fine and poetic
kind of work in which all its possibilities are missed, with a result
that is prosaic in the extreme. Some of the canvas-work seat covers
decorated with geometrical designs, seen on Chippendale chairs, were a
pleasant and satisfactory variation in their way, but in most of the
work after that period, the attempt at impossible naturalistic effect
gave such unsatisfactory results as to almost deal a death blow to all
canvas embroidery. It is, however, a method too good and useful to die
out; it must always be more or less in vogue.

Patterns carried out in canvas stitches are sometimes to be seen worked
apparently upon velvet or similar ground materials. This is done by
first laying the canvas upon the velvet and stitching through both
materials; this would have to be carried out in a frame. The threads of
the canvas are afterwards either withdrawn or closely cut off. In the
former case, the stitches must be drawn tight, or the finished work will
not look well. This method has the advantage of saving the labour of
working the background, and sometimes it suits the pattern to have a
contrast in the ground material. In old embroideries, heraldic devices
may be seen successfully treated in this way.

The usual canvas stitches can be worked upon other fabrics that have an
even and square mesh, such as various kinds of linen; also other
embroidery stitches, such as stem, satin, or chain, can be used upon
canvas; they are then always worked with a certain regularity, following
the web of the material.

Canvas work can be done in the hand or in a frame, but the technique is
often better in work done in a frame. In all-over work it is important
that not even a suggestion of the ground fabric should be allowed to
show through; for this reason work in light colours should be done on
white canvas, and _vice versa_, as far as possible, also the thread used
must suit in thickness the mesh of the canvas. To work a plain ground
well is less easy than to work the pattern, though it may sound more
simple. The back of the work, though not necessarily similar to the
front, must be alike in stitch all over, for the direction the stitch
takes at the back affects the regularity of appearance