Fig. 18—The mattress and canopy.
Now draw perfectly straight lines across your oblong from top to bottom, just one and a half inches from each edge ([Fig. 18]). Then from side to side draw two more straight lines; the first one and a half inches below the top edge and the other one and a half inches above the bottom edge. This gives the mattress with a border all around. In each corner of the mattress, a little more than a quarter of an inch from the end and side lines, draw a small cross as shown in [Fig. 18]. Be sure these crosses are placed correctly, and are exactly alike in mattress and canopy. Now cut out the four squares at the corners of the oblong, as indicated by the heavy lines in [Fig. 18], and insert the point of your scissors in the centre of each little cross and snip along each line of the cross. Do not make the slashes too deep.
Fig. 19—Slide the paper down to the pin.
Cut the edges of the border, or valance, into small points, as in [Fig. 17]; then bend the valance down at the sides and ends of the mattress. The dotted lines in the diagrams show where to bend the paper. Make the canopy just as you have made the mattress, but cut deeper points on the edge of the valance.
Through each of the four straw bedposts run a small pin two and a quarter inches from the end of the straw ([Fig. 19]).
Push the long ends of the straws up through the slashed crosses in the corners of the mattress ([Fig. 19]) until the bottom of the mattress rests on the pins, then run a pin through each straw just above and close to the top of the mattress. Between the two pins the paper can slip neither up nor down. Run another pin in each straw post half an inch from the top, slide the canopy down upon these, and fasten with more pins, as you did the mattress. Make the bolster by folding a piece of paper the proper shape and cutting the end edges in points for trimming.
Now you not only know how to make the bedstead, but