In preparing this puffing, tear a length of ten-cent cheesecloth into eight strips or, if wider puffing is desired, tear it into six strips, according to width wanted. Sew them into tubes, or what I would call long sleeves, and turn them on a thin stick or rod, so the ragged edges will be on the inside. Then full them over a strip of muslin about one and one-half inches wide, and thus the article is made.
If you wish to use it in covering the ragged edge of some pleated work, where tacks and pins are usually in plain view, fasten one end of the muslin strip at a point where you intend to begin, then draw the puffing back about two feet from where you fastened the muslin; then we draw the puffing over it nicely, not too full, and fasten the puffed part in place; next, draw the surplus puffing back another two feet, and repeat the operation; and so on until finished. An illustration of this will be found in the accompanying sketches. Should the strip of muslin prove too short, pin another to it, and draw the puffing over. The sketches will give an idea of how easily it can be draped and festooned, or worked into any artistic scroll or design the inventive mind of a decorator may dictate.
Decorators who try this idea will be surprised to see how quickly the goods can be made and applied. The seam is sewn very rapidly on a sewing machine, and it is a pleasure to work with this ever ready and very pliable material.
EDGES.
Pleated backgrounds with puffed edges are very popular. To puff an edge use about one-third or one-half the width of your material, and puff and pin as before directed, taking care to turn under all the raw edges, or better yet, use the Shogran puffing.
There is upon the market a prepared puffing of colored and white cheesecloth, sewn upon strips of heavy paper. It is sold at a small advance over the cost of raw material. When you wish to put in a window in a hurry this prepared puffing is valuable; but I advise everyone to learn the art of puffing, for only by being able to do all the detail work yourself can you become a successful trimmer, and wholly independent of the supply houses.
TO MAKE SUNBURSTS.
A “Sunburst” is the effect created by a form of pleating radiating in all directions from a central point.