Needlework
"A stitch in time saves nine." We cannot agree with this favorite saying, because it saves so many more than nine, besides saving time and preventing untidiness.
Tailors, who are such neat workers, will say that they never pin their work first. If you are not a tailor, it is much better to place your work, before you begin, with plenty of pins. You will never get straight lines or smooth corners if you do not plan and place it all first, just as it has got to be, and tack it there.
Have you noticed that thread is very fond of tying itself into a bow; but this can be prevented by threading the cotton into the needle before you cut it off the reel, making your knot at the end you cut.
In rough measures, one inch is equivalent to the distance across a twenty-five-cent piece, and a yard is from nose to thumb, as far as you can reach. Needlework is good for all of us; it rests and calms the mind. You can think peacefully over all the worries of Europe whilst you are stitching. Sewing generally solves all the toughest problems, chiefly other peoples'.
Pillow lace needs a little more attention, but is a lovely art which girls can easily master. The writer was taught to make the flowers of Honiton lace by a little Irish girl, and the variations you can invent are endless. You would find a good sale for insertion lace of the Torchon patterns. Make your own pillow, and buy some cheap bobbins to begin learning with, and do not try fine work at first. Learn to spin wool and thread; a spinster can earn money in this way.