Coverlet

“ The next day we went into the room, and discovered an impression in the bed, as though some ‘thing’ had lain in it. On closer inspection, we distinctly saw the coverlet gently moving, resembling the very gentle respiration of a body beneath. We returned to the garden, having thrown open the window. After waiting for a long time, we saw what looked like a hand appear on the center of the window sill, then from the curtain came the white figure. ”

“ Without the bed her other fair hand was,
On the green coverlet; whose perfect white
Show'd like an April daisy on the grass,
With pearly sweat, resembling dew of night. ”

“ It sells in Iceland at from 10/6 to 17/6 per ℔. From three to four ℔s. are sufficient for a coverlet, which, to be enjoyed in perfection, ought to be used unquilted and loose like a feather bed. Quilting is only useful where a small quantity of down is required to go a long way; but, with three or four pounds at command, there is no comparison in point of comfort between loose and quilted—we have tried both. The 55eider coverlet combines lightness and warmth in a degree which cannot be otherwise obtained. With a single sheet and blanket, it is sufficient for the coldest wintry night. ”

“ When they lie down to rest, and are fearful of being incommoded by heat, they fix a hook through the middle of the coverlet, which raises it perhaps an ell and a half above them, and under this canopy they repose. ”

“ Securing Covering at Night.—If a delicate child has a habit of kicking the clothes off at night and so contracting chills, it is a good plan to sew a large button to each corner of the coverlet and attach a long tape loop to each corner of the bed. ”

“ Perhaps no piece of secular needlework gave our ancestors more satisfaction, both in the making and when made, as the quilt or bed coverlet. We have seen a good many specimens of them, both of the real quilted counterpanes, in which several thicknesses of material were stitched together into a solid covering, and the lighter silken or linen coverlets ornamented with all sorts of embroidery. Cradle quilts also were favourite pieces of needlework and figure in inventories of Henry VIII’s time. ”

“ Bed-coverlet; ground, white thread net; pattern, flowers in white thread. Spanish, 17th century. 6 feet 5 inches by 5 feet 31⁄2 inches.
This specimen of netting and crochet needlework displays much taste in its design of flowers, among which the rose and the pomegranate are very conspicuous. It was wrought in four strips joined together by narrow linen bands, and the whole edged with a shallow fringe. ”

“ The women and men always wear a night-dress when in bed, generally consisting of a wrapping gown and a quilted jacket; for the coverlet, being wadded with cotton, and about one inch thick, does not, from its stiffness, keep in the warmth sufficiently—the sheet, moreover, is sewed to it ”

“ Also, geve hym of these sowes that crepe with many fete, and falle oute of howce rovys. Also, geve hym whyte wormes that breede betwene the barke and the tre.”—Reliquiæ Antiquæ, vol. i. p. 203.
52 Dagswain was a sort of rough material of which the commoner sort of coverlets were made. A hap-harlot or hop-harlot, was also a very coarse kind of coverlet. ”

“ Blankets were served out as the material for body-clothing: every man was his own tailor. For bedding, the woollen curtains that had formerly decorated our berths supplied us with a couple of large coverlets, which were abundantly quilted with eider-down. Two buffalo-robes of the same size with the coverlets were arranged so as to button on them, forming sleeping-sacks for the occasion, but easily detached for the purpose of drying or airing. ”

“ Indeed, an enormous variety of patterns was evolved. Proportionately few of the very old hand-woven coverlets have survived—precious they are to the collector of household antiques!—but even these show remarkable pattern variations. Of course, the time came when machine-weaving supplanted hand-work, and before long coverlets hand-woven were of the discarded arts, so far as the New England states were concerned. A few years ago, however, the industry of making hand-woven coverlets was revived, for the art had in a measure, fortunately, continued in the Southern mountains of the country. ”

“ These picturesque scenes, in which the familiar domestic art supplies the essential touch of colour, are aptly described by Robert and Elizabeth Shackleton, those indefatigable searchers for the beautiful among the relics of our forefathers.
“In many a little village, and in many an isolated mountain home, the old-time art of making patchwork coverlets is remembered and practised. Some may be found that are generations old; others are new, but made in precisely the old-time way, and after the same patterns. ”

“ The sun arose in a bright and cloudless sky on the following morning, and his first beams aroused every sleeper in the hall of Æscendune from his couch of straw, for softer material was seldom or never used for repose. Even the chamber in which the prince slept could not be called luxurious: the bed was in a box-like recess; its coverlets, worked richly by the fair hands of the ladies, who had little other occupation, covered a mattress which even modern schoolboys would call rough and uncomfortable. ”

“ A cover should be made large enough to envelop both the upper and under portions of the work, and to be fastened down to the sides, so as to protect it from dust when it is not being used, and during work it should be kept over the portion of the embroidery not actually in hand. ”

“ Is it not the very place for a richly carved surs (corbel) ?”
“Ay, that is it, that is it! A corbel which should spring from the pillar, and follow the line of the arch. We must reflect on this, Master Gervase, and they shall be of finest cutting, and each varying from the other. But we may not think of this yet awhile, for truly there is enough on hand to call for all thy skill and industry. How fair it looks, with the winter sunshine striking on the fair stonework! ”

“ While the cover is drying, fold your Manilla wrapping paper several times to fit the cover. Then cut the sheets and trim them properly to fit.
Next, place the cover flat and all the leaves on top of it.
Make two holes with an awl or a puncher. Let the holes go through leaves and cover. Then string a tape or ribbon through the holes and tie the cover on. Then fold cover and leaves together and the scrapbook is done!
These scrapbooks are very nice to use for stamp collections. You can paste cards in them too—postal-cards, if you like. You can also use them to make botanical scrapbooks in summer. ”

“ The waterproof sheets recommended are thin sheets of celluloid, such as are used by photographers.
Fig. 61.
When these things are ready, the pasted cover should be examined and repasted if it has dried in any place. The amount of paste to be used for covering can only be learned by experience. A thick leather will take more than a thin one, but, provided the cover sticks tight at every point, the less paste used the better. If there is too much, it will rub up and make very ugly, uneven places under the leather; and if there is too little, the cover will not stick. ”

“ The corsets and dress-improvers occupied one counter, there were hand-sown corsets, Duchess, cuirass, and, above all, white silk corsets, fan-pointed with divers colours, these latter forming a special display, an army of dummies without heads or legs, nothing indeed but busts; and close by were horse-hair and other dress improvers, often of fantastic aspect. But afterwards came articles of fine linen, white cuffs and cravats, white fichus and collars, an infinite variety of light trifles, a white foam which escaped from the boxes and was heaped up like so much snow. ”

“ There are various grades of Coverts and they all have as a distinctive feature neutral tones of colour. The real Covert cloth is always made from double and twist warp yarns and single fillings. The weave is such that the filling yarn does not show on the face of the cloth, therefore almost any shade similar in general tone to the warp may be used as filling. Cheap grades are made as a piece-dyed union mixture containing up to 30 per cent. cotton. They are also known as Venetian Coverts when they have a pronounced whipcord effect. The weave is a sateen weave of the warp-face variety. ”

“ The making of covers is a distinct branch of book-building that gives employment to a great many skilled workmen and workwomen. The most conspicuous of these is the artist who draws the cover design, and suggests its scheme of color—for the sale of a book depends very hugely upon whether or not its cover is attractive. Covers are made of paper, cloth, or leather. ”

“ Turn-in;—Size of Cover Cloth. In cutting leather, cloth, and paper, it is a rule to allow three-fourths of an inch for each turn-in. So this is observed in cutting material for this cover. To find the size of the cloth for a full cloth cover, it is necessary to add together the widths of the two boards, the thickness of the back, the two joints and one and one-half inches for the turn-ins at the foredge. This sum gives the dimension, of course, from the foredge of one cover around the back to the foredge of the other cover. ”

“ The top of the corset cover can be gathered to fit the figure, or tiny hand or machine tucks of 1⁄8 inch in width may be run about three inches deep each side of the front laps, five or six tiny ones being made on each side, according to the amount of fullness to be taken in. The top can be finished with a Hamburg beading for ribbon, sewed on with a French seam; and then lace may be overhanded on the edge of it. The finish of the sleeves should correspond to the neck finish.
EXERCISES AND PROBLEMS
Calculate how much beading and lace or lace alone will be necessary to trim a corset cover. ”

“ Forcing his horse through the tangled underwood, Coverdale came suddenly upon a group of men, amongst whom he recognised several of his own farm labourers, while two under-keepers were kneeling beside the prostrate figure of a man who, from the stiff, unnatural attitude in which he lay, appeared either dead or dying. ”

“ In fine leather binding, while the preparation of the book for the cover is essentially the same as in cloth work, the covering is all hand-work, requiring experience and skill, and is a distinct branch of the trade.
Finishing by hand is another, and requires long experience to become an expert. Gold ornamentation requires heated tools, and in the hands of a practised finisher beautiful designs can be worked out with quite a limited assortment of rolls, straight and curved lines, and a few sprigs, dots, and stars. ”

“ Another species of garment, in their estimation equally sumptuous with the blanket, is the cloth robe, which is of ample dimensions, simple in form, one half red and the other blue, thrown loosely about the person, and at a little distance, excepting the singular arrangement of colours, resembling a Spanish cloak. ”

“ In concealing-cover, not the coat, but the head dress and face are seen. It is a reasonable subject of doubt whether on open ground, at a distance of six hundred or eight hundred yards, red, soiled by dust, dirt and drenching, does not mellow into a greyish-purple, as little calculated to make the man who wears it a mark as blue, black, or dark green. ”

“ A large, round wooden cover, like an immense umbrella, serving as a shade for the criminal in the stocks, or for a platform for one in the pillory to stand on, or for a shelter from sun or rain to the inhabitants who meet on business in front of the court-house, the place generally used as a sort of exchange in the small towns in this country. ”

“ When a book is out of the cover, but has its sewing intact and the super or paper over the sewing firmly in place, it may be wise to give the back a coat of hot glue and put book again into its cover, thus making it a tight back. ”

“ The cover, which now projects an inch all round the volume, is drawn tightly on the back with the open hands, by turning the projecting portion of the cover outward and resting the book on the fore-edge, at the same [pg 144] time working the leather in such a manner that it will adhere closely to the sides of the raised bands as well as to the back. ”

“ They are the umbrella cover patterns, as you soon make out. To begin with, the cutter lays his silk or gingham very smoothly out on a long counter, folding it back and forth until the fabric lies eight or sixteen times in thickness, the layers being several yards in length. (But I must go back a little and tell you that both edges of the 51 silk, or whatever the cover is to be, has been hemmed by a woman, on a sewing machine before it is spread out on the counter) . ”

“ When the cover has been cut to size the book is laid on it with the boards open, and a pencil line drawn round them, a mark being made to show where the back comes. The skin is then pared, making it thin where the edge of the boards will come. Great care must be taken that the [156] thinning does not commence too abruptly, or a ridge will be apparent when the leather is on the book. ”

“ When the slips have been pasted and the squares set, tins can be put inside and outside the boards, and the book given a [154] slight nip in the press to flatten the slips. Only a comparatively light pressure should be given, or the lining up of the headbands or back will become cockled and detached.
PARING LEATHER
While the slips are being set in the press the cover can be got out. Judgment is necessary in cutting out covers. One workman will be able, by careful cutting, to get six covers out of a skin where another will only get four. ”