Gather your lavender stalks (each one having a blossomed top) while they are fresh and green, and use them as soon as possible after cutting, as they grow brittle when dry. It will take about twenty-five stalks for a large lavender stick, less for a small one, but in both cases there must be an uneven number. You will need, also, some narrow lavender ribbon. It is best to buy the ribbon by the piece, or roll, as it is not easy to calculate the exact amount required for the sticks. Bunch your lavender stalks together, with the heads at the top, and tie securely just below the blossoms (Fig. 128) with linen thread. Bend the stems over carefully, bringing them down over the blossoms (Fig. 129). A little raw cotton may be used to fill out the bulb or, if you have them, extra lavender blossoms. Pin one end of your ribbon at the top of the bulb, where the stalks are tied together, pushing the pin through the ribbon down into the bulb, then begin to weave it under and over the stalks as in Fig. 129. Weave about two inches, widening all the time, then draw the ribbon a little tighter, bring the stalks closer together, and narrow the bulb gradually. When the stalks are bunched again, stop weaving and begin to wrap, lapping the edges of the ribbon as in the illustration. Have the wrapping tight and firm and, when about an inch or two from the ends of the stalks, fasten with needle and thread, then tie the ribbon in a bow of many loops. Finish the top with a bow also, making it quite full.
Fig. 128.
Fig. 129.
Braiding Palm-grasses and Corn-husks
Away down in Florida, where the palms and palmettos are as common as are the most ordinary trees and shrubs in the North, most of the children wear hats made of the strong and durable leaves of these beautiful trees; and all the children know how to braid the palm in a number of ways. Indeed, it was a little girl not more than eight years old who taught me just what I am going to try to teach you. She was “keeping house” with a number of other children on one of the fine, shady streets of Daytona, Fla., and, stopping to watch them at their play, we were made welcome in their “house,” and one little hostess gave me the lesson I asked for then and there.
You all know how a palm-leaf grows, tall and straight, and closed tightly like a fan until it is time for it to open,
Fig. 130. when it slowly separates and spreads its fingers wide. It was the unopened leaf of the cabbage-palm which was chosen for the braid, and very pretty the tender leaf is; white, soft, and pliable, and edged with light green. It is beautifully adapted to braiding, and the fingers of my little teacher flew deftly, as the braid lengthened in her hands, and my mind sped along almost as swiftly, as I tried to adapt the process to materials to be found in the North, so that Northern, as well as Southern, girls might share with me this little piece of handicraft.