Liberate Yourself Chapter 17

1

According to traditional Chinese customs, female red handicrafts can be divided into nine categories: textile, paste dyeing, sewing, embroidery, shoes and hats, knitting, cut flowers, face flowers, toys. In retrospect, my mother is familiar with these nine types of female red art. What surprised me even more was that my childhood was also inseparable from the female red handcraft. I believe that many girls now lose a few points less than female red hands. Of course, women's handmade art is more reflected in support services. I am my mother's best female red handmade assistant.

Among female red handicrafts, textiles should be ranked first. In China, the most traditional saying is that men can cultivate and women can weave. But urban people are different from rural people. Urban families do not weave and spin. China's textiles have a long history, a wide variety and complex colors. This shows that the issue of dress is essential for a civilized country. Textiles are divided into silk, hemp, kudzu root, cotton, etc. according to their raw materials. Silk weaving is expensive, and hemp knots are few. Since the Song and Yuan Dynasties, China has gradually promoted cotton planting yarn and cotton woven cloth. In the alley where I live, almost every family has a spinning wheel, which is a small bamboo spinning wheel. In the early 1960s, the residents committee accepted a task assigned by its superiors to knit scarves for export. The residents committee organized housewives to learn weaving. The mother's female handicraft skills played an important role, and the scarf she knitted was fast and good. She also became an amateur guide in knitting scarves.

There are various methods for knitting scarves. Mother first teaches neighbors to learn basic knitting methods. She said: "First of all, pay attention to the needle, and the thread must be kept at three times the full size length." In order to earn a little more living expenses, my mother also taught me how to use the needle and how to use the needle and the needle to start the needle. The mother can lift the needle with a double needle. I have studied for a long time and can only use one needle to start at most. The most difficult thing is how to control the tightness of the winding. There are many kinds of scarf knitting, including nail board, sticky needle, crochet, castle knitting machine. How do you end the scarf? Mom said: "Knit two stitches according to the stitches you knitted, let the first stitch pass through the second stitch, then let go of the other stitch and let the previous second stitch (now the first stitch) (A stitch) according to the previous method, so that until the end, it is best to tie the needle and tie it."

The mother seemed to speak easily, but for me, it didn’t make sense for a little boy to learn to knit a scarf. I already know that I want to be a man, and I will never be so sissy. Mother's life is sad! I learned a simple scarf knitting method, but in the end I still intentionally lost stitches, broken heads and other errors, which made my mother give up the idea of ​​letting me continue to study textiles.

However, in order to support my family, I have been unable to leave this textile team. Like many boys, I am responsible for spinning the bamboo spinning wheel, and every time the spinning wheel spins, I always get a dime. My hands and feet are neat and I have become a little expert. However, I have another important task, which is to make the spinning wheel by myself. I cut off all six bamboos, even the holes in the bamboo were made by me. Only that shelf was done by my brother carpenter. The spinning wheel is well done, with flexible rotation and fast spinning speed. I still have to continuously improve my homemade spinning wheel.

My other task is to knit a crochet scarf. At that time, the toothbrush used was made of bone. I made crochet hooks with these bone toothbrush handles. Crochet hooks are also very special. The hook tip should be moderately curved and long, and it should feel when held in the hand. The crochet of the neighbor's house is almost all made by me. There are many people who praise me, and of course I should be proud of it, but in retrospect, I don’t remember any sense of pride. These things seem to be what I should do.

The scarf weaved at that time was made of spun cotton. These spun cottons are particularly soft to the touch. A scarf usually uses a pound of thread. Therefore, before each knitting, the weight must be weighed. So far, I have kept the old-fashioned scales and weights that were weighed back then.

2

Pulp dyeing, this is another understanding of female red. In fact, pulp and dyeing are two concepts. Pulp refers to a woven cloth immersed in pulp water to make it very smooth. Unbleached folk woven white clay cloth with yellow silk feel is called natural cloth. Use old powdered soil powder, which will turn white after washing. Dyeing refers to dyeing folk dyes. In the past, it was mainly extracted from plants.

When I was a kid, I couldn't afford new fabrics because my family was poor. Mother will take some old clothes from grandma's house and use her female skills to make them into clothes we can wear. But these modified clothes are always very old.

There are some dyes on the market. These dyes are small package dyes of various colors and can be purchased for a few cents. After purchasing these dyes, I poured the dyes into clean water and stirred the clothes that had been soaked in the clean water with added dyes. Care must be taken to wet the clothes. Then put all the clothes and dye in an old washbasin, and then put it on the stove to heat it. When a special smell comes out, the clothes are basically dyed. Sometimes, if the pigment is stirred unevenly, spots will appear on the dyed clothes, and white spots will be mixed in the color block, which is very ugly. I will always be scolded. Therefore, I must study the printing and dyeing technology in depth, and also understand the printing and dyeing technology of batik and blue printed cloth.

Sewing is the most important knowledge of female red craftsmanship.

Sewing is an overlapping word. Sewing and threading have a continuous meaning. We usually say sewing is sewing. The words sewing and threading are put together. Perhaps it emphasizes that thousands of needles and threads are needed to sew clothes! There are indeed sewing machines and garment factories to make clothes. Ordering a piece of clothing is not difficult. But a few years ago, every piece of clothing was sewn by women. They sewed for the elderly, sewed for the children, and sewed for themselves. My mother's superb sewing skills, but my mother shed tears in order to buy a sewing machine.

An old lady of the residents committee is responsible for sewing and finishing hair. She knows clearly that my mother’s sewing skills are superb, but she assigns all the sewing work to her friends. the reason is simple. To join the sewing work, you must have a sewing machine at home.

This old lady is usually very arrogant, her mother is angry and hate, but she can't attack. She has only one wish, that is to have her own sewing machine. My mother made our family save money, and finally bought an old "Shengjia" sewing machine. But the sloppy old lady still did not give the sewing work to her mother. Mother gritted her teeth and picked up some needlework with this sewing machine. Her craftsmanship is superb and she quickly became famous. The mother became a typical family tailor.

And me? The debris left after cutting the clothes must be cleaned for the mother every day, the old sewing machine must be wiped frequently, or the machine must be kept oiled, but not too much. Once, the oil increased, the clothes were stained, and I was beaten again.

3

Cutting is a technique and an art.

On the surface, cutting is the process of cutting flat fabrics into pieces piece by piece with scissors. In the garment factory, cutting is just a process. It is a group of operations that the workers in the cutting workshop use typesetting on a thick stack of fabrics and then use professional cutting tools (electric cutters). The cutting plan used for the layout is completed by the previous work. It is a secondary design made by the technicians in the technical cutting room on the basis of understanding the designer's design intent. Therefore, "cutting" in life is not the same as that in professional. In order to describe this process more accurately, colleges and universities are often called "structural design", and enterprises are often called "plate design".

To learn cutting, the first thing to remember is "the purpose of cutting", that is, "the secondary design made on the plane to achieve the design effect". The design effect is usually completed by the designer, which is represented by the effect diagram. The designer's job is "through market research, based on the understanding of popular and consumer objects, the overall conception and planning of modeling elements and composition." The design is not repeated here. In short, the designer specifies the effect of clothes on the human body. The question of whether it looks good or not looks good. In the garment factory, the stylist has no right to modify the styling effect according to his own likes and dislikes. He can only understand the designer’s intention as much as possible, and finally realize the design intent through the setting of the specification size, structural size and cutting shape.

The so-called "secondary design" is also design, that is to say, different levels of pattern designers understand the design intent and the ability to grasp the pattern is different, sometimes it will be very different. For example, different stylists have different understanding and understanding of structural parameters such as drop shoulder, sleeve length, and rise. "Secondary design" is the independent creation of detail effects by the stylist, but it will eventually be approved by the designer.

    However, my mother is both a designer, a tailor, and a sewing worker. She always completes the whole process of making clothes by herself.

When the mother is cutting, the first step is to measure the body of the client, including body shape and height, to obtain first-hand data when cutting clothes. Sometimes, while she was measuring for others, she reported while I was her little secretary, making notes.

Then came the drawing. Mother has many ready-made drawings. She will make appropriate adjustments based on these standard drawings, such as lengthening the sleeves and tightening the waist. The main paper patterns are front and back top pieces, single-piece straight sleeves, and collar bottom arcs. The drawing techniques also include individual drawing, drawing based on the front piece, and drawing based on the front and back pieces. Drawing of single-piece straight sleeves, single-piece curved sleeves, two-piece sleeves, raglan sleeves, gusseted sleeves, and conversion of various sleeve drawing methods.

    I want to cut these drawings. The mother puts these drawings on the clothes and changes them constantly, mainly to use enough cloth as much as possible, not to waste. Even consider the use of scrap. When the mother staked out, she would also say to me: "Pay attention to the texture of the fabric, otherwise, the clothes you make will not conform, or even deform."

Some beginners always want to find a "formula", hoping to change with the same. This idea is understandable, and as a beginner, teachers usually also give traditional formulas of experience formulas, so that it is easy to get started, or as a learning method for beginners. But I think the most important thing is to understand the "principle", that is why it is so and so, nothing more than what effect it corresponds to. Only the principle can be immutable, such as the stitching principle, the human body principle, the geometric principle, the process principle, the genre principle, the fabric principle, the modeling principle, the brand principle and so on.

Mother relies on experience. The so-called experience must be established after a lot of practice. The experience of cutting is very strong, from the structural parameters to the understanding and judgment of the subtle effects, from the accuracy of the size to the speed of the drawing, and the board shape debugging of the sample effect, it takes a certain amount of experience to support. Mother's cutting operation is sometimes very simple. She can measure it with her palm without a ruler, and then with her eyesight, she can cut scissors, and the clothes made are also very beautiful. Most people don't see it, it is the result of "practice makes perfect". It can be seen that freezing three feet is not a day's work.

Clothing production relies on three technologies: design, cutting and sewing. The relationship between the three is very close. After layers of progressive creation, they are finally ready to wear. Cutting technology is a key technology for garment production.

All I could do at that time was to often help move the tailoring board. Because the mother wanted to cut the clothes and the table was too small, the brother made a special board for cutting and ironing clothes for her.

Sometimes, I have to help my mother copy the paper patterns used to cut the clothes. The papers on the drawing pattern are old newspapers I managed to find, especially kraft paper. In the 1950s and 1960s, it was difficult to find some better paper.

4

    In addition to making clothes, mother also has to make shoes.

Many tools and supplies are needed to make shoes. Such as scissors, paper patterns, old cotton cloth. New white cotton cloth, shoe upper, awl, hemp rope or thread rope, paste. A flat wrench quickly.

There is a wooden plate at home, the size is 30 cm by 50 cm or more.

Before making shoes, I use white flour to make a paste. The paste should be thin, and the paste should not be pimple. Pounding paste and cooking paste are both a subject. When the paste is ready, first apply a layer of paste to the template, and stick the old cotton cloth on the paste flatly. The interface between the cloth and the cloth cannot be wide, less than 1 cm. The cloth is preferably an old cotton cloth with raw edges. This is easy to interface.

  After sticking a layer of cloth, and then sticking the second layer, the cloth interface of the second layer should be staggered from the interface of the first layer.

  Then stick the third layer of cotton cloth. These three layers are a piece of cover paper. Generally, a sole needs 5 layers of loop paper. A total of 15 layers of cloth.

  The upper cover is made of two layers of old cloth and one layer of new cloth, which is also three layers.

The next step is to dry the cover paper in the sun to get ready for use.

Then, according to the different sizes of our brothers and sisters' feet, the mother will cut out the soles and uppers with white paper to make patterns. She will lay the pattern on the loop paper and fix it firmly with needlework. Then cut the pattern, sole and upper. After cutting, remove the pattern.

Mother cut the diagonal cloth with a new white cloth. The width of the bevel is about 15 cm. Then glue the bottom edge of the cut shoe with paste. A total of 5 layers of loop paper are glued together to form a sole. Then secure the five-layer loop paper with a needle.

The mother began to circle around the bottom of the shoe. This can further strengthen the sole. The sole can be received according to your preference, from the toe down, or from the center of the sole. I also learned to hold the soles of the shoes. When the person is small and the strength is not enough, I use a thimble to help push the needle thread.

Mother then proceeded to deal with the vamp; stitch the heel of the vamp first. The upper also needs to be decorated with a layer of shoes. The method is: the inside of the shoe is 1 cm larger than the surroundings of the upper, and you can use the needle thread to pull the inside of the upper. Use plain cloth for the shoe mouth and white cloth for the lower mouth. Use a sewing machine to sew a line between the upper and the upper of the shoe. Then flip the shoe mouth into the shoe. Then sew a bright thread from the edge of the shoe upper. Use more than two layers of white cloth to make the bottom of a shoe. Sew on the sole. Finally, the sewing of the sole and upper. It can be bright or dark. Hemp rope or string can be used.

Good shoes can be shaped with the last.

The shoes our brothers and sisters wear since childhood were all made by mothers themselves.

In order to make the shoes more durable, I did the next task. That is to put a shoe sole on each pair of shoes. My brother collected some used tires, and I cut them into the front and back of the shoes. Use shoe spikes to slap your shoes.

What I can't imagine is that when I was in my early tens, how can children understand my childhood? However, I am very proud that my hands-on ability in my youth is far better than that of children fifty years later.

Shoes, as a necessity for people's lives, have a history of thousands of years. From the ancient times, people used animal skins and bark to wrap their feet, to today's various flower styles of shoes, and have gone a long way. The shoe has developed from practicality to both practicality and beauty. In ancient times, there was the saying "top, bottom, foot".

The so-called "footwear" refers to shoes and socks. Shoes are an integral part of people's apparel, and they have a decorative effect on the dress. In the course of its development, shoes have formed various styles and expressions due to different regions, climates, ethnic groups, and the influence of political economy. These seemingly horizontal English "L" shaped shoe samples, through the continuous development and innovation of people's wisdom in the past, can produce thousands of color varieties at will, and this development is the development of shoe culture. .

As early as hundreds of thousands of years ago, in order to protect the feet from harm, humans have learned to wrap feet with animal or plant skins or stems. In particular, things like leather are surplus products obtained after hunting. Because of its tough and wear-resistant texture, it is cold and warm, so it is used as clothing and "socks".

China's oldest primitive wooden crawler has five holes in the board for tethering.

During the Warring States Period, wars in various countries were frequent. King Zhao Wuling first introduced the hu suits of the northern and western ethnic minorities. The soldiers wore short clothes, trousers, and riding boots, and the operations were very flexible. So Zhao Guo gradually gave up car battles and switched to cavalry tactics, finally making Zhao Guo one of the "Seven Heroes of the Warring States". The emergence of boots is a great milestone in the history of my country's shoes. It changed from wearing clothes to wearing boots, which fundamentally changed China's military, political and even social life. Since then, leather boots have not only become military shoes for all dynasties in our country, but have also been introduced to the people and evolved into shoes for daily use. Become a national shoe decoration in the Central Plains.

5

Ancient Chinese women had the habit of binding their feet. The shoes worn by these foot-binding women are also called "small foot shoes". There are many opinions on its origin, and the historical circles generally believe that Jinlian started from the Southern Dynasties of the Five Dynasties.

Li Hou ordered the court lady Rui Niang to wrap her feet into a bow shape and dance on the golden lotus platform, so she was called "three-inch golden lotus". Later, from the court to the folk, women formed a folk custom that was small enough to be beautiful and expensive. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, it has disappeared. Its fine craftsmanship entered the museum as history.

My mother, grandmother, and even grandmother's mother are not bound. Mother opposed foot binding.

My mother once told me a story: Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty was an obscene monarch. He went to the canal and did not want to use a male. Instead, he used a hundred beauties to pull fiber for him, and Wu Yueniang, the daughter of a blacksmith, was selected. Wu's father and daughter hated the Emperor Yang very much and planned to take this opportunity to assassinate the Emperor Yang. Father Wu made a lotus petal knife three inches long and one inch wide for his daughter. Wu Yueniang wrapped the knife with a cloth under her feet, and at the same time wrapped her feet as small as possible, and made pairs of shoes according to the small feet. The soles were carved with lotus flowers, which was very beautiful. After seeing the Emperor Yang, he liked it very much, so he called on Wu Yueniang to get close and wanted to see the foot binding. Wu Yueniang and other attendants walked away, slowly untied the foot-wrapped cloth, and suddenly pulled out the "Lotus" knife to pierce the Emperor Yang. The Emperor Yang flashed and was stabbed in the arm. The Emperor Yang drew his sword and cut it off to Yue Niang. When Yue Niang was exposed by the governor, she threw herself to death. After Emperor Yang returned to the palace, he made a decree "No matter how beautiful the woman is, the one who does not choose to wrap her feet". But in order to commemorate Wu Yueniang, the people all wrapped their feet in remembrance.

I asked my mother: "So why don't you and your grandmother get entangled?"

The mother said that she was ten years old when her family moved from Hong Kong to Shanghai with her grandfather. Foot-binding habits are not popular in Hong Kong.

Mother knows a lot about shoe culture.

　　She said that the Qing Dynasty palace women's shoes were mainly in the traditional Chinese color red, with patterns, thick bottom, extravagant and exquisite, and many Manchu women wear these shoes. Their feet are relatively large, just like ordinary people. The men's cloth shoes of the Qing Dynasty were rugged in shape, with short shoe openings and double beams, with patterns, which showed a long and masculine appearance.

The mother also said that Manchu women like to wear long robes and have difficulty walking, so they add high soles to the soles of their shoes. The bottom of the sole is wide and round, like a flower pot, so this kind of shoe is called "pot bottom shoe". It is also said that women wear long skirts and flower-bottomed shoes to increase body height and make their bodies more slender. In addition, due to the special shape of shoes, women swing their arms more and more before and after walking, and their figure is more graceful.

Because these shoes are made of wood and covered with a layer of cloth, the soles are made of horseshoes, so they are also called "horse soles", and they will make a rhythmic sound when walking. Legend has it that the Manchus can wear these shoes to drive off snakes and insects. Snakes and insects will avoid them when they hear the sound of walking.

 In the old days, Shanghainese wore clogs in summer. My elder brother made the bottom of the clogs. I was responsible for nailing the wide bands of the clogs. Those wide bands were cut from old canvas belts.

　　 Popular female embroidered shoes in the Republic of China. Because during the period of the Republic of China, the feet were loosened, and the feet were relaxed. After their foot wraps were removed, the feet grew up to varying degrees. Their shoes have also increased, but the basic workmanship is still the same. At that time, there was a "small garden" shoe store in Shanghai, specializing in the production of nappy shoes derived from nappy shoes. Use high-quality yellow leather as the base, about 1.5 cm thick. The shoes are dark. Mother collected some shoe patterns and embroidery patterns. As for me, I continue to create embroidery shoes for my mother. Most of them are in the form of paper cuts, with peonies and mandarin ducks.

　　 A kind of children's shoes decorated with animal-shaped patterns on the toe is a kind of parenting folk custom of the Han nationality. There are two kinds of shoes, cotton and clips, both of which are handmade. The more common animal forms embroidered with tigers, cats, dogs, pigs, rabbits, etc. with strong vitality, take prosperity and prosperity, easy to raise and live, and bless the child's healthy growth.

　　The Yi people living in the big and small Liangshan Mountains have been adoring tigers since ancient times, showing signs of "tiger culture" everywhere. The "tiger head shoes" worn by children are not limited to a certain ethnic group, but are children's shoes that are commonly loved by many peoples, but the tiger head shoes of the Yi people are a reflection of their original religion and belief. The shoe has a hard white cloth bottom, a round head, and the upper is sewed with red velvet. The front of the shoe upper is shaped like a tiger's head. The facial features are embroidered with blue, green, yellow, black, orange, and pink wool. The edge of the tiger's head and the mouth of the shoe are edged with orange and brown velvet, and the sides are lined with red silk. The shape and color of the shoes are ingenious, which means that the children grow up powerfully.

　　The Bai people living between Cangshan Mountain and Erhai Lake in Dali, Yunnan is an ancient ethnic group with outstanding people and unique customs. "Tiger shoes" for children of the Bai nationality are not exactly the same in shape as tiger head shoes of other nationalities, and have unique national characteristics. The shoes are made of cotton cloth, red suede, embroidered with a "split" tiger shape, the head of the shoe upper is a tiger head, and the tiger has a "king" on the forehead, decorated with wool, and the composition is very particular. The entire shape resembles a lying tiger, with a profound meaning.

Mother likes these children's tiger shoes with special fun. She will make these tiger shoes, of course, mainly for gifts. When mothers made these tiger-toed shoes, they attached great importance to the embroidery process.

6

　　I am still unforgettable, is the mother's embroidery art.

Embroidery is arguably the most prominent type of Chinese female red. Looking at Chinese embroidery from all over the world, not only the earliest appearance, but also the longest history, it has formed its own tradition. Embroidery in the Warring States period was already very complicated, and the patterns were clearly interlaced. The Han Dynasty embroidered clothes and fur were even more. The foundation of Chinese embroidery is too common and too deep. Under the social system of men plowing and weaving, thousands of girls must learn embroidery and master the embroidery of women. I am afraid this is a unique phenomenon in Chinese history.

Embroidery, as one of the "women's merits" in the four virtues of ancient women's "capacity, speech, merit, and virtue", for women in upper society, it is an elegant craft to pass the time. The economic purpose of Zishengdou is not culturally pursued by ethics. Instead, it entrusts the mood of the daughter with a faint and austerity, which is unique and natural.

The girl in the boudoir, who has nothing to do with her daily life, has a feeling for flowers, is sad when she hears a bird, is doing needlework leisurely, thinking about her thoughts, family, love, and friendship can't be ignored. Based on their belief in the Dharma, they also used the embroidering of princes as their merit and support.

Embroidery, also known as "embroidery" or "female red", is the use of silk threads, velvet threads, cotton threads, gold and silver threads, hairlines, etc., to pass needles on textiles such as satin, cloth and silk to form patterns, images or text.

Embroidery craftsmanship is an ancient Chinese handicraft and an important part of the treasure house of Chinese national art. The emergence of embroidery can be traced back to Yao and Shun period from the literature. In 1974, the earliest lock stitches found in my country were unearthed in the silt of the Xizhou tomb in Rujiazhuang, Baoji, Shaanxi, showing the early achievements of Chinese embroidery. The embroidery products unearthed from the Chu tombs during the Warring States and Qin and Han Dynasties not only had beautiful patterns, bright colors, and clear patterns, indicating that the embroidery skills had reached a considerable level. Due to the prosperity of Buddhism in the Tang Dynasty, most of the embroidery was related to religious beliefs. In the Song Dynasty, with the development of calligraphy and painting art and the royal family's emphasis on weaving and embroidery, there was a combination of painting and embroidery. Embroidery was divided into two categories: purely appreciative and practical embroidery. So far, China's embroidery breakthrough The scope of use, gradually embarked on the road of independent development. The Song Dynasty set up a complete production management organization. In the Northern Song Dynasty, Huizong Chongning set up a cultural and embroidery institute with more than 300 embroiderers. It also selected embroiderers with outstanding embroidery skills from all over the country as technicians, imparting technology, and painting and embroidery quickly became a work of art combined with craftsmanship. Although the ornamental production of Yuan embroidery is far less than that of Song Dynasty, it also inherits the realistic embroidery style of Song Dynasty. The Ming Dynasty had excellent embroidery technology, many practitioners and a wide distribution area, and developed different schools. The palace has "embroidery", and it is divided into two systems: north and south. They are represented by Gu Xiu and Lu Xiu, respectively. They embroider embroidery paintings and calligraphy for pure appreciation, and use scrolls, shafts, and volumes as mounting styles for the like to watch.

My mother mainly studied Gu embroidery when she was a child, which is one of Chinese embroidery.

Gu Xiu was the leader of Southern embroidery in the Ming Dynasty and was named after the Gu family in Shanghai. Gu Xiu was formed in the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty. It was first created by the female family in the Gu Mingshi family, and later gradually developed into a purely artistic boudoir embroidery.

Gu Mingshi is a Chinese character named Long Hai. He is a Jinshi in the 38th year of Jiajing (1559). In his later years, he built a Jiangnan garden in the northwest corner of Shanghai County (now Luxiangyuan Road area). According to Qianlong's Shanghai County Records, when building a garden, "there are stones in the pool, there is the word'Luxiang Pool' ".

In this exquisite garden, the Gu family made friends with calligraphy and calligraphy and poetry, and met many of the famous dignitaries and scholars in Jiangnan. The women of Gu family also participated in it, using their own embroidering skills to copy and reinterpret the artistic conception of the famous paintings of Song and Yuan, and enjoy the same with others.

After the death of Gu Mingshi, the descendants inherited their ancestors Yu Yin and became a habit of luxury, so that they fell into the family and had to rely on the women in the family to sell embroidery to maintain their families. Gu Xiu Nai has transformed from purely artistic embroidery, which everyone enjoys and shows, to commodity embroidery that satisfies the market demand, but he has never lost his temperament. Since then, with the rumor of acupuncture, Gu Xiu has moved from the rich to the folk and gradually lost his original artistic style.

The embroidering period of Gu Xiu's masterpieces is mainly from the late Ming Dynasty to the early Qing Dynasty, with Han Ximeng as the first representative, and his wife, Gu Shouqian, the second grandson of Gu Ming, who is proficient in calligraphy and painting. Therefore, when embroidering celebrities' paintings and calligraphy, they will be able to comprehend them, so that the movement of the needle is like a pen, and the gods are like the original. His masterpieces are: the "Han Ximeng Embroidered Song and Yuan Dynasties" book currently in the Palace Museum and the "Han Ximeng Embroidered Flower and Insect Fish" book in the Shanghai Museum.

Gu Huihai, the eldest son of Gu Minghai, the concubine of Miao Shi, whose hair is thinner and thinner, the stitches are evenly dense, the characters have a vivid look, the flowers and birds are very comfortable, and the bamboo and stone have the fun of pen and ink, which is consistent with the contained. For the Miao's boutique.

Gu Mingshi's great-granddaughter Gu Lanyu, Qianlong's "Counties of Shanghai", Jiaqing's "Songjiang Prefecture" is contained, was a talented girl in the early Qing Dynasty, she was a widow in her early years, and she was a poor family because of poor family. "Teachers", made an important contribution to the promotion and spread of Gu Xiu. According to legend, the fineness of her embroidery is not under Han's.

I remember that my childhood supplies, such as pillows, bed sheets, and quilt covers, were all embroidered by my mother. Home scissors, measuring rulers, irons, scrapers, spinning wheels, wooden swallows, crochet hooks, winding boards, thimble hoops, embroidery sheds, needlework plaques, webbing racks, hemp stones, watering cans, everything. The embroidery artwork left by my mother is the work of Gu Xiu that she gave me when I was fifty years old. At that time, she was 80 years old.

Recalling these past events, I will feel that my mother's embroidery works include my creative elements. Because almost all embroidered works must have an embroidered pattern draft in advance, which I painted. Only those woolen weaves are the mother's own new creations.

7

Knitting art is also an important part of Chinese female stars. Generally speaking, the range of knitting is very large. There are many materials that can be braided, both silk and cotton, as well as a variety of plants, such as bamboo, rattan, grass, palm, straw, etc., any strips with certain toughness can be braided together, based on rope Knotted. China's knotting has evolved from the simplest tying, to an art, turning to decoration, and from decoration to giving it a rich meaning, it has become a very inclusive feature and a great symbol of our national culture.

I have been knitting since I was a child. The main weaving starts with repairing woven mats, repairing old bamboo stools, rattan chairs and brown sheds, and weaving vegetable baskets and net bags. At that time it was very popular to weave mesh bags with plastic rope. In Lixia, we have to weave a string bag for my sister to put eggs. Later, it was popular to weave thread bags with pens.

Mother's best knitting is woolen sweater fabric.

How to knit a sweater? The mother said, the key is to see how to close the needle at the armpit and sleeve mountain. The first and second stitches are unchanged, the fifth stitch is merged with the third stitch, the fifth stitch is up, the sixth stitch is merged with the fourth stitch, and the sixth stitch is up...

Speaking of knitting sweaters, my mother would say endlessly. Especially about the knitting method of the sweetheart collar: the small package edge sweetheart collar, you must first close the two shoulder seams, and then sew the collar. Make two marks on the collar and sew the two shoulders. The middle 1 of the front piece is aimed at the 1st stitch of the collar, 2 stitches or 3 stitches at the seam, but the remaining stitches must be kept at the edge of the stitch and the two sides must be symmetrical. It must be sewn into one row, the last stitch of the collar must be the same as the first stitch, the collar is aimed at one stitch, and the set of diagonals is not allowed... By analogy, the stitches are stitch by stitch, the row is from the fourth stitch Start interlacing, sew to the middle of the collar, and then fold the other half of the collar in to sew it against the hand.

    Mother knits sweaters, as well as her own rules: the number of stitches in the sleeve cage = the number of stitches stopped in the collar = the number of stitches on both sides of the collar.

Many people do not understand the calculation method of sweater size. When knitting sweaters, always ask the mother how many stitches should be picked up, or knit by feeling, and the result is often that the knitted sweater is either large or small.

Mother said that in fact, wool is generally sized according to the number of stitches, and it can be roughly divided into three types according to the thickness: one is high thick thread: when weaving, the width of 7-8 stitches is about 3.3 cm (1 inch), The length of 8-10 needles is about 3.3 cm, the second is a medium thick line, the width of 9 needles is 3.3 cm, the length of 10-11 needles is 3.3 cm, and the third is a thin line and the width of 11 needles It is 3.3 centimeters and the length is 12 to 14 needles for 3.3 centimeters. When weaving patterns with these three kinds of threads, there will generally be an error of 1-2 stitches, so we need to add or subtract stitches according to the density of the pattern.

The mother has a more intuitive and accurate calculation method, that is, the test method: she will start with 20 needles from the selected needle and thread, knit 3.3 cm according to the desired pattern, measure the specific size with a ruler, and then use this Calculate the sweater size for the standard.

　　Top knitting order and size calculation, mother also has its own knitting order: back-front-sleeve-collar-last knitting other small parts.

After a long time, even I know what is the back of the shirt, the front of the shirt and the sleeve and collar.

The body width of the cardigan is the body width of the pullover plus about 7 cm (2 inches), the body length is about 3.3 cm (1 inch), and the body width of the jacket is the body width of the pullover plus about 13.3 cm (4 inches) The length of clothing can be long or short according to personal preference or style. According to different ages, the elderly can increase the width appropriately.

There are also tips for closing the waist at the sweater. First measure the size of the measurements: bust, waist, hips. Then knit a small piece, such as 30×30, and calculate the number of lines and stitches required. After calculating the number of stitches in the measurements, the number of rows from the hem to the waist and the number of rows from the waist to the bust are counted. Determine the number of stitches to be received in each row and the total number of stitches. Generally speaking, the hem to the waist is faster to close the needle, and the waist to the bust is slightly slower. Mother always uses the size of clothing that she fits better.

8

Mothers do not often cut flowers.

　　The number of women engaged in paper-cutting in China, the number of people, the long history, and the number of patterns cut, the wide range of content, the large number, are unique in the world. For female red, in addition to using paper to cut patterns, women also use other materials, such as cloth and plant leaves, and their craftsmanship is similar to paper cutting. For example, on children's clothes, apron and cloth toys, large pieces of cloth of different colors can often be seen, cut into various animals, flowers and grass collage on it.

　　Mother does not make noodles.

In northern China, pasta is the mainstay. Women can use flour to make a wide variety of foods. There are more than 50 kinds of foods. In the long-term pasta production, women found that this material with plasticity can be eaten It can also be made into various images. The face flower is not only an illustration of women's hard work, but also a sign of ingenuity.

My mother settled in Hong Kong to Shanghai when she was ten years old. Because Shanghai noodles mainly consist of flatbread fritters rice balls and soy milk. Shanghainese are accustomed to eating Xiaolong and sautéing, and rarely make their own buns. When my mother occasionally makes buns, that's my food carving class. I will use the dough to make fish, shrimp and crabs, as well as small turtles and rabbits. When the steamed buns were steamed, it was when my sister and I were most happy.

China did not treat toys as an independent profession in the past, and the school did not set up special subjects. However, preschool children are supervised by their mothers. Kind and intelligent mothers often use local materials to make some toys for the children and add fun to their childhood.

Mother will also use a needle, a few pieces of rags, several colors of cotton thread, thread the needle, and then make some cloth toys. My father used this method to make his sister a rag doll that could stand upright. I used a needle and thread to make a little sandbag for my sister. Four mahjong tiles are placed on the table, and the player throws the small sandbag upward, and uses the gap time of the small sandbag to quickly change the direction of the arrangement of the mahjong tiles on the table. I also used the female red skills I learned to make shuttlecocks for my sister.

    In fact, under the education of her mother, her sister quickly learned female skills. She can cut and make clothes by herself, and she can also knit all kinds of sweaters, trousers, footwear, hats.

Unlike my mother's female red art, my father's craftsmanship, in addition to teaching me about paper-cutting and origami, such as origami monkeys, paper horses, paper birds and paper airplanes, and paper ships, taught me how to make rabbit lights and marquee lights myself. I will use paper to make official hats and paper masks.

It was only when I recalled these past events that I suddenly realized that I loved folk crafts and researched folk literature and folk customs, which were inseparable from the early education of my parents.