Let us thread our needle with a piece of coarse blue thread. On a little piece of muslin draw a faint pencil line across it. Commence from the upper right-hand side of the line. Take a short stitch about three sixteenths of an inch on the right of the line, slanting to the line. Let the thread come under the point of the needle in each stitch. The second stitch is taken on the left side of the line the same distance over and the same in slant ([Figure 108]).
Fig. 110. Triple feather-stitching
Fig. 111. Four on each side
Double feather-stitching is two stitches to the right, two to the left and so on till the line is finished ([Figure 109]). In fact you can make three, four (Figures [110] and [111]), or five stitches or even more if you wish on each side. The prettiest little border can be made of feather-stitching in circles. Take a quarter or a fifty-cent piece and draw a faint line around it on the material about one inch from the edge. Move the piece till it overlaps the pencilled circle and draw another circle. Repeat as many times as necessary to go around the skirt, sleeve, or section you are decorating. A row such as this makes a pretty decoration around the sleeves and neck of a night dress or the ruffles of drawers. Marking cotton No. 20 or No. 25 should be used for feather-stitching underwear.
Infants' dresses, bibs, or petticoats of lawn or any very sheer material of cotton or linen should be worked in fine marking cotton, either Nos. 25, 30, 40, or 50.
Just a word about threads. There are several different kinds. The most popular and best known are D. M. C., Madonna, Royal Society, and Utopia. The numbers run about the same. Some teachers recommend one certain kind, but the result obtained from using any of them is almost identical.