The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1926-04-16
GET AHEAD WITH
SPRING SEWING
Plan Ahead What to Buy or
Make for Family.

prepared by the United States Department
of Agriculture)
Early in April your family will be-
gin to need wash dresses and other
cool clothes. You will probably be
inspired to take stock of what is on
hand for each person in the house
hold, and to plan in advance what
must be bought or made to complete
their various wardrobes. Dresses that
seemed scarcely affected by last years
sun when you put them away, will
look discouragingly faded when you
take them out And the children have
an unfailing habit of adding to the
length of their legs every winter, so
that Mary's dresses have to go down
to Jane, and James must be given
away to some still smaller child. Aft
er you have let down all the hens
that can be let down, and made all
the changes that allow for longer or
plumper arms, bigger necks or chests,
you will know what materials you ac-
tually have to buy and make up.
Let us suppose that you are anxious
to produce the children's school clothes
and the house dresses you will need
this season with the least possible
interruption to other tasks. You can
make every minute count IL you plan,
and use what might be termed the
wholesale method In sewing. This con-
sists of doing great deal of one kind
of work before changing ones mo-
tons to another kind, acquiring speed
as one goes along.
First provide good foundation pat
tern to fit each one who needs new
clothes. This may be commercial
pattern of simple design, or one you
have made according to measurements.
With little practice in using such a
pattern you can cut from 1t very rapid
ly, and vary the trimming so as to
seem to have many different designs.
You don't want to dress your family
in uniform, of course, but in making
underwear If you buy enough goods of
the same kind to make several gar
ments you will use the goods to bet
ter advantage and save time in ham
ding 1t.
Cut as many garments out at one
securely together with the scraps that
match, or put it in a box by itself.
When you have cut even one dress
by given pattern the next can be
cut great deal faster, because you
know how to place the pattern on
the material in the best way. While
you are cutting these dresses out,
don't forget to allow hens twice as
deep as you need. This extra ma
terial is convenient when the time
comes to lengthen the dress.
The next part of your work Is the
machine stitching. Most wash ma
terials have body enough and are so
smoothly and firmly woven, that you
can stitch many parts of your garm-
ents directly on the machine without
basting, Don't stitch seam or two,
and then stop to turn, trim, or baste
That is slow method. Stitch straight
through the entire lot you have cut
out, until you can do no more without
folding or basting. Keep the parts Of
each garment together. Next go
through all the garments, trimming,
pressing fells, putting in gathers, or
whatever has to be done, until all
the dresses are ready for more ma
chine work. BY the time you have
stitched them once more you will have
plenty of pickup" work on hand, to
be done in odd minutes. There will be
binding and buttonholes and pockets,
sleeves, hens, collars, and other
finishing work, much of which must
be in part done by hand.
Just one more hint to the mother
who makes many little garments: buy
q lot of the same kind Of buttons
stock design, easy to duplicate
and always keep a reserve card on
hand. Then you won't have to hunt
to match the buttons that come of,
and little dresses will always look
neat.