Needlecraft

Front matter

THE

CHILDRENS LIBRARY

OF

Contents

CHAPTER PAGE

I. What You Should Have in Your Work Box —

Sewing on Buttons — Basting — Darning . 3

II

BACK-STITCHING, OVER-CASTING, CREASING A HEM AND HEMMING, ROLLING A HEM, FRENCH HEM- MING, SEWING ON TAPES AND HOOKS AND EYES

STITCHING is witching," the song book says, and it is true, for after we know that stitch there are a hundred and one things we can do. Some people call it back-stitching and we must try to remember that, so that we shall understand of what they are talking. Get mother to give you a piece of material to practise on that has a stripe in it. Now take your scissors (Figure 9)

Fig. 9. The right way to hold your scissors

and cut out two three-inch squares. Baste the two squares together a quarter of an inch from the edge. Hold the square over the first finger of the left hand ready for the back-stitching. Let the basting run up and down over your finger. Start from the top and make a small stitch backward, on the right side of the material, instead of forward as you did in running (Figure 10). Pass the needle under until you have a stitch twice as long on the wrong side as that on the right. Take the next stitch

Fig. 10. Back-stitching

backward close to the end of the last one on the right.

Remember that the stitch you take backward is only half as long as the one you take forward. Stitching always looks very different on the wrong side, but on the right side it ought to look like machine stitching. This stitch might be called the lion stitch, because it is so strong. It is used to join two edges together, as for the seams in bean-bags or cushion covers.

In places where there will not be much strain we use a quicker stitch, which is called the half-back stitch (Figure 11). This is very much like the stitching of which I have been telling you. The wrong side will look about the same, but on the right side instead of the stitches touching there will be a space, then a stitch of equal length.

Fig. 11. The half-back stitch

The next stitch to learn is the combinationstitch, which is made up of both the running and the back-stitch (Figure 12). It is a stitch that is greatly used for sewing long seams, as on underwear. By

Fig. 12. The combination running and back-stitch

this stitch we can cover the distance in about half the time that back-stitching would take.

Whenever you can avoid making a knot, do so, because it spoils the look of your work on the wrong side. You can start your work, if it is a seam, for example, by making two or three stitches on top of each other. Follow the thread of the warp or woof of the material as much as possible. After fastening your thread, make two fine running stitches forward and one back. Keep the stitches the same length.

Fig. 13. Over-casting

Over-casting is used on unfinished or cut edges to keep them from fraying (Figure 13) . The stitches all slant from right to left. Take the stitches one eighth of an inch deep and one quarter of an inch apart.

M^ » l l iy »» ww w ww ^il

Fig. 14. Over-handing

Over-handing is fine over-casting and used to connect two finished edges together (Figure 14), as when sewing lace on ruffles, or joining selvages. What is the selvage.^ It is the edge of the warp.

The next time mother goes shopping ask her to take you with her. When she tells the salesman she wants so many yards of goods, whether it is for kitchen towels or a dress for herself or for you, notice how the goods is measured. The salesman will measure along one of the finished sides of the goods. These finished edges are called selvages.

Make the stitches in over-handing as small as possible, keeping the stitches even. Sew through

Fig. 15. The seam opened

both pieces of the material. Hold your work between your thumb and first finger. Here again it is not necessary to make a knot. Let a half-inch of the end of your thread lie on top of the material toward the left side; the over-handing stitches will cover this end. When the over-handing is finished run your thumb-nail along the stitches on the right side. If your stitches are too deep there will be a seam on the wrong side, whereas if the instructions m have been followed carefully the material will lie perfectly flat (Figure 15).

Now we are ready to help mother hem the new kitchen towels. First see that the edge you are to hem is straight. If it is not, pull out a thread so as to mark a line to cut by. You must take a thread that runs the entire way across the end of the towel. Cut carefully along the space out of which the thread came. Get a piece of card that has two smooth or straight edges and make a ^. ,^ ,

^ ^ ^ Fig. 16. A notched card

notch one-half inch from the corner (Figure 16). A half -inch hem is the one commonly used on a towel.

If mother likes to have her towels with a wider or narrower hem, notch the card the size she wishes. Turn the material back one-quarter inch and crease it down with your thumb-nail. A second fold is made the width of the hem. Take your measuring card and, placing the end of it on the double edge, see if your hem is exactly the width desired. Baste along the first folded edge to hold the material together for hemming (Figures 17 and 18). Hold the edge to be hemmed toward you. Do not knot your thread. Insert the needle at the extreme right of the hem. Pull the needle through, leaving a little end, as in over-handing, to be fastened down with the hemming itself.

Fig. 17. The first step

Fig. 18. The second step

Your needle should slant as shown in the diagram (Figure 19). Take a stitch right through all the thicknesses of the material. Be sure that it goes through to the other side. The fewer the threads taken on the needle at the same time, the neater the result will be. The stitches should slant from right to left. The stitches must be close together if we

• r/ff/fff?

Fig. 19. The way the needle should slant

want fine hemming. Let each stitch be the same size as the other and slant in the same direction. The right side of the hem looks like a row of short dashes.

If your needle gets "sticky" when you are sewing, you should pass it through your emery-bag till it is shiny and sharp again. The needle is apt to get that way if your hands perspire. Ladies who like to keep their sewing looking fresh and white, as if hands had never touched it, find it a good plan to wash their hands in a little vinegar, or lemon and water.

It is very necessary to sit so that the light falls over your left shoulder. A little straight-back chair is another good help in sewing. Do you know that many of our English great-grandmothers had very straight backs? When they were Kttle girls they had to sit on a very straight, tall chair, an hour or two every day. A foot-stool was placed under their feet, and their shoulders strapped against the chair. Of course they did not sit there idle, but a piece of fine sewing was given them to work. You see they did not have the opportunity to run around and play as you have. Their chief recreation was their dancing lesson.

The towel finished, the next thing to learn is how to turn a corner and hem it. Shall we make a

cover for Sally Ann's bed or a dust-cloth for mother.^ In either case cut a piece of material eighteen inches square and turn a hem and baste it as you did for the towel. The next side is folded the same as the first.

Fig. 20. A corner basted ready The COmcr should form a

for hemming perfect square (Figure 20).

Sometimes the material is very thick and the hem wide; in that case it is wise to cut a little oblong piece out of the corner as shown in the illustration (Figure 21).

Napkins and table-covers should be sewed with a French hem. Make a turn about a sixteenth of an inch deep. The second turn should be about three sixteenths of an inch wide.

Fold the hem back so that it touches the right side of the material. The hem is connected to the material with tiny over-hand stitches. Open the hem, when finished crease with the thumb-nail till it lies perfectly flat.

A pretty new way of finishing a handkerchief is

Fig. 21. The material cut from a corner

Fig. 22. Whipping

to roll the material for the edge instead of folding it. Over-cast or, as we sometimes say, whip it with delicate-coloured cotton, (Figure 22). The nicest material for handkerchiefs is fine linen, but lawn is cheaper for practice work. Hold the wrong side of the material to you. Then roll about one eighth of an inch between the thumb and first finger of your left hand. Do not roll more than an inch of the hem at a time. Take a needle and thread it with a piece of coloured cotton. In this case it is permissible to make a knot. Insert the needle at the beginning of the roll. Over-cast or whip the rolled edge. The stitches should encircle the roll and not go through it. When the rolled inch is over-casted, roll another inch and repeat in this manner till the whole handkerchief is worked. If you desire, when you have finished one side, you can whip in an

"UVV ^^;^^;^ \J K) Si K^ yj Kj ^ ^vv V

Fig. 23. A pretty finish for handkerchiefs

opposite direction toward the point at which you started, thus forming a cross with each return stitch (Figure 23).

Lace is sewed to raw edges by rolling and whipping the material and connecting the lace at the same time.

Tapes should be on all towels and on all your skirts and dresses that are to hang on nails or pegs. Take t

B

Fig. 24. A rolled hem

a piece of fine tape about five inches long. Crease one end down one quarter of an inch (Figure 25). If the tape-loop is to be sewed on a towel find the direct centre of the top edge of the towel. Lay the tape with the creased end open flat on the towel (Figure 26). Sew along the creased line with back - stitching.

Fold the other end of the

I tape over, baste it down I so that it entirely covers

the stitches already made and with small hemming stitches connect the tape to the material (Figure 27). There should be two tape-loops on your dress or separate

Fig. 25. One

end creased

one quarter of

an inch

Fig. 26. The

tape open flat

on material skirt. There is usually too much weight for only one loop. Place a loop in each armhole of the waist or dress. For the skirt, measure the waist-band and place the loops so that the band is divided in thirds.

Do you know that very few people sew on hooks and eyes properly.^ Yet there is no difficulty in sewing them correctly and they look much nicer. Take the eye, connect it to the material with two stitches that make a cross. With the same thread pass the needle to the left-hand loop. Insert the needle in the material so that the eye of the needle is within the loop and the point of the needle comes just outside. See that the thread passes from left to right under the point of the needle. Draw the needle through and repeat in this manner until the two loops of the eye are firmly connected to the material. Sometimes it is necessary to cover the upper part of the eye. In that case cover the metal with fine over-and-over stitches as shown in (Figure 28B).

Fig. 27. The tape finished

Fig. 28A. The eye firmly sewed

The loop of the hook is sewed on in a very similar manner at the base, while the top of the hook is caught with eight or nine over-and-overstitehes (Figure 29). These stitches are taken under the hook portion and connect the under side only. Measure accurately just where every eye ^'^- ^^^' ^ ^°^^^^^ ^^^ goes and place the hook so that when it meets the eye it will be straight. A sixteenth of an inch out fy\ of the way spoils the appearance

5 1 and is apt to pull the material

\ J crooked. Another point to re-

member is that it is not a good plan to place the eyes on the extreme edge. A margin of some Fig. 29. The hook gjze is most ucccssary to extend beyond the eyes. Sometimes it is necessary to sew a piece of material so that it extends one inch beyond the eyes if the eyes are sewed on the extreme edge of the finished garment. This piece is called the fly piece.

Ill

GATHERING, SEWING ON BANDS, A PRACTICAL SEWING APRON, HEMMED PATCHES, GUSSETS AND TUCKS

THOUGH I know you don't like making samples, I am going to ask you to make a little apron for a doll, as a model, before we make a real big one.

Get a piece of muslin five by nine inches and a No. 9 sewing needle. Thread it with a piece of No. 70 cotton. Baste an eighth of an inch hem on both of the five-inch sides, and a three-quarter of an inch hem on one of the nine-inch sides.

The basting of the three sides being finished we will now start to gather the fourth side. Thread a No. 8 needle with No. 50 thread. Use a thread a trifle longer than nine inches. Make a good-sized knot in the thread so that the end cannot slip through the material. Start from the right-hand side of the piece and insert the needle on the under side. Let the knot come on top of the narrow hem about one quarter of an inch from the raw edge.

The needle is now in position on the right side of the material. Take up several stitches on the needle before pulling it through (Figure 30). The stitches

Fig. 30. Gathering the apron

are nothing more than running stitches. When the running has been worked across the nine inches of the material, take the needle out and make a knot in the thread.

Put a pin, vertically, close to the last stitch. Take up only a few threads of the material on the pin. Draw up the running thread so that you have about three and a half inches of gathering. Wind the thread that extends beyond the gathering over the top and under the point of the pin a number of times, crossing the thread at the middle of the pin so that it forms an eight (Figure 31).

To allow the gathering to fall evenly, it will be necessary to stroke it. Use a No. 2 needle for this purpose. With the right side of the work toward you begin at the left-hand edge. Hold the work between the left thumb and forefinger, keeping the thumb below the gathering thread. Put the point of the No. 2 needle under the gathering thread.

Fig. 31. Gathers ready for stroking

holding it obliquely. Press the needle toward the thumb, bringing the little plait under the thumb and drawing the needle downward. Pinch the little plait down lightly with your thumb. Continue in this way, putting the needle under each stitch (Figure 32).

Let us now put a band and strings on our apron. Cut two strips of material ten inches long by two inches wide. These are for the strings. Baste an eighth of an inch hem on the two long sides of each strip. Make a three-quarter of an inch hem on each string.

Over-hand the ends of the broad hem. All the hems that are basted on the strings and the material itself should be hemmed with fine stitches.

Fig. 32. Gathering Strokes

Cut another strip two and a half inches wide by five inches long. This is the band. Turn down one eighth of an inch of the material all around the band. Crease the band in half, lengthwise, so that the edges, just folded, are inside.

Find the centre of the gathered material and the centre of the opened band. Holding the wrong side of the apron toward you, pin the middle of the apron to the middle of the band. Pin the gathered side of the apron to the band, three quarters of an inch from each end of it.

Wind the gathering thread around the left-hand pin, drawing the thread up to fit the band. With the point of the needle adjust the gathers so that the fullness is evenly distributed along the band. Holding the gathers toward you, baste with small stitches a little above the gathering thread.

Turn up the band and on the right side of the apron hem the band in it, catching up a gather with each stitch. Some people prefer to stitch along the basting line instead of hemming (Figure 33).

Fig. 33. Taking up a gather with every stitch

Baste the other side of the band down, and hem as on the right side. Insert the strings in the band. Hem in the same way as on the band, first the right side and then the left side, and now your little apron is completed (Figure 34).

Would you not like to have a sewing apron that you can use as a bag when you are not wearing it? It is such an easy thing to make that after you have one for yourself you will be making them for your friends for Christmas.

Fig. 34. The apron completed

Get mother to measure you from the waist to the knees. The material for the apron should be one and a half this measurement. Turn one third of the material back. Baste the double edges together and sew with fine combination stitches.

Turn this piece inside out. Crease back one eighth of an inch edge of this pocket, as it were. Baste a piece of beading over this raw edge right around the back of the apron. Be careful not to sew up the pocket.

The beading on the back must be the same distance from the bottom as the beading in front; that is, we must keep a straight line. Sew on the extreme edges of the beading with fine running stitches, to connect it to the material. Now as the ribbon we are to run in the beading must serve as a draw string, as well as for decoration, it will be necessary to put two pieces in. So get a narrow ribbon about one half the width of the openings in the beading. Each piece of ribbon must be long enough to go once around the apron and enough of the ends left to tie double bows — one for each side. Start one piece of the ribbon at the right-hand side of the apron and the other at the left.

The top of the apron or single piece is finished with a piece of beading which is sewed on, as on the pocket. A ribbon long enough to go around your waist and to tie a bow in the back is run through the beading (Figure 35).

Fig. 35. The apron

When the apron is not being worn your work can be placed in the large pocket and the single section folded within the pocket. The ribbons are then drawn up tight and "bravo!" you have a work bag fit for a queen (Figure 36).

Fig. 36. The work bag

There are so many kinds of rents or holes that may happen to your clothes that it is worth the while to know how to mend the various kinds. There is an old adage that says, ** Waste makes want," and we would spend a small fortune in clothes if every time a wee hole made its appearance we discarded the garment.

If it is a circular hole in a dress or underbody, as often happens, under the arms, we will use the square patch. Cut a piece of the same kind of i material, three inches square, or larger if necessary.

Turn a fold of one eighth of an inch on the four

edges of this square. Crease it lengthwise and

crosswise.

Crease the material on which the patch is to be

laid lengthwise and crosswise through the tear. Pin the small piece or patch on the wrong side of the large piece, or garment, so that the creases run in the same direction. The warp must run the same way in both pieces. One sixteenth of an inch

from the edges run a basting thread. Hem the four

sides on the patch to the material (Figure 37). On the garment side make

a crease half an inch wide,

from the hemming, on the

four sides. Four little squares

will be formed in the corners.

Crease along the diagonal of

each square. Place a pin

one eighth of an inch from J^S ?L patcF " '''^ '"'"

Fig. 37. The patch hemmed to the material r

Fig. 39. The garment side of the patch each corner, within the patch (Figure 38). Cut

the garment from the centre of the tear to the

pins. Repeat this ^

on each side, cutting along the crease

which you made,

one half inch from

the hemming.

Turn in one

eighth of an inch

and baste. Hem

all around (Figure

39).

In patching material such as checked or striped

ginghams, percales, or other materials, the stripes or

the checks must match so that the patch is not too apparent (Figure 40).

Have you ever noticed how the slit or placket of a petticoat or side opening of drawers is finished? A piece of material is put in

Fig. 40. Matching the stripes of an odd shape to strengthen the openings. This is called a gusset. Suppose that you were making a petticoat. Join the skirt up the back from the bottom, but leave eight inches open at the top. This top opening is the placket. But let us take a small piece of material and practise making the back of a skirt. We will put a hem and a few tucks at the bottom of the material first.

Fig. 41. Basting the tuck

Make a measuring card of a straight strip with an eighth, three eighths, and three quarters of an inch notches.

Crease and fold a wide hem (three quarters of an inch), using the measuring card as a guide.

Over-hand each end of the hem. Now baste along the hem. The over-handing must be done before the basting. Now hem this wide hem.

Again, using the cardboard measure, on the right side of the model fold a crease three quarters of an inch above the hem. Begin at the right-hand side to crease and baste (Figure 41).

With a fine, even,running stitch, an eighth of an inch below the crease, make the tuck (Figure 42). Measure every few stitches to keep the seam straight.

Fig. 42. Making the tuck

If a second tuck is desired, measure from the tuck instead of the hem.

Now we are ready for the slit which is in the centre top. On the wrong side start at the top with an eighth of an inch hem, but decrease it to almost nothing right to the bottom (Figure 43). Fold the other side in the same manner. In hemming the two sides, start at the top.

Now let us practise making gussets pig. 43. The placket hemmed on a piece of inches square.

Fig. 44. The triangle paper. Cut a piece of paper three Fold it from corner to corner and cut (Figure 44).

Turn the straight or short edges of the paper one eighth of an inch and fold along the two shorter edges (Figure 45).

Hold the paper with the straight edge down, measure it from the two points one quarter of an inch. Now cut a piece of material the size of the paper and fold like model.

Cut oflE the two points one quarter inch from each corner on the thread of the goods (Figure 46). Turn these two straight ends and the bias edge of paper one

eighth of an inch (Figure Fig. 45. The short edges folded

47). Turn point of paper down one eighth of an inch from bias hem and crease (Figure 48).

Now cut the muslin gusset and fold just like the

paper one. Fig. 46. with points cut off

Hold the model or skirt with right side toward you, and turn up point of gusset. Holding the

Fig. 47. All sides are now creased.

Fig. 48. The point folded over wrong side of the skirt toward you, twist left side of gusset to left side of placket and over-hand to creased line, half way up the gusset (Figure 49).

Fig. 49. The gusset over-handed half way

Over-hand right side. Turn bias edge of gusset

over to right side, pin, having straight edges parallel

to warp and woof threads and then hem (Figure 50).

Gather the top of the skirt and put on a band on each side of opening about the same width as the one used on the apron (Figure 51).

Fig. 50. Gusset hemmed

Fig. 51. The gusset model completed

IV

A DOLL'S SKIRT AND SEWING CASE, BINDINGS, DOLL'S BED LINEN AND A PIN CASE

Eus suppose that Sally Ann measures twelve inches from the crown of her head to the soles of her feet and that you would like to make her a gored skirt like mother's. Would you not feel happier if you made the pattern and then cut the skirt yourself ?

Take a piece of paper twelve by nine inches wide, mark every inch on both the long sides of the paper. Lay a ruler so that it touches the centre of the space between the first and second dots on the upper edge, and between the second and third dots on the lower edge. This will form the half of the front gore of the skirt. Mark it, "half of front."

Now draw a line from the second dot on the upper edge to the centre of the space between the fourth and fifth dots of the lower edge. Connect the sixth dot on the upper and lower edges, mark this section "side gore." Connect the eleventh dot on lower and upper edges and mark this section "back.'' The remaining inch mark "belt." (Figure 52),

SI a U 5 6 7 8 9 10 II IS Fig. 52. The pattern drawn

Cut the pattern apart along the lines drawn.

Take a piece of muslin twenty -four by nine inches. Tear off two inches of the muslin on the length for the band and then ten inches for the back of the skirt.

Fold the remaining piece of muslin with the two short edges together so that the doubled piece measures six inches by nine. Place t^e straight edge of front of skirt pattern on the fold of the material and the edge of the side gore on the other edge. Pin the pattern down securely and cut through both thicknesses of the material (Figure 53).

Pin the skirt together, placing a straight edge of a gore to a bias. Baste a quarter-inch seam along the finished edges of each gore, holding the bias edge toward you. Sew the seams up with combination stitches. Press open the seams and over-cast each one to keep it from fraying.

Fold a hem at the bottom of the skirt an inch and a quarter wide. Baste the hem so that seam

Fig. 53. The back, side gore and front

comes to seam. On the front gore there will be a fullness. Gather this fullness in with fine running stitches and baste. Use a separate thread for the gathering. Now hem around the whole skirt.

Cut the placket two inches down through the centre back. Turn a hem on the right side one half inch wide and on the left one eighth inch. Sew the hem.

Lap the wide hem over the narrow at the bottom of the placket and stitch across the wide hem two rows of stitching one eighth of an inch apart.

Turn in the strip you cut off at first for the band

Fig. 54. The skirt

one quarter of an inch on the two short sides and on one of the long sides.

Fold lengthwise, find centre of band and crease; one inch from this, crease again.

Place and pin band in the same way as for the gusset described in the last chapter, placing the middle crease at the middle of front of skirt. Then pin the band also at the creases on either side of centre. Gather each side of the skirt that is left. Draw in the thread to fit belt. Spread the gathers so that most of the fullness is in the back.

Over-hand the ends and hem second side of the placket. This finishes the skirt (Figure 54).