Teach the hemming stitch on the Practice Piece with colored thread. Trim the edge neatly, fold the hem accurately and baste in place. Bad habits, that are hard to correct later, can so easily be formed in making this stitch that I wish to caution teachers in regard to the position of the needle in relation to the hem, the amount of cloth taken on the needle and the tendency toward making the blind stitch or the damask hem instead of the plain hemming stitch.
Hemming a Towel.
Materials: Crash, 9" woof, 6" warp; white thread No. 50; needle No. 7; tape 4½ inches.
Turn one-fourth inch fold on each side and across the bottom and baste. Turn the second fold one-fourth of an inch on the sides and baste. Hem the sides. Turn an inch hem at the bottom, baste and hem, giving special attention to the corners where the bottom hem is turned over the side hems. Hem the top with a quarter-inch hem if there is no selvedge. Sew a loop in the middle of the top on the selvedge edge as follows: Turn in one-fourth of an inch at both ends of the tape. Place the ends of the tape side by side and down one-fourth of an inch from the edge of the towel. Hem around the ends of the tape and back-stitch across the tape just at the edge of the towel.
Exercise No. 9—Running.[5]
Materials: Running design No. 4, [page 12], 6" × 8"; colored thread No. 50; needle No. 7.
Follow the lines of the design with the running stitch.
Exercise No. 10—Overhanding.[5][6]
Materials: White thread No. 50; needle No. 7.
Running designs 3 and 4 are to be overhanded together. Turn a quarter-inch fold on the long sides of both pieces. Baste the folded edges together and overhand. Running designs 1 and 2 are to be overhanded to 3 and 4. Turn a quarter-inch fold at the top of one piece and the bottom of the other, baste the folded edges together and overhand.