Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-10-27
Valuable Sewing Hints.

nEAUTIFTL buttonholes may be
n made in any material. no matter
how thin, If they are first markell.
and before they are cut out are stitched
along each side on the machine. Cut be-
tween the two rows of stitching and there
will be good founda ton for the buttonhole
stitches, with no danger of travelling. This
makes the working of any buttonhsle
much easier and greatly adds to its dur
Utility.
An easy way to make perforations FOR
eyelet embroidery is to hold 4 riece OF
white soap under the goods. allowing the
stiletto to pass through into it. The Light
stiffness impaired to the material nsures
the making of perfect eyelct holes and
does away with that tendency to close up
which IS often so annoying when the
goods to be worked is fine and sheer
On clildrens garments. where there is
need for very stout buttons. place cot
ton tape back of the buttons before you
begin to sew, and place pin between the
, button and the material Nov stitch the
button firmly. Remove the pin and wind
the thread round and round the button
on the right side, and one will have a
button SO firm that it will never come
off
To sew transparent materials on the
sewing machine without causing UNI
slightly pickering OF the ;eams,. place
strips Of paper Under the edge OF the ma
terial. and stitch through both paper and
! material when sewing the seam. The pa
per is easily torn away afterward, and
the seam will be smooth.
When sewing taffeta. use j thin, tine
roeedin The hinnf end of a needle
used is liable to pucker the goods. and
the stitches will not be even. n hea>ier
needle may be used in sewing China III.
When silk pulls out of shaie under a pat
tern haste the edges of the material even
" to a newspaper and cut through SILK
and paper.
To stitch velvet on the machines SO
that the presser foot will not crush the
material, lift the presSer foot slightly
SO that il will not drag upon the goods.
then direct the velvet with the right
hand. Often goods that would crush o..
drag under the presser foot will stitch
nicely if this precaution is taken. To
press a seam on velvet, dampen the goods
slightly on the wrong side and pass the
opened seam over the side of hot iron
::
Hand-run tucks are made in the fol-
lowing way: Crease the first tuck as
usual for machine tucking, and adjust the
tucker. but do not thread the machine.
Now run through the tucker. The needle
will leave a distinct line along which
to run your hand sewing. The marker
also leaves a line for the next tuck. 1t
is best to sew each tuck as Il comes
from the tucker since handling obliter-
ates the marks This method inSures
absolute accuracy with the da.ntiness of
hand sewing. and can be done in less
than half the usual time.
Chiffon to be evenly tucked must first
be basted at every tuck. using dress
makers pins. which are finer and sharper
than the ordinary pin. Place the chiffon
on a lapboard, hold il 10 the board with
pins. lay the tuck with d measure. and
then pin and haste it in place. Lay ali
tucks. press the material and stitch. The
machine tucker is not 10 be relied upon
for tuck ng this sheer material
Some women when gathering a ruffie
make a long. loose stitch on the ma
chine, place the edges to lac gathered
under the foot and sew ii, then draw the
upper thread until the ruffie has the de-
sired fuliness. This is good practice
when one wants ruffles of varied fullness
A long piece of rufiling in this way may
be gathered at one time and then used
as needed.
The best way to put braid on u skirt is
to first haste the braid the edge
of the skirt possible. then rip the hem
for short distance ana insert Il piece OF
cardboard. pushing it along you hem.
In this way one can put on braid in less
than half the usual time required.
To fringe d table cover or anything
with deep fringe. hrst tear il up as deep
as you want the fringe. at intervals OF 4
finger or so all the way across the end. |
then fringe out these short pieces one by
one, which is a much easier way than
pulling out u long thread every time and
having il break, and being Obliged to hunt |
for the end with pin or needle
The following is one way TO do machine 4
henstitchnG: Draw all the threads lii II |