Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1926-08-13
Rules for Sewing Room
Short Cuts and Time Savers for the Home Needle
worker Tested by Practical Experience

embroidered on each. Then make
two extra napkins with the words
Our Guest" embroidered on each.
one, but in different colors and
designs. When guests are entertained
informally for several days the use
OF these napkins makes it unnecessary
to provide a fresh napkin at each
meal. at the same time preserving the
daintiness of the table service.
When finishing a colored embroider
ed piece. take a. long strip of thin
cardboard about four inches wide and
slit this about one inch across, with
the Sits one and one half inches
apart. For each color used, wrap the
thread around the card, going in the
slit to fasten. If you place the number
Of the thread az each slit you can
match the colors without the neces-
sity of taking IL sample TO the store.
Dainty hand-painted effects on silks
or cottons may be secured by drawing
the design with ordinary school cray
ons in colors and then running a hot
iron over to fix or set the color. 1t is
a satisfactory way to make inexpen
sive but lovely handkerchiefs, scarfs.
table Runners. or any other articles
that do not require boiling when
being Numbered. This is called crayon
embroidery.
Hemstitclling and ButtOmhOling.
When hemstitching baby dresses or
anything thin do not pull the threads.
Just haste down your hem and hem
stitch just as if the threads were
pulled and see how dainty the work
will be. Do not discard your chill
dren'S dresses with hemstitched hens
when they are too short. Turn the
dress wrong side out, mark a line in
the hem about one inch below the
line of hemstitching, cut through one
thickness carefully and sew on
facing. allowing for the width of two
seams more than you wish the dress
heightened. Turn the facing up and
whip onto the inch of material left
when cutting the hem loose. Press
the hem carefully and no one will no
tice that the dress has been length
ened as it will still have a hem
stitched hem.
To work buttonholes in sheer ma
terial dip the end of a match in the
white of egg and mark exactly the
length of buttonhole desired. in the
correct place on the material. Let
dry. then proceed in the usual way
with the work. In this way beautiful
buttOnholes may be worked on only
one ply of goods, even if the goods is
very sheer material.
When cutting out patch or applique
work. if a piece of a blotter is used for
a pattern. putting the rough side next
to the material, it will not Slip and
you will be more sure of having the
piece the exact size and shape desired.
When Crocheting around the neck
of a garment first sew two or three
times around the neck. The neck will
not then stretch out of shape. This is
a good plan for baby clothes.
When runners start in silk or Isle
hose mend them by folding carefully
along the line of the run and stitching
on the sewing machine to slightly be-
low the damaged portion using self
the further spreading of the run, and
Is not nearly as noticeable as when
mended by hand
You can make a pair of house Slip
pers last twice as long by mending
them with adhesive tape. When the
felt wears away at the sole. start the
tape about an inch on the sole and
bring it over the break on top of the
slipper two inches, holding the edges
together. You can also point the tape
and use two or three pieces on each
slipper and then color with Crayon.
They will wear like new.
A small piece of soap kept in the
work basket will save time when
threading a needle with yarn, en-
broidery silk or darning cotton. Rub
the end of the thread over the soap
with the finger tip and it will go in
the eve of the needle without fraying.