“Very well, I’ll ask Mother for some more,” said Margaret and went out of the room to her mother’s sewing-room. When she came back she had a whole paper of pins in her hand.
“That’s the ticket,” said Sir Bodkin; “take some out and stick them in the red tomato with my boys and girls.” Then he directed as follows:
“Slip the dress on your doll and mark with pins how long it should be when finished. Then slip it off and baste along the hem edge to hold it firm.” Then Sir Bodkin told Margaret to get out her tape measure and measure the width of the hem from the edge of the dress to the top of the hem to be sure it was even all around.
“Trim off with your scissors where it is too deep,” Sir Bodkin said, and Margaret followed his directions.
“Now turn in the hem top one-quarter inch and crease it with your nail or pleat it with your fingers, then baste it to the dress,” the King said and with hop, skip, and jump that jolly fellow Baster did his work.
Sir Bodkin then called Hemmer, a dainty little One-Eyed Fairy. Margaret was about to harness her with the same thread she had used for Runner but it wouldn’t go into her eye.
“It’s not the proper number,” said Sir Bodkin. Margaret tried some finer thread, number 80.