Chapter II: Part 2

Take your ribbon and cut off two pieces, each 8 inches long. These are for the bow. Divide the remainder into four equal lengths, and mark each little division with a small pin. This is so that you will use just the same length on each of the four sides of your square. With a needle, draw out three or four threads running through the middle of the ribbon, and pull these gently to draw the ribbon up. It is not enough to pull on one thread or two, because, although it is easier to draw, it may snap before you get very far. Draw up the ribbon until it is exactly the size to go round your square; then pin the gathered ribbon round the sides, taking care to get one of the divisions marked by the pin on each side of the square.

Thread a needle with pink sewing silk, and sew the ribbon on, through the centre, taking a very tiny stitch on top, and a longer one underneath. Make a back-stitch every now and then, by putting the needle back instead of forward. This makes it a little more secure. Allow a little extra fulness at the corners, so as to turn these carefully and evenly, and here you will need one or two little backstitches. When you get round to the corner from which you started, turn in the end of your ribbon, and join it neatly to your starting end. Take out the pins.

Lining the Sachet.

Take the square of white silk, and turn in once all round about a quarter-inch, and tack it. Lay it on your square of canvas, so that the turned-in sides of canvas and silk come together. Pin these together all round. With the white sewing silk, hem the silk to the canvas carefully, so that each stitch catches up a thread of the canvas, but does not come through the gathered ribbon. At the second corner, slip in one end of one of your lengths of ribbon between the silk and canvas, and when you come to that, hem it in with the silk to the canvas. When the hemming is finished, the tacking stitches can be taken out of the silk.

Folding and Finishing.

You have now got a silk-lined canvas square, with a little end of ribbon attached to one corner. You must now fold your square so that all the worked corners meet, as you see in the picture on page 34. We will call your square A, B, C, D, as the corners are marked in the diagram, Fig. 6. Divide each side in half (just put a tiny pin in to mark the division), and call these points E, F, G, and H. Now fold along the lines E to F, F to G, G to H, and H to E. This will bring your corners A, B, C and D all together in the middle if you have done your measuring quite carefully. (See Fig. 7). Let us call D the point that has the ribbon end. Now A, B and C have all to be joined together, but D is not sewn to them. D’s little ribbon end is only tied to the centre, so that the sachet can be opened and closed. Catch A F and B F and A E and C E together with just a few tiny stitches under the ribbon, sew the points A, B, C neatly together. And here is where you attach your last little bit of ribbon having turned in one end neatly. While you are sewing on this centre you had better keep your left fingers inside the sachet, and your thumb outside. Then you will be quite sure that you are not sewing right through the sachet, because it would be serious if when Mother came to put her handkerchiefs in, she couldn’t get them down because it was sewn through, wouldn’t it? You have now only to tie your two ends of ribbon in a nice bow, and Mother’s handkerchief sachet is complete.

Of course, you will want to make some more of these sachets, and you can work them in other colours, or line them with coloured silk. It would look pretty, for instance, to have a deep cream canvas, worked with Ardern’s “Star Sylko” No. 734, Size 5, which is a lovely cream shade. Then have for the lining, forget-me-not blue, and blue ribbon to match. Or you could work the satin-stitch in dark green, No. 753, and the weaving in a paler green, No. 751, and have a white silk lining and pale green ribbon. And I am sure you will think of lots of other pretty colours you can use.

Some other Pretty Corners.

Perhaps you would rather work another kind of corner. Six others are shown, any of which you would be able to manage, I am sure. For four of them, you do not have to cut any threads. The one with the cross in the middle, Fig. 8, would be very quickly worked. The outer part of this is worked almost like the corner on the sachet, only there are no straight blocks in a row here, and you take 5 stitches over 5 threads for each block. Then you work 5 stitches over 5 threads each way into one hole in the middle for the centre cross.

Fig. 9 is another little corner, just like the one on the sachet, only instead of cutting any threads, you fill up alternate squares with satin-stitch blocks.

Then the star pattern, Fig. 10, is pretty and easy. You start by taking a stitch over 8 threads, then take one over 7, over 6, over 5, over 4, over 3, over 2. Now over 2 again, and so on, up to 8. Then start another row at right angles to the first, and two more rows in the same way. The long stitches in the middle are taken into the holes from which the short stitches were taken.

Another easy little design shows two straight rows of satin-stitch crossing two in opposite ways (Fig. 11).

Sometimes a few rows of blocks outside a design will improve it, and make it look bolder. This is the case with the open-work square, Fig. 12. A second row of blocks has been added outside the first, working the stitches the other way.

In the last open-work corner, Fig. 13, 4 stitches are taken over 4 threads, and 5 over 8 threads, then 4 over 5 threads again, and so on. All the threads are then cut away, except the 4 in the middle of each side, and these are woven as usual.

Now set to work and see what you can do. After a little practice, you will probably be able to make up some corners for yourself, but until you are quite sure of the work, it is better to practise those I have shown you.

Pale Blue and Heliotrope.

You don’t know what to make for Auntie? Why not make her a pretty bag to keep her work in? The one on this page is in pale blue, and looks ever so pretty. Too difficult? Oh no, everything is easy when you know the way, and you are going to have a little lesson in Hairpin Work to-day. No, the work isn’t exactly done on a hairpin, but on a staple. This is similar in shape, only larger.

For this bag you will want your staple—get one about 2 inches in width—and a No. 1 steel crochet hook. You will also want a ball of Strutt’s Macramè Thread No. 512, Size 10. Then, if you want to line your bag, you will need something pretty for this. The bag you see here is lined with a heliotrope sateen, which peeps very prettily through the pale blue. One more thing—a few little white bone rings for the drawing-up strings to go through.

All About Loops.

Commence by making a loop in your thread, you will want this loop to be as long as half the distance between the two prongs of your staple, so that when you hang it over one side the knot comes just in the middle. So do not tighten it until you see that it will come just here. Put this loop over the left side of the staple. Put the thread across the front, and over the right prong of the staple. Now take your crochet hook, put it in the loop, and catch the thread that you have put over the right prong from front to back. This makes the first loop on the right. Slip the hook over the right prong *, turn the staple over towards you, wrapping the thread round the left prong, as you do so. By turning, you now make the left prong the right one, you have now one loop on your crochet hook. Put the hook under the loop which is now on the left side of the staple, draw the thread through this. This gives you two loops on your hook. Put the thread over the crochet hook, and draw it through the two loops. Slip the hook over the right prong, and repeat from *. The picture shows the thread being drawn through the loop.

You must keep on making these loops until you have 90 on each side of the staple. Then finish off in this way. 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.

Joining the Strips.

Having finished your strips you have to join them. One of the pictures shows this being done. Take two strips and lay them side by side on the table, with the commencing ends of each towards you. Take up on your crochet hook three loops from the strip on the left, then three loops from the strip on the right. As the six loops lie on the hook—three from each side—draw the three from the right through the three from the left, with the help of your left thumb and first finger. (If you look at the picture you will see that these loops usually lie twisted. They should be taken on to the hook in this way, and if one is not twisted, turn it over with your finger and thumb).

You have now three loops on your hook, which were picked up on the right hand strip. Take up three more from the left, and so on, for the length of the strip. When you get to the end of the strip (your last loop will have been taken from the right as you started on the left), stick the hook with the loops on into the middle of the strip on the left, and drawing through the length of thread which was left at the end of the strip, fasten off securely.

Now take the third strip and lay it on the right of the second strip; start by taking up three loops from the third. In joining, see that you always commence on the odd strip, that is to say, on 1, 3, 5, 7, etc., so that whether you are joining strips 2 to 3, or 3 to 4, you commence on strip 3, and whether you are joining 4 to 5, or 5 to 6, you commence on strip 5.

Getting it into Shape.

You must now fold in half your long piece of work, and join up the sides to make it into a bag. The sides are joined just the same as the other part, taking first 3 loops from one side and 3 from the other until you get to the bottom. With a little piece of thread, fasten off very neatly on the wrong side, sticking the hook in the middle of one of the strips before finishing off, to make it quite firm.

To finish the top of the bag make a loop in the thread, draw this through the top of one of the strips, make 5 chain stitches, then 1 double crochet into the joined loops, 5 chain, 1 d c into middle of next strip. Do this all round the top of the bag, and fasten off.

For the cord, make a chain of 36 inches. Sew 10 little white rings at even distances round the bag, about 2 inches from the top. Run the cord through these rings twice, and when you get back the second time to the ring you started from, join the cord neatly with a needle and cotton. Now you see it will pull up quite nicely each side, and Auntie can hang the bag on her arm.

We have not talked about lining the bag. Perhaps you don’t want to line it, but if you do, make a bag of silk or sateen (like the one described on page 11), the same size as the macramè bag, and slip it into it, just catching it at the corners with a few tiny stitches, so that the lining does not slip out of the bag. This lining should have a nice deep hem at the top, which could peep over the top of the macramè bag. Your bag is now finished, and if Auntie is not delighted with it, I shall be very much surprised.

The Amiable Pussy Cats.

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. Red “Bright-eye” thread was used for working the cats.

You will want to make it the right size for Mother’s tea cosy, won’t you? Well, you will be able to get it exactly the size, if you first take a piece of paper, lay the cosy on it, and draw round the cosy with a pencil, then cut the paper out on the pencil line.

This gives you the shape of the side of the cosy, but the material will need to be cut larger than this to allow for a seam and a hem across the bottom, so take another piece of paper, and using the piece you have already cut as a pattern, cut the side out again, this time allowing an extra quarter of an inch all round the curved edge for the seam, and an inch along the straight edge for the hem.

Now that you have a pattern, cut out two pieces of canvas exactly this shape, and you can commence to make up your cosy cover.

The hems at the bottom of the cosy have to be hem-stitched, so you had better pull the threads out for this first. Measure each side up 1¾ inches from the straight edge and draw out four threads.

Directions for the simple hemstitching used are given on page 30, but before you do this part you must work your cats and join the two sides together, so that you can turn up your hem all along both sides evenly, and not have to join the hem after they are turned up.

Work your cats in cross-stitch. This stitch was described on page 25, so that if you don’t know how to do it, just turn to this page and see how it is done.

You will be able to count the crosses from the drawing you have of the two cats. The lowest cross of the tail of the cat sitting down should come six threads above the open threads for your hem; this will help you in starting to work the design. Work two cats on each side of the cosy.

When you have finished the pussy cats, place the two sides together, with the right sides facing one another, and sew round the curved edges with a run and back-stitch, then oversew along the cut edges to make them neat.

Now turn up your hem and hemstitch it, then turn the cosy on the right side, and sew a piece of red cord over the seam of the cosy, making three little loops in the centre at the top. You must use red cotton to sew on the cord, and take tiny hemming stitches that will not show too much.

If you don’t want to make your cosy cover of canvas, but would like to use linen or some other material, you can work the cats on Penelope canvas, tacked over the material, as you learnt to do when making the Feeder.

What a Contrast!

Lazy Lizzie uses pins
When she sees a tear!
Her buttons lie upon the floor,
The lace is off her pinafore;
And don’t the people stare!

Hilda is industrious,
Nothing ever tires her;
She simply gets her sewing-box,
And quickly mends her pretty frocks;
And everyone admires her!

F. K.

The Orchid Flower Bag.

Have you been trying very hard to think of something else that you can make for Mother? I wonder if she has a Stocking Bag? If not, you could easily make her one of these, couldn’t you, and I know she would like to have one, especially if she has several little boys and girls to mend stockings for. 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.

It will be best to make the bag of a material that will wash nicely. A good strong Holland or Crash would be very suitable. You will want a strip of material about a yard long and fifteen inches wide to make a good-sized bag.

The pretty little flowers across the bag are worked in cross-stitch, and you have an enlarged diagram of the design which you will be able to count the crosses from.

Use “Bright-eye” embroidery thread for working the flowers. A purple thread would look pretty, but perhaps you know another colour that Mother is very fond of, and would like to use that.

You must work the designs before you make up the bag. Fold the strip of material in half and tack a strip of Penelope Canvas across about four inches up from the fold. Directions for working cross-stitch over Penelope Canvas are given on page 27, in case you want to know how this is done.

How to make up a bag, too, was described on page 11, and you can make this one in exactly the same way. You will notice that this one has a cord threaded through rings outside of the bag instead of through a runner at the top though, and if you like this way better you can sew twelve white bone rings at equal distances apart round the outside of the bag just at the bottom of the hem, and put the cord through these. You will want about two yards of coloured cord, in the same shade as the thread you used for working the flowers. Thread the cord twice round the bag through the rings, join it together, and your bag is complete.

An Alphabet that can be copied in Cross-stitch.

More Letters for Cross-stitch.

Furnishings for Dolly’s Cottage.

For Dolly’s Bed.

One of the most enjoyable times of the day spent with dolly is the time when you can undress and put her to bed, just as mother does baby.

And how much nicer, too, if you can feel that you have made all the bedclothes yourself. You may perhaps think that you could never manage that, but just look at these pretty little pictures of the things and see how simple they all are. I am sure then that you will want to try and copy them for your own dear dolly.

Before starting to make the outfit for the doll’s bed, get your materials together. Perhaps someone gave you a bedstead on your last birthday? If not, buy one the right size for your favourite doll. The one in the picture is a metal one with a wire mattress.

For the mattress, try to get a material something like that generally used for mattresses, but not so thick; a striped print would do quite nicely. The mattress illustrated and the pillows are made of grey, and white striped material, bound with red ribbon.

The cover for the wire mattress is made of white calico, the blankets of cream flannel, the sheets and pillow-cases of white linen; the bedspread and nightdress case of canvas worked with “Brighteye” thread.

The Mattress.

Cut out two pieces of material a little larger than the bedstead, and another long narrow piece the depth of the mattress. Sew one side of the narrow piece around the sides of one of the large pieces (running stitch will do quite well for this part of the work), leaving the edges of the seam on the outside. Then join the other side of the narrow strip to three of the sides of the other piece you have cut, leaving one side open to put the filling in. This mattress is filled with horse-hair; but cotton wool, small pieces of rag, or paper could be used instead.

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.

Now you will need to stab the mattress in places, as in the picture, to make it look just like the one on your own bed.

Take a long needle threaded with coarse thread the same colour as the binding, put the needle through the mattress, leaving a long end, make two more stitches through the mattress in the same place, pulling the thread tightly, finish at the same side as you began, tie a knot with the thread used and the long end left at the beginning and cut the threads, leaving small ends of threads beyond the knot.

Look at the illustration to see the positions in which you must put these stitches and knots.

The Wire Mattress Cover.

Cut the material a little larger than the wire mattress to allow for a quarter-inch hem; hem the piece around, and sew two narrow pieces of tape (or coarse thread will do) at each corner of the cover: the cover is tied to the wire mattress with these pieces of tape.

The Blankets.

Cut the flannel out large enough to cover the top and sides of mattress and allow for tucking up.

Turn down about a quarter of an inch single turning at each end of the blanket on the wrong side, then work in blanket stitch across both ends. You will see that a little specimen of work is illustrated, showing how to make this stitch. It is worked from left to right. 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.

The Sheets.

These should be cut a little longer than the blankets to allow for the wide hems, and for turning back at the top. The very narrowest of hems should be put at each side of the sheets, and one about half an inch wide along the bottom of each; but the top hems are about three-quarters of an inch wide, and are worked in ladder hem-stitching. All about how to do hem-stitching will be found on page 30.

No. 1 shows Blanket Stitch.
No. 2 shows Outline Stitch.
No. 3 shows Whipping Stitch.
No. 4 shows the Stitch for
Binding the Mattress.]

At the corner of the top sheet the initial B is worked. Of course, you must work the first letter of your doll’s name. If you are not sure you can write the initial on linen yourself, get someone to do it for you; then work it over in a fancy outline stitch with embroidery thread. You have a little specimen of work showing how the outline stitch was made for the B. In working this you hold your thread down along the design of your initial with your left hand, and take a small stitch over the thread, putting your needle in just above the thread and bringing it out just underneath; this makes a little knotted stitch, and the knots are repeated along the design at equal distances apart. You can use this outline stitch for many purposes.

The Pillows.

Make the pillows of the same material as you used for the mattress. These will need to be each about three inches wide, and a little longer than half the width of the bed. For each pillow cut two pieces of material exactly the same size. Run the two pieces together round three of the edges on the wrong side, then turn on to the right side, stuff the pillows with wool or small pieces of rag, and oversew the edges of the fourth side together.

The Pillow-Cases.

Make the pillow-cases in the same way as the pillows but a little larger, and hem round one end so that you can slip the pillow in. Sew two pieces of very narrow tape to each side of the open end, and tie the pillow into the case.

One of the pillow-cases has a frill round. To make this, cut out a narrow piece of linen, hem one side of it, and work a simple crochet edge on to this. Or you can use Cash’s Frillings for this, which are made to draw up easily into frills.

When the frill is ready to sew on, roll the edge of the other side of frill between your finger and thumb and sew over the roll, as shown in the little illustration. Use a coarser thread for this, working from right to left, pulling the thread to gather the frill as you are working it. This is called whipping, and is really very much the same as oversewing, only the stitches are taken right over the hem. Cash’s Frilling needs no whipping.

Oversew the frill around the edge of the pillow-case.

The Bedspread.

Cut out a piece of canvas large enough to cover the bed, and hang over the mattress, allowing extra around for the hem.

Hemstitch around, taking two sets of threads together; for the second side of the hemstitch sew together two sets of threads, but take up alternate threads to those taken up on the other side; this serpentine stitch is shown on page 30.

The pattern of the bedspread is shown on page 61.

Each slanting stitch is worked over two holes—that is, pull the needle through a hole, leave two holes on the cross, put the needle into the next hole, leave two holes on the cross in the opposite direction, pull the needle up through the next hole, put the needle back into the same hole as the end of first stitch, and up again through the hole at the beginning of the second stitch.

Continue to work in this way all round the piece of canvas.

Work three more rows like this, arranged so that the stitches form a diamond pattern as you see illustrated.

Then fill in the corners with the same pattern, and work the pattern in the centre of dolly’s bedspread.

The Nightdress Case.

The nightdress case is made with the same materials as the bedspread.

Cut out a piece of canvas two and a half inches wide and four and a half inches long; fold this so that it makes a bag with a flap over it the same size as the bag. Put the two ends of the canvas for bag together, and work in blanket stitch round through both pieces at once, also around the edges of the flap to finish off the little case.

Work three diamonds on the front of the nightdress case. This completes the outfit for dolly’s bed, and I am sure she will like it.

A Patchwork Quilt.

SUPPOSING Miss Seraphine’s doll-friend Clementine were to write and say she was coming on a visit next week. Wouldn’t you be in a fix with no nice bedspread for the spare bed, because you were reading that book instead of attending to the dolls’ spring cleaning? You will have to see about a new bedspread quickly, and you can make one that will be very pretty, with just a few little pieces. Here is where those scraps that Grandma gave you the other day will come in usefully.

We are going to make a patchwork quilt. It won’t be as large as the one Grandma has, but Clementine doesn’t require a very big one to cover her. First, let us just see what pieces we have got together. Some unbleached calico, some pieces with roses and rosebuds on, some dark ones with leaves and bunches of grapes, one piece with a little pink flower all by itself, a few flowery bits, and some with different kinds of spots. There is just enough here to make something really lovely, and I shouldn’t wonder if when Clementine sees it she doesn’t want to change bedspreads with Seraphine.

Arranging the Pieces.

But to get to work. 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. We will decide to have our design in squares. A little square of the pink flower could come in the centre. Then to show it up, a dark square with leaves and a bunch of grapes could come above, below, and at each side of it. You might have four little spotty patterns at the corners between two dark bits, and above the top and below the bottom dark piece might be a little fancy pattern. At the four corners left, we will put a rose or rosebud. Look at the picture of a patchwork quilt, and you will see how we have arranged them all. Then we might have a border of the unbleached calico.

Before we go any further, do you know what makes this so attractive and pretty? It is the dark pieces—the pieces you wanted to throw away—and the plain border. These darker pieces throw up the pretty light designs, and make them look even more pretty, whereas, if you put all light together, you could not so easily pick them out.

Covering and Joining the Squares.

If you haven’t done any patchwork, you will wonder how to get the little squares even, and to join them together. This is how it is managed. You want 15 squares of stiff paper, each measuring 1½ inches each way. Stiff old letters will do beautifully to cut up for this. Get a piece of cardboard, 1½ inches each way, and cut your papers by this, taking great care that they are perfectly even and true. Cut out your 15 pieces of material in squares, which should measure 2 inches each way. That will allow you ¼ inch on each side for turning the end over the paper to make it neat. Tack a piece over each square of paper, as in the picture. When the 15 squares are covered, join them all together on the wrong side with oversewing stitches, arranging them as we decided. You will see how to do oversewing on page 28.

How to Manage the Border.

For the border, cut a plain strip of unbleached calico, 2 inches wide and about 37 inches in length. On each side of this strip tack down ¼ inch. Now, leaving about 2 inches, start sewing on the border at one corner of the quilt, on the wrong side, with neat oversewing stitches. When you come to a corner you must mitre it. From the corner measure along your border twice the width of the border, _i.e._, 3 inches. Mark with a pin or thread. Now pleat your border strip so that the pin comes just on the corner. If you have done this quite neatly and evenly, your corner will be quite square. On the wrong side you will have a crease across the diagonal of the border. Stitch along this firmly with run and back-stitch. Then cut away just beyond the stitches, and oversew the raw edges to keep from fraying. When you come to the corner from which you started, you must join the two ends of the border, and this is done just the same as the other corners, by first creasing and then stitching on the diagonal.

The Fancy Stitch.

On the quilt in the picture a little fancy stitch has been worked in coloured “Star Sylko,” and this is a great improvement. This is worked from left to right, with first a little horizontal stitch then a long slanting stitch, and below the slanting stitch another horizontal stitch. 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.

Now all that remains to be done is to line your quilt, and this is done by taking a piece of white sateen 7¾ inches wide by 10¾ inches long. Turn in once and then tack ¼ 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. It is now quite ready for the spare bed.

But perhaps some little mother says: “I haven’t got any pretty pieces like those in the picture. I have only got plain pink, blue and white.” Well, you can arrange these to look pretty, even if they are only plain colours. Put a square of pink in the middle, have a white square above, below, and at each side. At the four corners, where the spotty bits are, have blue. The four outside corners could be pink, and the top and bottom centre ones white. Then you could have a white border with blue stitching on it. This is only one suggestion for plain colours. You will soon think of plenty more. There is ever so much you can do with a few pieces and a little patience.

Just Think!

Mary Mabel Melancholy
Wouldn’t even dress her dolly!
The only thing that she would do,
Was sit and sing “Bo-hoo! Bo-hoo!”

So the cold, uncomfy creature,
Was confiscated by the teacher,
And given to Alice Always-Good,
Who made it such a pretty hood.

F. K.

For the New Perambulator.

There is one thing that dolly absolutely _must_ have before you take her out to see her friends, and that is a new pram-cover. You had almost forgotten that, hadn’t you? Just think how you would feel to have her dressed in her best for visiting, and sitting in that beautiful perambulator that Uncle gave you, and no nice cover to match! Wouldn’t you feel dreadful?

Here is a pram-cover that you can make. This has been worked on pale pink sateen, with shaded green for the leaves and stems, and dark crimson for the rosebuds. Use a shaded green No. 8 “Star Sylko,” crimson, No. 8, and plain green thread, No. 5, the same shade as the darkest part of the shaded thread, for the lines around. Perhaps these colours won’t go quite nicely with dolly’s pram and outdoor clothes. In that case you must decide on some other shades.

This pram-cover measures 10 inches long by 7½ inches wide, then another 2 inches has been added to the length, and 2 inches to the width for the hem. You may find you need your cover larger or smaller than this one, but whatever size you have, don’t forget to allow extra for a nice hem. Tack the hem down all round, but do not hem it: the stitches on the outside line keep it in place.

Having tacked your hem, you have now to get the design transferred to your pram-cover. Just look at the outline design. This is just the size you will want. Now take a piece of tracing paper, and go carefully over the outline of the leaf wreath. Don’t trouble about the bud at present. Next turn the paper over and run over the back of the design with a fairly soft lead pencil—the outlines will show through the transparent paper. Turn it over again and lay it on your cover, taking care to get it nicely in the centre. Keep it firm and follow every line with a slightly harder pencil, marking it firmly and evenly. When you take your paper up you will find the leaves transferred to your pram-cover. The buds are transferred to each corner in the same way, putting them whichever way up you want them.

All you have to do now is to work over the design in the outline stitch described on page 58. Work the leaves and stems in the shaded green, the rosebuds in crimson, and the border lines in plain dark green. You can then take out the tacking threads.

Dolly will be highly pleased to have such a nice cover to her perambulator. She does like to be stylish, doesn’t she?

A Bedspread for Victoria.

I wonder whether you have made the bedspread, shown on page 61, with the doll’s bed outfit. I daresay you have, and perhaps the patchwork quilt too. But of course you will not want all your doll-children’s beds to look quite the same, so how about a bedspread with a fringe to it for Victoria’s bed? You usually dress her in blue, don’t you, to match her eyes, so you had better work the bedspread in blue. No, I know she does not go to sleep with her eyes open, but she has lovely fair hair, and pink roses in her cheeks; and a cream bedspread, worked in blue, is what she needs to set her off properly.

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.

If you have not yet learnt to work the stitches used in making this bedspread, the best plan would be to take an odd piece of canvas and practise on that first.

Satin Stitch.

We will start with the white outlines of the border. This is worked in satin stitch—a very simple stitch, but it needs to be worked evenly, and the thread must not be pulled too tightly. Do not make a knot to start the work, leave a piece of thread at the back, and put the needle through this piece before you work the second stitch. Start by putting the needle up through a hole of the canvas, miss 1 hole, put the needle into the next hole; put the needle through the next hole on a line with the first, and go on working stitches like this in a straight line.

If you do this in the right way, the stitches on the right side will be straight, and on the wrong side they will slant a little.

The corners of this piece of work are done in an easy way, look carefully at the illustration, and I think you will see what to do. The 2 stitches on each side and the centre stitch are all worked into the same hole on the inside of the corner.

Outlines of Border.

Now if you can do satin stitch, the bedspread can be started.

Leave 12 holes around outside the satin stitch line. Work 50 stitches across both ends, 84 stitches on each side—not counting the 3 extra stitches at corners. Leave 14 holes on the side and work a line of stitches across to the other side, on both ends of work. Leave 14 holes, counting towards the centre from side, and work a second line on each side between the ones worked at each end.

To divide this into squares, leave 14 holes, and work rows of satin stitch between the 2 lines.

Centre of Squares.

Thread your needle with blue, and put it up through the corner hole, miss 2 holes, counting towards the centre, put the needle in the next hole, put the needle up through the third hole in a straight line from end of first stitch, then into same hole as the end of first stitch; work another straight stitch on the other side.

Work 3 more stitches like the first 3. Do 3 more corners in the same way, and join these corners with 4 stitches, these stitches make the square in the centre.

The fringe looks difficult, but it is easier than it looks.

Count 3 lines of thread from the satin stitch, this will leave 2 holes, draw out the next two lines of thread from across the canvas; this leaves a narrow piece of the canvas with threads one way only.

On page 30 you will see how to do the Serpentine Hem-stitching. This is the stitch that is used for the edge of this bedspread, only that here you have no hem. You just do the work on both sides of the threads. Then pull away the threads at the edge, outside the second row of stitches, and you will get your fringe.

The Two Dollies.

I always dress the Princess Clare
In white with pale blue bows;
She is a most well-mannered doll,
And careful where she goes.
She never soils her muslin dress,
Or makes her slippers in a mess.

But Lady Maude is always getting
Some ugly-looking tear;
Or else her hat has had a wetting
And isn’t fit to wear!
And though I give her lovely sashes,
She gets them spoilt with muddy splashes!

A doll who acts so carelessly
Will have to wear a sack!
With just a piece of string to tie
A sash behind her back!
You cannot let her wear pink silk
When she upsets her bread and milk!

But Princess Clare goes out to tea,
And often has a treat;
You know wherever she may be
She will be clean and neat.
A child like this is quite a treasure,
To take her out is such a pleasure!

F. K.

For Dolly’s Cottage Window.

LITTLE casement curtains are quite the best kind for the doll’s cottage windows, and on this page is shown a very pretty one that you will probably like to make. This is of dark green sateen, and the work on it is done in light green and pink “Brighteye.” It looks very nice in the picture, but it looks a great deal prettier when you can see the colours just as they are. And isn’t the way the little circles are entwined just sweet? Are you thinking that you couldn’t manage it? Well don’t think it any more, because you can, if you just follow this little talk carefully.

The stitch on this little curtain is called chain stitch. It is worked from right to left, or to be really nearer the mark—from top to bottom. To make it, bring your needle up from underneath, leaving a little end at the back. Hold the thread down with the left thumb, and, putting the needle back where you brought it up, take up a few threads of the material with the needle. Pull the thread through, but not too tightly, repeat the stitch. One little picture shows you chain stitch being worked.

For this curtain, a piece of sateen, 5 inches long by 4½ inches wide, is needed. Turn a narrow hem on all four sides, and tack it. The top edge must be hemmed with tiny stitches, but the other three sides need not be hemmed, as the chain stitches will keep the hems down. This chain stitch can now be worked over the hems, on the right side. Now measure in 1 inch from the left side of chain stitch, and work another row in the same way. Between these two straight rows come the interwoven circles. To get these circles even, cut out a piece of cardboard the same size as the top of your thimble, and draw little circles round it on the sateen, allowing each circle to overlap the last one just a little bit. Now each little round touches the next one at two points. At one of these points it goes under, and at the other, over the next round. You will easily see what I mean by looking carefully at this little curtain. When the circles are all finished, they look like a chain, with one pink and one green link alternately. The only other thing to do is to sew the rings to the top of the curtain, for putting your curtain rod through. You will want one just like it for the other side of the window, and in making this, be sure and get your circles on the opposite side of the curtain, so as to make them a perfect pair.

Carpets and Hearthrugs.

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.

You can make your carpet and rug of whatever shades you like, and it would be best to choose colours that will go nicely with your wall paper. For instance, if the sitting-room of your doll’s cottage is going to have a paper with pink roses and green leaves on the wall, you had better decide to have pink and green for your carpet and rug. If you have yellow walls, a carpet in a lovely shade of brown, and just a little yellow in it would be delightful. Of course, if the doll’s cottage has white or cream walls, you can choose whatever colours you like for the floor.

The In-and-Out Pattern.

Let us make this little rug first, as this is a particularly easy pattern. Cream Congress Canvas has been used for this, and on page 78 there is a picture of a little bit worked on canvas, that you may see which way the stitches go. This rug measures 4 inches long by 2½ inches wide when finished, but it does not matter at all what size you make it. This has been worked in Baldwin & Walker’s Ladyship 3-ply Fingering, pink and green. This is a lovely soft wool to use.

Commence by turning the canvas in all round and tack it. Run the pink wool up a little way at the back of the canvas, leave a loop at the end, then start the first row between 2nd and 3rd threads from the left side, * pass the pink wool under 1 thread of canvas; then over 6 threads and under 2 threads 6 times, now over 6 threads and under 1 at end of canvas, leave a loop at end, and start the next row between the next two threads of canvas. *

Work four more rows from * to *.

_6th Row._—Pass the pink wool under 1 thread, over 2 threads, under 2 threads, over 6 threads 6 times; now under 2 threads, over 2 threads, under 1 thread. Work 4 more rows like this. Repeat from 1st row to 10th row until the work is the right width.

Turn the canvas round and work the green wool across the canvas left between the pink wool.

_1st Row._—Start between the 3rd and 4th threads from the top and the 6th and 7th threads from the side.* Pass the green wool over 6 threads and under 4 threads twice, then over 6 threads, slip thread on to next hole at the back of the canvas. Work 2 more rows like this from *.

_4th Row._—Start the 4th row in the same hole as the 1st pink stitch of group ends. Pass the green wool over 5 threads, then under 4 threads and over 6 threads three times, now over 6 threads, slip the thread at back to the next hole for next row.

Work 2 more rows like this. Oversew the 2 threads at the end of the rows with green wool, and twist the wool over the single thread at the end of the fringe loops.

If there is any difficulty in counting the threads when working the green across, look at the back of the work.

Repeat the 6 rows until all the canvas between the pink threads is covered.

The Twisted and Darned Pattern.

If you want to use the design for a carpet you can make it larger and square-shaped, or here is another design that is thicker, and will therefore be softer and nicer for the dolls’ feet.

This twisted pattern is also shown in the shape for a rug, which measures 5 inches long by 3 inches wide, but it can be made whatever size and shape you like. It has also been worked on Congress Canvas, with Baldwin & Walker’s Ladyship 3-ply Fingering. The colours used are light green for the twisted pattern, heliotrope for the star in the middle, and dark green for the darning. With this carpet a paper with pansies or violets would look very pretty.

Here again little samples of the stitches have been worked on canvas, that you may see clearly how they are done.

The twisted pattern is worked in satin stitch over 4 threads of canvas.

You will see this stitch is described on page 71, and if you look at the pattern carefully, you will get the twist over and under quite right. To make the corners, work the stitches over 3, then 2, and 1 thread, then over the middle, work the other side of corner over 1, 2, and 3 threads, finish over 4 threads into the same hole as the last stitch, over 4 threads on the other side of the corner. Look at the pattern on the canvas as you work this out, that will also show how many stitches to do, and the way they are arranged.

For the star in the centre, work from corner to corner twice, crossing the thread in the centre, then another stitch from the centre hole on the top to the centre hole at opposite end, and another across the centre.

The canvas between the twisted pattern is darned, that is, pass the thread over 2 threads of canvas and under 2 threads—this also is plainly shewn on the coarse canvas.

Work blanket stitch into every hole around the edge.