A very pretty carriage or bed-room mat may be made in knitting. Collect as much flannel list, or flannel and woollen cloth as you can; cut it into short lengths, and knit a few rows, for a foundation, in twine. Then take a piece of list, put it across the string, and knit it in tightly; knit the pieces of list in this way all across; then knit a row plain; then knit in a row with the list. If you knit an edge of scarlet flannel, say six rows first, and six stitches at the beginning and end of each row, of pieces of the scarlet, and six rows of scarlet at the ending, your mat will be improved, particularly if the centre is knit entirely of gray list, as the gray and scarlet are very effective. When completed, line it with a nice coarse brown cloth. Pretty mats can be knit entirely of old pieces of cloth of any kind, by cutting it in narrow strips and sewing each strip together; knit it with large needles either in strips or squares, and sew them firmly together; take your pieces at odd times and strip them up, and as you sew them together, roll them into balls ready for knitting, then arrange your colors to harmonize together.
11.—KNITTED MOSS.
Cast on about fifty stitches of light green Berlin wool; slip a stitch on your needle without knitting, and knit the next row. Continue the same until you have finished two skeins of wool, taking care never to knit the first stitch of each line. Then knit on it, in the same manner, two skeins of the next shade darker of color, and continue in the same manner until you have knitted up five shades of green; join on a rich brown, and a faded moss-colored wool, and then cast off. Wet your knitting through with clear water, then dry it over a furnace register, or cover it with a paper or cloth, and press it with a hot iron. Let it remain for a few hours untouched, then unfasten the last stitch, and pull it out. It will unravel easily, from the first stitch of each row not having been knitted, and you will have a good curling imitation of moss to sew on to baskets or for borders of mats.
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.