The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1908-12-04
PROUD OF SKILL
IN EMBROIDERY
Women Nowaday.. DO More
Beautiful Work Than Their
Grandmothers Did.

There. is not much danger of women
getting over masculine as long as inc
craze for fine needle work keeps up ITS
present record. The same girl who
apt to preen herself for her Skill IN
embroidery.
She gets outdoor exercise in plenty,
put her indoor hours are spent IN
| creating for herself fine lingerie. OK
| Naisite table or bed linen.
NTH time. patience and good eye
| S ysill Their, is no reason why anN girl
,.lnIot learn TO do creditable. even eN-
sluisite embroidery such as is sold IN
the stores at great cost. She can do 1T,
! TOO. without a great outlay in %prufeS-
Gior;al instruction.
There are fundamental rules that the
woman who aspires to do good work
must observe. Without them no prog
cess in II fascinating art is'possible.
SHE must set herself a high standard
OF excellence. Slap-dash methods may
answer in some things: never III en-
aYoidery. 1t takes time to do beautiful
work md she who is not willing to give
st hou find some other way to &C
CitpN her leisure hours.
There must he a knowledge of stfa-
terials and an appreciation OF artistic.
effects 10 be had from the proper COM
bination of coloes and stitches. Thus
certain designs and working materials
which would look we'll on silks and
veluets would be utterly out of place on
linAn.
Even In linens. what wouse, be strik-
ing on a dsamask table cover would he
ugly son the eobwebby linen blouse.
Don't Go Too Fast.
Slr- must not be too ambitious. The
reason some women never lear1 to en-
broider well is that they set them
SEIZE tasks fAr beyond their SKILL and
grow ,hfscourag ed. The swiftest sue
cess is gained by starting some simple
piece on work. doing it as We'll as can be
done bcfare attempting anything nnore
elaborate.
She must learn not to traw and pull
her work. This IS q mistake of most
beginners. Even with a fra me the ma
tcrial is 80 puclScred that the most
skillful pressing cannot conceal il.
While an easy touch only comes with
learns to hold her embroidery cor
rectly. she soon can work without
drawing even on the sheerest fabrics.
Another useful accomplishment fol
fhe embroiderer is to stick to short
threads. 1t takes little effort to thread
knots. but wears thin. Most skeins
both of silk and cotton. should be Gu,
twice, at knot end and directly oppo-
site.
The only time where a thread the
length of Il skein is permissible is il
WINS Al tAAioP ~ nv ii't u
quickly worked up. Should Il fine mer-
ccrized cotton be used it is better to use
the shorter length even for Il scallop.
Managing the Thread.
y common mistake in embroiderint
is to use too coarse a cotton. This il
particularly "a fau in satin stitch OIL
French work used in fins lingerie. y.
matter how neatly N works too
coarse d Thread will make the embroid'
cry look rough. 1t is a safe rule Ii
buy cotton a number or two finer thar
the average salesman advises.
1t is poor economy to use a threat
in embroidering Town to the last inch
Yet how many workers laboriousl.
Unread and thread again a tiny bit o
cotton to make it last TIC a given dis
anc Not only is time lost. but tn
work is apt to be drawn. Never neg
lect the foundation work. 1t seem
too much trouble to stuff carefully
Vet the secret of most exquisite worl
lies in the even undcrstitches that ar
completely hidden.