In making mats, or matting, of raffia, the material can be carried over the rods as in wool-weaving, or it can be finished on the edges in the same way as the real matting is done. This will be easily understood by examining a piece of matting. In stringing the warp, have three strings over each bar instead of one. Cut the woof strips several inches longer than the width of the loom. Weave the first strip, leaving a piece at each side. Thread a tape needle with one end and weave it in and out the three warp threads on the rod. Then cut it off close to the edge. Finish off all the ends in this way. When the work is removed from the loom, press the edges flat with a warm iron. It is a little easier to keep the pattern right by weaving in this way, and the work resembles the real matting more nearly. Use a tape needle for weaving raffia.
Porch curtains
If the doll house which we are fitting is a large one with porches, one could complete the furnishings with a porch curtain, for sunny afternoons.
Glove, trinket, and mouchoir boxes
Boxes of all kinds can be made of raffia woven in panels. It will make the box stronger and firmer to overhand a piece of rattan around the edges of the panels before joining them in the form of a box. Thread a worsted needle with a narrow strip of raffia and buttonhole the edges of the panels together; or, sew them over and over and cover with a braid of raffia. Spiral-weaving is pretty for this finishing. It is described in an article entitled "Straw-Weaving," in "American Homes" for September, 1900, a magazine published in Knoxville, Tenn. Glove, trinket, and mouchoir boxes are pretty for holiday gifts. By using different patterns and colors a great variety of them can be made.
Rugs of carpet wool
For rugs made of carpet wool, string a three-eighths-inch warp of twine, or oriental cord, the color of the body of the rug. Use a deep tone of red, olive green, or any preferred color, with a stripe at each end. A study of rugs will soon enable one to get the right proportion of rug and stripe. Beautiful rugs are made with a succession of Roman stripes separated by a narrow one of deep red, green, or blue, the ends of the rug being woven of the same color. Center and corner patterns can be woven by placing the pattern under the warp. By stringing a close warp of the same material all the designs for paper-weaving can be easily reproduced. Lengthwise stripes are also pretty. String the warp with different colors and weave a neutral color through them. The rug in the frontispiece is woven of heavy carpet wool, some of which is seen on the table.
Patterns for rugs
Fundamental form No. 1
Beautiful patterns for rugs can be made by cutting squares and triangles of paper according to directions given in the "Kindergarten Guides." The "Paradise of Childhood" has some very pretty ones. There are two fundamental forms for this paper-cutting. The first is made from a nine-inch square. Fold one diagonal, place the right acute angle upon the left so as to produce four triangles resting upon each other. The form now lies before you with the right angle at the right and two acute angles (one on top of the other) at the left. Lift one of these acute angles and place on top of the angle at the back, creasing the fold; then fold the remaining acute angle under to the same angle at the back, creasing as before. Now place the form with the right angle at the back and hold all the open edges to the left while cutting. Illustrations in the "Kindergarten Guides" show a network drawn on the triangle at the top as an aid to transferring the pattern.