4 cm. in width, is left without any decoration except a double row of stitching which gives the effect of a chain on both sides of the material. This effect is obtained by working a row of running stitches, each stitch being made in a slightly slanting direction, and then a second row to fill in the gaps left in the first (Fig. 19). This operation is repeated for the third and fourth rows, the direction of the running stitches being reversed.
It is interesting to note that similar rows of stitchery are frequently found as a decoration on Coptic cloths,[1] but are there worked directly on the web and not on the finished cloth.
GS 15 (Fig. 20) and GS 21 (Fig. 21) are also women's skirts, and, with the one just described, are the handsomest pieces in the collection. They afford an interesting contrast both as regards design and method of working to GS 17.
Although Mr. E. C. S. George, in a personal note on the articles in the collection, describes both these specimens as "embroidered," and a similar effect could be obtained with the needle, upon careful examination it seems much more probable that the method employed to produce the patterns was that of
"brocade weaving." The processes of such pattern weaving and embroidery are closely akin, the difference lies in the fact that in the case of "brocade weaving"[2] the pattern is worked at the same time as the cloth is made, whilst embroidery is done on the finished fabric. The reasons which have led to this conclusion are the following :—
(i) All the coloured silk threads lie exactly between and parallel to the picks of weft and are always worked from right to left and left to right alternately in filling in any portion of the pattern.
(ii) In GS 15 (p. 23, 25) four threads of twisted silk are used together and lie smoothly, without crossing one another, on both back and front of the work. Such a result would be difficult of achievement if a needle were used to draw so many thicknesses of thread through a closely woven cloth. In GS 21 four strands of floss silk (spun silk only very slightly twisted) lie just as evenly on both sides.
(iii) Longer lengths of silk are used than is usual with a needle, and the threads themselves shew no roughness or wear at the end such as would be produced if they had been frequently drawn through a piece of cloth.
Whilst the method used to produce the patterns is the same in both GS 15 and GS 21, the difference in the individual patterns is very marked; the former, which has a lozenge shaped design, forming vertical stripes, is a typical Shan arrangement, whilst the more regular pattern based on the square in GS 21 (Fig. 21) shews a strong Chinese influence. In the latter case, too, the floss silk is coloured with aniline dyes and was probably imported from China ready for use, whilst the silks used in GS 15 are beautifully dyed with soft native colours and shew many
