The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1899-10-20
SEWING-RoCM A NECESSITY.
The Little Apartment where the
Housewife Plies Her Needle
and Thread.

A sewing room is as much an essen
tial of the modern home as the masters
den.
out it is easy enough to set aside sew
ing room, where all the materials and
implements for work can be kept to-
gether in systematic manner. No neat
housekeeper likes to have her sitting
room occupied with the threads and
litter of cutting and sewing.
In the making over of garments there
is always a certain amount of dust
inevitable, and it is desirable that this
dust of ripping" should be kept in one
place. There is seldom room for the
sewing materials and the work in the
dining room, and it is not desirable to
invade any bedroom with it. Bed
rooms should be left unoecupied during
the daytime as much as possible. They
should not be used as sitting rooms or
sewing rooms or for any purpose in
the daytime where it is possible to
avoid doing so. The average country
residence is blessed with plenty of
space and pure air, and the housewife
ought to take full advantage of these
blessings. Not everyone does, and
there are many houses where the air of
the sleeping rooms is contaminated by
constant occupation in the daytime.
The only excuse in the country for
crowding the family into a limited
space is lack of facilities for heating
all the rooms in the house.
The convenience of a separate sew
ing room is so great that it pays in
families where there is large
quantity of sewing to be done 10 heat
room specially for the purpose. In many
families the sewing is looked upon as
an incidental of work, not as an essen
tial part of the household duties. In
only few homes is there a room set
apart for sewing, though the duty of
preparing the clothes of the household
ought to be second only to the duty
of preparing the food. 1t is true that
a large amount Of the clothing of the
masculine portion of the household is
now purchased "ready made" This
only relieves the household partially of
sewing. "Ready-made'' clothing for
women and children is more expensive
and not as durable as that made at
home. This includes the greater part
of the clothing, and sewing should,
therefore, be recognized as certainly
a part of the homework as cooking.
In order to do the sewing of the house
hold in the best manner there should
be a room set apart where the sew
ing machine, the cutting table and all
the tools for superior work are kept.
In a bureau in this room new materials
to make up and old materials to make
over should be left. In one drawer or
in a bag there should be patches and
scraps of various materials left for
gowns and other garments. A stand,
with drawers, containing spools Of
silk and of cotton should be placed
somewhere in the room, and there
should be a large work basket contain
ing the various necessities of the seam
stress. A wire skirt form, on which
skirts can be hung, is a great convent
ence, though the waist forms have
proved of no special value. The sys-
tematic arrangement of the work in
such room is in itself an incentive to
accomplishment. 1t is not too much to
say that a woman with an orderly
sewing room will do twice as much
work as one whose tools are scattered
over the area of three or four Closets
Chicago Chronicle.