Read Ebook: The Little Girl's Sewing Book by Klickmann Flora Editor Cowham Hilda Illustrator Miller Hilda T Illustrator

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Ebook has 492 lines and 34901 words, and 10 pages

When you have hemmed the hems, you must put a row of running stitches along each hem, about half-an-inch above your hemming line, to make a runner, so that when you thread your ribbons through they will be held down at the bottom of the hem and not come right up to the top of the bag. Now you can oversew the ends of the hems together, leaving the little space between the running line and the hemming line open, so that you can thread your ribbon through. This part of the work must be done with fine sewing cotton the same colour as your material, as you do not want the stitches to show too much.

If you like you can embroider an even row of white crosses over the stitches on the right side of the bag; this makes a pretty finish.

You can either use red cord or a narrow red ribbon for threading through your bag, and you will want a yard and a half. Cut this into two even lengths.

Then thread a bodkin with one piece, and starting from the left hand side of the bag, thread it right round the bag through the runner you made at the bottom of the hems. When you have got it right through, sew the two ends of the ribbon together, and pull it round from the right side so that the join does not show; this will leave you with a long loop of ribbon hanging from the right side of the bag. Now take the other piece of ribbon and do exactly the same from the left side of the bag.

Now when you pull the loops at each side the bag will draw up nice and evenly at the top.

The Invalid.

I'm 'fraid I can't go out to-day, My baby's cough is worse; And if she isn't better soon I'll have to have a nurse,-- Like mother did when I had fever;-- It really isn't safe to leave her!

This morning when I had my bath, She tumbled head-first in, And got herself just soaking wet Right to her very skin.

She had her shoes and stockings on, Also her cream serge frock; And when we found her, nearly drowned, She'd fainted with the shock!

I've made her lots of medicine, With chocolate cream and water; But she's so tiresome, she won't try To take it as I taught her.

I've put her in the nice new bed I've been so busy making, With mattresses and underlay, And feather beds for shaking.

And hem stitched sheets all trimmed with lace, And blankets edged with blue, And frills around the pillow case, A pink silk bedspread too!

I've put her newest nightie on, And made her shut her eyes; .

But when I got her medicine And said, "Now dear, sit up, And take a teeny little drop Out of your favourite cup."

She was a really naughty child, And simply said, she wouldn't! But there--poor thing, she's just a doll, So I suppose she couldn't!

And now I'll have to say good-bye, You'll 'scuse me writing more. I think I hear the doctor, Rat-tat-tatting at the door.

F. K.

The Swallow Nightdress Pocket.

Isn't it just lovely to be able to make things all by yourself, without having to wait to be shown what to do next all the time. Mother is sure to be busy just when you want to know how to go on, and not have the time to stop to arrange your work for you. This pretty nightdress pocket can be made out of a long straight strip of material, folded up like an envelope. That sounds quite easy, doesn't it, and I am sure you have often folded up paper like an envelope, haven't you? You just divide it into three, and let one end lie over the other like a flap.

You will want about half a yard of white canvas, or linen, to make the pocket, and about 1 1/2 yards of Cash's Fancy Frilling, to put round the edge of the flap. Also you will need a ball of blue "Brighteye."

Now, take a tape measure and measure your material each way. You want to have a strip 30 inches long and 15 inches wide. When you have cut this, measure up 18 inches of the length, and cut 1 1/2 inches off the width of the strip at each side up as far as this, leaving the remaining 12 inches wider, to allow of the deep hem round the flap.

Now turn a 1 1/2 inch hem across the narrow end of your strip of material, hem it along on what will be the inside of the pocket, and fold this end of the strip up to form the pocket, until the lower edge of the hem reaches where the material comes out wider at each side.

Sew up the side seams with a run and back-stitch, then oversew the edges of the seams together, so that you do not have any frayed edges inside your pocket. The ends of the hem are not joined into the seams at each side, but these are turned in and oversewn to make them neat. This loose hem at the top of the pocket makes it easier for the nightdress to be slipped in and out.

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. If you measure round the flap, and then draw your length of frilling up to this size and distribute the fulness evenly all the way along, you can then just oversew the drawn-up edge of the frill to the edge of the hem all round on the wrong side of the flap.

An Easy-to-make Pinafore.

Every little girl would rather make something that is pretty and useful than something that is useful without being pretty. Now here is a very delightful pinafore that you can make for yourself, that is pretty, useful, and also easy.

The little girl in the picture looks so stylish in her pinafore that you would hardly believe you could so easily make one like it. But look at the picture on page 19 and you can see better what an easy little pattern it is--just a straight piece of muslin, hemmed and tucked and pleated into a band. This band comes across the chest, the two ribbons are taken over the shoulders, crossed at the back , and brought round the waist to tie in a bow in front. The pinafore is made of white spotted muslin, trimmed with a sweet little insertion and tucks, and the ribbon used on it is pink. A pinafore like this would brighten up your school frock, and I am sure you are wanting to set to work to make one at once.

You will need a yard of spotted muslin 24 inches wide, a yard of insertion, and two pieces of 1 1/4 -inch pink ribbon each 1 1/4 yards long. Now ask mother to tell you what length you require from the yoke to the bottom hem, because you want to have your pinafore the right length. The little girl in the picture is eight years old, and she measures 28 inches from where the pleats are put into the band, to the bottom of her pinafore. Then another 3 inches is allowed for turning up the hem, making 31 inches altogether.

Now, having cut off this length, the sides have to be hemmed. For this the edges must be folded over twice. The first fold is only enough to turn in the raw edge, the second fold should be 1/4 -inch wide. Now tack it, so as to keep the turnings straight, by making a long stitch on top and a short stitch underneath.

If you are not sure how to hem, look at the little picture on this page. Put the needle in just under the fold, slant it towards you, and put it through the fold near the edge. Repeat this stitch, taking up only a few threads of material each time.

Having hemmed the sides, make a deep hem at the bottom, first turning down a little fold, and then a deep 2 1/2 inch fold. Tack and hem it.

For the lowest tuck, crease the material 3 1/2 inches from the bottom of the pinafore, and tack it about 1/2 -inch below the crease, to keep the fold in place. Now, we only want our little tuck to be 1/4 -inch, so just at that distance below the crease, start running it along with tiny stitches as you learned to do for the work apron on page 4. To keep the tuck the same size all the way, you might keep testing it with a piece of paper notched in two places--the notches to be 1/4 -inch apart--the width of your tuck. When you have finished the tuck, take out the tacking stitches and turn the tuck down so that the stitches come at the top and the tuck below them.

Make a second tuck above the first, the bottom of the second to be 1/2 -inch above the top of the first. Make a third tuck, the bottom of which must be 2 1/2 inches above the top of the second, and a fourth, having the bottom 1/4 -inch above the top of the third. In this way you have two tucks together, then a space, and two more tucks together. On to this space between the pairs of tucks you sew the insertion. Cut off enough to go across the pinafore, allowing a little more at each end to turn in. Tack it, and then when you are sure that it is quite straight, run the insertion along both edges on to the muslin, taking an occasional back-stitch to keep it quite firm.

The top part of the pinafore is now put into a band, which must be as long as your width across the chest. You were shown how to put material into a band on page 5. The little difference here, however, is that instead of gathering the material, you pleat it. Mark the centre both of the band and the material to be pleated into it, with a pin. Turn three little pleats on each side of the centre of the material. On the little girl in the picture these pleats are each 1/4 -inch wide, but you must test carefully and get them the size just to fit the band. The picture at the top of page 18 shows pleats being put into a band.

Now sew on to the band a little length of insertion, as you did at the bottom. At each end of the top of the band, however, leave about 3/4 -inch of insertion not sewn to the band. This makes two tiny pockets into which you can slip the pink ribbon afterwards, and you can then sew the ribbon and insertion through to the band. Then, as you won't want to have the pink ribbon washed as often as you do the pinafore, you simply have to take out those few stitches each time the pinafore goes to be washed. Besides, you may not always want to wear pink. With some dresses you may prefer to have pale blue ribbon, or heliotrope, or even red. Whatever colour you choose, sew it into the pockets, and your pinafore is ready for wear.

The Pink Sun-bonnet.

Suppose, therefore, you start to make a sun-bonnet for yourself. This one, that is shown in the picture, is really very easy to make. It is of a pretty pink print, with tiny flowers on it. But perhaps your favourite colour is not pink. Probably, you want a lilac one. Whatever colour you decide on, get 1/2 -yard of print that shade, and you are ready to start.

Cut off 18 inches along the full length of the print, and hem along one edge. About 1 inch from the hem make a 1/4 -inch tuck, and 1 inch from this, another tuck. Now fold your print in half, and join up the two edges for the back of the bonnet with a French seam, which is described in the chapter on "Dolly's Underwear."

Your sun-bonnet is now rather square in shape. To get it rounded at the back, take hold of the point and draw it down a little way on to the seam at the back. There catch it with a few stitches.

No sun-bonnet is complete without a frill, so the next thing is to sew this on. Cut off 18 inches of print 5 inches wide, hem along one side and both ends. Gather the other side, and draw it up until it is the length of the bottom edge of the bonnet beyond the second tuck. Sew it on the inside to the bonnet edge, leaving a little piece of the edge above the gathered piece. Turn in the edge, and hem it over the seam. This makes it quite neat. The edges along where the frill does not come are also hemmed up.

For the strings, cut off two lengths of 14 inches, each 1 1/2 inches wide. Hem each side and one edge. Turn the opposite edge in, and sew it neatly to the inside of the bonnet.

Your sun-bonnet is now finished, and you will be able to ask nurse to put it into the trunk the next time she is packing to take you to stay at the farm. Won't Maggie be surprised when you arrive with a bonnet like hers, only just a few sizes smaller!

A Red Satin Housewife.

What a tiresome way needles have of getting lost, haven't they, and even whole packets of needles have a trick of disappearing nobody knows where. Every little girl who does any sewing really needs some safe place in which to keep her needles. This little housewife, which is shown both open and closed, is just the thing. You can stick odd needles in the flannel, and slip packets of needles in the pocket at the end. If you always remember to do this, you cannot very easily get them mislaid, and the little red housewife will be quite a friend to you. And what is more, it is not difficult to make.

To make one exactly like that in the picture, you want a piece of crimson satin, 12 1/2 inches long by 3 3/4 inches wide, a piece of white flannel, 10 inches long by 2 1/4 inches wide, some crimson embroidery silk, salmon pink embroidery silk, some crimson sewing silk, and a pearl button.

First lay your flannel on the wrong side of the satin. If you put it on quite straight, you will find there is 3/4 -inch of red showing each side of the flannel, and 1 1/4 inch at each end. At each side turn down a hem of satin, so that it comes over the edge of the flannel. Tack and hem it. Now turn down and hem each end in the same way. You will have wider hems here.

Having hemmed the satin to the flannel all round , turn down 2 inches at one end, to make the little pocket you see in the picture, sewing it neatly at each side with oversewing stitches. Oversew also the open ends of the opposite hem.

Now you know how to feather-stitch, don't you, or if you do not, you will see on page 5 how it is done. Work single feather-stitch with salmon pink silk down each side and end of the housewife. The inside is now divided up into four divisions, by double feather-stitch worked in crimson. This is worked in the same way as single feather-stitch, only that you take first two stitches one way and then two the other, instead of one each way. A little piece of double feather-stitching has been separately worked for you to see how it is done.

At the end opposite the pocket, make a loop in red silk of two threads, covered with blanket stitch. This is described in the chapter on "Dolly's Bed."

Now, starting at the pocket end, fold the needle-case over and over, and just opposite where the loop comes, sew a little pearl button, and the housewife is finished, and quite ready for you to stick your needles in.

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