Part 7

Three rows of stitching close together will result in a pattern of red oblongs, with regular spaces between them. These may become squares if more rows are added.

All the illustrations on pages 61 and 62 are based on the tacking stitch, and may be applied to the decoration of a hem, or the border of belt or neck.

[Sidenote: Pretty Fancy Stitches.]

An illustration on page 63 shows the treatment of the two-inch hem on the child’s frock. The vertical bar repeated at regular intervals round the hem is filled with a variation of the Y stitch, the working of which is shown in diagrams A, B and C on page 64.

The pattern should be arranged on the sleeves, neck and belt, as shown in the sketch.

The position of each vertical bar should be accurately measured, and marked with a pencil, and a line drawn down the centre of each bar will help to keep the stitch equal on each side.

[Illustration: SOME VARIATIONS OF THE Y STITCH.

The working of this stitch is shown on page 70.]

## Part II.

Household Economies and Fancy Finishes.

The Nursery Casement Curtain.

A very delightful little casement curtain is shown on page 95. This would be eminently suitable for the Animal and Bird Nursery, and will appeal to a child; and these little muslin curtains with filet crochet tops are so very effective both from inside and outside the window.

As will be seen, the crochet presents no difficulty, but it must be done evenly to look well. A diagram is given for working the strip, from which the open and solid meshes can be counted.

The heading on the curtain shown is worked in Ardern’s No. 36 cotton. This measures 15½ inches wide by 3 inches deep. To make this a little longer or deeper, a coarser cotton could be used, though, of course, much depends on the individual worker as to the size it actually works out. But filet crochet is best done as closely as possible.

Two of these little curtains would be wide enough for some windows, but it will be quite easy to repeat the design, or part of it, if required. Double crochet is worked along the top and bottom of the curtain strip to give a nice firm edge.

If quite a narrow curtain strip is preferred, the insertion showing the two ducks and the rabbit repeated, would be good. Or this insertion could be used at the bottom of a little curtain, providing there is little or no fulness in the curtain. If used at the bottom of a full curtain, the design would, of course, be completely lost.

This narrower insertion would also look very pretty to trim a white cloth for the tray or table, and it could either be let in round the sides of the cloth, or a strip would look well let in across each corner.

The cock and duck insertion is one that would be very effective where a strip is wanted to hang lengthwise down the sides of a curtain, or for any other purpose where a lengthwise strip is required. A separate diagram is not included for this, as this is merely a different arrangement of the birds, and the illustration is sufficiently large for the number of meshes between each pattern to be counted.

[Illustration: An Insertion that can be used lengthwise on a Curtain.]

The Advantage of Coloured Knitting Cottons.

Many people do not care for all-white quilts and bedspreads, considering them cold-looking, even though they undoubtedly give a look of freshness to a bed, when they are first put on.

And there can be no doubt but what there is a need for colour in our furnishings no less than in our dress, in our dull climate. White bedspreads look charmingly cool and refreshing on a hot, sunny July day—but alas, so few of our days, even in July, are hot and sunny; and there are all the other months of the year to be provided for.

Hence the vogue of the coloured bedspread, with its splashes of pink, or blue, or heliotrope flowers and green leaves on a white ground.

Now that knitting has returned to us, and will undoubtedly stay, we find a revival of the knitted quilt of our grandmother’s day. But once more the objection is raised that the all-white quilt, while undoubtedly handsome, looks chilly, and shows every slightest mark.

Few people know what pretty effects can be obtained from white knitting combined with colour. Strutt’s “Milford” Knitting Cotton comes in several dozen very pretty shades, all guaranteed to wash well.

[Illustration: A BEDSPREAD IN BLUE AND WHITE.]

[Sidenote: A Leaf Cluster Pattern.]

The counterpane here illustrated is in pale blue and white, and is quite a feature in a pale blue bedroom.

Other colours you can obtain are various pinks, greens, pale cream, with the intervening tones right up to full orange, heliotrope, salmon, half-a-dozen different blues, from palest forget-me-not to navy blue, crimson, fawn, and various tints of brown.

But, undoubtedly, for bedspread purposes, there is nothing like the pinks or the blues.

It is best to use patterns that are worked in separate diamonds or squares, and joined later on. This saves a tanglement of various balls, as is inevitable if several colours are all going at once on a large piece of work. When the work is in squares, each alternate square can be in colour; when the work is in diamonds, that begins with one stitch and increase each row till the widest point, and then decrease to the opposite point. Half the diamond is worked in white, and when the widest point is reached the cotton is broken off and the coloured ball joined on, the remaining half being worked in colour.

The pattern here illustrated is the old fashioned leaf-cluster so often seen in ancient knitted counterpanes.

The bedspread is worked in small diamonds, which are joined together by over-sewing.

Use Strutt’s “Milford” Knitting Cotton No. 8, in white and in pale blue (or any other colour required), and a pair of No. 14 steel needles.

Abbreviations Used.

K = knit a plain stitch; P = purl; O = over, that is, bring the thread forward and pass it over the right hand needle, in order to make an

extra stitch; N = narrow, that is, knit two stitches together.

With the white cotton, cast on one stitch.

_1st Row._—K 3 stitches into the one stitch cast on.

_2nd Row._—O, K, O, K, O, K.

_3rd Row._—O, K, P 3, K 2.

_4th Row._—O, K 3, O, K, O, K 3.

_5th Row._—O, K 2, P 5, K 3.

_6th Row._—O, K 5, O, K, O, K 5.

_7th Row._—O, K 3, P 7, K 4.

_8th Row._—O, K 7, O, K, O, K 7.

_9th Row._—O, K 4, P 9, K 5.

_10th Row._—O, K 9, O, K, O, K 9.

_11th Row._—O, K 5, P 11, K 6.

_12th Row._—O, K 11, O, K, O, K 11.

_13th Row._—O, K 6, P 13, K 7.

_14th Row._—O, K 7, cast off one (_i.e._, slip a stitch on to the right hand needle without knitting it, knit the next stitch, draw the slipped stitch over the knit one), K 9, N, K 7.

_15th Row._—O, K 7, P 11, K 8.

_16th Row._—O, K 8, cast off 1, K 7, N, K 8.

_17th Row._—O, K 8, P 9, K 9.

_18th Row._—O, K 9, cast off 1, K 5, N, K 9.

_19th Row._—O, K 9, P 7, K 10.

_20th Row._—O, K 10, cast off 1, K 3, N, K 10.

_21st Row._—O, K 10, P 5, K 11.

_22nd Row._—O, K 11, cast off 1, K, N, K 11.

_23rd Row._—O, K 11, P 3, K 12.

_24th Row._—O, K 12, knit 3 stitches together, K 12.

_25th Row._—O, K to end of row.

_26th_, _27th_, _28th_ and _29th Rows_.—Like 25th Row. Break off white cotton at end of 29th Row, and join on the blue cotton.

_30th Row._—Knit the whole row; end with the last 2 stitches knit together.

_31st Row._—Purl, ending with the last 2 stitches purled together.

_32nd Row._—Like 30th.

_33rd_ and _34th Rows_.—Like 31st.

_35th Row._—Like 30th.

_36th Row._—Like 31st.

_37th Row._—Like 30th.

Repeat from 30th Row twice over, making 3 times in all. Then continue working the purl and plain knitting for alternate rows till you have only one stitch left. Break off the blue cotton and cast off.

In joining the diamonds, use white cotton when uniting the white portions, and blue cotton for the blue portions.

[Illustration: Y STITCH AND LOOP STITCH AND THEIR VARIATIONS.

See the article on page 61.]

The Cynthia Knitted Stripe.

Suitable for a Toilet Runner.

Abbreviations Used.

K = knit a plain stitch; P = purl; O = over, that is, bring the thread forward to the front of the work, and pass it round over the right hand needle, in order to make an extra stitch; N = narrow, that is, knit two stitches together; S = slip a stitch.

Use Strutt’s Knitting Cotton, No. 8, 3 threads, and a pair of No. 12 steel needles.

Cast on 91 stitches for a runner, about 12 inches wide, or 118 for a runner 16 inches wide. If something wider than this is needed, cast on multiples of 27, with an extra 10 stitches.

[Illustration]

Notice that after the first piece of plain knitting, each alternate row is like the 19th.

Knit 18 rows plain.

_19th Row, and each alternate row._—* S 1, K 9, P 17. Repeat from * till only 10 stitches remain on needle. Knit these 10 plain.

_20th Row._—* S 1, K 10, O, N, O, N, K 4, O, N, O, N, K 4. Repeat from *, K 10.

_21st Row._—Like 19th.

_22nd Row._—* S 1, K 11, O, N, O, N, K 4, O, N, O, N, K 3. Repeat from *, K 10.

_24th Row._—S 1, K 12, O, N, O, N, K 4, O, N, O, N, K 2. Repeat from *, K 10.

_26th Row._—* S 1, K 13, O, N, O, N, K 4, O, N, O, N, K 1. Repeat from *, K 10.

_28th Row._—* S 1, K 14, O, N, O, N, K 4, O, N, O, N. Repeat from *, K 10.

_30th Row._—* S 1, K 15, O, N, O, N, K 4, O, N, K 1. Repeat from *, K 10.

[Sidenote: The Cynthia Knitted Stripe.]

_32nd Row._—* S 1, K 10, O, N, K 4, O, N, O, N, K 4, O, N. Repeat from *, K 10.

_34th Row._—* S 1, K 11, O, N, K 4, O, N, O, N, K 5. Repeat from *, K 10.

_36th Row._—Like 20th.

_38th Row._—Like 22nd.

_40th Row._—Like 24th.

_42nd Row._—Like 26th.

_44th Row._—Like 28th.

_45th Row._—Like 19th.

Then knit 19 rows plain knitting. Go back and repeat from the 19th row.

The Economy Quilt.

Bedclothes become an expensive item when there are several beds for young people to be made up, as well as those for their elders. Yet warmth is essential, if their health is to be maintained.

In the winter, there usually comes a night of sudden cold, so raw and so intense, that it seems next to impossible to put too much on the beds. Every spare blanket is turned out, and every eider-down, and still there is not enough! Next morning someone is sure to say they never got warm all night!

Of course, eider-downs are ideal. They are warm without being heavy. But real eider-downs are expensive. Here is a substitute that was popular in our grandmothers’ day. It is simply a quilt formed of small bags, sewn together like patchwork, each bag containing a certain amount of snippets and clippings. Very simple, isn’t it? And yet these quilts, that cost practically nothing, are invaluable in the cold weather. Put one of these over the outside of the bed, and the sleeper keeps as snug and warm as though under a couple of down quilts.

One great advantage of this quilt is the ease with which it can be made. A child can always run up a little bag; a child can also cut up snippets, if it is old enough to be allowed to use a scissors. Mother can run round a few bags with her sewing machine, just before putting it away after doing needlework. In this way the bags accumulate in a surprising manner; and joining them together, a few at a time, either by hand or with the machine, is not laborious or brain-wearing work.

The Method I Always Adopt.

For some years now, I have made it a rule always to have one of these quilts on hand. If I do not need it myself, when it is finished, I always know someone who can put it to good use. Any woman who has an elastic family and a non-elastic purse, is glad of one for a gift.

I save every scrap of material that would otherwise be wasted. If it is not new, I have it washed and _thoroughly_ dried. All this waste goes into a bag that I keep hanging up in a cupboard in my bedroom. I never allow a large amount to accumulate, lest moth should get at it. I have seldom more than a couple of handfuls at one time waiting to be dealt with.

On my chest of drawers I keep a box. In this there is always a pair of sharp scissors. When I have a few moments idle—between the lights when it is too dark to see much else, or when my eyes are too tired to do work requiring close attention—I cut up a few of the scraps from the bag into snippets about an inch square sometimes smaller, never larger. I put these in the box.

[Sidenote: Worked in Sections.]

Then again, whenever I have any bits from dressmaking, or mending, or darning, it has become second nature with me to cut them up there and then into snippets, and put them in the box. In fact, I always have the snippet box on the table beside my work box when I am sewing, and the bits go in as a matter of course as I go along. It keeps me so tidy. Everything comes in useful, even fragments of darning wool, ravellings and basting threads!

I save any scraps of material large enough to make the bags; a useful size is five or six inches by three inches. I run up three sides of these when I have a spare moment; put in a small handful of snippets, and close up the end. These I put in a drawer till I have time to join them together.

I always machine mine together, as it is the quickest way.

Do not fill the bags anything like full, or the quilt will be impossibly heavy. If you fill the bag about a third full, or at most a very loose half-full, that will be quite enough. Each little bag just wants a slight thickness inside, to give the extra warmth, much the same as we sometimes line quilts with a layer of cotton wool between two cotton covers.

[Illustration: SECTION OF THE ECONOMY QUILT.]

The reason we put the clippings in little bags, instead of into one bag, is to keep the stuff evenly distributed over the surface of the bed. Otherwise, every time the sleeper turned over, or disarranged the coverings, there would be the chance of all the clippings slipping over, and collecting themselves on the one side or the other of the bed, or possibly all falling to the foot of the bed.

A quilt made of the bags, not too full, can be shaken and kept thoroughly aired.

Almost any sort of material can be used for the bags, provided it is not too delicate in colour, as one does not want to have a quilt of this sort frequently going to the cleaners. Strong stuffs are best, such as cretonne, serge, stout print, sateen—anything in fact that will stand some wear.

Mix cotton clippings with wool clippings in each bag. Obviously the quilt will not need any lining, as the back will be fairly neat. If you like, you can finish the edge with a cord; but I myself always aim to get the outside bags all of one colour scheme; this in itself makes a certain finish—a kind of border—and I just leave it at that. After all, these quilts are not for ornament so much as stern utility; nevertheless, they can be made to look really pretty, if a little care and taste is expended on the placing of the various colours and designs.

To Finish the Hems of Blankets.

[Illustration]

Turn down a hem a little more than ½ an inch, having a ball of wool ready (Andalusian or 3-ply white will do), fasten in the end with a darning needle. Having the working end of wool out at the top of hem, ready for the crochet hook (a coarse steel hook is best), catch up a chain stitch with the hook and * bring the wool across the hook as for doing a stitch, insert the hook at the bottom of hem, catch wool on opposite side, the opposite way to lifting the thread as in crocheting, that is hooking the wool in a downward movement from right to left, draw loop through and up level with the top of line. Take out the hook and make one loop, just drawn up to lie in two straight lines and slip through loop on needle, afterwards doing a chain stitch, and repeat from *. A little practice will soon show that done in this way the stitches are not twisted but lay flat, like the machine finish.

Doing up an Eiderdown.

In the days of our grandmothers, eiderdowns were considered a luxury, things to be taken care of and kept well covered. At the present time, however, they are found on nearly every bed, varying from those made of sateen and chintz to those made of satin and silk.

I suppose it is because “familiarity breeds contempt” that we do not take the care of ours that our grandmothers did of theirs, and that therefore they became so much sooner soiled and worn out. If your eiderdown is getting shabby, why not clean it and re-cover it yourself?

If anybody is not willing to give up a little time and trouble to the success of this venture, let them not so much as contemplate cleaning and re-covering an eiderdown at home, for though quite easy it is a little tiresome, and the only two things really needed outside a few yards of chintz are patience and common sense. To explain: patience will be needed, for an eiderdown takes some time to dry when once wet, and common sense to choose the right day on which to do it.

The first thing to do is to choose a hot day, as the eiderdown must be dried out-of-doors, and the brighter the day the quicker it will dry, added to which the sunshine fluffs up the down better than any fire does.

[Illustration: A NARROW INSERTION FOR A NURSERY CASEMENT CURTAIN.

See the article on page 67.]

After well brushing and shaking the quilt, whip it well with a little cane to loosen the feathers and to get out whatever dust you can. Have ready a bath half full of warm—not hot—water, into which dissolve a small packet of Lux. Be sure before putting the quilt in that the soap is well melted, as otherwise it is apt to stick in lumps to the covering, whatever it may be.

Dip half of the quilt in first and souse it up and down before dipping in the rest. You will be surprised at the amount of dirt that “pours” out. It seems incredible that an eiderdown could be so dirty without showing it plainly.

When the whole quilt is wet, continue to dip it up and down in the water for some time, gently squeezing it between your hands. It does not matter if the colour runs, as the dye will not affect the down, and as you are re-covering it, why, the streaky case will not be seen.

Let it soak in the water for about an hour, occasionally stirring it in the bath, kneading and squeezing it so as to loosen the dirt. When you think it is clean, empty the bath and refill with hotter water, but no soap. Rinse well and continue in fresh waters until the soap is completely rinsed out.

Wring out thoroughly and hang over the edge of the bath to drain. At the end of twenty minutes wring out again, and it is much better if you can get another person to help with it, as it is much too big to do alone. Next, take it out into the garden and hang it on a line, the higher the better, but anywhere where the wind can blow through it.

And here is needed the patience; for it will take two days—probably three days, and possibly a _week_—to dry in the open, for an eiderdown is very thick, and the down being close it is difficult for the air to penetrate. Never let it stay out after the sun is off it, as it quickly absorbs the damp and only delays the process of drying. Frequently turn it while hanging on the line, and shake it well to loosen the feathers.

I generally find that three days is enough to dry my quilts thoroughly, but I always leave them spread out on the grass on a clean sheet for one whole day in the sunshine after the drying to fluff up the feathers. It is wonderful how the heat makes them swell and become light and fluffy.

[Illustration: A DIAGRAM FOR THE CASEMENT CURTAIN SHOWN ON PAGE 95.]

When all this is finished, take your little cane and whip it all over hard, as though you were beating a carpet. Turn it often as this helps to loosen the down inside.

This completes the cleaning process, which is simple but complete, and then you are ready for the re-covering.

The new cover, needless to say, depends entirely upon individual choice whether it is to be satin, silk, sateen or chintz.

I always use a pretty chintz corresponding to the curtains and hangings of the bedroom the quilt belongs to. One side I cover with this, and the other side I use a self-coloured sateen or casement cloth to tone.

It is impossible for me to give the amount of material necessary, as eiderdowns vary tremendously in size. There are many different widths in what is called a double-bedded quilt, as also in the single-bedded ones. For large-sized ones you will have to have a seam down the centre, as no material is wide enough to cover it completely; but, for a single-width quilt, a forty-inch goods will be wide enough.

[Sidenote: Re-covering the Quilt.]

The last quilt I covered was for a brown room with a china-blue carpet patterned in white, and so I chose a willow-pattern chintz with a reverse side of brown sateen, and it was really one of the most successful I have done.