Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1917-07-12
MANY ARE SEWING;
SOME ARE RIPPING

life fashion, comments this way on
the Red Cross work that is being done
in every nook and corner of u
United States:
Under the caption of Woman's
Work, Red Cross now takes first
place. Never in this land has there
been a movement in which the world
of womankind Joined so simultane-
ously. The Red Cross inspiration is
as far-reaching as dandelion seed; it
fills the air, waited by winds and
settling everywhere. 1t seemed to
reach the whole country at once. One
tremendous. portentous %utterance
when on Good Friday we heard
America has declared war" started
The knitting needle. the sewing
needle, the machine needle-they
speedily became the weapons Of
womankind.
The bright little needle, the swift
flying needle,
The needle directed by beauty and
art"
place of Importance which surely
must satisfy the most craping mid
Victorian.
I'VE are having a ripping time!"
This Is what one woman said-con-
fdentially of course-lately as she
tried to rip the. close-set lock-stitches
in the wrongly-made suit Of pajamas
which some other woman had begun.
There is a good deal of argument at
the sewing bees as to Red Cross stand
ards Of sewing. The fine sewers think
them just right; the poor sewers con-
slider them too exaeting. The truth
Is that you cannot take an army OF
u~ndisciplined sewers and bring them
up to the top notch all at once. The
American woman has been called on
to sew: she has been tmportuned
shamed, spurred to this patriotic duty
by fattery, satire, n appeals to hel
patriotism. Many have not needed
this, but at any rate, she. the Ameri.
can woman, is sewing as never before
That Is, many of her are sewing ani
some are ripping; q
"For some must sew and some mus
! rip, .a. s-
So runs the world away"
And she who rips must not condemn
too harshly that woman to whom the
making Of a masculine garment has
heretofore been a sealed secret.
"Buttonholes on the left side! How
often must I remind o of this. Ia.
dies?" And this stern edict is heard
with trembling by the tyro who mus
rip off something from one side of the
garment and sew 1t OF the other.
| - q = AA0 VASV IL LIldhSs
to ssick man." some timid one al
last ventures, whether buttonholes
are on one side or the other-and
these are all worked-on the right
side.
They must be rfpped-there must
be a standard. If we are allowed tt
use our own standards we would Ger.
tainly turn out a lot Of highly origina,
garments"
And so 1t Is hat while our young
men are learning the bitterly whole.
some discipline of campo their woman
kin are feeling the discipline of the
sewing room. And one Of the beauti'
full things about this work-so com
paratively practical and often coarse
compared to- the sewing which woman
does ordinarily-is that much ex
quisite needlework Is being freely
used on 1t. Women work with q.
much care and interest as II they were
making their daughters trousseaux
Buttonholes worthy Of a princess
lingerie go on these shirts and calico
pajamas for French relief. Hens ant
seams and fells and Sussets and col
lars and pockets-all Of these are get
ting as much care from many womel
as would their own home sewing. A
woman told me tina she sewed on,
afternoon in New York with twenty
five women and no one spoke q wore
but the directress. All were en-
crossed with the work and the stronl
current of thought and feeling that 4
under and over and through 1t. Tn.
American woman has risen to create
things, not industriallyg alone-he
soul Is growing. 4