Sewing girl

“ I could dream over my patchwork, but I could not bring it into conventional shape. My sisters, whose fingers had been educated, called my sewing "gobblings." I grew disgusted with it myself, and gave away all my pieces except the pretty sea-moss pattern, which I was not willing to see patched up with common calico. It was evident that I should never conquer fate with my needle.
Among other domestic traditions of the old times was the saying that every girl must have a pillow-case full of stockings of her own knitting before she was married. ”

“ When you consider that sewing-machines had not been invented, it was a wonder how the women accomplished so much. But they always had some "catch-work" handy. The little girl was provided with a pretty work-basket, six spools of cotton, a pincushion, a needle-book, a bit of white wax, and an emery, which was a strawberry-shaped cushion topped off with some soft green stuff she knew afterward was chenille. ”

“ As plain work, as well as dressmaking, was done, there was quite enough employment for all the hands, as well as for the sewing machine, at which Amy, a fair, delicate-looking girl, was whirring away, while Jessie was making the button-holes of a long princesse dress, and Florence tacking in some lining ”

“ Ann Eliza hesitated, disconcerted by the unexpected question; and the other, cocking her head on one side to study the effect of the bow she had just sewed on the basket, continued: “We can't afford more than thirty dollars a month, but the work is light. She would be expected to do a little fancy sewing between times. We want a bright girl: stylish, and pleasant manners. ”

“ In some respects the result of this competition has been satisfactory. The competitors carefully observed the rules, the sewing was in many cases most excellent, the neatness and finish conspicuous. Many of the articles were made so well that we felt quite proud to think our girls could turn out such good work.
The care as to details pleased us very much, for that was given in all but a few exceptions. It was so nice to see how firmly buttons were sewn on, button-holes made so well, and seams carefully overcast or pinked, raw edges protected by tidy button-hole stitches. ”

“ This morning Roger's talk about his room roused her again.
"Mother," she said, "Margaret Hancock is going to take sewing from the teacher in the Hall of Pedagogy. Do you think I might, too?"
"What kind of sewing, dear? Embroidery?"
"No, Mother dear; it's the purely domestic variety; plain sewing and buttonholes and shirtwaists and middy blouses and how to hang a skirt, if I get so far along. Don't you think I'd be a more useful girl if I knew how to do some of those things?" ”

“ It is all very well for a poor old woman like me not to be able to use her needle, for I have always had to work hard for my living, and my hands soon got too rough for sewing much; but for a young princess like you not to be able to embroider her own wedding-dress! Why, such a disgrace will be handed down for generations! But there, as you are so stupid, [284] I suppose I must try and help you. Fortunately there is a young girl here, called Näfra Kolla, who sews as beautifully as any princess ”

“ Now the son has the farm, and he and his sister live there with their mother. The daughter takes in sewing, and in that way they manage to make both ends meet. The girl is really a first-rate seamstress, and so cheap! I give her a good deal of my work in the summer, and we are quite friends. She’s very fond of reading; the mother is an invalid, but she reads aloud while the daughter sews, and you’ve no idea how many books they get through. When she comes for sewing, I like to talk with her about them; I always have her sit down; it’s hard to realize that she isn’t a lady. ”

“ You see sewing is not very profitable ordinarily unless you can do high up dressmaking or are forewoman in some factory, and I couldn’t sew for a living. It is one thing over and over. You are never learning anything new, broadening out, enjoying the wisdom of the master minds, the beautiful poetry, the grand philosophies. Oh, am I a very romantic or conceited girl?” and she paused with a bright flush.
“You are meant for a scholar.”
Just that instant the trunk came and Lilian excused herself and went up with it. ”

“ Volunteers from among the city's best families were usually on hand to inspect the actual sewing—vague, daintily dressed girls who alternately spoiled and neglected their classes, who came late and left early—but Julia kept order, supplied materials, recited the closing prayer, and played the marches by which the children marched out at five o'clock. Now and then she incited some small girl to sing or recite for the others, and two or three times a year the sewing classes gave an evening entertainment—extraordinary affairs at the memory of which Julia and Miss Toland used to laugh for weeks. ”

“ The swift knitting needles click in Desire’s hands as she stands by the frame-work of the western window, leaning to watch the progress of the sampler which is being worked by a lovely girl who is sharing the broad window seat with another, who has evidently completed her sewing, having just folded it and put it into a bag hanging from her arm. ”

“ All that man to metals is owing!” cried I.
26 CHAPTER IV.
A MOTHER’S DELIGHTS.
“SEWING! how I hate sewing! I wonder what use there is in my learning to sew,” exclaimed Lily, in rather a fretful tone, as she took me out of the box.
“I wonder what’s the use of learning to spell!” yawned little Eddy over a dog’s-eared book, as he sat on a stool close by his mother.
Mrs. Ellerslie was busy at her desk, examining her monthly accounts, with a grave and anxious expression. She was interrupted, in the midst of summing up a long bill, by her little girl bringing her work to her. ”

“ Fasten thread by several small stitches.
NOTE.―If thread is too short to finish button-holing, fasten it on wrong side of material. Enter the new thread on wrong side and bring thread through last button-hole purl, or twisted edge.
Aunt Maria gave Mary Frances these directions very slowly, making the little girl do each step as she explained.
[Pg 169]
“My,
that’s the
hardest
thing yet”
“No, not that way, child,” she would say. “Sit up straight; place both feet firmly on the floor; hold your sewing high; do not stoop over. That is the correct position while sewing. ”

“ After nursing come lessons in sewing, and besides the making of the common things the better class of girls will learn to make lace and to do fancy work. In the year's service the better class girls will sew for the poor and the poorer girls will sew for themselves. ”

“ Having no brothers to sew for, I looked on in amazement at this dreary task, and I have since often wished that those persevering and devoted women could 195 come back and live their lives over again in the days of sewing-machines. ”

“ Hitherto men have allowed us at least to make up, if we would, the fabrics they sell us. But this last corner of our once royal feminine domain they are determined now to wrest from us. They have invented the sewing-machine, and already it takes from us not far from five hundred million dollars' worth of sewing annually. Our husbands are clothed entirely from the shops, and in all the large dry-goods firms they have marshalled the pale armies of sewing-girls to ply the wheel from morning till night in the production of ready-made garments for feminine wear also. ”

“ Then Fairy Lady said:
“Dear little Lady Seamstress, we are all from Thimble Land―we are the Thimble People; there are many more of us, oh, many more. It is our joy to be able to help you learn to sew. Thimble and Scissors Shears and the other Thimble People will come help us when anything becomes very puzzling or difficult; but all through these lessons you may call upon me at any time; and I shall do my best to give you happy sewing lessons.”
“Oh, thank you, dear Fairy Lady,” exclaimed Mary Frances. “I am living in Fairyland, and it is real!” ”

“ Punch has accepted their invitation to spend the summer.
The dressmaking is still going on. You should hear the machines whir and the tongues clatter in the sewing room. Our most cowed, apathetic, spiritless little orphan cheers up and takes an interest in life when she hears that she is to possess three perfectly private dresses of her own, and each a different color, chosen by herself. And you should see how it encourages their sewing ability. Even the little ten-year-olds are bursting into seamstresses. ”

“ They want to know how to sew, and nothing makes a lady so popular with school-girls as to tell them that they can have a sewing-class at her house. Then if after the sewing there can be stories and singing and games, the girls are sure to have a fine time. They save their pennies to buy the cloth on which they work. I have seen many a mother much pleased with the tiny stitches her daughter has learned to make. A blue cheese-cloth duster, neatly hemmed, makes a nice present from the youngest ones to their mothers, while the older girls make clothes for themselves or for the children at home. ”

“ What do you mean to do with it, Matty?" asked Blanche, unrolling the elaborate piece of work in question.
"My dear Blanche, you are not always so practical, I am sure," said Miss Prosser, coming to the rescue. "Do you not know that it is a part of every young lady's education to be able to sew fancy work? And, besides, the habit of diligence is so good, my dear Blanche; you ought to remember that."
"Well; but it seems to me that there is no use of some people being diligent—about sewing, at all events. Don't you remember these slippers I sewed for papa, Miss Prosser? ”

“ I have had one hundred and seven girls in sewing, this quarter; they seem as interested in their work as ever. Some of the older girls are doing well in cutting and basting. We hope to have a class in dressmaking soon. ”

“ She did the same by Hollands cloth, and made coarse strong lace, with which all my lady’s napkins and table-linen were trimmed. We worked under her during a great part of the day, either in the still-room, or at our sewing in a chamber that opened out of the great hall. My lady despised every kind of work that would now be called Fancy-work. She considered that the use of coloured threads or worsted was only fit to amuse children; but that grown women ought not to be taken with mere blues and reds, but to restrict their pleasure in sewing to making small and delicate stitches. ”

“ They spend half a year making graduation dresses which they may wear before admiring parents. They copy the latest fashion in hats without thought as to utility or beauty. They knit feathery neck pieces and neglect stocking darning. They laboriously sew by hand articles which had better be made on a machine.
Our girls must learn to think of others than themselves. Their sewing and millinery must get away from the individual-problem idea. Of course girls must learn to sew by hand, especially when the home in these days teaches so little in the way of hand sewing. ”

“ Felicia's delicate fingers guided her needle back and forth making exquisite darns and patches in small petticoats and dresses. One grudging word of approval did her plump and fretful employer allow her.
"You certainly can sew, but you needn't bother to take such small stitches—I wish you'd stop fussing with that and press my frock—"
An ironing board added itself to the other confusion. Propped up between the sewing machine and the uneven metal footboard of a child's crib Felicia eyed it with misgiving. She almost laughed aloud. ”

“ But the sewing that is worth while cultivating now is the kind that can't be done by the machine but by the fingers of an artist. Embroidery and specialized dressmaking like that we've been talking about—those are the kinds of sewing that make you a craftswoman and an artist and not a drudge."
"You've stowed away all that your teacher has told you, I see." ”

“ The woman settled contentedly to the bit of work in her hands. The rhythm of the needle passing in and out through the black cloth seemed to tranquillize her, and her face became quiet. "I like to sew," she said, smoothing the braid under her fingers. "I used to sew when Marian was home. We used to spend hours together, and even when she was off with the young people, I always felt she might come back any minute and take up her work by the other window. . . . I have scarcely touched a needle since she went—" She broke off, gazing before her. Then she went on sewing, her needle moving swiftly. ”

“ And, for a wonder, no friend was there, but Eve sat by the fire, too, a book in her hand and her sewing basket near. For Eve, not having been brought up to sew,—save embroidery, if that be called sewing,—has developed, suddenly, a great desire for it, so that she always has her basket by her. ”

“ I'd just love to do it," replied Nan, "but"--
"That's enough, then, and now there's only one more thing I have to speak about. I know some girls, who have formed themselves into a band called a 'King's Daughter Circle,' and they meet once a week to sew for somebody who is not able to do her own sewing. ”

“ I was the eldest, and my sister the youngest of the three. Thus, when I was quite a child, I learned to use the needle; and as I grew older, the utmost pains were taken to teach me every branch of sewing, from the commonest to the most difficult. My sister went through the same course of instruction.
At a very early age we were able to make and dress our own dolls, hem our handkerchiefs and aprons, and in due time were promoted to the darning of father's stockings and the patching of his working-clothes. ”

“ Every woman had to sew. There were well-trained seamstresses in every house; no “ready-mades,” no machines. Imagine the fine hand-sewing on shirt bosoms, collars and cuffs. I can hear my mother’s voice now, “Be careful in the stitching of that bosom; take up two and skip four,” which I early learned meant the threads of the linen. What a time there was when the boys grew to tailor-cut pantaloons! Cut by a tailor, sewed at home, what a to-do there was when Charley had his first tail-coat ”