A notable modern development of the sewing machine is its adaptation to the making of embroideries and even laces. In the common domestic sewing machine the cloth is fed step by step under the needle, and the length of the step regulates the size or length of the stitches. The feed may be set for short or long stitches. It is evident that if a greater range of length of stitch were provided, and if, while the machine was operating, the stitch could be varied at will, not only in length but in the direction as well, it would be possible to work out elaborate patterns of embroidery. This is what is done on the power-driven embroidery machines. Like the original Howe machine, the cloth is held vertically and a series of needles are used which pass horizontally through the cloth. As the needle retreats, the thread it carries forms a loop on the rear or “wrong” side of the cloth, and through this a shuttle is driven which carries a thread wound upon a bobbin. Between stitches the cloth is moved this way and that, in accordance with a prearranged pattern, and thus the design is embroidered. A single machine may have several hundred needles and, as they all work in unison, each needle repeats the design. The arrangement is such that one needle starts where the next one leaves off, so that the embroidery is continuous. The shuttles which operate on the wrong side of the cloth are small, boat-shaped parts which the Swiss have named “schiffli” or “little ships,” and this name has come to be applied to the whole machine. The guiding of the cloth to produce the required design is accomplished either by hand or automatically. In the hand-guided schiffli machine a skilled “stitcher” seated at one side of the machine operates a pantagraph, tracing an enlarged design mounted on a board before him. As he moves the lever vertically and horizontally the frame carrying the cloth is correspondingly moved before the needles. An expert stitcher can put a great deal of individuality into the work, which is impossible in the strictly automatic machine; accordingly the pantagraph is used for the finer grades of embroideries. In the automatic machines a perforated roll like that of a piano player is used. The perforations control the movements of the frame that carries the fabric. FINE NEEDLEWORK BY MACHINE