Evening star., 1923-08-17

with towels. For this reason good
towel Is always an acceptable gift TO
| housekeeper. A little skill with the
| needle will make them attractive and
will give an individual and pleasing
touch to each one. cross-stftch de-
sign, plain satin stitch embroidery
| combined with punch work. the pat
tern woven in the towel brought out
by embroidery. or the ends of the
| towel finished with crocheted lace, are
all simple forms of decoration.
A good plan Is to buy toweling by
| the yard, then hemstitch the ends.
tsThere is an almost limitless number
OF designs in the quaint old -timey
cross-stitch that can be worked at
each end Of a towel. One of the most
effective and at the same time
simplest methods Of decorating a
towel is by bringing out the pattern
| woven in huck with colored embroid-
cry floss. No stamping is needed for
this work. neat border can be
worked out by embroidering two rows
Of clover leaves in green. These are
simple and easy to work. A variation
| Of this idea is shown in a daisy towel,
where the embroidered flowers are
grouped in one corner and combined
| with An initial.
| towels the threads should be drawn
for a space OF a fourth of an inch.
then the hem basted on the wrong
side. The regulation hemstitch Is
Used across the border, picking up SIX
| threads. or any even number. This
work Is done on the wrong side. Then
! turn the towel, so that the hemstitch-
| ing just finished is at the top of the
drawn threads. The regulation stitch
| is now used across the lower edge,
one cluster Of hemstitching. then
three threads from the next. In the
next stitch take the remaining three
threads and the first three threads
OF another. and SO on across the towel
BY looking at the smooth. plain
| border at the end of a Turkish towel
! a good Idea of it's value may be
gained The finer and more closely
| woven this border is. the finer and
better the towel. A long. loose loop
| that Is more tightly woven.
Cheesecloth or mosquito netting
| makes good wash cloths that dry
| quickly. II made Of cheesecloth and
intended for gift. there should be
a set of three. with the initials Of
the recipient worked in red cotton
| cross stitch in the corner. A good
| size Is ten by fourteen inches. with
| narrow hemstitched borders. Wash
cloths made of two thicknesses of
white mosquito netting Will give the
| appearance OF filet mesh. This gives
sufficient body to make serviceable
cloth Finish the edges with dainty
| colored or white cotton in buttonhole
| stitch.
To Mend Table Linen.
| In order TO do this kind of work
we'll and to the best advantage. you
will need TO save all linen threads
that are pulled from a new piece
\ of linen to make II straight. as well
as all trimmings that are cut away.
as one can ravel threads from the
cuttings, and these give the very
best kind OF material with which to
i htt1 MI 20 q
| should be carefully darned with the
pulled or raveled threads. The work
| can be done to better advantage IL
embroidery hoops are used. moving
the hoops about until all the thin parts
are darned. If a hole has worn
through, paste a piece of sheer mus
| lin or organdy firmly on the wrong
side OF the tablecloth. keeping the
! threads as nearly as possible in their
proper. place and position. Then
| darn over and under the frayed
| threads and into the firm cloth an
| inch or two on either side of the
| hole.
After laundering, the darned place
| in the cloth will scarcely be noticed.
| You can mend lunch cloths. napkins
and doilies in the same way.
The object in hemming tablecloth
! Is to finish the edge and keep it from
| fraying. As the selvedge edges are
| already finished, there is no necesT
| sity of doing anything to them. The
depth Of the hem will depend some :
what upon the weave of the cloth.
If the cloth is woven with a border
| on four sides. the hem should be
of a width to make the space be
| tween the border and the edges uni
| form on all sides. In other cases. one
| fourth of an inch Is a proper width
! for the hem. The same rule holds
good when threads are drawn and the
hem 10 finished with hemStitChing.
When Blankets are Worn.
The best parts of old blankets
should be cut and made into under
blankets or cot blankets. and IL they
are hemstitched round with wool they
will look nice and much wear can
be had out of them. The worn parts
will make ironing blankets. or If
several pieces of badly worn blanket
are tackled together and covered with
cretonne and quilted they will make
nice warm quilts for children's beds.
Small pieces are useful for polishing.