Left hand wraps the cotton round me,
Three times where the thread came through.
Left hand holds the wrapped thread firmly,
In again I stick my toe,
Through the place where I came out first
To the wrong side quickly then I go.”
After the embroidery cotton had been pulled all the way through, it left a little round knot on the right side in the flower center. Sir Bodkin told Margaret to bring the fairy up through again to make another French knot in the flower center.
“Five knots are about right for one flower,” said he. So Margaret and the fairy Embroiderer made that number in each one.
“You have to hold the cotton tight with your left hand as you push him in, or it doesn’t make a pretty knot, does it?” said Margaret after a while.
“Yes, you have to get the knack, as you do in almost any kind of stitchery,” remarked Sir Bodkin.