12.—PLAIN NEEDLE-WORK, AND USEFUL HINTS FOR YOUNG LADIES.
Our young ladies formerly were educated thoroughly in needle-work. Plain sewing was taught in the primary schools; but, alas! these times seem past; it is rare to find a little girl of even ten years old who can hem a pocket-handkerchief well. The children of our mechanics grow up with but little knowledge of useful work. Their mothers, with mistaken love, mend, dress, and make their wearing apparel. Often they marry wholly ignorant of the accomplishments necessary for a true wife and helpmeet—that is, the knowledge of housekeeping, plain sewing, and cutting out the simplest garment.
Who is to blame for this? The excuse of many a hard-working mother is, “I have not had time to teach my daughters;” and of our ladies of wealth, “I did not suppose my daughters would ever be poor, or require such knowledge!”
It is a very great pity sewing is not taught in our common schools. It is quite as important to our girls as reading, writing, spelling, &c. There is no country in the world where a practical education is so necessary as in ours, the fluctuations of fortune are so great. The rich man of to-day may be the poor man of to-morrow. Therefore every boy and girl in the land should have a useful and practical education. Our girls especially, rich or poor, need a knowledge of practical housekeeping; it is not possible for any lady to be a good housekeeper unless she knows how things should be done herself, as a trained servant in our free country is rarely found.
Plain sewing is also very important to be learned in early youth. In these days of machinery much of the old plain work is done by the swift needle of the sewing machine, rather than by hand; and it is expected, by and by, that hemming, stitching, over-hand work, and gathering will be as much forgotten as the old tambour stitch and embroidery of our ancestors. But we maintain that a person to work well on a machine should first be taught to sew well, and it is quite possible work may be required when no machine is to be hired. If young ladies are always able to hire their sewing, it may be pleasant to work for the poor. We hope our young readers may be induced, of their own desire, to become good sempstresses. If any one reading this book is induced to obtain practical knowledge on the subject, we shall feel repaid, and we would gladly hear from them. We will now give a few directions as an assistance, at the same time begging our young readers to remember that one lesson from a good sempstress is worth a dozen pages of print.
A hem should be, generally, narrow and very even; if it is to be wide, cut a measure the desired width, and be careful to have it exact; the stitches should be taken through, but so small as to be nearly invisible. A hem on clear muslin will look neater if it is finely run like the seam of a dress.
In over-hand sewing the stitches should be taken on the edge of the two sides, and should lay quite close to each other, so as to look like purling.
In stitching you should only take up two threads, both behind and before the needle.
Gathering is done on the needle, two threads taken up and four left, and the line should be kept very straight by a thread, if possible. The gathers, when finished, are drawn very tightly together on the thread, and stroked down smoothly with a strong needle or pin.
Darning is done by taking every other thread (in a stocking), and leaving a long loop at the end of each line. The darn is crossed by taking every other thread alternately, each way. It used to be called “weaving.” If muslin is to be darned, it is better to use ravellings of the same instead of thread.
Should you have a rent in a dress to repair, use ravellings of the same material; they are easily to be obtained from the turning in of the top of the skirt, if you have no pieces; but generally some are left by the dressmaker, and should be kept for such accidents. In mending by piecing, be careful that you do it very neatly; match stripes or patterns on the material artfully, and you will have the triumph of preventing the defacement of your dress.
Learn how to make and trim a bonnet, or make a graceful bow of ribbon. Young ladies of small means, who are ingenious and tasteful, often present a better appearance by making things for themselves, than those who, without taste or neatness, spend large sums at the milliners’. We advise you to try and make your own dresses.
In order to do this, rip up an old dress that fits you; lay the several portions of the body on a large sheet of brown paper, with the turnings turned in; trace the pattern carefully with a black pencil; then draw a line round the whole, including the turnings-in, and cut it out. Pin this pattern on your material, and cut out the dress, taking care that you do not get two fronts for the same side, if there is a right and wrong surface to it. To prevent the possibility of this mistake, it is well to fold the material and cut both at once. The same may be said with regard to the side bodies. Greater skill is required to put the skirt into a band, than in making a body, in order that it may hang gracefully; but as fashions change continually, we can only advise you to get a good pattern to copy from, and care and patience will insure you success. If your means render it unnecessary or not expedient for you to make your own dresses, you will find it pleasant to be able to make up the cotton dress you destine for some poor neighbor, whose want of time for needle-work will render her as much obliged for the labor bestowed, as for the material itself. Making clothes for poor children is active charity.
We know of a young lady so naturally industrious, that at the age of six years, she made entirely every part of a day shirt for her father. It is not as likely, at the present day, that your labors will be required for shirt-making for your male relatives; they generally prefer buying their linen ready made. Every woman ought to know how to put one together.
Any child or young lady who can make a shirt well, can easily manufacture all female undergarments; patterns for cutting out will be all that will be required. Both cotton and linen cloth should be scalded in soap-suds, dried and pressed without rinsing, before you work on them, in order to render them soft enough for the needle to pass through easily. But should you be unable to have this done, rub the parts you are going to sew or hem with a cake of white soap, or make a strong suds and brush the parts. Your needle will move easily, and will run no risk of breaking.
We advise young ladies who have the care of their own linen, and perhaps have their own allowance for dress, to take a few hours on one fixed day, weekly, to look over their clothes, and make any small repairs that may be wanted. They will find the truth of the old adage,—“A stitch in time saves nine,”—and will make their linen last as long again as it would otherwise do. Gloves should be neatly mended, and no rip suffered to remain a day. White and light-colored gloves can be nicely cleaned by rubbing them with a flannel dipped in milk and white hard soap. When dry they will need to be pulled till they are soft and in shape.
Cultivate, we beseech of you, habits of neatness in early youth. Dresses should never be put away dirty, or with spots that can be removed, or thrown down in a heap. Benzine or chloroform will remove nearly all kinds of spots, but it must be quickly rubbed dry, or it will leave a spot. Wax spots from candles can be removed from any material by placing over the spot some brown or blotting paper, and place over it an iron sufficiently hot to melt the grease; change the paper until all the grease is thus absorbed.
Our young readers may be assured that the little care bestowed on keeping their garments neat, clean, and whole, will give to their appearance that air of freshness which in itself is a charm, and will prove the truest economy. Moreover, the power of using the needle skilfully will give good manipulation for other and more artistic employments, and can never be aught but a blessing to the American girl.