Effie Archer Archer

“ WHAT YOU SHOULD HAVE IN YOUR WORK BOX, SEWING ON BUTTONS, BASTING, DARNING You will find that you are happiest when doing things for those you love; and what greater help can you give than by learning to do things for yourself that now those who love you best do for you? The little everyday things that appear to be so simple, yet take so much of the mother's time should be the things first to learn. There are so many things that one could do if one only knew how, that it seems a shame to waste time. Dolly needs new clothes, mother always needs help with her sewing ”

“ There may be embroiderers who are experts in one branch of the subject and yet who will do very unsatisfactory work in another. For instance, one girl may be very proficient in fancy stitches and yet may not do the simple stitches or vice versa. Few American girls excel in the satin-stitch, not because it is hard, but it must be perfectly accurate. The average German, Swiss or French child can do better satin-stitch at the age of twelve than the average American woman does. From the time the children in those countries can hold a needle in their hand they are taught to sew and embroider. ”

“ The wrong side of weaving is always facing you on the loom and all ends are fastened afterward with a needle and thread. Perhaps you would be interested to know how a weaver makes a set design in tapestry. Usually an artist designs a piece, say a design for the back of a chair. Often the artist is the weaver himself. He will make two sketches in colour one to put under the warp threads and the other to keep in sight. He then starts to weave the design in as many colours as desired, then the background is worked. ”

“ It is nice to know how to embroider, but unless we put to use the things we know our knowledge is like a white elephant on our hands. After a careful study of the diagram of the stitches you desire to make and reading the description as to how to make it, a little child could almost work a hat, but the mounting of a hat is not so simple. ”

“ Here it was with the daisy which is extremely easy but in the majority of cases it is with the Maltese cross.
The wide strip of drawn work shows a pretty pattern for linen scarfs. It is nothing but right that every girl should take an interest in her bedroom. She may not be fortunate enough to have one entirely by herself but that does not excuse her from trying to make it as attractive as possible. The key-note to beauty and elegance is simplicity. ”

“ White is the nicest for working shadow stitch on waists, especially as colour is apt to cheapen the effect.
Remember that a design drawn out in pencil soils the cottons or silks and necessitates the article being washed before it is used. You can buy patterns for embroidery so cheap and in such excellent taste that it pays one in the end to use them instead of drawing on the material. There is the perforated design that can be had from five cents up. It is the oldest and in some ways the most expensive pattern. ”

“ Beautiful cushions and other useful articles can be made by weaving.
It is a great mistake to think that all cast off clothing can be woven into handsome rugs or portières. True it is possible to weave them, but it is almost a hopeless task to get artistic effects from old coats or a lot of dark articles.
The modern rug weavers get a few yards of cheap muslin in two or three shades and make a rug that can be sold for two or three dollars. Silk is not like old woollen materials, it can be utilized to the last thread because it is soft and works to good advantage. ”

“ Feather-stitching is almost as simple as smocking. It has various other names. Perhaps you know it by the name of "brier-stitch." The first and simplest form is the single feather-stitching. A thread as fine as No. 60 sewing cotton or a heavy Germantown wool can be used for it. Baby blankets or a blanket for yourself are pretty feather-stitched in wool.
Like smocking, patterns can be had for feather-stitching. But the best embroiderers never use them, as their mechanical correctness makes the work too much like machine work. ”

“ The honeycomb or mesh is a fancy name for another form of buttonholing. Work a row of buttonholing about a quarter of an inch apart. The distance may be changed to suit the design you are working on. In the second and all other rows, the needle is over the buttonhole loop directly above and a short stitch taken a quarter of an inch, or the distance you have decided on, below the loop. In starting each row bring the needle up a quarter of an inch, or more or less as you desire, below the previous row. The distance must be kept even to achieve satisfactory results. ”

“ It is lovely to have a little work-box fixed up with thread, needles, and scissors, all of your own, and if you ask mother, I am sure she will give some of [4] her threads to help you start one. If you take a card and shape it like a Maltese cross you will have space for four colours of threads. You will need a card for the white alone because you will find you use so much more of it. You must have a little thimble and always use it or your finger will look cramped when working. Have you noticed how pretty ladies look when sewing? ”

“ A piece of hand-made tapestry is a possession that only the very wealthy can buy for it is indeed exceptional to find an ordinary weaver who can make tapestry. To the French is given the honour of being the most clever weavers in the world. As a general thing in France weaving is an inherited trade. You will find, if you ask the weaver what his mother, his father and his grandfathers were, he will tell you—weavers. The hands of the men are almost as small and soft as the women's. ”

“ THE SIMPLEST STITCHES IN EMBROIDERY—CHAIN STITCHING, OUTLINING, HERRING-BONING, CROSS-STITCHING, SOUTACHE, CORONATION BRAIDING It would be hard indeed to say just how many stitches there are in embroidery, as so many are combinations of the others. The ones you will hear about are the simplest ones. ”

“ Suppose you wanted to chain-stitch a square or a triangle: when you come to the corner do not try to make one continuous line, but carry the needle down through the material at the end of the loop to fasten the link and start the next row at right angles to it. Chain-stitching can be put to many uses. It is a pretty stitch to cover a single line in a conventional design. It is also the quickest kind of padding for large designs. When it is used as a padding, the rows are worked close to each other. ”

“ Eyelet work is particularly dainty on a hat as it gives a lacy effect. The material should be a medium weight linen so as not to be too stiff. At one time butcher's linen was thought to be the only kind to be used, but of later years a softer linen is preferred. Lingerie hats have been used for years, probably long before you were born. Every year the shape varies a little. One year it is a narrow brim sailor, next year it is a wide brim, then again a high, next a Tam-o'-shanter crown. ”

“ A piece of embroidery that is thickly covered with eyelet-work and possibly a little satin-stitch and buttonholing is commonly termed Madeira embroidery. One will often see a piece of the Madeira embroidery so closely covered that it is almost impossible to put another stitch in between the embroidered spots. About fifty years ago it was a matter of impossibility to buy machine embroidery, and eyelet-work was one of the last things made by machine. ”

“ HARDANGER EMBROIDERY FOR SQUARES, PIN CUSHIONS, AND SPREADS We have to go back to the foreign embroideries to find those that are beautiful and yet substantial enough to last beyond the usual life of a piece of fancy work. There is nothing we have originated in embroidery on this side of the world as rich as Hardanger work, and yet it is comparatively little known. The background for this work is a loosely woven material like scrim or basket weave materials such as Java canvas or the regular Hardanger canvas which is imported. ”