The Highland weekly news. [volume] (Hillsborough [Hillsboro], Highland County, Ohio) 1853-1886, 1878-05-09
An Old Lad1,s advice.

1 am not finding fault with the little
bit of something tasty which you had
always at hand to fill up spare minutes,
to occupy your fingers while mammals
visitor interrupted your music, while
papa suddenly favored you with a bit
Of the Times, or even while brothers,
whose delicate constitutions prevent
activity in the morning, were daWding
over their breakfast. Nor do want to
prevent you from keeping really
beautiful piece Of ''fancy" work,
planned with art, to execute with taste,
skill and patience, when you can allow
yourself really elegant leisure. All
that I find fault with is the disprOpOr-
tiOn, the incOngruity, of saying that
our clothes are worth the time required
to make them look fine and dressy,
and yet not worth the time and patience
to keep them sound and Unblemished.
So I hope you will take up the darning
needles in good earnest. Darn stock
ings Obliquely. For this hint am in
debted to an old "gentIewOman" in
deed, who received it from a stocking
weaver. Place your lines exactly on
the bias, and your stitches so as to lie
also diagOnally with the lines Of the
stocking, and at right angles with the
lines of darning. Every column Of
stitches must be caught in your alter
nate lines, the first, third, fifth, etc,
in the first, the second, fourth, ETC., in
the second and so on. I really had
rather take the trouble to teach darn
ing as a regular lesson than see such
sights as I have seen within the last
few years. Leave a tiny loop at each
end to allow for the shrinkage Of the
cotton when washed; and as soon as
the stocking is worn soft, before it goes
into holes, darn the heel all over, the
foot across, and the upper side Of the
toe all across. Then you will avoid the
ugly daTns, like blOtches here and there.
Never sit daTning and gOssiping or day
dreaming. Always learn something
off by heart, something that really re-
quiIes a little attention while this me-
chanical work is going through your
fingers. Never darn with sewing cot
ton; take the trouble to get cotton fine
enough to match your material, and
darn blankets and wOOllen stockings
with cotton OF cotton or wool mixed,
for wool alone is too brittle to be use"
full. Darning damask with its own
glossy yarn, Grape with its proper cot
ton, and cloth between the tlicknesses,
and mending net and lace by carefully
Initiating the stitch, are really fine arts,
as you will know if ever you have to
pay for having them done because you
have not taken the trouble to learn to
do them yourself. Skill in any art
whatsoever is a marketable commodity,
and you need not expect the benefit of
it without payingit full value. Scarce
Iy less important than darning is the
art of piecing, which includes the
knowledge where, and Of what shape
the patches must be, as well as the
manner Of putting them on. 1t is al
most a safe rule not to stop short Of
seam; that is, to Unpiek seam, and
put in a piece all the way up, or down,
or across. After learning upon sheets
and such stout articles, you can mend
clothing; but I hope when you are
perfect at linen and lOngcloth you will
mend dresses, coats, gloves, carpets,
in fact every ''textile fabric in the
hOuse.-EE."