“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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.
They don’t look very pleased to meet, do they? ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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 1⁄2-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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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.
MAKING OVER-SEWING STITCHES.
The piece of work in the illustration has been flattened out, in order that you may see the stitches more clearly ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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! ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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 11⁄2 inches all round to the size you want the cloth to be when finished, so that you can have a nice wide hem. ”

“ 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. ”

“ It hangs up by the loop at the top.
HOW THE STITCHES ARE DONE.
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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Now all that remains to be done is to line your quilt, and this is done by taking a piece of white sateen 73⁄4 inches wide by 103⁄4 inches long. Turn in once and then tack 1⁄4 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. ”

“ You see nine crosses are worked in light wool and nine in dark wool alternately.
BERLIN WOOL WORK ON A BAG.
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. ”