Chapter I: Preface

This volume, like its companion, _Food and Health_, is intended for use in the elementary schools in those sections of the country where the home life is of the type described. It is hoped that both volumes will be used by the home people as well as by those at the school.

This volume treats largely of the clothing problems and of the elementary work in sewing which precedes garment making. It also includes the subject of the leading textile materials,--where they are grown and how they are manufactured ready for our use. Such topics as the hygiene of clothing, buying materials and clothing wisely, the clothing budget, the use of the commercial pattern, the care and repair of clothing, color combinations, and attractiveness in dress, are woven in with the lessons on sewing and textiles, in a very simple and elementary way.

The authors are indebted to the United States Department of Agriculture, to the Smithsonian Institution, to the Draper Company, Hopedale, Massachusetts, to the York Street Flax Spinning Company, Belfast, to the Whittall Rug Company, to Cheney Brothers, silk manufacturers, and to others, for kind permission to use the pictures shown. We acknowledge, also, the permission of the Corticelli Silk Mills of Florence, Massachusetts, for use of their copyrighted photographs of silkworms. Teachers will be glad to know that they can obtain from the Corticelli Mills, at slight expense, specimen cocoons and other helps for object lesson teaching.

CONTENTS

PAGE

THE PLEASANT VALLEY SCHOOL 1

CHAPTER I. THE PLEASANT VALLEY GIRLS LEARN TO SEW:
Lesson 1. Toweling and Other Cotton Samples 6
Lesson 2. The Story of How Cotton Grows 11
Lesson 3. The Hemming Stitch 19
Lesson 4. The Stitching Stitch 23
Lesson 5. The Overhanding Stitch 28
Lesson 6. Planning to Make an Apron 31
Lesson 7. Using the Running and Back Stitch on the Apron 34
Lesson 8. Making and Attaching the Apron Yokes 37
Lesson 9. How to Make a Buttonhole 39
Lesson 10. The Use of the Commercial Pattern 46
Lesson 11. Taking Measurements and Cutting Out the Petticoat 50
Lesson 12. Making the Petticoats 53