The Little Girl’s Sewing Book

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This book contains lessons in practically all the stitches used in plain needlework, as well as the more useful of the fancy stitches. Each article described and illustrated will be found to contain instructions for some definite branch of sewing; and though all the stitches required in making the article will not necessarily be illustrated in that chapter, they will appear in other chapters, and can easily be referred to, by aid of the comprehensive index.

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[3]

If you are going to set to work to make some of the pretty articles described in this little book, the little work apron shown in the picture on this page is just the very thing you will need to put on while you are sewing.

It has two deep pockets and two small ones, and you will be able to put the silks and cottons necessary, for whatever it is you are making, into these, so that they will be ready as you want to use them.

You will find it is so handy, too, to have a pocket to slip your scissors into after cutting your thread. You know what a nasty way they have of slipping off your lap on to the floor. And then, when you pick them up, it is quite likely that you get a little dust on your hands, and this gets on to your pretty work and makes it look soiled.

Then, when your sewing time is ended for the day, how convenient it is to be able to fold your work away in your little work apron, so that it is kept well protected from any stray specks of dust, and will be quite ready for you when next you want it.

So you see how this little apron is going to help you to keep your work nice and clean, and I am sure you will want to make yourself one as quickly as ever you can, so let us see how it is done.

You will only need 1 yard of material to make the apron, and this can be white or coloured as you prefer. A soft linen or sateen would make up well. For the featherstitching use coloured “Star Sylko” thread, as this will wash without the colour running.

To cut out the apron, first measure off 4 inches of the material, and cut across from selvedge to selvedge; this will form the band.[4] The piece used for the apron itself is 32 inches long and 20 inches wide, and when you have cut this you will have a strip left for making the small pockets, which should each be 6 inches square. To make the points at the bottom of the pockets, fold each square right down the centre, measure 1½ inches up the double cut edges, and cut off the corners on the cross to the edge of the centre fold.

Now take the piece you have cut for the apron, and turn a quarter-inch hem along both the sides and one of the ends of this strip, tack these along carefully, and hem neatly. We give directions for tacking and hemming on page 18.

To form the large double pocket, fold the hemmed end of the strip up 11 inches, and oversew the edges of the side hems together. Directions for oversewing are given on page page 28. Now place a tacking line right down the[5] centre of the pocket The small patch pockets should then be added. Turn a quarter-inch hem along the top of each of these, and a single narrow turning round the other edges. Hem one of these on to each side of the large pocket, placing them about 3½ inches down from the top of the large pocket, and 3 inches in from the side edges of the apron.

Now take the band strip, tack a single turning round all edges and fold right along the centre. Gather the top of the apron, draw the gathers up tightly (winding the thread round a pin so that it will be ready when you want to let them out again), and carefully stroke down each gathered stitch with your needle to make them set nicely. Now let out the gathers until the apron is 13 inches wide, place the gathered edge between the folded band, taking care that you get the centre of the band and the centre of the apron together, and hem along each side of the work. You will see that you have a little picture showing you exactly how this should be done.

The open edges of the ends of the band should be oversewn together.

When you have finished sewing on your band you will need to put a button on one end and to make a buttonhole in the other end. If you are not quite sure how to make a buttonhole nicely you had better look carefully at the illustrations showing how to do this.

First fold the end of the band, and cut your buttonhole through[6] the fold and exactly in a line with a thread of the material; the buttonhole should be cut just large enough for you to put your button through easily. Before you commence to work the buttonholes make a line of running or “barring” stitches quite close to the edges, to hold them evenly together, as shown in the first part of the little diagram; the second part of the diagram shows another way of holding the edges together by working overcasting stitches over the hole, but this way is more often used when working on thicker materials. The third part of the diagram shows a finished buttonhole, and you will see that one end is worked round and the other square; the outside should be the round one, and the inner end the square one.

Now you are ready to commence to work the buttonhole. Thread a sewing needle with white cotton (say No. 40), make a knot, and just to fasten your thread to your work put your needle in on the wrong side just below the running stitches, at the inner end of the buttonhole, picking up one thickness of material only, and bring it out on the right side of your work between the edges of the buttonhole.

Buttonholes are always worked on the right side of the work, and are worked from left to right. To make the first stitch (after fastening your cotton on as above), place the needle downwards through the buttonhole, and put it in just where you put it at first, only this time right through both thicknesses of material.

When you have your needle in this position, place your cotton round it exactly as the little illustration shows it placed, pull your needle out, and you will[7] find that you have made a knotted stitch, which must be pulled up so that the knot comes right at the edge of the buttonhole; this completes one stitch, and you must work a row of these stitches right along, making the ends of the stitches even to a thread.

The round end is made in the same way that you do oversewing, and each stitch must be made the same length as the buttonhole stitches, and taken round to form a half-circle at the end of the hole; the lower part of the little illustration shows how the needle is placed for this.

Work the second side in the same way as the first, then for the square end take a couple of ordinary back stitches right over the entire width of the worked buttonhole (from the lower edge of the stitches on one side to the lower edge of the stitches on the other), and work a row of buttonhole stitches across the end of the buttonhole, bringing the knots just over the bar of stitches you have just made across. This completes your buttonhole.

All that now remains to be done is the feather-stitching, and for the little girl who has not attempted this stitch before, we are giving an illustration showing exactly how it should be made.

This is worked from right to left. If you look carefully at the illustration you will see that the thread is always brought round to the front of the needle before making a stitch, and for the upper part a small stitch is taken downwards towards you, and for the lower part a stitch of the same length is taken turning upwards towards you. The feather-stitching should be worked just over the hemming line, and this will serve as a guide for keeping it straight; the bottom of the top stitch should come just above the hemming line, and the top of the lower stitch just below it. The illustration clearly shows where the feather-stitching should be added.

[8]

Isn’t it just too tiresome when you want a particular bow to wear with a blouse, or a little lace collar that is just the right shape, and you look in vain through the drawer where you keep knick-knacks of this description. Then you know how the drawer gets all tumbled over, and you have finally to seize a bow that isn’t a bit the one you wanted, and rush off, to save being late for school. Have you ever been in a fix like that? If you have, you know all about it, and it is all the more annoying when you know all the time that the bow is there somewhere.

Now what is really the trouble here? Why the fact of the matter is the drawer is too big, and the little bow loses itself among the other things in the drawer.

Now what you want is a little compartment where you can keep your bows or collars (as the case may be) all to themselves. A cardboard box inside the drawer won’t last any time. No; the better plan is to make yourself a really pretty box, that can stand on your dressing-table. You see the sweet one illustrated, don’t you? Well, it will be a very simple matter for you to make one in the same way. The outside of this one is covered with a pretty flowered cretonne, of which pink and green are the principal colours, and it is lined with biscuit-coloured sateen. But you would, of course, make your box in the colours that will go best with your little bedroom. A flowered material is probably nicest for the outside, though plain material could[9] be used. In any case, a deep cream is the best colour for the inside of the box.

To make a box the same size as the one here shown, you will want four pieces of thin cardboard 6 inches long by 5½ inches wide for the lid and bottom, four pieces 6 inches by 3 inches for the sides, and four pieces 5½ inches by 3 inches for the ends. Then you will want two pieces of cream sateen 7 inches by 6½ inches, and two pieces of flowered cretonne the same size, two pieces of cream sateen and two pieces of cretonne 7 inches by 4 inches, and two pieces each of sateen and cretonne 6½ inches by 4 inches.

The first step is to cover the cardboard pieces. This must be done very neatly. You will notice that the pieces of material are an inch larger each way than the cardboard they are to cover. When you lay a piece of cardboard on a piece of material there should be ½-inch of material all round, outside the cardboard, for turning over. Crease it over the edges of the cardboard all round, turning it in under again at the corners, as you see in the little picture. Start by taking a few stitches at the first corner, carry your needle on to the next corner, and again take a few firm stitches. When you have done all the corners, take a few long stitches from side to side, as you see in the illustration, to keep it secure.

You must now sew the covered pieces together. Take a cretonne-covered piece, place it against a sateen-covered piece of the same size, having the turned-in sides together, and oversew neatly all round. Do this with all the pieces. Now you have six neat little sections, each of which is cream one side and coloured on the other.

Your next task is to oversew five of these sections together to make a box. First sew the two side and two end pieces together, and then sew the bottom piece to all four, taking care[10] that all the cream sides are inside and the coloured sides outside.

Before you sew the lid on, sew cord round all the edges with neat stitches, as you see in the picture. Green cord was used for this box, but you could use whatever colour goes best with your cretonne. Sew cord also round the edge of the lid.

All that now remains to be done is to fasten the lid to the box. This is done by oversewing on the inside the cord on one side of the box to that on the lid. You have now got not only a useful receptacle for your bows, etc., but a very pretty addition to your dressing-table. The size given is a very useful one, but you are not bound to make it this size if any other would suit your purpose better. For instance, if it is to hold handkerchiefs, a box that is square would be a better shape. But whatever size you decide on, see that each piece is cut and joined evenly, as this is most essential if the box is to be really a success.

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This pretty bag is made just big enough to take a pair of little girl’s shoes, and would be just the very thing for you to keep at school to put your slippers in when you change them to come home; or you might like to use it to carry your slippers in when you go out to tea.

Do you see the two frisky lambs gambolling on the grass, worked across the bottom of the bag? Don’t you wish that you were like them, and didn’t have to wear shoes that are always wearing out? This little bag was made of dark red sateen, and embroidered with white “Star Sylko” embroidery thread. The bag should be about 7½ inches wide and 10 inches deep, when finished, and to allow for seams and a nice wide hem at the top, you will want to cut a strip of material 8 inches wide and 24 inches long.

It will be best to do your embroidery before you make up the bag, so that you can get at the work better. First fold your strip of material right across the centre, put a tacking line on this fold, and work your lambs just above this.

If you turn to page 30 you will see how to work the cross-stitch designs, by placing canvas over your material first, and you have the lambs all drawn out for you in this article. Also you will find a whole alphabet of initials for working in cross-stitch on another page.

When you have finished the embroidery, fold the strip of material in half, with the right side inside, and sew it together at each side with a run and back stitch, leaving about 4 inches open at each side at the top of the back. When you[12] have joined the seams, you must oversew them along the edges on the wrong side as well, so that they will not fray.

Now turn down a 2-inch hem at the top, on both sides of the bag, turning in the side edges of the hems; you can tack down the sides of the hems, so as to keep the edges in, but don’t sew them together just yet.

When you have hemmed the hems, you must put a row of running stitches along each hem, about half-an-inch above your hemming line, to make a runner, so that when you thread your ribbons through they will be held down at the bottom of the hem and not come right up to[13] the top of the bag. Now you can oversew the ends of the hems together, leaving the little space between the running line and the hemming line open, so that you can thread your ribbon through. This part of the work must be done with fine sewing cotton the same colour as your material, as you do not want the stitches to show too much.

If you like you can embroider an even row of white crosses over the stitches on the right side of the bag; this makes a pretty finish.

You can either use red cord or a narrow red ribbon for threading through your bag, and you will want a yard and a half. Cut this into two even lengths.

Then thread a bodkin with one piece, and starting from the left hand side of the bag, thread it right round the bag through the runner you made at[14] the bottom of the hems. When you have got it right through, sew the two ends of the ribbon together, and pull it round from the right side so that the join does not show; this will leave you with a long loop of ribbon hanging from the right side of the bag. Now take the other piece of ribbon and do exactly the same from the left side of the bag.

Now when you pull the loops at each side the bag will draw up nice and evenly at the top.

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Isn’t it just lovely to be able to make things all by yourself, without having to wait to be shown what to do next all the time. Mother is sure to be busy just when you want to know how to go on, and not have the time to stop to arrange your work for you. This pretty nightdress pocket can be made out of a long straight strip of material, folded up like an envelope. That sounds quite easy, doesn’t it, and I am sure you have often folded up paper like an envelope, haven’t you? You just divide it into three, and let one end lie over the other like a flap.

You will want about half a yard of white canvas, or linen, to make the pocket, and about 1½ yards of Cash’s Fancy Frilling, to put round the edge of the flap. Also you will need a ball of blue “Brighteye.”

Now, take a tape measure and measure your material each way. You want to have a strip 30 inches long and 15 inches wide. When you have cut this, measure up 18 inches of the length, and cut 1½ inches off the width of the strip at each side up as far as this, leaving the remaining 12 inches wider, to allow of the deep hem round the flap.

Now turn a 1½ inch hem across the narrow end of your strip of material, hem it along on what will be the inside of the pocket, and fold this end of the strip up to form the pocket, until the lower edge[16] of the hem reaches where the material comes out wider at each side.

Sew up the side seams with a run and back-stitch, then oversew the edges of the seams together, so that you do not have any frayed edges inside your pocket. The ends of the hem are not joined into the seams at each side, but these are turned in and oversewn to make them neat. This loose hem at the top of the pocket makes it easier for the nightdress to be slipped in and out.

Now you turn in an even hem all round the flap and hemstitch it. Directions for hemstitching are given on page 30. You will also find out how to work cross-stitch designs over canvas on page 26, and you can work your birds in the same way from the diagram given.

You will see that your nightdress pocket would be quite complete without the frill, but this makes a very pretty finish to it. Cash’s Frillings are supplied with a thread that draws up already in, so that you will have no need to gather your frilling but just to draw it up. If you measure round the flap, and then draw your length of frilling up to this size and distribute the fulness evenly all the way along, you can then just oversew the drawn-up edge of the frill to the edge of the hem all round on the wrong side of the flap.

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Every little girl would rather make something that is pretty and useful than something that is useful without being pretty. Now here is a very delightful pinafore that you can make for yourself, that is pretty, useful, and also easy.

The little girl in the picture looks so stylish in her pinafore that you would hardly believe you could so easily make one like it. But look at the picture on page 19 and you can see better what an easy little pattern it is—just a straight piece of muslin, hemmed and tucked and pleated into a band. This band comes across the chest, the two ribbons are taken over the shoulders, crossed at the back (just like a nurse’s apron straps), and brought round the waist to tie in a bow in front. The pinafore is made of white spotted muslin, trimmed with a sweet little insertion and tucks, and the ribbon used on it is pink. A pinafore like this would brighten up your school frock, and I am sure you are wanting to set to work to make one at once.

You will need a yard of spotted muslin 24 inches wide, a yard of insertion, and two pieces of 1¼-inch pink ribbon each 1¼ yards long. Now ask mother to tell you what length you require from the yoke to the bottom hem, because you want to have your pinafore the right length. The little girl in the picture is eight years old, and she measures 28 inches from where the pleats are put into the band, to the bottom of her pinafore. Then another 3 inches is allowed for turning up the[18] hem, making 31 inches altogether.

Now, having cut off this length, the sides have to be hemmed. For this the edges must be folded over twice. The first fold is only enough to turn in the raw edge, the second fold should be ¼-inch wide. Now tack it, so as to keep the turnings straight, by making a long stitch on top and a short stitch underneath.

If you are not sure how to hem, look at the little picture on this page. Put the needle in just under the fold, slant it towards you, and put it through the fold near the edge. Repeat this stitch, taking up only a few threads of material each time.

Having hemmed the sides, make a deep hem at the bottom, first turning down a little fold, and then a deep 2½ inch fold. Tack and hem it.

For the lowest tuck, crease the material 3½ inches from the bottom of the pinafore, and tack it about ½-inch below the crease, to keep the fold in place. Now, we only want our little tuck to be ¼-inch, so just at that distance below the crease, start running it along with tiny stitches as you learned to do for the work apron on page 4. To keep the tuck the same size all the way, you might keep testing it with a piece of paper notched in two places—the notches to be ¼-inch apart—the width of your tuck. When you have finished the tuck, take out the tacking stitches and [19]turn the tuck down so that the stitches come at the top and the tuck below them.

Make a second tuck above the first, the bottom of the second to be ½-inch above the top of the first. Make a third tuck, the bottom of which must be 2½ inches above the top of the second, and a fourth, having the bottom ¼-inch above the top of the third. In this way you have two tucks together, then a space, and two more tucks together. On to this space between the pairs of tucks you sew the insertion. Cut off enough to go across the pinafore, allowing a little more at each end to turn in. Tack it, and then when you are sure that it is quite straight, run the insertion along both edges on to the muslin, taking an occasional back-stitch to keep it quite firm.

The top part of the pinafore is now put into a band, which must be as long as your width across the chest. You were shown how to put material into a band on page 5. The little difference here, however, is that instead of gathering the material, you pleat it. Mark the centre both of the band and the material to be pleated into it, with a pin. Turn three little pleats on each side of the centre of the material. On the little girl in the picture these pleats are each ¼-inch wide, but you must test carefully and get them the size just to fit the band. The picture at the top of page 18 shows pleats being put into a band.

Now sew on to the band a little length of insertion, as you did at the bottom. At each end of the top of the band, however, leave about[20] ¾-inch of insertion not sewn to the band. This makes two tiny pockets into which you can slip the pink ribbon afterwards, and you can then sew the ribbon and insertion through to the band. Then, as you won’t want to have the pink ribbon washed as often as you do the pinafore, you simply have to take out those few stitches each time the pinafore goes to be washed. Besides, you may not always want to wear pink. With some dresses you may prefer to have pale blue ribbon, or heliotrope, or even red. Whatever colour you choose, sew it into the pockets, and your pinafore is ready for wear.

A sun-bonnet—what does it make you think of? Doesn’t it remind you of your last summer holiday—the country, the birds, the flowers? Close your eyes and try to imagine it. Can’t you almost feel the heat, and hear the hum of the insects, and hear, too, the rattle of the pails, as you used to hear it when Maggie, the rosy-cheeked milk maid, wearing her pretty lilac sun-bonnet, went down to milk Brindle and Beauty and Cherry. You thought that sun-bonnet looked so pretty, and kept the sun from Maggie’s head and neck so beautifully, and you wished you had one too. You will wish it again, when you go to the country for your next holiday, and I expect you will want one when you are working in the sun in your own garden at home.

Suppose, therefore, you start to make a sun-bonnet for yourself. This one, that is shown in the picture, is really very easy to make. It is of a pretty pink print, with tiny flowers on it. But perhaps your favourite colour is not pink. Probably, you want a lilac one. Whatever colour[21] you decide on, get ½-yard of print that shade, and you are ready to start.

Cut off 18 inches along the full length of the print, and hem along one edge. About 1 inch from the hem make a ¼-inch tuck, and 1 inch from this, another tuck. Now fold your print in half, and join up the two edges for the back of the bonnet with a French seam, which is described in the chapter on “Dolly’s Underwear.”

Your sun-bonnet is now rather square in shape. To get it rounded at the back, take hold of the point and draw it down a little way on to the seam at the back. There catch it with a few stitches.

No sun-bonnet is complete without a frill, so the next thing is to sew this on. Cut off 18 inches of print 5 inches wide, hem along one side and both ends. Gather the other side, and draw it up until it is the length of the bottom edge of the bonnet beyond the second tuck. Sew it on the inside to the bonnet edge, leaving a little piece of the edge above the gathered piece. Turn in the edge, and hem it over the seam. This makes it quite neat. The edges along where the frill does not come are also hemmed up.

For the strings, cut off two lengths of 14 inches, each 1½ inches wide. Hem each side and one edge. Turn the opposite edge in, and sew it neatly to the inside of the bonnet.

Your sun-bonnet is now finished, and you will be able to ask nurse to put it into the trunk the next time she is packing to take you to stay at the farm. Won’t Maggie be surprised when you arrive with a bonnet like hers, only just a few sizes smaller!

[22]

What a tiresome way needles have of getting lost, haven’t they, and even whole packets of needles have a trick of disappearing nobody knows where. Every little girl who does any sewing really needs some safe place in which to keep her needles. This little housewife, which is shown both open and closed, is just the thing. You can stick odd needles in the flannel, and slip packets of needles in the pocket at the end. If you always remember to do this, you cannot very easily get them mislaid, and the little red housewife will be quite a friend to you. And what is more, it is not difficult to make.

To make one exactly like that in the picture, you want a piece of crimson satin, 12½ inches long by 3¾ inches wide, a piece of white flannel, 10 inches long by 2¼ inches wide, some crimson embroidery silk, salmon pink embroidery silk, some crimson sewing silk, and a pearl button.

First lay your flannel on the wrong side of the satin. If you put it on quite straight, you will find there is ¾-inch of red showing each side of the flannel, and 1¼ inch at each end. At each side turn down a hem of satin, so that it comes over the edge of the flannel. Tack and hem it. Now turn down and hem each end in the same way. You will have wider hems here.

Having hemmed the satin to the flannel all round (taking care that the stitches do not go right through to the right side of the satin), turn down[23] 2 inches at one end, to make the little pocket you see in the picture, sewing it neatly at each side with oversewing stitches. Oversew also the open ends of the opposite hem.

Now you know how to feather-stitch, don’t you, or if you do not, you will see on page 5 how it is done. Work single feather-stitch with salmon pink silk down each side and end of the housewife. The inside is now divided up into four divisions, by double feather-stitch worked in crimson. This is worked in the same way as single feather-stitch, only that you take first two stitches one way and then two the other, instead of one each way. A little piece of double feather-stitching has been separately worked for you to see how it is done.

At the end opposite the pocket, make a loop in red silk of two threads, covered with blanket stitch. This is described in the chapter on “Dolly’s Bed.”

Now, starting at the pocket end, fold the needle-case over and over, and just opposite where the loop comes, sew a little pearl button, and the housewife is finished, and quite ready for you to stick your needles in.

You can use silk quite as well as satin for your housewife, and if you like any other shade better than red, make it of your favourite colour.

[24]

[25]

Here is a pretty little feeder for baby that you will be able to make all by yourself. I expect mother will be only too pleased to help you to get the materials. You will want about half-a-yard of some soft white washing material, a small quantity of Penelope canvas, a ball of coloured “Brighteye” embroidery thread, and three-quarters of a yard of a narrow silk ribbon.

Do you see the three happy little dogs running after each other across the bottom of the feeder? These are worked in cross-stitch, also baby’s name in the centre.

If you haven’t yet done any cross-stitch, you had better first look at the little illustration on page 26, and see exactly how it is done, before commencing to cut out your feeder.

Just for practice, take a small square of canvas, and thread a crewel needle with the embroidery thread. Bring your needle up through one of the large holes in the canvas, count over two canvas threads to the right, and two upwards, put your needle in this hole, and pick up two threads towards the left. Pull your thread through, and this will give you the first part of the cross. Now put your needle in the hole two threads to the right of the hole you started from, and bring it up through the hole two threads to the left of [26]the first hole, as shown in the second part of the little illustration.

This, as you will see, completes the first cross, and brings the thread ready to make a second one in the same way.

The lower part of the illustration shows the dog’s tail commenced, and how you should place your needle when you want to make a cross on the slant below. One thing you should be very careful about when working in cross-stitch: see that the threads are always crossed in the same direction, and not sometimes one way and sometimes another. Your work will look so much better if this rule is always followed.

When you feel quite sure you can work the crosses evenly, you can cut out the feeder. Perhaps you may like first to cut it out in paper. Take your tape measure and measure off a piece of paper 12 inches long and 11 inches wide. Fold this right down the centre, the longest way. Measure two inches down the fold and two inches up the cut edges from one end, and cut round from points A to B, as shown in the little diagram. This will give you a curve for baby’s neck. Now measure down an inch on the long outer edges, and cut from point B on the slant to this point, which we will call C.

Now that you have a paper[27] pattern, you will be able to place this over your material and cut it from this. You will want to have two pieces exactly alike, so that you can use one to line the feeder.

We have now come to the interesting part of working the little dogs. Tack a strip of canvas along the bottom of the right side of one of the pieces you have just cut out; the dogs are nine crosses high, so the strip should be wide enough to take the design and leave a few extra threads of canvas above and below. It is best to commence with the centre dog, starting the centre cross of the design in the centre hole of the canvas, you will then be sure of getting it right in the middle. When working the other dogs, leave 16 threads of canvas between the middle one and each of these. You will then have your three little dogs at equal distances apart, and there will be no chance of their catching each other up! Canvas must be placed across the centre for the name in the same way.

From the illustrations of the dog and the letters, you will easily be able to count the crosses, and see how they are placed. If baby’s name is not May, and you want to work another name, designs for a whole alphabet appear on another page.

When you have worked all your designs, the canvas threads must be pulled away. Cut the canvas down fairly close to the embroidery, and pull out the threads one by one. Baby’s name is shown with all the threads of the ‘Y’ pulled out, and the ‘A’ as it looks when only the cross threads have been pulled away.

To make up the feeder, place the plain portion of the feeder over the embroidered one, with the right sides facing one another, and run round all the edges about a quarter of an inch in from the edge, leaving[28] only the curved neck edges open. A running stitch, with a back-stitch put in now and then, is the best for this, as this will hold it firm. Turn the feeder out on the right side, then turn in the neck edges and oversew them together. How the oversewing stitch is made is shown in the little illustration on this page. Hold the edges to be joined together firmly in your left hand, and work from right to left, always putting your needle in slanting just as the little picture shows, and taking up about a couple of threads of the material from each of the edges you are joining together.

The piece of work in the illustration has been flattened out, in order that you may see the stitches more clearly; but when you are oversewing you will hold the two pieces together with the thumb and first finger of your left hand, oversewing the top of the two edges.

Now cut your length of ribbon in half, and sew one piece to each end of the neck of the feeder, so that it can be tied round baby’s neck when she wants to take her food.

[29]

Here is a very pretty thing that you will be able to make for Mother. How amused she will be, when she sees these two funny cats sparring at each other, and how nice the Chair Back will look hanging over the back of father’s chair, where he puts his head.

The Chair Back is hemstitched at each side and across each end, so before we commence to make it we will find out how to do this stitch.

Shall we take a small piece of linen and try and copy the little picture we have of the stitch just for practice? When you have tacked a hem along, draw out five of the horizontal threads of your linen, just beneath the edge of the hem.

Now for the stitch itself. Hemstitching is always done on the wrong side of your piece of work, and the stitch is worked from right to left. Thread your needle with linen thread or a fairly coarse crochet[30] cotton, and fasten the end of it to the commencement of the hem.

Now look how the needle is placed in the top part of the picture, and put yours in in the same way. Place it under four of the open threads, then pull your needle through, which draws these four threads up closely together. Then make a small upright stitch up through the hem, placing your needle as shown in the second part of your illustration. These two stitches are repeated all the way along. This is the simplest form of hemstitching, and is what is used on the sides of the Chair Back.

For ladder hemstitching you work along the other side of the open threads, just as above, taking the same group of threads. When working on coarse linen, or canvas, two or three threads need only be picked up each time, all that really matters is that you keep to the same number all the way along.

The stitch we have across the ends of our Chair Back is called[31] serpentine stitch, and the small piece of canvas at the bottom of the picture shows how to work this. The first side is worked as in the simple hemstitching, taking up four threads each time, but in working the second side four threads are again taken up, but the needle is here put between the threads taken up on the opposite side.

When you want to turn a corner in hemstitching a square cloth, you first draw your threads out where the edge of your hem is to come each way; then you fold the material on the wrong side diagonally through the corner, turn the pointed end in until the point reaches the open threads, make a crease, turn the point back and backstitch along the crease. You have a little picture showing just where the backstitching is done. After this cut off the point beyond the backstitching, turn the corner inside out, and you have a neat little seam going diagonally from the corner to the edge of your hem (as in illustration).

You will find that these simple forms of hemstitching will be very useful to you in making all kinds of things.

To make the chair back you will want a strip of white Hardanger canvas, a yard long and about 17 inches wide; this will allow for the hems.

First measure up five inches from each end, and draw out four threads of canvas across each end, then draw out two threads at each side, about three-quarters of an inch in from the set of open threads at one end to the other; you will have to cut the threads at each end. Now tack all the hems[32] along; you can turn in the ends of the wide hems and oversew them together.

Hemstitch the side hems in simple hemstitching, taking up three threads of canvas each time, and the wide hems in the serpentine stitch, taking two threads of canvas each time; you will remember to take the alternate sets on the second side.

Now you have only to embroider the cats. These are worked in cross-stitch, using “Peri-lusta” Pearl Knit, size 5. Shade No 249 is a pretty red that would do beautifully. Directions for working cross-stitch on canvas are given on page 26, and you will be able to copy the cats from the enlarged designs given below.

If you fold the chair back right down the centre, and start the whiskers of the cats four threads on each side of this line, they will be about the right distance apart. The bristles on the legs and tails are made by working half crosses, and those on the back by making long single strokes, the length of two crosses.

The whiskers of the cat extend the length of three crosses. Three threads of the Hardanger canvas[33] are allowed for each cross. On the material used for the chair back in your picture, each cross worked out at about an eighth of an inch across, but if the canvas you are using happens to be a coarser one, you may perhaps find your crosses work out much larger, in which case you must go over two threads each time so as to get your animals the right size for the chair back.

Perhaps you would rather not make your chair back of Hardanger canvas at all, but would prefer to use linen, or some material that has not got wide even threads; this is not easy to count when working your crosses. In that case you must first tack Penelope canvas over your work, and embroider the cats over this; the enlarged designs in your pictures were worked on Penelope canvas, and you can see what nice large holes it has, and how easy it is to work on. And when you have finished the designs you just cut away the canvas quite close to the design, and pull the threads of canvas out of the crosses. You can put cross-stitch on to any material in this way.

[34]

Have you thought yet what you are going to make Mother for her birthday present? How would you like to work her a handkerchief sachet in Hardanger Embroidery? You don’t know how? Well, if you follow this little talk very carefully, I think you will soon learn.

What is Mother’s favourite colour? Rose Pink? Very well; how delighted she will be with what you are going to make!

Can’t you take Mother shopping with you one day, because you will want to buy a few little things for the sachet. You will want a piece of Congress Canvas—cream or white—a square 12 inches each way, a ball of Ardern’s “Star Sylko” No. 744, size 5, a square of white silk the same size as the canvas for lining the sachet, a crewel needle, 3 yards of pink ribbon half-an-inch wide. (The best kind to get is a silk ribbon having threads running through, that you pull and draw the ribbon up into a ruche. This saves you all the trouble of running a thread through to make a ruche). You also want a little pink sewing silk, some white sewing silk, a pair of sharp scissors with points, and, of course, your thimble.

First, make sure your canvas is perfectly even all round, 12 inches on each side. When cutting it, be careful to cut between the[35] same threads all the way down. Turn in about a quarter of an inch all round very carefully, and tack it. Fig. 1 shows the edge being tacked. When you come to a corner, just turn in again the end of the second side, to make it quite neat. You will see in Fig. 1 what I mean.

The tacking done, the pretty work begins. Thread your crewel needle with the “Sylko.” At one corner count 24 threads in from each side. The hole just where these threads cross is your starting point. Now leave 3 holes below, and in the 4th bring your needle up from underneath for a satin stitch. You will see how to do this stitch in making the doll’s bedspread (page 67), only as you are using a different kind of canvas here, you leave 3 holes instead of one. Make 4 of these stitches. Leave 3 holes, and into the 4th start another little block of satin stitches. Do 4 of these little blocks. This brings you to the corner. Fig. 2 shows the little blocks.

To turn the corner, after making your 4th stitch, bring your needle up into the 4th hole from the top of your satin stitch, not the 4th from the bottom as before. Make one little block this way. Turn another corner in exactly the same way, bringing the needle up in the 4th hole from the top of the satin stitch. Start another block. When you have put the needle down for the 4th stitch of this block, bring it up 4 holes below the last hole at which you brought it up. Then put it back into the last hole at which you brought it up. Fig. 3 will make this clear. Make 4 stitches, now working from right to left. Turn again, and make[36] 4 stitches, working from left to right. You will notice that wherever you turn a little corner—or make an angle—2 stitches go into the same hole, one each way.

When you have made 8 little blocks in this way, turn again, and make 4 blocks of satin stitch as you did on the first side, the last stitch of the 4th block should take you back into the hole we called your starting point. If it doesn’t, you have made a little mistake somewhere—either you have missed a thread, or made two stitches in one hole, or something like that, and you will have to undo the work until you find your mistake. This sounds rather hard lines, doesn’t it, but unless you have got this outside part right, you cannot cut and draw the threads properly, and we want to have Mother’s sachet quite perfect, don’t we?

How much quicker we seem to get on with scissors than with a needle and cotton, don’t we? It is such quick work to cut a hole, but quite slow work to mend one! Well, you are going to do some “scissors work” now, but you will have to do it carefully, and make sure first just which threads you are going to cut. I want you to notice one important thing. Always cut across the ends of your stitches, never along the sides of them. Isn’t[37] this quite clear? Well, look at the little diagram for cutting, Fig. 5. You cut the 3 threads between A and B, and between A and C, and between C and J, and between D and E, and between G and H, but never those between J and I, or between I and D. You see what I mean now, don’t you? Then be careful always not to cut too far, that is to say, never cut beyond the satin stitches, only cut the threads enclosed by them.

Pull out the threads you have cut, and you will have a little corner, like that shown in Fig. 4.

Now you have to do the weaving, and this is very easy, and nice work to do. Only remember not to drag the threads too tightly, but you must not have them loose—just firm and even. Bring your needle up from underneath, in the middle of one of the groups of 4 threads, take it over 2 threads on one side up into the middle again, and over 2 threads on the other side. Look at Fig. 4 again. Repeat this until you have 5 stitches on each side. Bring your needle up between another set of threads, and repeat. When[38] you have finished all the weaving, fasten off neatly at the back of the canvas, and your corner is done. Work the other 3 corners in the same way.

Take your ribbon and cut off two pieces, each 8 inches long. These are for the bow. Divide the remainder into four equal lengths, and mark each little division with a small pin. This is so that you will use just the same length on each of the four sides of your square. With a needle, draw out three or four threads running through the middle of the ribbon, and pull these gently to draw the ribbon up. It is not enough to pull on one thread or two, because, although it is easier to draw, it may snap before you get very far. Draw up the ribbon until it is exactly the size to go round your square; then pin the gathered ribbon round the sides, taking care to get one of the divisions marked by the pin on each side of the square.

Thread a needle with pink sewing silk, and sew the ribbon[39] on, through the centre, taking a very tiny stitch on top, and a longer one underneath. Make a back-stitch every now and then, by putting the needle back instead of forward. This makes it a little more secure. Allow a little extra fulness at the corners, so as to turn these carefully and evenly, and here you will need one or two little backstitches. When you get round to the corner from which you started, turn in the end of your ribbon, and join it neatly to your starting end. Take out the pins.

Take the square of white silk, and turn in once all round about a quarter-inch, and tack it. Lay it on your square of canvas, so that the turned-in sides of canvas and silk come together. Pin these together all round. With the white sewing silk, hem the silk to the canvas carefully, so that each stitch catches up a thread of the canvas, but does not come through the gathered ribbon. At the second corner, slip in one end of one of your lengths of ribbon[40] between the silk and canvas, and when you come to that, hem it in with the silk to the canvas. When the hemming is finished, the tacking stitches can be taken out of the silk.

You have now got a silk-lined canvas square, with a little end of ribbon attached to one corner. You must now fold your square so that all the worked corners meet, as you see in the picture on page 34. We will call your square A, B, C, D, as the corners are marked in the diagram, Fig. 6. Divide each side in half (just put a tiny pin in to mark the division), and call these points E, F, G, and H. Now fold along the lines E to F, F to G, G to H, and H to E. This will bring your corners A, B, C and D all together in the middle if you have done your measuring quite carefully. (See Fig. 7). Let us call D the point that has the ribbon end. Now A, B and C have all to be joined together, but D is not sewn to them. D’s little ribbon end is only tied to the centre, so that the sachet can be opened and closed. Catch A F and B F and A E and C E together with just a few tiny stitches under the ribbon, sew the points A, B, C neatly together. And here is where you attach your last little bit of ribbon having turned in one end neatly. While you are sewing on this centre you had better keep your left fingers inside the sachet, and your thumb outside. Then you will be quite sure that you are not sewing right through the sachet, because it would be serious if when Mother came to put her handkerchiefs in, she couldn’t get them down because it was sewn through, wouldn’t it? You have now only to[41] tie your two ends of ribbon in a nice bow, and Mother’s handkerchief sachet is complete.

Of course, you will want to make some more of these sachets, and you can work them in other colours, or line them with coloured silk. It would look pretty, for instance, to have a deep cream canvas, worked with Ardern’s “Star Sylko” No. 734, Size 5, which is a lovely cream shade. Then have for the lining, forget-me-not blue, and blue ribbon to match. Or you could work the satin-stitch in dark green, No. 753, and the weaving in a paler green, No. 751, and have a white silk lining and pale green ribbon. And I am sure you will think of lots of other pretty colours you can use.

Perhaps you would rather work another kind of corner. Six others are shown, any of which you would be able to manage, I am sure. For four of them, you do not have to cut any threads. The one with the cross in the middle, Fig. 8, would be very quickly worked. The outer part of this is worked almost like the corner on the sachet, only there are no straight blocks in a row here, and you take 5 stitches over 5 threads for each block. Then you work 5 stitches over 5 threads each way into one hole in the middle for the centre cross.

Fig. 9 is another little corner, just like the one on the sachet, only instead of cutting any threads, you fill up alternate squares with satin-stitch blocks.

Then the star pattern, Fig. 10, is pretty and easy. You start by taking a stitch over 8 threads, then take one[42] over 7, over 6, over 5, over 4, over 3, over 2. Now over 2 again, and so on, up to 8. Then start another row at right angles to the first, and two more rows in the same way. The long stitches in the middle are taken into the holes from which the short stitches were taken.

Another easy little design shows two straight rows of satin-stitch crossing two in opposite ways (Fig. 11).

Sometimes a few rows of blocks outside a design will improve it, and make it look bolder. This is the case with the open-work square, Fig. 12. A second row of blocks has been added outside the first, working the stitches the other way.

In the last open-work corner, Fig. 13, 4 stitches are taken over 4 threads, and 5 over 8 threads, then 4 over 5 threads again, and so on. All the threads are then cut away, except the 4 in the middle of each side, and these are woven as usual.

Now set to work and see what you can do. After a little practice, you will probably be able to make up some corners for yourself, but until you are quite sure of the work, it is better to practise those I have shown you.

[43]

You don’t know what to make for Auntie? Why not make her a pretty bag to keep her work in? The one on this page is in pale blue, and looks ever so pretty. Too difficult? Oh no, everything is easy when you know the way, and you are going to have a little lesson in Hairpin Work to-day. No, the work isn’t exactly done on a hairpin, but on a staple. This is similar in shape, only larger.

For this bag you will want your staple—get one about 2 inches in width—and a No. 1 steel crochet hook. You will also want a ball of Strutt’s Macramè Thread No. 512, Size 10. Then, if you want to line your bag, you will need something pretty for this. The bag you see here is lined with a heliotrope sateen, which peeps very prettily through the pale blue. One more thing—a few little white bone rings for the drawing-up strings to go through.

Commence by making a loop in your thread, you will want this loop to be as long as half the distance between the two prongs of your staple, so that when you hang it over one side the knot comes just in the middle. So do not tighten it until you see that it will come just here. Put this[44] loop over the left side of the staple. Put the thread across the front, and over the right prong of the staple. Now take your crochet hook, put it in the loop, and catch the thread that you have put over the right prong from front to back. This makes the first loop on the right. Slip the hook over the right prong *, turn the staple over towards you, wrapping the thread round the left prong, as you do so. By turning, you now make the left prong the right one, you have now one loop on your crochet hook. Put the hook under the loop which is now on the left side of the staple, draw the thread through this. This gives you two loops on your hook. Put the thread over the crochet hook, and draw it through the two loops. Slip the hook over the right prong, and repeat from *. The picture shows the thread being drawn through the loop.

You must keep on making these loops until you have 90 on each side of the staple. Then finish off in this way. When you have made the 90th loop, don’t turn the staple, but make two or three chain stitches, cut the thread from the ball about 3 inches from your hook, and draw it through the loop on your hook. This finishes the strip.

Take the strip off the staple. Don’t be afraid—it won’t come undone. Make 6 strips the same length. These strips are twice as long as the bag is deep. In making the strips, don’t pull the loops round the staple too tightly. After a little practice the work will come quite easy, and you will get along quickly with it.[45]

Having finished your strips you have to join them. One of the pictures shows this being done. Take two strips and lay them side by side on the table, with the commencing ends of each towards you. Take up on your crochet hook three loops from the strip on the left, then three loops from the strip on the right. As the six loops lie on the hook—three from each side—draw the three from the right through the three from the left, with the help of your left thumb and first finger. (If you look at the picture you will see that these loops usually lie twisted. They should be taken on to the hook in this way, and if one is not twisted, turn it over with your finger and thumb).

You have now three loops on your hook, which were picked up on the right hand strip. Take up three more from the left, and so on, for the length of the strip. When you get to the end of the strip (your last loop will have been taken from the right as you started on the left), stick the hook with the loops on into the middle of the strip on the left, and drawing through the length of thread which was left at the end of the strip, fasten off securely.

Now take the third strip and lay it on the right of the second strip; start by taking up three loops from the third. In joining, see that you always commence on the odd strip, that is to say, on 1, 3, 5, 7, etc., so that whether you are joining strips 2 to 3, or 3 to 4, you commence on strip 3, and whether you are joining 4 to 5, or 5 to 6, you commence on strip 5.

You must now fold in half your long piece of work, and join up the sides to make it into a bag.[46] The sides are joined just the same as the other part, taking first 3 loops from one side and 3 from the other until you get to the bottom. With a little piece of thread, fasten off very neatly on the wrong side, sticking the hook in the middle of one of the strips before finishing off, to make it quite firm.

To finish the top of the bag make a loop in the thread, draw this through the top of one of the strips, make 5 chain stitches, then 1 double crochet into the joined loops, 5 chain, 1 d c into middle of next strip. Do this all round the top of the bag, and fasten off.

For the cord, make a chain of 36 inches. Sew 10 little white rings at even distances round the bag, about 2 inches from the top. Run the cord through these rings twice, and when you get back the second time to the ring you started from, join the cord neatly with a needle and cotton. Now you see it will pull up quite nicely each side, and Auntie can hang the bag on her arm.

We have not talked about lining the bag. Perhaps you don’t want to line it, but if you do, make a bag of silk or sateen (like the one described on page 11), the same size as the macramè bag, and slip it into it, just catching it at the corners with a few tiny stitches, so that the lining does not slip out of the bag. This lining should have a nice deep hem at the top, which could peep over the top of the macramè bag. Your bag is now finished, and if Auntie is not delighted with it, I shall be very much surprised.

[47]

Doesn’t your pussy cat always like to be near at hand when the table is laid for tea, on the chance of perhaps getting a saucer of milk? Of course, you never let pussy himself sit on the table, but it would be rather uncommon, wouldn’t it, to have a cosy on the table with two dear little pussies worked on it like the one in the picture? I think Mother would like it, too, don’t you?

The cosy cover in our picture was made of white Hardanger canvas, and is not fastened to the tea cosy itself, but is made loose, so that it can be taken off and washed. Red “Bright-eye” thread was used for working the cats.

You will want to make it the right size for Mother’s tea cosy, won’t you? Well, you will be able to get it exactly the size, if you first take a piece of paper, lay the cosy on it, and draw round the cosy with a pencil, then cut the paper out on the pencil line.

This gives you the shape of the side of the cosy, but the material will need to be cut larger than this to allow for a seam and a hem across the bottom, so take another piece of paper, and using the piece you have already cut as a pattern, cut the side out again, this time allowing an extra quarter of an inch all round the curved edge for the seam, and an inch along the straight edge for the hem.

Now that you have a pattern, cut out two pieces of canvas exactly this shape, and you can commence to make up your cosy cover.

The hems at the bottom of the cosy have to be hem-stitched, so you had better pull the threads out for this first. Measure each side up 1[48]¾ inches from the straight edge and draw out four threads.

Directions for the simple hemstitching used are given on page 30, but before you do this part you must work your cats and join the two sides together, so that you can turn up your hem all along both sides evenly, and not have to join the hem after they are turned up.

Work your cats in cross-stitch. This stitch was described on page 25, so that if you don’t know how to do it, just turn to this page and see how it is done.

You will be able to count the crosses from the drawing you have of the two cats. The lowest cross of the tail of the cat sitting down should come six threads above the open threads for your hem; this will help you in starting to work the design. Work two cats on each side of the cosy.

When you have finished the pussy cats, place the two sides together, with the right sides facing one another, and sew round the curved edges with a run and back-stitch, then oversew along the cut[49] edges to make them neat.

Now turn up your hem and hemstitch it, then turn the cosy on the right side, and sew a piece of red cord over the seam of the cosy, making three little loops in the centre at the top. You must use red cotton to sew on the cord, and take tiny hemming stitches that will not show too much.

If you don’t want to make your cosy cover of canvas, but would like to use linen or some other material, you can work the cats on Penelope canvas, tacked over the material, as you learnt to do when making the Feeder.

[50]

Have you been trying very hard to think of something else that you can make for Mother? I wonder if she has a Stocking Bag? If not, you could easily make her one of these, couldn’t you, and I know she would like to have one, especially if she has several little boys and girls to mend stockings for. If you make her a lovely big bag like the one in the picture, she will be able to keep all the stockings that need mending together, and will know exactly where to find them when mending day comes round.

It will be best to make the bag of a material that will wash nicely. A good strong Holland or Crash would be very suitable. You will want a strip of material about a yard long and fifteen inches wide to make a good-sized bag.

[51]

The pretty little flowers across the bag are worked in cross-stitch, and you have an enlarged diagram of the design which you will be able to count the crosses from.

Use “Bright-eye” embroidery thread for working the flowers. A purple thread would look pretty, but perhaps you know another colour that Mother is very fond of, and would like to use that.

You must work the designs before you make up the bag. Fold the strip of material in half and tack a strip of Penelope Canvas across about four inches up from the fold. Directions for working cross-stitch over Penelope Canvas are given on page 27, in case you want to know how this is done.

How to make up a bag, too, was described on page 11, and you can make this one in exactly the same way. You will notice that this one has a cord threaded through rings outside of the bag instead of through a runner at the top though, and if you like this way better you can sew twelve white bone rings at equal distances apart round the outside of the bag just at the[52] bottom of the hem, and put the cord through these. You will want about two yards of coloured cord, in the same shade as the thread you used for working the flowers. Thread the cord twice round the bag through the rings, join it together, and your bag is complete.

[53]

[54]

[55]

One of the most enjoyable times of the day spent with dolly is the time when you can undress and put her to bed, just as mother does baby.

And how much nicer, too, if you can feel that you have made all the bedclothes yourself. You may perhaps think that you could never manage that, but just look at these pretty little pictures of the things and see how simple they all are. I am sure then that you will want to try and copy them for your own dear dolly.

Before starting to make the outfit for the doll’s bed, get your materials together. Perhaps someone gave you a bedstead on your last birthday? If not, buy one the right size for your favourite doll. The one in the picture is a metal one with a wire mattress.

For the mattress, try to get a material something like that generally used for mattresses, but not so thick; a striped print would do quite nicely. The mattress illustrated and the pillows are made of grey, and white striped material, bound with red ribbon.

The cover for the wire mattress is made of white calico, the blankets of cream flannel, the sheets and pillow-cases of white linen; the bedspread and nightdress case of canvas worked with “Brighteye” thread.

Cut out two pieces of material a little larger than the bedstead, and another long narrow piece the depth of the mattress. Sew one side[56] of the narrow piece around the sides of one of the large pieces (running stitch will do quite well for this part of the work), leaving the edges of the seam on the outside. Then join the other side of the narrow strip to three of the sides of the other piece you have cut, leaving one side open to put the filling in. This mattress is filled with horse-hair; but cotton wool, small pieces of rag, or paper could be used instead.

When the mattress is filled, sew up the fourth side and bind all the seams with narrow ribbon. Red ribbon is used on the mattress illustrated, and a little specimen is illustrated, showing how to put it on. The ribbon is held over the seam edges with the left hand and back-stitched along, taking your stitches right through the seam edges and both edges of the ribbon each time.

Now you will need to stab the mattress in places, as in the picture, to make it look just like the one on your own bed.

Take a long needle threaded with coarse thread the same colour as the binding, put the needle through the mattress, leaving a long[57] end, make two more stitches through the mattress in the same place, pulling the thread tightly, finish at the same side as you began, tie a knot with the thread used and the long end left at the beginning and cut the threads, leaving small ends of threads beyond the knot.

Look at the illustration to see the positions in which you must put these stitches and knots.

Cut the material a little larger than the wire mattress to allow for a quarter-inch hem; hem the piece around, and sew two narrow pieces of tape (or coarse thread will do) at each corner of the cover: the cover is tied to the wire mattress with these pieces of tape.

Cut the flannel out large enough to cover the top and sides of mattress and allow for tucking up.

Turn down about a quarter of an inch single turning at each end of the blanket on the wrong side, then work in blanket stitch across both ends. You will see that a little specimen of work is illustrated, showing how to make this stitch. It is worked from[58] left to right. The turned-in edge of your blanket must be held along the first finger of your left hand, and the needle placed in your work downwards towards you, the thread always being held under your thumb as you make a stitch, so that when you pull your needle you have a knot right at the edge of the work.

These should be cut a little longer than the blankets to allow for the wide hems, and for turning back at the top. The very narrowest of hems should be put at each side of the sheets, and one about half an inch wide along the bottom of each; but the top hems are about three-quarters of an inch wide, and are worked in ladder hem-stitching. All about how to do hem-stitching will be found on page 30.

At the corner of the top sheet the initial B is worked. Of course, you must work the first letter of your doll’s name. If you are not sure you can write the initial on linen yourself, get someone to do it for you; then work it over in a fancy outline stitch with embroidery thread. You have a little specimen of work showing how the outline stitch was made for the B. In working this you hold your thread down along the design of your initial with your left hand, and take a small stitch over the thread, putting your needle in just above the thread and bringing it out just underneath; this makes a little[59] knotted stitch, and the knots are repeated along the design at equal distances apart. You can use this outline stitch for many purposes.

Make the pillows of the same material as you used for the mattress. These will need to be each about three inches wide, and a little longer than half the width of the bed. For each pillow cut two pieces of material exactly the same size. Run the two pieces together round three of the edges on the wrong side, then turn on to the right side, stuff the pillows with wool or small pieces of rag, and oversew the edges of the fourth side together.

Make the pillow-cases in the same way as the pillows but a little larger, and hem round one end so that you can slip the pillow in. Sew two pieces of very narrow tape to each side of the open end, and tie the pillow into the case.

One of the pillow-cases has a frill round. To make this, cut out a narrow piece of linen, hem one side of it, and work a simple crochet edge on to this. Or you can use Cash’s Frillings for this, which are made to draw up easily into frills.

When the frill is ready to sew on, roll[60] the edge of the other side of frill between your finger and thumb and sew over the roll, as shown in the little illustration. Use a coarser thread for this, working from right to left, pulling the thread to gather the frill as you are working it. This is called whipping, and is really very much the same as oversewing, only the stitches are taken right over the hem. Cash’s Frilling needs no whipping.

Oversew the frill around the edge of the pillow-case.

Cut out a piece of canvas large enough to cover the bed, and hang over the mattress, allowing extra around for the hem.

Hemstitch around, taking two sets of threads together; for the second side of the hemstitch sew together two sets of threads, but take up alternate threads to those taken up on the other side; this serpentine stitch is shown on page 30.

The pattern of the bedspread is shown on page 61.

Each slanting stitch is worked over two holes—that is, pull the needle through a hole, leave two holes on the cross, put the needle into the next hole, leave two holes on the cross in the opposite direction, pull the needle up through the next hole, put the needle back into the same hole as the end of first stitch, and up again through the hole at the beginning of the second stitch.

Continue to work in this way all round the piece of canvas.[61]

Work three more rows like this, arranged so that the stitches form a diamond pattern as you see illustrated.

Then fill in the corners with the same pattern, and work the pattern in the centre of dolly’s bedspread.

The nightdress case is made with the same materials as the bedspread.

Cut out a piece of canvas two and a half inches wide and four and a half inches long; fold this so that it makes a bag with a flap over it the same size as the bag. Put the two ends of the canvas for bag together, and work in blanket stitch round through both pieces at once, also around the edges of the flap to finish off the little case.

Work three diamonds on the front of the nightdress case. This completes the outfit for dolly’s bed, and I am sure she will like it.

[62]

[63]

SUPPOSING Miss Seraphine’s doll-friend Clementine were to write and say she was coming on a visit next week. Wouldn’t you be in a fix with no nice bedspread for the spare bed, because you were reading that book instead of attending to the dolls’ spring cleaning? You will have to see about a new bedspread quickly, and you can make one that will be very pretty, with just a few little pieces. Here is where those scraps that Grandma gave you the other day will come in usefully.

We are going to make a patchwork quilt. It won’t be as large as the one Grandma has, but Clementine doesn’t require a very big one to cover her. First, let us just see what pieces we have got together. Some unbleached calico, some pieces with roses and rosebuds on, some dark ones with leaves and bunches of grapes, one piece with a little pink flower all by itself, a few flowery bits, and some with different kinds of spots. There is just enough here to make something really lovely, and I shouldn’t wonder if when Clementine sees it she doesn’t want to change bedspreads with Seraphine.

But to get to work. We must think out a little scheme of how we are going to arrange the pieces. Whatever you do, don’t put the dark ones on one side, or throw them away, because they are just what you will want to show up the light ones nicely. We will decide to have our design in squares. A little square of the pink flower could come in the centre. Then to show it up, a dark square with leaves and a bunch of grapes could come above, below, and at each side of it. You might have four little spotty patterns at the corners between two dark bits, and above the top and below the bottom dark piece might be a little fancy pattern. At the four corners left, we will put a rose or rosebud. Look at the picture of a patchwork quilt, and you will see how we have arranged them all. Then we might have a border of the unbleached calico.

Before we go any further, do you know what makes this so[64] attractive and pretty? It is the dark pieces—the pieces you wanted to throw away—and the plain border. These darker pieces throw up the pretty light designs, and make them look even more pretty, whereas, if you put all light together, you could not so easily pick them out.

If you haven’t done any patchwork, you will wonder how to get the little squares even, and to join them together. This is how it is managed. You want 15 squares of stiff paper, each measuring 1½ inches each way. Stiff old letters will do beautifully to cut up for this. Get a piece of cardboard, 1½ inches each way, and cut your papers by this, taking great care that they are perfectly even and true. Cut out your 15 pieces of material in squares, which should measure 2 inches each way. That will allow you ¼ inch on each side for turning the end over the paper to make it neat. Tack a piece over each square of paper, as in the picture. When the 15 squares are covered, join them all together on the wrong side with oversewing stitches, arranging them as we decided. You will see how to do oversewing on page 28.

For the border, cut a plain strip of unbleached calico, 2 inches wide and about 37 inches in length. On each side of this strip tack down ¼ inch. Now, leaving about 2 inches, start sewing on the border at one corner of the quilt, on the wrong side, with neat oversewing stitches. When you come to a corner you must mitre it. From the corner measure along your border twice the width of the border, i.e.,[65] 3 inches. Mark with a pin or thread. Now pleat your border strip so that the pin comes just on the corner. If you have done this quite neatly and evenly, your corner will be quite square. On the wrong side you will have a crease across the diagonal of the border. Stitch along this firmly with run and back-stitch. Then cut away just beyond the stitches, and oversew the raw edges to keep from fraying. When you come to the corner from which you started, you must join the two ends of the border, and this is done just the same as the other corners, by first creasing and then stitching on the diagonal.

On the quilt in the picture a little fancy stitch has been worked in coloured “Star Sylko,” and this is a great improvement. This is worked from left to right, with first a little horizontal stitch then a long slanting stitch, and below the slanting stitch another horizontal stitch. Bring your needle up from the wrong side. Take a few threads of material, bringing the needle out on a line with the first place at which you brought it up, but a little to the right of it. Bring it out under the stitch just made, and carry it down in a slanting direction and make another little horizontal stitch in the same way, this time, however, keeping your needle above the stitch. Then up again, and so on. The little pictures will make this stitch clear. When you have gone all round the border, you can take out all your tacking stitches and pull the paper away from the little squares.

[66]

Now all that remains to be done is to line your quilt, and this is done by taking a piece of white sateen 7¾ inches wide by 10¾ inches long. Turn in once and then tack ¼ inch all round, and hem it neatly to the counterpane, as you were shown how to line the sachet on page 39. Be careful not to let the stitches come through to the right side of the quilt. If you want to make it extra warm you can put a layer of cotton wool in between the quilt and the lining. It is now quite ready for the spare bed.

But perhaps some little mother says: “I haven’t got any pretty pieces like those in the picture. I have only got plain pink, blue and white.” Well, you can arrange these to look pretty, even if they are only plain colours. Put a square of pink in the middle, have a white square above, below, and at each side. At the four corners, where the spotty bits are, have blue. The four outside corners could be pink, and the top and bottom centre ones white. Then you could have a white border with blue stitching on it. This is only one suggestion for plain colours. You will soon think of plenty more. There is ever so much you can do with a few pieces and a little patience.

[67]

There is one thing that dolly absolutely must have before you take her out to see her friends, and that is a new pram-cover. You had almost forgotten that, hadn’t you? Just think how you would feel to have her dressed in her best for visiting, and sitting in that beautiful perambulator that Uncle gave you, and no nice cover to match! Wouldn’t you feel dreadful?

Here is a pram-cover that you can make. This has been worked on pale pink sateen, with shaded green for the leaves and stems, and dark crimson for the rosebuds. Use a shaded green No. 8 “Star Sylko,” crimson, No. 8, and plain green thread, No. 5, the same shade as the darkest part of the shaded thread, for the lines around. Perhaps these colours won’t go quite nicely with dolly’s pram and outdoor clothes. In that case you must decide on some other shades.

This pram-cover measures 10 inches long by 7½ inches wide, then another 2 inches has been added to the length, and 2 inches to the width for the hem. You may find you need your cover larger or smaller than this one, but whatever size you have, don’t forget to allow extra for a nice hem. Tack the hem down all round, but do not hem it: the stitches on the outside line keep it in place.

Having tacked your hem, you have now to get the design transferred to your pram-cover. Just look at the outline design. This is just the size you will want. Now take a piece of tracing paper, and go carefully over the outline of the leaf wreath. Don’t trouble about the bud at present. Next turn the paper over and run over the back of the design with a fairly soft lead pencil—the outlines will show through the transparent[68] paper. Turn it over again and lay it on your cover, taking care to get it nicely in the centre. Keep it firm and follow every line with a slightly harder pencil, marking it firmly and evenly. When you take your paper up you will find the leaves transferred to your pram-cover. The buds are transferred to each corner in the same way, putting them whichever way up you want them.

All you have to do now is to work over the design in the outline stitch described on page 58. Work the leaves and stems in the shaded[69] green, the rosebuds in crimson, and the border lines in plain dark green. You can then take out the tacking threads.

Dolly will be highly pleased to have such a nice cover to her perambulator. She does like to be stylish, doesn’t she?

[70]

[71]

I wonder whether you have made the bedspread, shown on page 61, with the doll’s bed outfit. I daresay you have, and perhaps the patchwork quilt too. But of course you will not want all your doll-children’s beds to look quite the same, so how about a bedspread with a fringe to it for Victoria’s bed? You usually dress her in blue, don’t you, to match her eyes, so you had better work the bedspread in blue. No, I know she does not go to sleep with her eyes open, but she has lovely fair hair, and pink roses in her cheeks; and a cream bedspread, worked in blue, is what she needs to set her off properly.

The bedspread is worked in coarse cream Hardanger Canvas. The little detail of the stitch shows you the actual size of the canvas. If you use a finer canvas than this—as of course you can if you like—then you will have to take your stitches over more threads to get your design the same size as the one shown here.

The shade of blue that will suit Victoria beautifully is No. 709 in Ardern’s “Star Sylko,” size 5, and you could use this for the work on your bedspread; and you will also want some white “Star Sylko,” size 5, for the satin stitch. For sewing the fringe cream linen thread can be used.

If you have not yet learnt to work the stitches used in making this bedspread, the best plan would be to take an odd piece of canvas and practise on that first.

We will start with the white outlines of the border. This is worked in satin stitch—a very simple stitch, but it needs to be worked evenly, and the thread must not be pulled too tightly. Do not make a knot to start the work, leave a piece of thread at the back, and put the needle through this piece before you work the second stitch. Start by putting the needle[72] up through a hole of the canvas, miss 1 hole, put the needle into the next hole; put the needle through the next hole on a line with the first, and go on working stitches like this in a straight line.

If you do this in the right way, the stitches on the right side will be straight, and on the wrong side they will slant a little.

The corners of this piece of work are done in an easy way, look carefully at the illustration, and I think you will see what to do. The 2 stitches on each side and the centre stitch are all worked into the same hole on the inside of the corner.

Now if you can do satin stitch, the bedspread can be started.

Leave 12 holes around outside the satin stitch line. Work 50 stitches across both ends, 84 stitches on each side—not counting the 3 extra stitches at corners. Leave 14 holes on the side and work a line of stitches across to the other side, on both ends of work. Leave 14 holes, counting towards the centre from side, and work a second line on each side between the ones worked at each end.

To divide this into squares, leave 14 holes, and work rows of satin stitch between the 2 lines.

Thread your needle with blue, and put it up through the corner hole, miss 2 holes, counting towards the centre, put the needle in the next hole, put the needle up through the third hole in a straight line from end of first stitch, then into same hole as the end of first stitch; work another straight stitch on the other side.

Work 3 more stitches like the first 3. Do 3 more corners in the same way, and join these corners with 4 stitches, these stitches make the square in the centre.[73]

The fringe looks difficult, but it is easier than it looks.

Count 3 lines of thread from the satin stitch, this will leave 2 holes, draw out the next two lines of thread from across the canvas; this leaves a narrow piece of the canvas with threads one way only.

On page 30 you will see how to do the Serpentine Hem-stitching. This is the stitch that is used for the edge of this bedspread, only that here you have no hem. You just do the work on both sides of the threads. Then pull away the threads at the edge, outside the second row of stitches, and you will get your fringe.

[74]

LITTLE casement curtains are quite the best kind for the doll’s cottage windows, and on this page is shown a very pretty one that you will probably like to make. This is of dark green sateen, and the work on it is done in light green and pink “Brighteye.” It looks very nice in the picture, but it looks a great deal prettier when you can see the colours just as they are. And isn’t the way the little circles are entwined just sweet? Are you thinking that you couldn’t manage it? Well don’t think it any more, because you can, if you just follow this little talk carefully.

The stitch on this little curtain is called chain stitch. It is worked from right to left, or to be really nearer the mark—from top to bottom. To make it, bring your needle up from underneath, leaving a little end at the back. Hold the thread down with the left thumb, and, putting the needle back where you brought it up, take up a few threads of the material with the needle. Pull the thread through, but not too tightly, repeat the stitch. One little picture shows you chain stitch being worked.

For this curtain, a piece of sateen, 5 inches long by 4½ inches wide, is needed. Turn a narrow hem on all four sides, and tack it. The top edge[75] must be hemmed with tiny stitches, but the other three sides need not be hemmed, as the chain stitches will keep the hems down. This chain stitch can now be worked over the hems, on the right side. Now measure in 1 inch from the left side of chain stitch, and work another row in the same way. Between these two straight rows come the interwoven circles. To get these circles even, cut out a piece of cardboard the same size as the top of your thimble, and draw little circles round it on the sateen, allowing each circle to overlap the last one just a little bit. Now each little round touches the next one at two points. At one of these points it goes under, and at the other, over the next round. You will easily see what I mean by looking carefully at this little curtain. When the circles are all finished, they look like a chain, with one pink and one green link alternately. The only other thing to do is to sew the rings to the top of the curtain, for putting your curtain rod through. You will want one just like it for the other side of the window, and in making this, be sure and get your circles on the opposite side of the curtain, so as to make them a perfect pair.

[76]

The worst of having a house papered and painted a fresh colour is that it means getting all the furnishings to match, and carpets, hearthrugs, curtains, etc., are expensive items, if you have to buy them. But one must have a change in the doll’s cottage sometimes, so suppose, to-day, you learn how to make a pretty carpet and hearthrug for it.

You can make your carpet and rug of whatever shades you like, and it would be best to choose colours that will go nicely with your wall paper. For instance, if the sitting-room of your doll’s cottage is going to have a paper with pink roses and green leaves on the wall, you had better decide to have pink and green for your carpet and rug. If you have yellow walls, a carpet in a lovely shade of brown, and just a little yellow in it would be delightful. Of course, if the doll’s cottage has white or cream walls, you can choose whatever colours you like for the floor.

Let us make this little rug first, as this is a particularly easy pattern. Cream Congress Canvas has been used for this, and on page 78 there is a picture of a little bit worked on canvas, that you may see[77] which way the stitches go. This rug measures 4 inches long by 2½ inches wide when finished, but it does not matter at all what size you make it. This has been worked in Baldwin & Walker’s Ladyship 3-ply Fingering, pink and green. This is a lovely soft wool to use.

Commence by turning the canvas in all round and tack it. Run the pink wool up a little way at the back of the canvas, leave a loop at the end, then start the first row between 2nd and 3rd threads from the left side, * pass the pink wool under 1 thread of canvas; then over 6 threads and under 2 threads 6 times, now over 6 threads and under 1 at end of canvas, leave a loop at end, and start the next row between the next two threads of canvas. *

Work four more rows from * to *.

6th Row.—Pass the pink wool under 1 thread, over 2 threads, under 2 threads, over 6 threads 6 times; now under 2 threads, over 2 threads, under[78] 1 thread. Work 4 more rows like this. Repeat from 1st row to 10th row until the work is the right width.

Turn the canvas round and work the green wool across the canvas left between the pink wool.

1st Row.—Start between the 3rd and 4th threads from the top and the 6th and 7th threads from the side.* Pass the green wool over 6 threads and under 4 threads twice, then over 6 threads, slip thread on to next hole at the back of the canvas. Work 2 more rows like this from *.

4th Row.—Start the 4th row in the same hole as the 1st pink stitch of group ends. Pass the green wool over 5 threads, then under 4 threads and over 6 threads three times, now over 6 threads, slip the thread at back to the next hole for next row.

Work 2 more rows like this. Oversew the 2 threads at the end of the rows with green wool, and twist the wool over the single thread at the end of the fringe loops.

If there is any difficulty in counting the threads when working the green across, look at the back of the work.

Repeat the 6 rows until all the canvas between the pink threads is covered.

If you want to use the design for a carpet you can make it larger and square-shaped, or here is another design that is thicker, and will therefore be softer and nicer for the dolls’ feet.

This twisted pattern is also shown[79] in the shape for a rug, which measures 5 inches long by 3 inches wide, but it can be made whatever size and shape you like. It has also been worked on Congress Canvas, with Baldwin & Walker’s Ladyship 3-ply Fingering. The colours used are light green for the twisted pattern, heliotrope for the star in the middle, and dark green for the darning. With this carpet a paper with pansies or violets would look very pretty.

Here again little samples of the stitches have been worked on canvas, that you may see clearly how they are done.

The twisted pattern is worked in satin stitch over 4 threads of canvas.

You will see this stitch is described on page 71, and if you look at the pattern carefully, you will get the twist over and under quite right. To make the corners, work the stitches over 3, then 2, and 1 thread, then over the middle, work the other side of corner over 1, 2, and 3 threads, finish over 4 threads into the same hole as the last stitch, over 4 threads on the other side of the corner. Look at the pattern on the canvas as you work this out, that will also show how many stitches to do, and the way they are arranged.

For the star in the centre, work from corner to corner twice, crossing the thread in the centre, then another stitch from the centre[80] hole on the top to the centre hole at opposite end, and another across the centre.

The canvas between the twisted pattern is darned, that is, pass the thread over 2 threads of canvas and under 2 threads—this also is plainly shewn on the coarse canvas.

Work blanket stitch into every hole around the edge.

A square carpet of this design, with a small rug of the In-and-Out pattern, would look very well, but you would have to use the same colours for both, of course. The carpet could be fastened to the cottage floor with small drawing pins.

Here is still another kind of rug that you can make. It is also worked in Baldwin & Walker’s 3-ply Ladyship Fingering on Congress Canvas, and the colours that have been used are pale blue, grey, and violet. A row is worked in each colour until the rug is large enough. This little hearthrug shown measures 4 inches by 2 inches, but you can make it as large as you like.

The rug is worked in satin stitch for the 1st row, the stitches are upright, over 4 threads, but each fresh stitch is started one thread lower, and of course finishes one thread lower. The next row is worked across, also over 4 threads, each stitch is started one thread farther back than the one before, and finished in the same hole as one of the stitches of the row before.

If you look at the two little specimens that have been worked, I don’t think you will have any trouble over this. You will notice that when you come to the edge, and want to finish off straight, you have to take your stitches over 4 threads, 3 threads, 2 threads, and then 1 thread.

The edge of the rug is worked in blanket stitch.

[81]

This Poem was written over a hundred years ago.

[82]

[83]

Whatever garment it is you are wanting to make for dolly, you should first get a good pattern to cut it out from.

You will find that your paper pattern only gives half of the garment, and by cutting each piece on double material you get the whole article.

For instance, if you are cutting out a chemise for dolly, the pattern will give you half of the back and half of the front, and you will notice that the straight edge of each portion is marked “place to fold,” which means that you must fold your material and place these edges along the fold, so that when you have cut out the two portions you will have the full front and the full back of the chemise.

This rule of cutting on double material generally applies to all the portions of the pattern, but it is not always necessary to lay the edge against a fold, you only do this when your pattern is marked in this way. For instance, you will have the pattern for the whole sleeve when cutting out a frock, and by cutting it on double material you get a sleeve for each arm.

Before starting to cut out, clear your table of everything else, so that you have a nice flat surface;[84] and whatever you do don’t try to cut out with a cloth on the table, or you will find you are constantly pinning your pattern right through to the cloth, instead of to the material only.

You will want a sharp pair of scissors to cut out well, and a good supply of pins. You will notice that one blade of your cutting-out scissors has a very sharp point, while the other blade has a rounded blunt end. To cut out successfully, you must always hold your scissors so that the blunt blade comes underneath your work. This prevents the sharp point of the scissors from running into the material, and making a hole where you don’t want one!

Look at each portion of the pattern carefully, and place it on to the material according to what is marked on the paper pattern, then pin it down securely and cut round the portion close to the edge of the paper.

Be sure you cut into the little notches that you will find cut in some of the edges, as these will help you in putting the pieces together. The edge that has one notch has to be joined to another edge with one notch, the edge with two notches to another edge with two notches, and so on.

If the material has a pattern on it, be sure that you have it the right way up. For instance, if you are making dolly a frock out of a piece of material with birds on it, see that you arrange the pattern on the material so that the birds come with heads up. And also see that both the pieces of material, if you are cutting it double, are the same way up. Wouldn’t it look queer if it turned out that one half of dolly’s frock—when you had put it together—had birds standing on their feet, while the other half showed them standing on their heads!

[85]

Good mothers always try to have their children dressed neatly and prettily, not only giving them nice hats and dresses, but having all the other clothes to match. Of course, you want to be like a good mother to dolly, but perhaps you do not know how to make some of the things.

Well, just look at this pretty set of underwear, and read what is written about them, and see if you can make a set for dolly.

The nightdress, chemise, flounced petticoat and the knickers are made of nainsook, and the plain petticoat of fine flannel.

You have a little article on page 83 telling you how to cut out the garments from paper patterns.

We will commence with the little nightdress. The seams of this are joined with what is called a run-and-fell seam. Lay the two edges to be joined over one another, placing the edge of the upper portion just below the edge of the under one, and run them together, about an eighth of an inch in from the upper edge. When you have finished running the seam, you turn the edge of the under portion over the upper edge, and fold the seam down flat and hem it (or fell it) along. This is shown in your illustration of the seam. The side you have hemmed is the wrong side of the seam.

When you have joined both the[86] seams, make a half-inch hem round the bottom of the nightdress, and make the very tiniest of hems round the neck and sleeve edges.

To trim your night-gown you will want a little lace edging with a beading at the top that you can thread a piece of narrow ribbon through. Hem the edging along the hems you have made at the neck and sleeve edges, then thread in the ribbons with a bodkin, and draw them up to the size for dolly’s neck and wrists.

The chemise seams are joined in the same way as those of the night-gown, and narrow hems are placed round the neck and armhole edges, a little wider hem being put round the bottom of the chemise. Trim the neck and armholes with lace edging, as you did the night-gown, and draw up the neck only with ribbon.

In making the little petticoat you have only one seam to join up at the centre back. You can use a French seam for this, and to make this you run the edges to be joined together on the right side, then turn your work over and run the seam[87] down a second time. I think the little picture will explain this quite clearly to you. The seam is shown being run the second time, and you will see how this covers up the raw edges and leaves you with a neat little double seam sticking out on the wrong side of your work. This seam will be useful when you want to make dolly frocks, etc., or anything where you don’t want to show any stitches on the right side of your work, and yet want it very neat on the wrong side.

Don’t join the back of the petticoat all the way up, but leave about two inches open at the top to form a placket. Make a narrow hem down each of the two edges of the opening on the wrong side, then place one hem over the other and backstitch them together across the bottom of the placket; this will make it firm, so that you won’t tear the seam when dressing dolly. When you want to backstitch, you start as you would for running, but only taking one stitch at a time, and for each stitch you put your needle back into the end of the stitch you have just made, so that you have a row of even stitches without any spaces between. I think the illustration will explain this to you. If you are going to trim[88] your petticoat with a little embroidery flounce, you must turn a hem round it the same width as your flounce, then whip the top of flounce to the top of the hem. How to do whipping was described on page 60. The top of the petticoat is gathered and placed into a band the size for dolly’s waist; putting gathers into a band was described on page 4.

The petticoat is fastened with a button and buttonhole. If you do not yet know how to make a buttonhole, turn to page 6 for this. You have an illustration on this page showing how the button is put on. Use a small white linen button, make a little bar of threads across the centre, just working over and over through the button and the band, then bring your needle out at the left end of the bar of threads and work buttonhole stitches closely together along the bar. When you have worked to the other end, put your needle through the button and bring your cotton out between the button and the band, wind the cotton round four or five times, then put your needle[89] down through the band and fasten off your cotton on the wrong side.

In joining up the little knickers you must first join each of the leg seams, then you join the two legs together from the front to the back, leaving a placket at the back as you did in making the petticoat. Finish the placket as before, then make a narrow hem round the top of the knickers, and thread a piece of tape through this to tie round dolly’s waist.

Gather the knee edges and place them into bands, and trim with a narrow lace or embroidery edging. Perhaps you will like to feather-stitch the bands; this stitch was described on page 7.

Now take the piece of flannel for your other petticoat. The seam of this has to be joined in a different way to the other garments you have been making. You first run the two edges to be joined evenly together, then fold them over and herring-bone the raw edges down flat. Herring-bone stitch is worked from left to right; you hold the edges of the seam down, and first take a little stitch below the edges, and then one just above, putting the stitches fairly close to each other so that the threads cross evenly. If you don’t feel quite sure of this stitch, take a small piece of flannel for practice and copy the little picture. Then, when you can work the stitch evenly, you can do your seam.

Place the top of the petticoat into a band and finish with a button and buttonhole. You will see that little pleats are made instead of gathers to bring the petticoat to the size of the band; the pleats set better in the flannel than gathers.

Finish the bottom of the petticoat with a hem and tuck. How to make a tuck was described on page 18.

The set of underwear illustrated was made for a doll 18 inches high, measuring from the top of the head to the sole of the foot. For this size set, about one yard of nainsook and a quarter of a yard of flannel will be sufficient. Two yards of lace edging, a yard of embroidery edging and two yards of bébé ribbon will also be needed.

[90]

If you haven’t made dolly any dresses before, a simple yoked pattern like the one she has on in her picture will be an easy pattern to start with.

You will want about a yard of some pretty soft material. A fancy delaine or creponne with a pretty floral design on it would look well, or you may prefer to have a plain material. A yard of lace and two yards of bébé ribbon will also be required if you are going to trim your frock exactly like the one in the picture.

Carefully cut out all the pieces you want to make the frock. You will find out how to do this on page 83. When you have all the pieces cut out in the material, take the yoke portions of the pattern and cut them out again from a little piece of nainsook or something that will do to make a lining.

Join the side seams of the skirt with French seams, then cut a placket two inches long in the centre of the back part of the skirt, and finish it as you were told how in the article on making dolly’s underwear.

Now take the dress yoke portions, and join the shoulder seam. Just an ordinary little run together seam on the wrong side will do for these, as you will remember we are going to line the yoke.

Gather the top of the front of the skirt, and draw it up to the size of the lower edge of the front of the yoke. Place the edge of the yoke and the edge you have gathered together just as if you were going to make a seam (be sure you put the right sides[91] of the material inside) and backstitch along firmly.

Turn in a quarter-inch single turning, from the neck down to the lower edge of each of the backs of the yoke, then gather the backs of the skirt and join them to the yoke as you did the front.

Join the lining yoke portions together, turn your dress on the wrong side, and place the lining yoke over the dress yoke, so that the edges of the seams come inside. Turn the lower edges of the lining yoke in and hem them along to the back of the gathers, making it all neat inside, and in the same way turn in the straight edges of the backs of the lining to meet the single turnings you made on the dress yoke; oversew these edges together.

You will notice that the top edge of your sleeve portion is curved up much higher one side than the other; the high side has to come on the shoulder, and the lower side underneath the arm. You will have to be careful in joining up the sleeves, that in the second sleeve the high side comes the opposite side of the sleeve to what it does in the first sleeve, so that you have one sleeve for the left and one for the right arm.

Join up the sleeves with French seams. Take your little cuff band, fold it in half and join up one side with a single seam, so that it is joined in a circle. Gather the bottom of the sleeve, until it is the same size as the cuff. Place the cuff over the bottom of the sleeve (with the right side of the material inside), and backstitch the gathered edge to the edge of the cuff. Fold the cuff piece in half over the gathers right round, then turn your sleeve on the wrong side, and hem the other edge of the cuff to the back of the gathers. Make the other sleeve in the same way.

To put the sleeves into the dress, first gather the tops, until they are the size of the armhole of the frock.[92]

Place the short part of the sleeve over the skirt seam, so that it will come under dolly’s arm, and place the sleeve seam to the seam joining the yoke to the skirt at the front. Make a seam of the armhole and the gathered edge of the sleeve. To neaten the armhole seams, bind them with narrow tape or ribbon.

Now you are ready to turn up the bottom of the frock. Measure dolly from her neck to where you want the bottom of the frock to come. Then measure the same distance down from the neck of the frock in front, and turn up a nice wide hem evenly all round.

If dolly’s frock is of plain material, instead of just hemming the hem, you might like to finish it with French knots along. You must work these with embroidery thread, and you have a picture showing how the knots are made.

Bring your needle up through the double hem on the right side, hold the thread down with the left hand thumb, and pick up a tiny stitch along the hem, just where the thread comes out; now, with the right hand, wind the thread round the needle (just as it is in the picture), pull your needle out, and you will find you have made a little twisted knot. Put your needle down through the hem again close to the knot, and bring it up a little further along the hem, ready for the next knot. Make your knots equal distances apart all round. This is a very good way of finishing any hem, where you do not want a row of hemming stitches showing on the right side.

Bind the neck of the frock with a narrow strip of the material.

Divide the lace into two equal lengths, then cut one length in half again. Pleat the longest piece into the neck of the dress, and one short piece into each cuff. Loop your ribbon up into a little rosette, leaving one or two long loops hanging, and place this on the left side of the yoke. Fasten the frock with buttons and buttonholes at the back.

Serge would be a good material to use. Half a yard would be sufficient to make it for an 18-inch doll, the size of the one in the picture.[93] Two yards of a tiny white braid were used to trim the coat.

When you have carefully cut out your coat pattern, join up the under-arm and shoulder seams. To join coat seams you must just place the two edges to be joined together evenly, and backstitch them together on the wrong side. To neaten the seams inside the coat, open them out flat and bind each of the raw edges separately. To get them quite flat you will have to press them with a hot iron.

The coat sleeve has two pieces, so you will have two seams to join for each sleeve; join them just as you did the shoulder and under-arm seams, and be careful to get one sleeve the reverse way to the other one.

Now take the front facings, lay them on to the right side of the fronts of the coat (you will see they are just the same shape as the fronts at the outer edges). Backstitch these pieces on to the fronts all round where the edges meet the coat edges, then turn the facings inside the coat. Bind the straight raw edges of the facings that come inside the coat. Turn back the top of each front to form a rever.

Turn a single turning half an inch wide round the bottom of the coat, and backstitch along about a quarter of an inch in from the fold; bind the raw edge of the turning inside the coat. Finish the wrist edges of the sleeves in the same way, and put them into the coat as you put in the dress sleeves; they will need very little gathering.

Cut a second collar out of a piece of soft sateen or lining, place the two pieces together and backstitch round three of the edges, leaving the curved neck edge open. Turn the collar inside out, pushing out the corners carefully. To join the collar to the coat, seam the neck of the coat to the neck edge of the lining of the collar, then turn the neck edge of the collar in over this seam and hem it along neatly.

Put the braid round all the edges of the coat as shown. Using white cotton, hold the braid along the work, and sew it on with small running stitches along the centre of the braid.

Make three buttonholes on the right front of the coat, and sew buttons on the left front to correspond.

[94]

[95]

THE sight of these pretty peacocks makes you long to sit down and start working them, I am sure, and when worked on a square of white Hardanger canvas, they really make a most attractive little cloth or table-centre.

The cloth in the picture was about 12 inches square when hemmed, but you can make it just what size suits you best; this will, of course, greatly depend on what you want to use it for.

There is one thing, however, that you must be very careful about, and that is that your piece of material is perfectly square, and not wider one way than the other. Also be sure you allow about an extra 1½ inches all round to the size you want the cloth to be when finished, so that you can have a nice wide hem.

You must first hemstitch your cloth all round, and you learnt all about how to do this on page 30.

The peacocks are worked in cross-stitch with J. & J. Baldwin’s Beehive Shetland Wool, in a crimson shade. If you are making your cloth out of Hardanger canvas, you will be able to work the crosses very easily.[96] When working on the Hardanger canvas, you just make your crosses over three threads of the canvas each way.

I think you will find it quite easy to count the crosses from the diagrams given, and the best way to make sure of getting the peacocks nicely even in the corners, like they are in the picture, is to count the number of open squares, from the corners of the diagrams to the commencement of the designs, and allow three threads for each square on your canvas. For instance, taking the peacock on the left of your cloth, you will need to start on the sixteenth square up from the lower hemstitched border, and one square to the right of the side border.

Remember, if you start the first cross right and work your crosses evenly, the design must come out even; all you have to do is to see that you don’t go over more than three threads of canvas for each cross.

This design would look very well on a cushion. In that case, the cushion cover could be made of serge, or of crash, or of linen. Crash is very easy to work on, and washes well. If the material is so fine that it tries your eyes to count the threads, then it is easy to tack Penelope canvas over the material, and work the cross-stitches on this, drawing the canvas threads out when the work is finished.

[97]

There are very few little girls—or big ones either—who are not fond of beads. There is something so fascinating, isn’t there, in seeing what pretty things we can make by threading them. And there are so many lovely ways in which you can use beads.

You see the picture on page 98, showing four little rows of beads. Well, each is a section of a pretty chain, either of which any little girl could make. The top one is made of tiny metal beads and shell beads. There are 12 tiny beads, then 3 shell beads, all the way along.

The next chain shows beads of four different sizes, some dark and some light. This is part of a lovely, long muff chain. Just below is another chain, which is a very simple arrangement, being simply 12 metal beads, then 1 ordinary coral bead. The bottom chain of the little group is made of small, dull blue beads—24 are threaded, then 2 little pink ones, next 1 deep coloured pearl bead, 2 pink, 24 blue, and so on.

The picture above shows a pretty necklace made on 2 threads. You thread the tiny[98] beads on single threads, then when you come to a larger bead, you put both threads through the same bead. The 5 very big beads are green Venetian beads, and look so pretty.

Another necklace worked on 2 threads is also shown. The beads here are pale blue, with a small pearl here and there. Both threads are put through the same beads, until you come to the front part. There they are divided, and more put on the lower thread, to make the little loops, then both are threaded through the same bead again. This is done 7 times, to make 7 loops, then for the remainder all the beads are threaded on 2 threads.

The upper picture on page 99 shows sections of 3 chains made of small beads. These are made on a bead loom. On these looms you can make lovely things, and the beads to use are Venetian Iridescent, Cut Tosca, or No. 8 Cut Metal. The work is very easy, and is done as follows:—

Always cut one more warp thread than the number of beads to be used in width, for instance, if the width of work is to be 6 bead wide[99] cut 7 threads. Also in making necklaces cut the thread several inches longer, so as to prevent joining and to allow for the fastening on of the snap.

After cutting threads, commence to tie all threads together at one end, fix this on the nail on the spool and then place each of the threads in rotation on the notches of bridge, carrying the threads to the opposite bridge. Then place the threads in same rotation on the second bridge; now draw the threads tight and with the remains of length tie on round the end of loom and fix in and around the pegs. This is called the warp. You now get your thread for threading the beads, and tie the end at the first or left-hand warp, thread the same number of beads in the way you want the first row made, and push them up between the warps, and repeat this again and again until the design is finished.

[100]

Have you ever burnt your finger? If so, you know just what it is like, and you don’t want me to tell you how it feels! When you have once had a burn or a scald, you are very careful not to get another if you can help it, and you won’t want anyone else to burn themselves, I know.

Has Grandmamma a kettle holder? She certainly ought to have one, because it is really a nasty thing to pick up a hot kettle without a holder. You just want to drop it at once! Suppose you start right away to make a kettle holder. I mean a really pretty one, of course, that will be delightful to look at, as well as useful.

Here is a lovely chance for you to do some Berlin Woolwork. This is done on Penelope Canvas. You have already learnt to work cross-stitch designs on Penelope Canvas, haven’t you? so you have not so very much that is fresh to learn here. When you did the work before, however, you pulled the threads away afterwards, but here you do not pull any away, but you cover the whole of the canvas square with some pretty pattern. It may be alternate rows of two colours, or it may be a little square pattern, or it can be the “upstairs and downstairs” pattern that you see in the kettle holder on this page.

The easiest kind of kettle holder to start with would be one like the mat on page 103—in green and purple—working a row of green crosses, and then a row of purple crosses. When you are working several crosses in a row, you do not finish each cross before going on to the next. You make the halves of the crosses all one way, and then[101] go back and cross them all. You will see what I mean by the top illustration in the picture on this page, showing the stitches.

You will want some Penelope Canvas, and some purple and some green Berlin wool—J. and J. Baldwin’s English-made Berlin wool is the kind to get, as we all like to buy things that are made in England, don’t we? You also need a piece of thick serge or cloth to line the kettle holder, and a pretty cord to finish the edge.

To start the kettle holder, take a piece of canvas, about 7 inches each way. Before you commence the pattern, thread your needle with wool, and take over-and-over stitches all round the edge to keep the canvas from fraying out while you are doing the pretty work.

Now, starting half an inch in, work the cross-stitch, first doing a row of purple and then a row of green, leaving half an inch all round the edge. This will give you a worked square, 6 inches by 6 inches.

Having finished the cross-stitch, turn in the edge all round as far as the work, and tack it. Take your piece of cloth, turn in and tack the edge of[102] that all round to the same size as the kettle holder. Place them together with the wrong sides facing, and hem the lining to the holder, not letting the stitches show through on the right side.

The only thing to be done now is to sew the cord to the edge. This finishes the kettle holder very prettily, and at one corner it can be twisted up to make a loop to hang the holder up by, as you see in the picture on page 100.

Do you see the little piece worked in squares at the bottom of the picture on page 101. This is a lovely design for a kettle holder. You see nine crosses are worked in light wool and nine in dark wool alternately.

The “upstairs and downstairs” pattern is just a little bit more difficult, but even this only requires careful counting. You start in the top left-hand corner, and work six crosses in a row. Then take four downwards, then four more in a row with the last one down, then four more down, and so on. When you have worked from one corner to the other in this way, you start filling in the space at each[103] side of that diagonal line, working two rows in each colour. Light and dark green would look very pretty for this. The kettle holder worked in this design is shown hanging cornerwise, but of course it has to be worked straight, as in third specimen in the picture on page 101.

There is another thing that Grandma would find very useful, and that is a mat to stand on the table for her hot water-jug. You can make this in the same way as the kettle holder, with just two little differences. When the work on the front is finished, turn the canvas on the wrong side over a piece of cardboard before tacking it. Then line it with a strong piece of sateen. The cardboard keeps it firm, and it will then be quite a useful mat to stand the jug on. Then you do not make a loop to hang it up, as you did the kettle holder, but you simply finish the edge with a straight piece of cord.

[104]

If you have a thicker wool, or use the wool doubled, you can work the design in half crosses only, that is to say, just take a half stitch and do not cross it. You will see what I mean by the second little specimen in the picture on page 101.

Does Grandma knit? If she does she will need a strong bag to keep her work in, as steel knitting needles have an aggravating way of poking their heads through the corners of a bag that is not very strong. You will see how to make a bag on page 11, and a way to make it extra strong is to work a strip of Berlin wool-work and sew it to the bottom of the bag, so that when you join up the seams of the bag, you sew in the strip of wool-work at the same time. Isn’t that a sweet bag on page 102. This is made of pretty grey material, and the work at the bottom is done in several lovely colours, purple, green, black, yellow and white, and you would hardly believe how lovely they all look blended together. The ribbons to draw up the bag, and the feather-stitching, are of a beautiful purple colour.

[105]

This cushion case can be made of white Hardanger Canvas and embroidered with J. & J. Baldwin’s Beehive Shetland Wool in a blue shade, but you must first make a little calico case and stuff it with bran, then the embroidered case can be taken off and cleaned when it gets dirty.

Cut two squares of calico 4½ inches wide each way, run them together along three of the sides then turn the little square bag you have made inside out, and stuff it with bran. When you have put in as much bran as you can possibly manage to squeeze into the bag, turn the edges of the open side in and oversew them together.

Now cut two squares of canvas the same size as you cut the two calico squares, for the case. The butterfly and the border are worked in cross-stitch. This stitch was described on page 26.

Make your first row of crosses 8[106] threads in from the edge of the square, going over three threads of canvas for each cross and leaving three threads between each. Then put the second row of crosses above the open spaces of the first row. A cross is then added at each corner three threads in from the border.

To get the butterfly right in the centre of the square, count the crosses on the design and place the centre cross of the butterfly even with the centre cross of the border each way. Now sew your two squares of canvas together along three of the edges on the wrong side, taking a seam of four threads of canvas. Turn on to the right side, pull the case over the stuffed cushion, and oversew the edges of the fourth side together.

Finish the cushion with blue cord, making a loop at each corner; the cord should be hemmed on along the seam all round. The oversewn seam can be opened a little way and the ends of the cord tucked in and sewn securely to make a neat finish. Three-quarters of a yard of cord will be sufficient to go round the cushion.

This little butterfly would also look very pretty on a cushion for Dolly’s chair or couch, and you could make the cushion in exactly the same way as the pincushion, only you would not need to stuff it so full, but leave it loose and soft for Dolly’s head.

Or, if you can knit, you could knit her a woollen bedspread, using J. & J. Baldwin’s 4-ply Beehive Fingering. Knit it in plain garter stitch, the length and width you require. Then work a cross-stitch border all round, and the butterfly in the centre. It is easy to work cross-stitch on plain knitting.

[107]

Isn’t this a pretty curtain? It has quite a farmyard of animals on it. First, there is the stately cock; then two rabbits, one running along and one sitting down; and then quite a group of ducks and ducklings. Perhaps if you were to ask mother, she would let you make some like it for your own bedroom.

Cream Congress canvas was used to make the curtain, and it was lined with sateen of the same shade. The animals and border are worked in green “Star Sylko” thread, No. 5, Shade 754. The curtain in the picture is about 18 inches wide and 21 inches deep, but you would, of course, make it the right size for your own window.

First cut your canvas to the size required, allowing about 6 threads of canvas extra all round for turnings. Turn in a single turning of 6 threads all round and tack securely.

Now look carefully at the border and see how this is done. You have an illustration showing how to make the various stitches used. You first work slanting up-and-down stitches all along the side[108] edges and across the bottom of the curtain, going over 4 threads of canvas.

Commencing from the top of the right side edge of the curtain, count 4 threads from the top edge, and put your needle up through the hole right on the edge; go over 4 threads to the right and 4 threads up, put your needle in and pick up 8 threads; make a slanting stitch back again down to the edge of the canvas, and put your needle into the hole you first brought it out of, pick up 8 threads along the edge, and repeat this up and down all the way round three sides of the curtain.

I think the little picture will best show you how this is done; you will see that two slanting stitches meet at the corner. In picking up the lower threads only take up the single canvas, so that no stitches will be shown at the edge on the other side.

Now to complete the edge, buttonhole stitches are worked around.[109] Directions for making buttonhole stitch are given on page 6. One stitch is placed at each point of the slanting stitches, putting your needle down through the fold of the edge of the curtain. How this should look can be seen in the second specimen in the illustration of the stitches. You will notice that three stitches are made into the one hole at the corner.

You have now to work the rows of stars around to finish the border. These are worked as shown in the third specimen in your illustration of stitches. All the stitches of the star start from the centre hole, the four long stitches being worked over four threads of the canvas, and the four short stitches over 2; one thread of canvas is left between each star. There should also be four threads left between the points of the first row of stars and the stitches round the edge of the curtain. One row of stars is worked all round, a second row and a row of half stars being added across the bottom.

The animals are worked in cross-stitch, going over 2 threads of canvas for each cross. If you are not quite sure how to work cross-stitch, you can find out by looking at page 26. You will be able to count the crosses from the diagrams given. Of course, if your curtain is to be much larger than this one, you will have to leave more space between each animal.

Also, you might like to make your curtain of some other material[110] instead of the canvas, and if you are using a plain material, without even threads to count, you can first tack Penelope canvas where you want your animals, and work over this, pulling the threads of canvas away after, as you see explained on page 27. For instance, the curtain would look quite nice made of unbleached calico in this way. You have a set of pictures on page 111, showing the animals worked over Penelope canvas, and these will help you, if you are using calico, or casement cloth for your curtain.

[111]

The pictures on this page show the animals worked over Penelope Canvas. You would do them this way if you make your curtain of sateen or unbleached calico.

[112]

You now cut out a piece of sateen exactly the same size as you cut the canvas, turn in a narrow single turning, and tack the sateen to the wrong side of the curtain. The stitch used for sewing the lining to the curtain is shown at the bottom of your illustration of stitches. In working this, you hold a strand of your embroidery thread along just in from the edge of your work, and sew over this, with small slanting stitches, putting your needle in just above the line of thread, and bringing it out just underneath. The coloured thread is used for this; a white thread is used in the specimen, just to show you how the stitches should look.

When you are doing this part of the work, be careful that you do not take your stitches through to the right side of the curtain, but only pick up the turned-in edge of the canvas with the sateen.

Sew 7 bone curtain rings to the top of curtain at even distances apart, and the curtain is complete.

You will need two curtains, or even three, if your window is a very wide one. But each curtain is made in exactly the same way. And when they are finished, you will be very proud of your needle-work I am sure. And all your friends will be able to see it, without any showing, every time they come into your room.

[113]

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by Curtis & Beamish, Ltd., Coventry, England.