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MANUAL OF NEEDLEWORK 
 
 CUTTING-OUT 
 
 EMILY G. JONES. 
 
BALLANTYNE, HANSON AND CO. 
 EDINBURGH AND LONDON 
 
A MANUAL 
 
 PLAIN NEEDLEWORK 
 
 AND 
 
 CUTTING-OUT, 
 
 BY 
 
 EMILY G. JONES, 
 
 DIRECTRESS OF NEEDLEWORK TO THE EDUCATION DEPARTMENT. 
 
 SEVENTH EDITION. 
 
 miti) 2)ri0mal piatcss anD JIHusftrations;, 
 
 AND A SECTIONAL THREE-YARDS SHEET CONTAINING PATTERNS, "ARRANGED 
 SO AS TO SHOW THE GREATEST ECONOMY OF MATERIALS. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO. 
 
 1886. 
 
-^ '■^ 
 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 THIS little Manual, which is a revised and enlarged 
 edition of 'How to Teach Plain Needlework and 
 Cutting-Out,' has been written in the earnest hope that, by 
 its aid, a most valuable part of a woman's education may 
 be so simply and effectually taught, that the girls of the 
 present may be fitted to become the thrifty, helpful, happy 
 wives and mothers of the future. 
 
 * Nothing useless is, or low ; 
 Each thing in its place is best ; 
 And what seems but idle show 
 Strengthens and supports the rest. 
 
 January 1884, Emily G. Joxes, 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 
 PAGE 
 
 
 
 
 PAGF 
 
 Attention to Details . 
 
 17 
 
 Feather- Stitch . 
 
 
 
 39 
 
 Baby Threaders . 
 
 19 
 
 Fiddle- Strings . 
 
 
 
 35 
 
 Baby's Flannel . • 
 
 79 
 
 Fixing . . , 
 
 
 
 24 
 
 Bird's- Eye Darn . 
 
 66 
 
 Flannel Patching . 
 
 
 
 74 
 
 Boys learning Needlework . 
 
 23 
 
 Frame, Teaching by 
 
 the 
 
 
 26 
 
 Button-Hole Stitch 
 
 33 
 
 Frill-Setting 
 
 
 
 38 
 
 Buttons, Sewing-on . • 
 
 32 
 
 Gathering . 
 
 
 
 29 
 
 Casting-off in Knitting . 
 
 47 
 
 German- Roll Hem 
 
 
 
 Z^ 
 
 Casting-on .... 
 
 44 
 
 Grafting . , 
 
 
 
 68 
 
 Chain-Edge 
 
 44 
 
 Gusset- Heel 
 
 
 
 52 
 
 Chequered-Boards 
 
 ^6 
 
 Hemming . , 
 
 
 
 19 
 
 Comforter, How to Knit 
 
 48 
 
 Herring-Boning . 
 
 
 27, 
 
 112 
 
 Commencement of School- 
 
 
 Holes in Knitting 
 
 
 
 46 
 
 work .... 
 
 14 
 
 Infants, Lessons to 
 
 
 19, 
 
 108 
 
 Coral- Stitch 
 
 39 
 
 Intakes 
 
 
 
 51 
 
 Counter-Hem . 
 
 20 
 
 Joining Ends in Knitting 
 
 
 47 
 
 Cradle Quilt 
 
 48 
 
 Knitting 
 
 . 
 
 
 42 
 
 Cross-Cut, Darning a . 
 
 71 
 
 Knitting - Needles, 
 
 Correct 
 
 
 Cutting-Out. 
 
 74 
 
 Position . 
 
 . 
 
 
 42 
 
 Cutting-Out School- Work . 
 
 98 
 
 Knickerbocker Drawers 
 
 
 78 
 
 Darning .... 
 
 60 
 
 Knotting 
 
 . 
 
 
 39 
 
 Darning a Hole . . 
 
 70 
 
 Ladder, To take up £ 
 
 I . 
 
 
 71 
 
 Decreasings. , . 
 
 51 
 
 Marking 
 
 . 
 
 
 35 
 
 Dirty Cotton 
 
 28 
 
 Narrowings . . 
 
 • 
 
 
 51 
 
 Drill . . . 17, 43, 
 
 108 
 
 Needle-Drill 
 
 . 
 
 
 43 
 
 Dutch-Heel. 
 
 51 
 
 Needlework for 
 
 Pu 
 
 pil 
 
 
 Enlarging and Reducing Pat- 
 
 
 Teachers . 
 
 . 
 
 14, 
 
 100 
 
 terns .... 
 
 91 
 
 Night-dress . 
 
 . 
 
 
 85 
 
Conte?its, 
 
 
 PAGB 
 
 
 PAGB 
 
 Object of Teaching Needlework 40 
 
 Size of Needles and Cotton . 104 
 
 Ornamental Stitching . 
 
 . 37 
 
 Split Hemming . 
 
 . 19 
 
 Outlines of Lessons 
 
 . 108 
 
 Stitching 
 
 . 26 
 
 Out-of-School Work . 
 
 . 29 
 
 Stocking, How to Knit 
 
 50, 57 
 
 Over- Sewing 
 
 . 21 
 
 Stockings, Scale for . 
 
 53,55 
 
 Patching . . , 
 
 . 72 
 
 Stocking- Web Stitch . 
 
 . lOI 
 
 Pattern Making . s 
 
 . 83 
 
 Straight Hemming 
 
 . 19 
 
 PiUow- Slips 
 
 . 90 
 
 Straining the Eyesight . 
 
 17,95 
 
 Pinafore 
 
 . 93 
 
 Stroking 
 
 . 31 
 
 Plain Dam . 
 
 . 62 
 
 S\\dss-Daming 
 
 . 69 
 
 Planning School Needlework 97 
 
 Thickened Heel . 
 
 ■ 59 
 
 Practice-Pieces, Use for 
 
 . 25 
 
 Three- Cornered, or Hed 
 
 ge- 
 
 Proper jSIaterials to be Used 27, 41 
 
 Tear 
 
 . 72 
 
 Pupil Teachers' Work . 
 
 14, 100 
 
 Three- Yard Length Diagram 106 
 
 Purling 
 
 , 46 
 
 Toe, Knitting the 
 
 • 52 
 
 Queen-Stitch 
 
 . 35 
 
 Top-Sewing. . , 
 
 . 21 
 
 Ribbed Stocking . 
 
 . 59 
 
 Tree- Stitch . , . 
 
 . 39 
 
 Run-and-Fell 
 
 . 25 
 
 Tucks .... 
 
 . 40 
 
 Scale for Shirt . 
 
 . 82 
 
 Twill-Dam . 
 
 . 6s 
 
 Scale for Under-Garments 
 
 . 92 
 
 Use of Coloured Cotton 
 
 . 19 
 
 Schedule III. . 
 
 . 12 
 
 Vests, How to Knit . 
 
 . 49 
 
 Seaming 
 
 21, 23 
 
 Wave-Dam . 
 
 . 66 
 
 Setting-in . 
 
 • 31 
 
 Way of the Material . 
 
 . 80 
 
 Sew-and-Fell . , 
 
 . 24 
 
 Whipping . . 
 
 . 38 
 
 Serving on Strings 
 
 . 28 
 
 Width of Material 
 
 . 82 
 
 Shirt .... 
 
 • 85 
 
 Work for the Various Stand- 
 
 Simultaneous Teaching 22, 
 
 35,44 
 
 ards . . . . 
 
 12, 104 
 
 PLATES. 
 
 Sectional Three-yard Diagram . . . , , Frontispiece 
 
 Plate I Page 16 
 
 Plate n . . „ 32 
 
 Plate HI . . „ 80 
 
 Plate IV . . „ 81 
 
 I'^ateV ;, 96 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE COMMENCEMENT OF "WORK— IMPOETANCE OF DEIIL. 
 
 IN olden days the great occupation of woman's life 
 was needlework. Many are the pictures we have 
 of ladies and their maidens at work on the tapestry 
 hangings and emblazoning colours for their lords, and 
 many are the specimens still existing of exquisite point 
 lace, marvellous kerchiefs, aprons and samplers, etc., 
 which fill us with wonder at the patience and eyesight 
 of the workers of the past. But in these days of moral 
 and intellectual improvement women devote them- 
 selves to music, languages, art, politics, physiology, 
 geology, conchology, metaphysics, and social reforms. 
 Our exquisite souls soar to realms of poetry and 
 mysticism, and, as a natural consequence, many homely 
 handicrafts, amongst others that of plain needlework, 
 have fallen into disrepute, or at least into disuse. 
 What could be more contemptible than mere mechani- 
 cal drudgery ? What more revolting to the aesthetic 
 mind than confronting poverty by darning the vulgar 
 stocking ? Who would not shudder to be styled 
 thrifty ? But, humiliating though it may be, we are 
 obliged to acknowledge the need of clothing. The 
 author of ' Sartor Resartus ' puts it more forcibly, and 
 declares that without dress we are nothing ; but per- 
 
lO Plain Needlework a7id 
 
 haps he was wrong. In order to have our clothing 
 according to the rules of the great power Fashion, 
 we are reduced to the necessity of making it. To our 
 aid came the sewing machine ; this was hailed with 
 delight and satisfaction. A garment could be run up 
 in a day ; but, alas ! even sewing machines have their 
 imperfections, and in this chequered existence we are 
 finding the melancholy truth that hand-work is still a 
 desideratum. 
 
 It may be asked. Why are we to have papers, lectures, 
 and new methods for a subject which our great-grand- 
 mothers knew all about ? Of course we must know all the 
 latest theories respecting light, chemistry, or telephones ; 
 but what can be said on needlework that is new ? This is 
 the point. We do not profess to teach a new thing, but a 
 new and more interesting mode of teaching an old 
 subject. In these days of compulsory education, where 
 classes consist of from thirty to one hundred girls, 
 there has arisen the absolute necessity of some definite 
 system of collective teaching. If simultaneous in- 
 struction in writing, arithmetic, etc., with the aid of 
 blackboards, is admitted to be practicable, why may it 
 not also be practicable for needlework ? 
 
 The present series of papers will be framed upon the 
 system taught by the London Institute for the Advance- 
 ment of Plain Needlework, which, when understood by 
 the teacher, will be found to save her an infinity of 
 trouble, and relieve the children of a great deal of 
 unpleasant drudgery. By experienced teachers the 
 system will soon be grasped and grafted into their 
 present regime, recommending itself, when brought to 
 their notice, by its simplicity, completeness, and adapta- 
 bility, the carefully thought-out details making it most 
 easy to those who are, perhaps, inclined to feel out of 
 heart at the thought of 'another new thing.' Many 
 young teachers will possibly say at first, ' What a fuss 
 
Cutting- Out, 1 1 
 
 about nothing ! We've done very well up to now. 
 To them I would reply, * I am afraid you have not done 
 very well up to now. The generality of the girls who 
 have passed through your hands cannot sew at all, and 
 certainly cannot put a garment together and make it 
 themselves.' The voice of public opinion is rising up 
 and saying we are paying so much for education, and 
 can't get done what we want. Ask any lady wanting 
 a housemaid, or nurse, who must assist w^ith the 
 sewing, if she finds it easy to get one ? The large 
 firms are calling out for needlewomen. I believe, too, 
 that a more practical knowledge of needlework would 
 be of the greatest value socially, from the habits of 
 cleanliness, neatness, thrift, comfort, and industry it 
 would induce. 
 
 If attention be paid to every detail, a careful study of 
 the following pages will, I hope, enable every teacher 
 to carry her pupils successfully through a complete 
 course. 
 
 It must be remembered that they are written for 
 teachers, and that, in consequence, enough will be 
 condensed into each section to afford lessons for a 
 term, or terms, according to the age and capabilities 
 of the pupils. For example, if a child in an elementary 
 school begins its needlework below Standard I., it is 
 not supposed to have finished its course until it has 
 gone through all the six standards, a period of more 
 than six years. But if a girl of sixteen wishes to begin 
 to learn hemming, one may reasonably expect that 
 a much shorter time would be sufficient to teach her, 
 at least how to do certain stitches, though, of course, 
 neatness and quickness in manipulation can only be 
 attained by practice. 
 
 Needlework has been called ' the girl's disgust, the 
 woman's consolation.' My great object will be to show 
 who, by intelligent teaching, the needlework hour may 
 
12 Plain Needlework and 
 
 be made interesting and bright, banishing for ever the 
 disgust and leaving only the consolation. It is desira- 
 ble that as soon as a child has learned to hem fairly, it 
 should be allowed to complete a small garment itself. 
 
 The annexed copy of Schedule III. will be familiar 
 enough to teachers of elementary schools, and will be 
 of great use not only to teachers in high schools, but 
 also to governesses generally, as it will form common 
 ground for all to work upon ; because, if a governess 
 has a pupil of fourteen or fifteen years of age, who is 
 only a beginner, she must be called Standard I., and 
 should do the work of Standard I. until she is perfect 
 therein, before proceeding to the stitches in Standard II., 
 and so on; though, of course, as I said before, her 
 progress ought to be more rapid. 
 
 SCHEDULE III. 
 
 NEEDLEWORK, 
 
 N.B. — The material used, whether in the exercises performed before the 
 inspector or in the garments shown to him, should not be so fine as to 
 straifi the eyesight of the children. 
 
 GIRLS' AND INFANTS' DEPARTMENTS. 
 
 Below Standard I. 
 
 Needle drill. — Position drill. 
 
 Strips (i8 inches by 2 inches) in simple hemming- with 
 coloured cotton, in the following order, viz.: — i. Black. 
 2. Red. 3. Blue. 
 
 Knitting-pin drill. 
 
 A strip knitted (15 inches by 3 inches) in cotton or wool. 
 
Cittling-Out. 13 
 
 Standard I. 
 
 1. Hemming, seaming, felling. Any garment or other use- 
 ful article which can be completed by the above stitches, e.g., 
 a child's pinafore, pillow case, or pocket handkerchief. In 
 small mixed country schools, strips (18 in, by 2 in.) of hem- 
 ming, etc., may be shown at the discretion of the managers, 
 in place of a garment. 
 
 2. Knitting. 2 needles, plain, e.g., a strip on which to 
 teach darning in upper Standards, or a comforter. 
 
 Standard II. 
 
 1. The work of the previous Standard with greater skill. 
 Any garment or other useful article, as above. 
 
 2. Knitting. 2 needles, plain and purled, e.g., muffatees. 
 
 Standard III. 
 
 1. The work of the previous Standards, stitching and sew- 
 ing on strings. Garment, a pinafore, shift, or apron. 
 
 Herring-bone stitch. The stitch only on canvas, or flannel. 
 Darning, simple, on canvas. 
 
 2. Klnitting. 4 needles, plain and purled, e.g., muffatees. 
 
 Standard IV. 
 
 1. The work of the previous Standards, gathering, setting- 
 in, button-hole, sewing on button. Garment, a plain night 
 shirt, night gown, or petticoat. 
 
 2. Marking, simple, on canvas. 
 
 3. Darning, plain (as for thin places), in stocking web 
 material. 
 
 4. Knitting- 4 needles, a sock. 
 
 5. Herring-bone, a patch (at least 3 inches square) on 
 coarse flannel. 
 
 Standard V. 
 
 1. The work of the previous Standards, and the running 
 of a tuck. Garment, as in Standard IV. 
 
 2. Knitting. 4 needles, a sock or stocking, ribbed or plain. 
 
 3. Plain darning of a hole in stocking-web material. 
 
 4. Patching in calico and flannel. 
 
 5. Cutting out any garment such as is required in Standard 
 
14 Plain Needlework and 
 
 Standards VI. and VII. 
 
 1. The work of previous Standards, whip-stitch, and setting- ' 
 on frill. Garment, a baby's night gown, or child's frock. 
 
 2. Darning, plain, on coarse linen. 
 
 3. Patching in print. 
 
 4. Knitting. 4 needles, a long stocking with heel thickened. 
 
 5. Cutting out any under-garment for making up in 
 Standard IV. 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 1. Garments must be shown in each Standard, but not 
 necessarily those specified in this Schedule, which are 
 mentioned merely as examples. They must be presented in 
 the same condition as when completed by the scholars. 
 
 2. At least half as many garments must be shown as there 
 are girls examined in Standards I., II., and III. Each gar- 
 ment must be entirely made by its own Standard. In Standard 
 IV. and upwards each girl must present a garment made by 
 herself. 
 
 3. Girls should be encouraged to fix their own work in the 
 garments shown. Those above Standard I. will be required 
 to "fix" and **cast on" in the exercises performed by the 
 Inspector 
 
 PUPIL TEACHERS (GIRLS). 
 
 First Year. 
 
 1. A garment in calico or print, showing all the stitches 
 required in Standard IV. 
 
 2. A hole correctly mended in stocking material. 
 
 3. A patch, not less than 2 inches square, on calico. 
 
 4. A sock. 
 
 Second Year. 
 
 1 . A Garment in long cloth showing all the stitches required 
 in Standard V. 
 
 2. Grafting and Swiss darning on stocking material. 
 
 3. A patch, not less than 2^ inches square, in flannel. 
 
 4. A boy's knickerbocker stocking. 
 
 Third Year. 
 
 I . A garment in long cloth or print, showing all the stitches 
 required in Standard VI. 
 
Cutting- Out, 1 5 
 
 2. A hole filled in with stocking web stitch, on stocking 
 material, not less than i^ inches square. 
 
 3. A patch on print. 
 
 4. A pair of knitted baby's boots. 
 
 5. Pattern of a shirt or night dress (full size) drawn to scale 
 {\ size) on sectional paper ; quantity and quality of materials to 
 be stated. 
 
 Fourth Year. 
 
 1. To show a garment, suited to Standard IV., cut out 
 and neatly ''fixed" or ** tacked" together. 
 
 2. A three-cornered (or hedge-tear) dam, the tear not less 
 than I inch square, and a cross cut darn, on coarse linen. 
 
 3. A roll, or piece of sectional paper (:| inch scale) repre- 
 senting a piece of calico or Holland, 32 inches wide by 3 yards 
 long, on which patterns of garments, suitable for children 
 attending public elementary schools, are drawn so arranged 
 as to show the greatest economy of materials. 
 
 Notes. 
 
 1. In all cases the specimens, garments, and drawings 
 shown to the Inspector must be done without assistance, and 
 presented as they left the worker's hands. All garments must 
 have been cut out by the makers. 
 
 2. No embroidery is to be used. The garments should be 
 of plain simple patterns, showing intelligence and good 
 workmanship, but without elaborate detail. 
 
 We will now suppose a teacher surveying her pupils 
 on the Monday after her Government inspection ; the 
 whole school empty-handed, the garments on which 
 they had been so busy, completed and sold — what is to 
 be done ? Her first business will be to see what sort 
 of infants have been sent up from the Infant School, 
 and to direct the teacher of the new Standard I. to give 
 out sheets of old exercise or copy books, and let the 
 chil dren show what they can do in fixing hems on paper, 
 perfectly straight, folding the corners in pairs, in ii:^m^ 
 
1 6 Plain Needlework and 
 
 counter-hems, and sew-and-fell seams, tacking them 
 with cotton. Also to see what can be done in knitting. 
 If they can knit but not " cast-on/' give a lesson in 
 casting-on ; if they can cast-on, let them do so, and 
 begin a strip of purl and plain. Standard II. might 
 also begin with knitting. Meanwhile some of the girls 
 in Standards III. and IV. might be set to wind skeins 
 of knitting cotton and yarn for future use; others 
 should be cutting and fixing strips for Standard I. to 
 hem ; or if, as is the case when infants are properly 
 taught. Standard I. is beyond hemming strips for 
 dusters (see ' Plain Needlework in Six Standards,' 
 published by Griffith and Farran), let the strips be 
 twelve inches long selvedge way, and two wide, to be 
 seamed together for a petticoat, which will be described 
 in the chapter on seaming. The girls in the upper 
 standards should be cutting canvas into squares 
 which will be made into samplers for learning new 
 stitches. The head-mistress will then cut out pinafores, 
 or little shirts, to be made by Standard I., which, 
 as soon as cut, are passed to Standard V. or VI. to 
 have the hems fixed and tacked ; because, though Stan- 
 dard I. may be able to fix its own straight hems, yet it 
 cannot be expected to fix the more difficult curved 
 sides or rounded corners. Thus it will be seen, that 
 by a little method, the whole school may be set to 
 work at once, without the head-mistress and assistants 
 having to stay overtime to cut out and fix for perhaps 
 360 girls. 
 
 This state of things, however, should not occur again, 
 because, by the end of the year, we ought to have 
 taught Standards V. and VI. to cut out, so that by the 
 time they pass out of the school, they will leave behind 
 them a number of garments cut out, and ready for the 
 junior standards to set to work upon. There is frequently 
 a great waste of time during the first two or three 
 
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Cutting-Out. 17 
 
 months after inspection, especially in needlework, which 
 naturally causes '' cram " later on. There being no 
 system, nothing is ready to go on with. The cutting 
 out and preparation of the various practice and examina- 
 tion pieces is in itself a most important lesson, and 
 might well employ the first day or two at the beginning 
 of each school year. 
 
 Too much attention cannot be given to the teaching 
 of details in the earlier stages, as this forms the 
 foundation of all good work. The folds of the hems 
 must be turned perfectly straight, therefore let the 
 teaching material be coarse. We begin to teach writing 
 in copy books ruled for large hand. We give lines, to 
 help the untrained eye to keep straight, and to learn 
 what ^' straight " means as compared with " crooked." 
 We give chequered paper in our arithmetic books for 
 the same purpose. Therefore, on coarse material, of 
 which the threads can easily be followed, let the eye be 
 trained, and not strained, as it too often is if fine material 
 be used, and so let neatness be learnt from the first, 
 that there may be nothing to unlearn. Six threads for 
 the first turn and twelve for the second is a good useful 
 rule to give, as the width of all the hemming to be done 
 by Standards I. and II. Let the pupils learn from the 
 first to depend upon themselves, and not to keep 
 demanding attention, and inquiring, " Is this right, 
 please ? " 
 
 For a moment we must turn our attention to the 
 infants. Here the drill lessons are most valuable, not 
 only as an assistance in teaching needlework, but in 
 instilling that instant obedience which is so necessary 
 when collective teaching is concerned. To compel the 
 children to look to the teacher for the word of command 
 for every act enforces such attention that perfect dis- 
 cipline — which in an infant school especially is more 
 than half the battle — is ensured. If young men of 
 
 2 
 
i8 Plain Needleiw7'k 
 
 am 
 
 eighteen years of age or thereabouts are made to stand 
 
 with their thumbs touching the seams of their trousers, 
 
 and obHged to ' mark time,' and if later on every detail 
 
 in the handling of a rifle has its regular gradation, the 
 
 placing of the hands, the position of the fingers, etc., 
 
 etc., nothing being deemed too insignificant to ensure 
 
 success in the mighty organization of our army, we 
 
 need not cavil at details which will ensure success in 
 
 the mighty organization of our national education. 
 
 ''Order is Heaven's first law," so Earth need not try 
 
 to get on without it. I remember, a short time since, 
 
 reading in the paper an account of the saving of the 
 
 lives of some hundreds of children owing entirely to 
 
 the presence of mind of the mistress and the discipline 
 
 of the scholars. The care-taker discovered that the 
 
 school was on fire, and told the mistress. She proved 
 
 equal to the emergency, called 'attention,' told the 
 
 children she wished them to march to a certain part of 
 
 the road, gave them the orders for dismissal, and thus 
 
 cleared the school of little ones before a panic seized 
 
 them, which would have been disastrous in the extreme. 
 
 It is not advisable to give a drill and call it 'the 
 
 drill,' because each teacher knows what she wants to 
 
 arrive at, and must adapt her orders to the comprehension 
 
 of her class. When a head-mistress has made up a 
 
 drill for stitches, etc., which she finds practical, of 
 
 course all the junior teachers will work on those lines, 
 
 because it is most confusing to a child to have to learn 
 
 a new drill when it is moved up from class to class. 
 
 I would urge the importance of teaching only one step 
 
 at a time. Every day may see a new step, but let 
 
 each be perfected before the next is begun. Again, a 
 
 teacher should not give an order that she does not see 
 
 carried out ; therefore let the orders be few and to the 
 
 point. Also accustom all the children to take them 
 
 from the teacher as she stands in front of the class. 
 
Cittling-Out. 19 
 
 I have often noticed that there will be a few little ones 
 who don't try at all to follow the lesson, but just wait — 
 experience having taught them that presently the 
 teacher will come round and set them going. In cases 
 like these, I would make the little idlers serve as a 
 solemn example of the consequences of inattention, by 
 directing them to stand up and take their orders by 
 themselves, the teacher standing in her usual place. 
 
 A sketch of lessons to infants will be found at the 
 end of the book. 
 
 Let infants first learn to thread needles, using the 
 ' Baby Threaders ' ; secondly, to place the work correctly 
 on the first finger of the left hand, and hold it in place 
 with the thumb and second finger ; thirdly , to make a 
 stitch with the needle but no thread. Next comes the 
 making of the stitch with thread, and in order that this 
 may be the right shape, teach the children to point the 
 needle to the middle of the left thumb-nail. The use 
 of coloured cotton is a great assistance to teacher and 
 pupil, being easy to see. It also acts as a stimulus, if 
 it is used in grades — black to begin, red as an advance, 
 blue a further promotion, and white as the highest 
 attainable. 
 
 The faults to be seen in hemming are, first, the up- 
 right stitches of the beginner, caused by the needle 
 being put in like a skewer, and pointing to the top edge 
 of the hem instead of towards the left thumb, and also 
 because the child puts the needle in just under where 
 the cotton has been drawn out, instead of making a little 
 step forward. 'Split hemming' is another fault, i.e., 
 where the needle is not made to shine through clearly 
 on the right side, but is allowed actually to split the 
 threads of the material, thus showing scarcely any 
 stitches on the right side, and, of course, forming most 
 insecure, unpractical work, which will soon burst out. 
 * Straight hemming,' showing a horizontal stitch on the 
 
20 Plain Needlework and 
 
 right side, like running, is also a fault, and to be 
 avoided for the same reason. What is called single- 
 thread hemming, as it is practised now, is much to be 
 condemned. It has probably arisen from a misunder- 
 standing of seamed hems of house-linen. The correct 
 shape of the stitch in hemming is a succession of the 
 letter V, half the V being on one side and the other 
 half on the other side of the material. Between the 
 points of the V there ought to be four threads (see 
 Plate II., page 32). 
 
 Having on one occasion to object to single-thread 
 hemming in a school, the mistress said that there had 
 been such a difference of opinion between her and her 
 pupils as to the size of a 'little stitch,' that she had 
 made the class work single thread, in order to show 
 them what neat hemming looked like. She did not 
 know, till I told her, that there was a rule for correct 
 hemming. 
 
 I wish here to remark that, throughout the following 
 chapters, I shall constantly give rules for stitches for 
 the use of teachers, that the}" ma}^ have something 
 definite to teach. The pupils, in all cases, are to be 
 taught on material so coarse that they can easily see 
 the threads, wherever it may be necessary (in the 
 first learning of the stitch) to count them. 
 
 Counter-hem has been much misunderstood. It was 
 suggested simply as a means b}^ which a garment 
 might be completed by hemming. For example, in 
 the ' Princess ' pinafore, the only join is the little bit 
 on the shoulder. If the class has not arrived at 
 seaming, how can the shoulder be joined ? The only 
 difficulty is the fixing. If the teacher will make the 
 children learn to fix a counter-hem in the following 
 manner, she will have prepared the way to the fixing 
 of the sew-and-fell. Let her give out two pieces of 
 paper or material — call one A, and the other B (a pin 
 
CiUtincr-Out. 2 1 
 
 Vb 
 
 put in one will distinguish A from B). Let each child 
 fold the edge of A down once, as for first turn of hem, 
 lay that piece down, take up B, and fold the edge also 
 once towards her, and then fold it once back from her, 
 so that a crease is made, which will be the guide for the 
 place of the folded edge of A. Put raw edge to raw 
 edge, and tack them. Hem down the folded edge of B 
 on to the material A, and the folded edge of A on to 
 the material B. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 SEAMING, SEW-AND-FELL, STITCHING, ANDHEEEING-BONING. 
 
 SEAMING is the next stitch which demands atten- 
 tion ; it is called by different names in different 
 localities, such as 'sewing/ 'over-sewing,' * top-sewing.' 
 I prefer to call it ' seaming,' as sewing is the generic 
 name for all needlework. 
 
 The great difficulty with this stitch is the pucker. 
 This, however, ma}' be entirely avoided if the pupils 
 are carefully taught from the beginning how to hold 
 their hands, and the proper position of the needle. 
 
 The two edges of the material ought to be doubled. 
 It is a mistake to teach a child to seam on two sel- 
 vedges at first, as the}- are stiff, and not very even. 
 The child should hold the material in the left hand, so 
 that the folded edges lie along the first finger, and 
 round — not over — the end of it, the thumb and second 
 finger holding the material firmly in place. There 
 should be as much of the work in the fork of the 
 thumb and finger as the child can easily hold, because 
 if, as is too frequenth- the case, a bit of about half an 
 inch is held between the thumb and finger, there is an 
 incessant drag, which causes the work to be always on 
 
22 Plain Needlework and 
 
 the slant, and prevents the stitches from being even 
 and regular. 
 
 The right elbow ought to be raised from the side, 
 and the needle should point straight to the chest of 
 the worker. The shape of the seam stitch is like the 
 letter N (Plate IL, page 32). The slanting part is that 
 which is seen at the top of the fold. From point to 
 point of the N there ought to be two threads. If these 
 details are attended to, there will be no pucker ; but if a 
 child is allowed to hold her right arm close to her 
 side, she will naturally point the needle in an oblique 
 direction, which will cause it to take in more threads of 
 the fold nearest to the worker than of the outside fold, 
 and though it may be only one thread per stitch, that 
 m( ans one inch in three ! 
 
 The teacher should stand in front of her class, and, 
 holding a practice piece in her hand, should make the 
 children copy her in each act, first as regards the position 
 of the work, and next that of the needle. One or two 
 of the children who are right first might be sent round 
 to show the others. 
 
 I cannot dwell too strongly on the success of simul- 
 taneous teaching. 
 
 Some time ago, an infant schoolmistress of experience 
 said the idea was all very well in theory, but she did 
 not think it practical. After some conversation she 
 promised that she would work one class entirely on this 
 system. 
 
 About three months later, on visiting her school, she 
 met me with these words, ' I am a perfect convert.' 
 
 It appeared that she had been obliged to re-classify 
 her whole school (attendance 250 to 300), and that she 
 determined to adopt the system in all the classes. She 
 expressed herself astonished at the progress the children 
 had made in so short a time, and said that all the les- 
 sons were influenced by the discipline of the drill. 
 
Cutting Out, 23 
 
 I never wish to see a plcasanter sight in a school 
 than those 260 infants all looking eageriy at their 
 teacher for the word of command for each act. 
 
 Every infant schoolmistress who has tried the teach- 
 ing of needlework to boys, speaks most warmly in 
 favour of it. The lesson makes a pleasant variety, 
 and affords a relief from the three R's. One boy's 
 mother wrote to ask his teacher if he might be excused 
 needlework, he 'hated it so.' The teacher replied she 
 could make no exceptions ; he would like it when he 
 had had a few lessons. Before the end of the year, 
 the little lad had completed an apron, which was bought 
 with delight and triumph by the mother. Other little 
 boys have knitted comforters for themselves at home. 
 What a Utopian existence might worried mothers look 
 forward to, if their offspring would knit comforters on 
 cold wet afternoons, instead of sowing seeds of disease 
 and ruining their clothes by playing in the gutter ! But, 
 apart from this, the education given to the fingers by 
 the needlework-lesson must be of great practical use 
 in after life, especially to those who are engaged in 
 any of the more delicate handicrafts, such as weaving, 
 watchmaking, engraving, etc. Some people have argued 
 that it makes boys feminine to teach them to sew. I 
 believe our soldiers and sailors do a good deal in the 
 way of making and mending their own clothes, but I 
 never yet heard that they were considered womanish in 
 consequence. 
 
 However, to return to seaming. One fault besides 
 the pucker must be noticed, viz., that the stitch is 
 frequently taken too deep, making a thick, ugly ridge. 
 The needle ought only to skim the top of the folds, 
 about one thread deep being sufficient. The seam, 
 when finished, ought to be laid on the desk or table 
 and flattened down. 
 
 The beginning of a new needleful ought to be an 
 
24 Plain N^eedlevcork and 
 
 important lesson. The ends of the old and the new 
 needleful should be seamed over on the top of the 
 work, not tucked in between the folds. In putting in 
 the needle for the first stitch, only the fold nearest to 
 the worker ought to be taken ; the end of the cotton is 
 then in place to be sewn over. A neat finish to a 
 seam is made by turning the work round and seaming 
 back four or six stitches. 
 
 Seaming having been learnt, the next thing to be 
 accomplished is the ' sew-and-fell.' This will present 
 no difficulty if it be carefully fixed. I should expect 
 Standards III. and IV. to fix the 'sew-and-fell' in the 
 garments to be made by Standard II. Standard II. 
 must, however, be taught to fix, firstly on paper, then 
 on material. Let the teacher give out two pieces to 
 each child, and as, in future practical work, attention 
 must be paid to the right side and the wrong, the 
 children may as well be taught this from the first. Let 
 them put a pin, or pencil-mark, on each piece to indicate 
 the right side. Then, taking up one piece, and holding 
 the right side towards herself, let each child turn down 
 the raw edge about six threads on to the right side 
 then fold it back on to the wrong side, and put 
 it on the desk. Now let her take up the other 
 piece, and holding the wrong side towards herself, 
 turn down the raw edge about six threads. The two 
 pieces should then be put together, wrong side to 
 wrong side, and tacked carefully close to the edge, 
 which ought to show two doubled folds, with 
 a raw edge between them (Fig. i). When 
 this is secured, let the tacldng threads be 
 taken out, the seam flattened down, and the 
 material turned over to the under side of the 
 join, where a folded edge will be found ready 
 for hemming. In England seaming is always worked 
 on the right side of the material. The fell must be 
 
CiUlvig-OuL 25 
 
 kept narrow. After the children have succeeded in 
 fixing and working the sew-and-fell on straight pieces, 
 let them fix and work pieces cut in a semi-circle, or 
 on the cross-way of the calico, as the fell is generally 
 used in joining two curved pieces ; for example, the 
 under part of the arm-hole of a chemise. Run-and- 
 fell is not allowable in plain needlework. It must be 
 called 'scamp-work.' If properly done, it takes as 
 long as the seaming, and even then is not very secure, 
 especially where there is any strain on the join. 
 
 There ought to be no waste of teaching material 
 in a girls' school. As soon as a child can hem it 
 ought to become a producer. The strips used in 
 hemming must be saved until the seaming lessons 
 commence, when they should be seamed together for 
 
 — _>j 
 
 Fig. 2. 
 
 school dusters. I must object to practice-pieces being 
 cut into small bits, of the size used on inspection day. 
 It is a waste of material. If the school makes more 
 dusters than it requires, they may be sold for a half- 
 penny each, or the strips could be made into little 
 petticoats, to be sold at the price of the calico. 
 
 I have seen excellent little garments made thus. 
 The strips are cut about two inches wide and twelve or 
 fifteen long. The raw edges of each are folded down, 
 and seamed together. Each strip is now double. 
 These are then folded so that the seam comes in the 
 middle of the strip. 
 
 In fig. 2, A represents the edge of the strip, B the 
 seam. These strips are seamed together at the edges 
 A, so that the skirt of the petticoat presents on the 
 under side a row of seams every half-inch, and half 
 
26 Plain Needlework ajid 
 
 that number on the right side. The Httle body is 
 made in the same way, only, of course, the strips are 
 not so long. A binding of tape will complete a gar- 
 ment which finds a ready sale, besides having also 
 pro^^ded weeks of sewing. 
 
 I need hardly say it must not be the object of the 
 teacher to make endless strip-dusters and petticoats. 
 These are merely suggestions of good practical uses, to 
 which the teaching material, which would otherwise be 
 a dead loss, might be turned. 
 
 Among the new stitches to be learnt in Standard III. 
 are 'stitching,' sometimes called 'back-stitching '(Plate I., 
 page 17), 'marking/ and 'herring-boning.* Hitherto 
 we have taught Standards I. and II. by drill, oral, and 
 demonstration lessons. We nov/ come to the use of 
 the frame. Let the children be supplied with a 
 practising sampler made of canvas, size four inches 
 square, and backed with any piece of holland or calico 
 out of the snip basket (the stitches should be taken 
 through the calico back of the sampler, otherwise the 
 canvas is apt to pull out of shape). These samplers 
 thus provide material of such coarse threads that they 
 are easily counted. The fram^e represents a magnified 
 sampler, and with the needle especially made for the 
 purpose, the mistress teaches her whole class the new 
 lesson. The standard rule for this stitch is : — From 
 the place where the cotton comes out, count two threads 
 to the right, put the needle in, and take up four threads 
 on the needle, which will bring it out two threads in 
 advance of the cotton (Plate I., page 17). The stitch 
 is sometimes seen half this size, but it then ceases to 
 be ornamental, and is a useless strain on the eyesight. 
 Stitching is always worked on the right side, and on 
 double material ; a thread may be drawn to give a 
 straight line where practicable, though, of course, on 
 the rounded corners of collars and vv'ristbands, this 
 
Cutting- Out, 2 7 
 
 cannot be done. Having learnt the stitch on the 
 sampler, the children should then work a few inches 
 on coarse material, and afterwards be set to stitch the 
 band of the unbleached calico garment they are to 
 make. 
 
 Herring-boning is only used for flannel. The children 
 should be taught as before, first on the sampler, then on 
 flannel. Strips of list herring-boned together make 
 warm linings for children's under-garments, at no 
 expense. This stitch is worked from left to right, 
 and ought to be four threads deep — i.e.y from the upper 
 row of stitches to the lower row (fig. 3 and Plate II., 
 page 33). If the children are taught by thread on the 
 sampler, they will see that the little cross on the top 
 row comes between the crosses on the bottom row, and 
 
 v-../' V..;.i k',. 
 
 ' \--^' ' 
 
 \ : X , ;■: 
 
 
 .V /, \ ■ \' ' ■ . ^ ■ ' 1 
 
 . X • ^-^ 
 
 \ 
 
 l<••^, ,^---^ -■■• -. 
 
 V , ■. , i N 
 
 Fig. 3. 
 
 vice versa. So that, bearing this in mind, they will 
 always produce straight herring-boning on flannel, 
 without the necessity of counting threads. The lower 
 row of stitches ought to be just off the raw edge of 
 the fold. 
 
 Sometimes we find herring-boning taught on calico. 
 This is a great mistake, and ought never to be allowed. 
 Whatever the children are taught at first, is the idea 
 that remains for ever on their minds. Even if the 
 teacher sa3^s, ' I onty give you caHco to learn on,' this 
 is forgotten, and the only thing remembered is, ' We 
 used to herring-bone caHco at school.' I have touched 
 on this point because it is a most important one. Let 
 every stitch be taught with the proper materials. I 
 lately saw button-holing taught with darning cotton, 
 
28 Plain Needlework and 
 
 also with silk on calico garments. I have seen a calico 
 patch herring- boned because the teacher did not happen 
 to have a bit of flannel ; also calico patched with 
 flannel. I have seen holland and calico joined by sew- 
 and-fell. All these liberties allowed by the teacher 
 produce the worst possible effect on the children. 
 Not only do they never know what is correct, but they 
 grow up with the feeling that ' anything will do/ and 
 are slovenly and ignorant in consequence. The 
 children ought to be taught each detail perfectly ; 
 then, when they become experienced needlewomen, 
 they will know when and where a little license might 
 be permitted. 
 
 The sewing-on of strings ought to be carefully 
 taught. It is a good practical rule to place the tape as 
 far from the edge of the band as the width of the tape, 
 though, of course, this must be subject to variation, as, 
 for example, when it may be necessary to put the 
 string at a distance from the edge of the band, to allow 
 it to fold over. Strings may be hemmed round three 
 sides on to the garment, then turned back, and seamed 
 to the edge ; or they may be stitched on, the stitching 
 forming a square ; but, whatever plan may be adopted, 
 the points to be attended to are, that the sewing be 
 neat, and the string secure, and able to stand a good 
 pull. The fastening-off of the cotton must be carefully 
 done. The ends of the strings ought to be hemmed, 
 or else they ravel out, and are most ragged and untidy. 
 
 Dirty cotton is often a great source of annoyance to 
 teachers. This can in great measure be avoided, if the 
 children are taught to put the fourth, or third and fourth, 
 fingers under the cotton as they draw it out. By this 
 means the hand is always kept open ; consequently it 
 cannot get so hot as when it is kept shut, and the cotton 
 held in the fist. When at work on the garments, a dry 
 towel is a good thing to have on the desk for the children 
 
Cutting- Out, 29 
 
 to rub their hands upon when they feel unpleasantly 
 warm. A dry towel is better than a wet one. A saucer 
 containing a little dry corn-flour, into which the girls 
 can dip their fingers, is also a great help in keeping the 
 work clean. 
 
 I recently noticed a letter by a schoolmistress, 
 remarking that mothers, even of her most successful 
 little needlewomen, complained that they could not get 
 them to do any needlework at home, as they were 
 * sickened' with it at school, and that therefore the 
 writer thought Schedule III. was defeating itself. I 
 should, I think, reply to those complaining mothers, 
 ' All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.' When 
 their children come home from school, do they expect 
 them to sit down and write copies, or do long sums, or 
 learn off dates, simply for the love of it ? Of course not. 
 Neither, then, ought they to expect them to be willing 
 to set themselves to their sewing. Healthy children need 
 active exercise, and if they work well and steadily at 
 school, they ought to have a season of play as a natural 
 balance. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 GATHERING, SETTING-IN, BUTTON-HOLE MAKING, AND 
 MARKING. 
 
 WE have now arrived at the stitches required in 
 Standard IV. 
 
 Gathering, stroking, and setting-in (or ' stocking,' as 
 it is sometimes called) are three separate acts, intimately 
 connected with, and depending upon each other, for the 
 success of the whole. 
 
 Gathering has been defined as a ' concentration of 
 fulness.' The class should be taught the use of, and 
 the necessity for, the stitch. In certain garments, or 
 portions of garments, width of material is required, in 
 
30 Plain Needlework and 
 
 order to give play to the limbs ; but to keep the garment 
 in its place, and for comfort and neatness, it is necessary 
 that this width should be drawn together by gathering, 
 and be set into a band. 
 
 It is advisable first to prepare the band. Fold down 
 the edges, seam the ends, halve and quarter the length 
 which is to contain the gathers, marking these places 
 with a stitch of coloured cotton. Then mark the half 
 and quarters of the part to be gathered in the same 
 way, explaining to the class that this is done, in order 
 that the garment may not be more full in one place 
 than another. 
 
 It is a good plan to make the children turn down the 
 edge of the material to be gathered a certain depth, say 
 eighteen threads, or the length of the finger-nail, to 
 give a crease on which to run the gathering thread. 
 Nothing could be more absurd than to allow the pupils 
 to draw a thread for the gathering line, thereby 
 weakening the very part that is to bear the weight of 
 the garment ; besides it is impossible, when the 
 garment is hollowed out, or gored, etc., etc. The 
 gathering cotton should be stronger than that used for 
 the other parts of the garment. Each needleful should 
 not be too long, and should only be taken to the quarter 
 of the part to be gathered, or even to the eighth, if the 
 garment is very full, as otherwise it will not bear the 
 strain of pulling up, and consequently the work will 
 have to be done over again. Some people suggest that 
 the gathering thread should be double ; I do not advise 
 this in the first teaching, as double cotton is very apt 
 to get into knots, but it is useful in working fine 
 material (for instance, in a baby's robe), because, if 
 coarse cotton is used, a large needle will be required, 
 which bursts holes in the muslin, whereas fine cotton 
 doubled will be strong, and yet will allow a fine needle 
 to be used. 
 
Cutting- Out. 3 1 
 
 It is important that needles and cotton should be in 
 proportion to each other, and to the material or stitch 
 that is to be worked. (I have seen a stiff bit of chintz 
 given to a child, v^ith a carpet-needle and cotton No. 80.) 
 The standard rule for gathering, is to take up two 
 threads, and leave four (Plate I., page 17); it is worked on 
 the right side ; this being done, the thread is gradually 
 drawn up not quite tight, and twisted round a pin stuck 
 in the material, at the end of the gathers. Then a steel 
 pin, or strong needle, is held in the right hand, and the 
 gathers are placed in order, each gather being pushed 
 between the left thumb and finger, and pinched down. 
 This requires careful manipulation. 
 
 The children must not be allowed to make any 
 scratching sound in stroking, as by this means they 
 are making unsightly pin marks, and, worst of all, are 
 absolutely tearing the material. It will be necessary to 
 arrange the upper part of the gathers by the ame 
 process. The cotton is then taken off the pm, the 
 gathers spread out into the length they are to occupy 
 in the band, and the cotton again twisted round the pin. 
 The band must be most carefully fixed, with its half 
 and quarters corresponding to their respective marks 
 on the gathers. The right side should be first fixed 
 and worked. The setting-in stitch differs in shape from 
 hemming (Plate I., page 17), and ought to be upright, 
 or perpendicular, on the right side. 
 
 When drawn upon the black-board, it appears like 
 seaming, the shape of the letter N, but in setting-in, 
 the up and down parts of the N are seen, and the 
 slanting part is underneath, whereas in seaming the 
 slanting part is uppermost. The needle should take 
 up a gather with each stitch, and the band should just 
 cover the gathering thread. When the right side is 
 finished, the wrong must be fixed and treated in the same 
 way, care being taken that the stitches do not show 
 
32 Plain Needlework and 
 
 through on the right side. If the details of marking 
 halves and quarters, careful fixing, and the shape of the 
 stitch are attended to, there will be no twisted bands. 
 
 A Waterloo veteran said to me the other day, ' I 
 don't know much about sewing, except putting on 
 buttons, and I don't know whether you would consider 
 mine the correct way, but they used to stick on, and 
 that is a good point in a button. I just got a bodkin 
 and pushed it through the button a few times, and 
 then wrapped the thread round and round between 
 the button and the stuff; but no doubt you have a 
 better way.' 
 
 I had to confess, however, that I had no improvement 
 to suggest, and, except that a needle is a more suitable 
 implement than what we now call a bodkin, this old 
 officer's plan is the one that ought to be taught to every 
 child. 
 
 When sewing on a linen button, it looks neat to 
 stitch a little ring round the middle ; some teachers 
 make a little cross, as when sewing a pierced button. 
 The first plan is, I think, the best, especially with large 
 buttons. (The barrel of a key will give an impression 
 of a circle to guide the stitching.) A small button is 
 best sewed on with the star. But whatever pattern 
 may be adopted for sewing on the button, it is im- 
 perative that the cotton should be wrapped round 
 between the button and the material ; this is called 
 stemming. The use of it is to protect the stitches 
 that pierce the button, and make room for the button- 
 hole to lie under the button. Some people sew on a 
 button so tightly that it makes a dent in the band, the 
 consequence of which is that it comes off, bringing a 
 piece of the band with it. 
 
 We now come to the most difficult part of a teacher's 
 work — viz., the button-hole. The children should be 
 first taught the stitch only on the canvas sampler. 
 
O O oi 
 
 a a en 
 V 2 ^ 
 
 pq & 
 
 'il)"o ro 
 
 S O ro 
 
 o a • 
 
 u d & 
 
 CQ ^ 
 
 Si 
 
 S M 
 
Cutting'Oiit. 33 
 
 They are told to work from left to right ; the teacher 
 makes one stitch on the frame, explaining what she is 
 doing, the children follow each act. The needle is 
 brought to the right side, and at a given point on the 
 sampler, say six or eight threads from the edge (Plate II.). 
 Then count upwards four threads, put the needle in 
 and bring it out four threads down, and one to the 
 right ; let the needle rest for a moment before drawing 
 it out, while the teacher shows the children how to 
 take the cotton, where it is double, coming from the 
 needle's eye, and put it from left to right under the 
 point of the needle, and then draw the needle out 
 away from the worker. This makes the requisite twist 
 or knot which strengthens the edge of the button-hole. 
 When the children have accomplished the stitch, let 
 them work it all round the edge of the sampler, to get 
 used to making the knots even. 
 
 Then teach the ends of the button-hole. There is an 
 old riddle, the answer to which is 'wig,' which runs, 
 ' I'm perfect with a head, perfect without a head, perfect 
 with a tail, perfect without a tail, perfect with either, 
 perfect \vith neither, perfect with both.' Something of 
 the same kind ma}^ be said of the button-hole ; it may 
 be perfect with two square ends, perfect with two 
 round ends, and perfect with one round and one square 
 end. If made with one round and one square end, the 
 round end should be placed nearest to the button. I 
 will describe what is known as the ' e3'elet-hole end.' 
 This is made by nine stitches without knots (hence the 
 name eyelet-hole). On reference to Plate II. it will be 
 seen that this rounded end should be taught as a 
 separate lesson, and ma}^ be described as having three 
 stitches on the slant, three on the straight, and three 
 on the slant again. Then turn the work round, and go 
 on with the knotted stitches as before. The square end 
 also contains nine stitches ; these, however, are worked 
 
34 Plain Ntcduwork and 
 
 as the rest of the button-hole — viz., four threads deep, 
 and with the knots. We sometimesfind the square end 
 worked as a loop for a hook ; this is incorrect, untidy, 
 and fails to answer its purpose, which is to prevent the 
 material from splitting. Some teachers advise that the. 
 button-hole should have a thread run round it before it 
 IS cut to strengthen it. I do not, however, find this a 
 satisfactory plan, as it is likely to burst out those very 
 threads it is so necessary to keep even, but it may be 
 a serviceable treatment when making a button-hole in 
 thick, coarse material, such as serge, or even flannel. 
 This would not, however, form any part of the work 
 done by Standard IV., and might be left as a suggestion 
 to be worked out, when required, on the garments in 
 hand in higher standards. When the several parts of 
 the button-hole have been learnt, it will be necessary 
 to proceed to cut the button-hole. If, as is frequently 
 the case, gathering has been taught on pieces of calico 
 about six inches by three, each long side having been 
 gathered and set into a band, these bands should be 
 utilised as practice for the button-hole. Care must be 
 taken to cut the button-hole perfectly straight I have 
 often seen a scrap of print doubled up by a teacher and 
 cut, producing a slit on single fold, forming two sides 
 of a triangle, and yet a child was expected to work a 
 good button-hole ! 
 
 When cut, the girls must be cautioned against worry- 
 ing the button-hole out of shape while working it. 
 When complete, it ought to be a straight slit, the edges 
 just meeting, and feeling as firm as a piece of wire. The 
 length of the button-hole is the diameter of the button, 
 and it ought to be impressed upon the minds of the 
 girls that button and button-hole should match. 
 
 Marking (Plate II., page 32) is a stitch easily learnt, and 
 is generally a very popular lesson. The frame again is 
 a simple and effective aid to the teacher. First, teach 
 
Cutting- Out, 35 
 
 the stitch only, the canvas, as before, being the material 
 best suited for the purpose. (Penelope canvas is not 
 advisable, as the threads do not show clearly two each 
 way, which is necessary.) Some teachers find it a great 
 help to teach the letter I first, and then all those letters 
 that have a few stitches in addition to the I, such as E 
 and F, etc. It is also a good plan to make the children 
 copy down a letter in crosses on their slates, learn it 
 off, and bring it next day on paper as a home lesson. 
 True marking, which is not required by the Code, is 
 made by working diagonally, and going over half the 
 stitch twice in some parts, so as to bring the needle 
 out where it is wanted for its next move, thus making 
 the stitch the same on both sides of the material. This 
 is a very neat way of marking, and in some schools the 
 girls like it so much, that they do not care to mark in 
 the ordinary simple cross-stitch. 
 
 Another pretty stitch is made by forming a square on 
 the right and a cross on the wrong side of the material 
 (Plate II.). This is called ' queen stitch.' The eyelet- 
 hole marking is also very ornamental, each stitch being 
 worked to the centre. In capital letters four threads 
 each way are sometimes taken for the stitch. 
 
 Whether the marking taught forms a perfect stitch 
 on both sides of the material or not, it is important that 
 each letter should be neat on the wrong side, no long 
 threads from one part of the letter to another (commonly 
 called 'fiddle-strings'), no knots, and the thread should 
 be properly finished off at the end of each letter, and 
 not carried across. 
 
 I am frequently asked questions something like the 
 following : ' Does not simultaneous teaching cause great 
 waste of time in keeping back the quick girls until the 
 dunces are ready to go on with the next step ? ' * How 
 would you manage where Standards IV., V., and VI. 
 are so small in numbers that they are put together in 
 
36 Pl'.mi Needlework and 
 
 one class under one teacher ? ' These difficulties must 
 present themselves in precisely the same form in other 
 lessons which are taught simultaneously. How does 
 the teacher manage them ? 
 
 I would suggest that the knitting should be set in 
 hand at the beginning of each school year, and kept 
 going all the year, for two reasons. First, because it is 
 then always in the workbags, and ready to be pro- 
 ceeded with at odd moments while waiting for the 
 dunces to be ready, or for the early mark, etc. Secondly, 
 because when taught at one season, and then put away 
 for the rest of the year, the children forget what they 
 had learnt, and at each recurring knitting period have 
 to learn all over again. It also is very desirable to vary 
 the needlework lessons occasionally. 
 
 I recently found a large number in Standard III. 
 During that week the teacher was taking marking as 
 the new lesson. Every girl had in her workbag her 
 examination garment and her knitting. The teacher 
 gave to the whole standard a lesson on simple marking 
 stitch. As soon as the quickest girls had learnt this, 
 they were taught the next step, which was to work a 
 row in a simple pattern. Having accomplished this on 
 the little canvas practice sampler, they were allowed to 
 commence the sampler on which they were eventually 
 to work the whole alphabet. They then worked the 
 little pattern in rows of sixteen or twenty threads apart. 
 Before these were completed, however, the dunces were 
 ready to take an advanced lesson with the whole class 
 ■ — say a letter. Thus the whole class learns to mark, 
 though the dunces may only master their six letters, 
 while the quick ones complete the whole alphabet. 
 The dunces will only get through the regulation gar- 
 ment for inspection, while the others finish one each 
 quarter. 
 
 In mixed classes of two or more standards, the teacher 
 
Cutting' Out, 37 
 
 would say, 'Standard IV., I am going to give you a 
 lesson on the round end of the button-hole.' ' Standard 
 III., go on with your garments, or herring-boning, or 
 whatever may be in hand.' 
 
 A teacher lately was asked to give a lesson on herring- 
 boning to a class of twenty-six just up from Standard 11. 
 She worked three stitches on the frame, explaining each 
 step as she went along. She then required the class to 
 show work. Fourteen had done exactly the same as the 
 teacher, seven were correct as far as they had gone, and 
 the rest were quite out of it. She therefore bade the 
 twenty-one go on, and the five dull ones stand up and 
 go over the lesson again. Surely a more simple method 
 of teaching could not be imagined. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 ORNAMENTAL STITCHINa. 
 
 WE now come to the ornamental stitches. If our 
 pupils have thoroughly mastered the require- 
 ments of Stage IV., which took us to the end of the last 
 chapter, they will be able to make any plain under- 
 garment that would be required in the family of a 
 working man. 
 
 But as soon as our necessities are supplied, the 
 advance of civilisation and the desire for ornamentation 
 appear to be synonymous. Or is it that our immediate 
 wants of food, clothing, and shelter being satisfied, we 
 have leisure to return to the aboriginal state of our 
 nature, and, like the savage, begin to prick ourselves 
 out in finery ? An amusing paper might be VvTitten on 
 the following query. When the savage adorns himself 
 
38 Plain Needlework and 
 
 with various paints and tattooings, feathers, sharks' 
 teeth, nose and Up rings, and the scalps of his enemies, 
 is it an advance towards higher civiHsation ? And 
 when a nineteenth century woman adorns herself with 
 various paints, feathers, birds' and tigers' claws, ear- 
 rings, high heels, and tight lacing, is it an advance 
 towards higher civilization ? 
 
 Leaving, however, this great question for others to 
 settle, I must own that I think it a pardonable weak- 
 ness, and one that ought to be encouraged, when a 
 girl, no matter of what station in life, takes pride in 
 having her under-linen well, and, if time permit, prettily 
 made; but I do most emphatically object to attempts 
 at feather-stitching and embroidery, when the essential 
 parts are clumsy, untidy, and insecure. 
 
 The art of whipping and setting on of frills has suf- 
 fered from the ready-made * everlasting' we can now buy 
 at a cheap rate. Indeed, there are many persons who 
 do not know how to ' whip ' at all. The ^(ji%<c^ of the 
 frill should be rolled on the wrong side, by putting it 
 between the thumb and first finger of the left hand, 
 and rubbing the thumb against the finger, by an up- 
 wards and downwards action. The fingers must be 
 particularly clean. The needle is inserted from the 
 back of the roll — i.e.^ the right side of the frill, towards 
 the worker, and should point in the direction of the 
 left thumb nail. Many mistake ^ German-roll hem ' for 
 whipping. This is done by putting the needle in from 
 the side nearest the worker, and just under the roll. 
 A Scotch method is to hold the right side of the frill to 
 the worker, and roll the edge away from her, but this 
 seems to me more difficult both to do and to teach. The 
 whip-stitch passes over eight threads, and takes up two 
 obliquely (Plate I., page 17). When whipped, the thread 
 should be carefully drawn up, and each little roll or 
 curl seamed to the band which the frill is to ornament. 
 
Cutiing'Out, 39 
 
 The width of the frill is a matter of taste. The length 
 should be about twice that of the band on which it is 
 to be sewed. If the length requires more than one 
 breadth of muslin, the pieces must be joined neatly 
 before either the hemming or whipping is begun. 
 
 Coral, or feather, or tree-stitch may be varied and 
 developed just as the worker fancies. One simple 
 pattern is given in Plate I. It is thus worked, using 
 frame and canvas sampler as before. Bring the needle 
 to the front (for greater simplicity in writing, I will call 
 this place X), count two threads to the right of X, put 
 the needle in, and bring it out again at X, taking care 
 the cotton lies under the point of the needle. This 
 makes a neat commencement of the stitch. Then from 
 X count down two threads, put in the needle and take 
 up two threads horizontally, from right to left ; put the 
 cotton which comes from the previous stitch under the 
 point of the needle as before. The example on Plate I. 
 will assist in illustrating the stitch, which, whatever 
 may be the pattern, should be neat, compact, and 
 straight, and not, as we too often see it, with straggling 
 threads, some straight, some slanting, * haphazard all 
 over everywhere.' 
 
 Knotting (Plate I.) is another ornamental stitch. 
 This may be made in two or three different ways, but 
 the following will be found the most simple to teach. 
 A very coarse piece of calico, with coarse coloured 
 cotton, is better than the frame when demonstrating to 
 a class. The pupils can learn on their pieces 
 of canvas, or on bits of calico. Having made 
 the end of the cotton safe, bring the needle 
 to the front at the point A (fig. 4), on the 
 right side of the material. Then draw the 
 cotton towards the worker, and round fromi 
 left to right, crossing close to A, making ^^' ^' 
 a loop. Put the left thumb on this loop, to keep it in 
 
40 Plain Needlework a?id 
 
 place, insert the needle into the garment behind A, and 
 take up say two threads, pass the point 
 of the needle under the loop of cotton, as 
 indicated by the arrow in fig. 5. Draw 
 the needle out straight upwards, put the 
 needle again into the place A, and the 
 knot is complete. The needle comes to 
 Fig. 5. the front again wherever the next knot 
 is to be made. 
 
 Tucks are frequently intended only as ornament, but 
 occasionally are put into children's underclothing, with 
 the object of being let down when the child may have 
 outgrown the length of the garment. Their width and 
 distance from each other are a matter of taste and 
 fashion. A good useful rule to give in teaching, is that 
 the tucks should be their own width from each other. 
 A card should be marked the required distances, and 
 when placed on the garment a strong pin should be 
 pricked through the material at the miarks on the card. 
 Then a crease should be made from one pin-hole to the 
 next, v/hich should not be further than about the length 
 of the finger. It is better to fix and work a few inches 
 at a time, as, if the whole length is first fixed, and then 
 worked, the creases will probably be lost, even if tacking 
 threads are used. 
 
 The pupils of Standards IV., V., and VI. ought to be 
 taught something of the construction of the various 
 articles of underclothing. If the teacher were occasion- 
 ally to give a lesson on a garment, and the stitches 
 required to make it, with the names of each part, it 
 would be of the greatest value to the pupils, and would 
 lighten the labours of the teacher. 
 
 The object of teaching needlework should be not 
 only to effect the execution of certain stitches, but also 
 to instil an intelligent comprehension of the subject. 
 To give a pupil an armful of material and say, * Do 
 
Cutting- Out. 41 
 
 up that seam,' or, * Put buttons down there,' teaches 
 nothing. One day I asked a girl in Standard V., 
 who was at work on Oxford shirting, what she was 
 doing. ^Please, 'm, I'm doing this.' 'But what is this?' 
 ' Please, I'm doing this 'ere.' ' Tel) me what you are 
 making.' * Please, I think it is a shirt.' ' Very well, 
 and what part of the shirt are you now at work upon ? ' 
 After a long pause, and much puckering of the counte- 
 nance, ' I think it is for the studs.' 
 
 She was, in fact, putting in the shoulder-lining for 
 the sleeve. 
 
 What sort of shirts is that girl Hkely to make in 
 after life ? 
 
 Garments made for inspection, must of course remain 
 exactly as left by the children who have made them, 
 until after the examination. But nothing can be a more 
 practical lesson for the older girls, than to look over 
 the garments of junior stages, and to put in the finishing 
 touches — e.g.^ tapes to corners of pinafores, buttons, 
 attend to the beginnings and fastenings off, etc., etc. 
 
 When at work on practice pieces, it is very advisable 
 to take a new needleful of different coloured cotton, to 
 ensure correct beginnings; as, for instance, in making 
 a button-hole, or stitching. 
 
 I should like to make a suggestion to mistresses of 
 high schools, who may wish to teach needlework to 
 large classes- -viz., that they should insist on supplying 
 the material, just as is done in elementary schools. It 
 is impossible to teach large classes, unless all are work- 
 ing on system. It is fatal to allow the girls to bring 
 work from home ; the most incongruous garments, 
 utterly unsuited to the capabilities of the girls, will be 
 given to them to be made at school. I have seen a 
 portion of an old barege dress sent, as a piece for 
 a child to learn hemming upon. Some high schools 
 take a small sum each term from every girl in the 
 
42 Plain Needlework and 
 
 school, which is spent in material to be made up by 
 the needlework classes, and given to a hospital or creche. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 KNITTING. 
 
 IN the pages on knitting, I do not wish to add one 
 more manual to the many already published, and 
 which in their line cannot be improved upon, containing, 
 as they do, various patterns, and directions for knitting, 
 which an expert knitter can easily develop and adapt 
 to her own requirements. I will endeavour rather to 
 treat the subject as applied to teaching in large schools, 
 confining myself onty to plain knitting, and leaving the 
 ornamental stitches alone. 
 
 The implements used in knitting are called ' needles,' 
 'pins,' or 'wires,' in different parts of the country. I 
 call them ' pins ' if they have a knob at one end and 
 a point at the other, and ' needles ' if pointed at both 
 ends. 
 
 The first lesson must be on the correct position of the 
 hands, no matter whether the class consists of infants, 
 aged four or five, or of girls of sixteen years. 
 
 Undoubtedly the best mode of holding the needles 
 is that adopted by all the experienced knitters of the 
 North of England, and of Scotland and Wales — viz., 
 that both hands should be over the needles. Some 
 people, from never having been properly taught, hold 
 the right-hand needle exactly the same as a pen, and 
 when once this habit has been acquired, it is, of course, 
 most difficult to overcome. *It is impossible, however, 
 to knit so quickly when holding them in this way ; and, 
 when knitting a large number of stitches on two needles, 
 the knitter is compelled to hold the right hand over the 
 needles. Therefore, in this, as in all other cases, it is 
 
Cutting-Out, 43 
 
 the simplest and wisest course to teach the correct 
 thing from the beginning. I cannot do better than 
 quote the position of the hands from the Httle book 
 called ' Needle Drill,' published by Griffith and Farran. 
 (In this little book will be found a very good lesson on 
 teaching knitting by drill.) ^The left-hand knitting- 
 needle should rest on the third finger, midway between 
 the first and second joint, and this finger, with the 
 other two, should close over the needle, the tips resting 
 on the palm of the hand, the end of the needle coming 
 out from under them halfway between the bone of the 
 wrist and the last joint of the little finger. The right- 
 hand needle should rest along the first joint of the 
 second finger, which should be so bent that the tip of 
 the finger holds the needle against the ball of the thumbt 
 The forefinger should press against the needle just 
 below the end, so that the point of the needle is seen 
 just above the finger. The thumb should press against 
 the needle, three-quarters of an inch below the joint ; 
 the third and fourth fingers should fall into the palm of 
 the hand at rest.' The cotton or wool should lie over 
 the first finger of the right hand, under the second and 
 third, and over the little finger. The amount of tension 
 thus given by the fingers is sufficient. When put twice 
 round the little finger it is ver}'- apt to cause the 
 knitting to be too tight. 
 
 I have personal experience of the excellent and rapid 
 results produced by 'drill.' Children aged four and 
 five years were provided with wooden pins, about eight 
 inches long. The teacher also had her pair. 
 
 The children were exercised (i) as to right and left 
 hand ; (2) taking up and holding the left-hand needle 
 correctly; (3) holding the right-hand needle, working 
 the wrists, and following each action required in knitting 
 a stitch. This class w^as next taught to 'cast on,' and 
 at the end of five weeks every child could knit plain. 
 
44 Plain Needlework and 
 
 I understate the size of the class considerably if I 
 give thirty as the number. The knitting lesson was 
 half an hour every day, which gives twenty-five half 
 hours for the five weeks. Personal and individual 
 teaching would, at this rate, have given each child 
 twenty-five minutes to itself. Would twenty-five 
 minutes teach a child to hold its needles correctly 
 and to knit ? By simultaneous teaching, each child 
 had the benefit of twenty-five half hours. 
 
 I think that although the ' casting on ' was taught 
 successfully to the class of which I have been writing, 
 it might probably be easier to let the older children 
 ' cast on ' and ' knit plain ' a few rows, which they 
 would be very proud to do, for those who are ready to 
 knit with cotton, after the drill lesson, as I consider 
 that the casting on is an advance of two steps, instead 
 of one at a time. As soon, however, as the children 
 have accomplished the knitting stitch, I should give 
 them a lesson in casting on. The simplest way to teach 
 this, is by making a slip-knot, or loop of cotton, which 
 is put on to the left needle, and with the right needle 
 knitting a stitch into it ; but instead of taking the first 
 loop off the needle, transfer the last-made loop from the 
 right to the left needle. Into this second loop again 
 knit a stitch as before, and pass on to the left needle, 
 until a sufficient number have been cast on. 
 
 The next step to be learnt is the chain edge to 
 the strip. This is made either by slipping the first 
 stitch purlwise, or purling the last stitch in each turn. 
 The children must be watched when purling, to be sure 
 that they are doing it correctly, as they frequently put 
 the cotton from left to right, under the point of the 
 needle, instead of from right to left. It is advisable 
 that a whole turn should be purled, and the next knitted 
 plain, which produces a right and wrong side to the 
 knitting, and, if sufficiently well done, serves to learn 
 
Culting-Out. 
 
 45 
 
 darning upon; but irrespective of the darning, the chang- 
 ing of the stitch for ribbing is a difficulty until purling 
 has been mastered. Cotton is the best teaching material 
 for the early stages, as wool splits, and is more expen- 
 sive. Cox and Co., loi. New Oxford Street, supply a 
 cheap knitting cotton, quite good enough for teaching 
 purposes. 
 
 Cotton strips of knitting, joined together, are said to 
 make very good towels, and will sell for the price of 
 
 Fig. 6.— Plain Knitting, 
 
 the cotton. Short strips, about twelve to eighteen 
 inches long, make excellent little petticoats, as warm as 
 flannel, and wash much better. When the children 
 have learned to purl, many interesting variations and 
 adjustments can be made, — for example, cradle quilts, 
 muflfatees, comforters, vests, etc., etc., until we arrive at 
 knitting with four needles. A few simple patterns are 
 given which may be useful. 
 
 The illustrations (figs. 6, 7, and 8) will assist in 
 
46 Plaiji Needlework and 
 
 understanding what is knitting stitch and what is 
 purHng. 
 
 For plain knitting the cotton is held on the side of 
 the needle furthest from the knitter, passing over the 
 first finger, under the second and third, and over the 
 fourth finger. The right needle goes into the first loop 
 of the stitches on left needle as in fig. 6. The cotton 
 is passed over the point of the needle, and is caught by 
 
 Fig, 7. — Plain Knitting, 
 
 it and brought through, as in fig. 7, and the loop is then 
 passed off the left needle. 
 
 Purling. — The cotton is brought to the front of the 
 right needle — i.e., to the side nearest the knitter. The 
 right needle is then put into the loop, as in fig. 8, 
 the cotton turned round the point as before, from 
 right to left, and brought through the loop on left 
 needle, which is passed off. If the following stitch is 
 also to be purl, the cotton is in its place ; when the suc- 
 ceeding stitch is to be plain, the cotton must be put 
 back to the right side of the needle. 
 
Cutting- Out, 
 
 47 
 
 To make holes m knitting for ribbon to pass through. — 
 Bring the cotton forward as in purling, and plain knit 
 two stitches together. 
 
 To cast off. — Knit the first stitch, which I will call A, 
 knit the next stitch, which I call B, then pull A 
 over B, which will leave B only on the right needle. 
 Proceed thus till all the stitches are cast off, then pass 
 
 Fig. 8.— Purling. 
 
 the end of the cotton through the last stitch. The 
 casting off should be kept loose. 
 
 To join ends. — When the old end is about a quarter of a 
 yard long, take the new end, and tie or twist it round 
 the little finger of the left hand, then knit the double wool 
 tor about six or eight stitches. 
 
 One turn means knitting from the first to the last 
 stitch. One row consists of two turns. 
 
4 '8 Plain Needlework and 
 
 Strip for a Cradle Quilt. — Cast on forty stitches, knit 
 ten rows ; then first turn, knit plain ten stitches, purl 
 twenty, knit ten ; second turn, knit plain forty. Repeat 
 these two turns until the strip is long enough ; finish 
 by knitting ten rows at the end. A fringe can be added. 
 The quilt when completed should not measure less than 
 thirty-six inches long by thirty-two wide, without fringe. 
 
 Cradle Quilt in Squares. — First square : cast on forty 
 stitches, and knit plain eighty turns. Second square : 
 cast on forty stitches, purl every other turn. Third 
 square : cast on forty stitches ; first turn, knit plain to 
 the end ; second turn, purl one, knit the rest plain ; 
 third turn, plain ; fourth turn, purl two, plain the 
 remainder ; fifth turn, plain ; sixth turn, purl three, 
 plain the remainder. Repeat thus, purling one extra 
 stitch in every alternative turn, until the eightieth, 
 when they will be all purl. 
 
 ComfoHer. — Cast on any number of stitches divi?ible 
 by five, say sixty-five. First turn, knit five, purl iive, 
 alternately to the end ; second turn, repeat. If the last 
 five stitches of first turn were purl, the first five of the 
 second turn must be plain, and vice versa. Continue 
 these turns for five rows, then change the stitches — i.e.y 
 if the last five stitches at the end of the turn were purl, 
 the fixrst five of the succeeding turn must also be purl, 
 thus making a chequered or plaited appearance. This 
 may be continued the whole length of the comforter, or 
 the ends only — for about eight inches — may be knitted 
 this pattern, and the intermediate piece, of not less 
 than twenty inches, may be knitted plain. Peacock 
 yarn, with No. 12 needles, will be found very suitable 
 material. 
 
 Vests may be made in the following simple manner. 
 
Cutting- Out. 4 9 
 
 Two children can make one. Each vest consists of the 
 front and back, joined up the sides, and knitted on two 
 needles. When made in scarlet fingering, they will 
 generally sell well. Wooden pins are better to knit 
 these, size No. 8, Bell Gauge. Cast on the requisite 
 number of stitches, knit ten rows ; then, first turn, purl 
 one, knit four to the end ; second turn, purl four, knit 
 one. Repeat till long enough, and finish with ten rows 
 knitted plain at the end. Or the vest may be knitted 
 in ribs — purl four, plain four — which makes it fit close. 
 A strip of plain knitting, one-and-a-half inches wide, 
 may be added as a shoulder strap if it is wanted. 
 
 To judge how many stitches should he cast on. — A child, 
 aged from two to four, measures about twenty inches 
 round the body, and about one inch in addition may be 
 given for every year up to ten years. Knitting will 
 stretch about one-third its width. 
 
 Vest of Berlin Wool for Child. — Cast on lOO stitches ; 
 two needles ; first turn, knit twelve, then purl two, and 
 knit two for seventy-six stitches, knit the last twelve 
 plain. Repeat till the vest is tv/elve inches long, then 
 knit three rows plain ; then one turn, with holes, thus : 
 knit twelve plain, bring wool forward, knit two together, 
 put the wool back, knit four. Repeat till twelve from 
 the end, which knit plain. Finish with three plain rows, 
 and cast off. This makes half the vest. Shoulder 
 strap : cast on twelve stitches, knit plain twenty-two 
 rows, or the twelve plain stitches at the beginning and 
 end of one-half of the vest, can be continued for twenty- 
 two rows, to form the sleeve. 
 
50 Plain Needlework and 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 KNITTING STOCKINGS. 
 
 THE difficult parts of a stocking should be taught 
 as separate lessons, and with two needles. It 
 frequently happens that half the girls of a class are 
 ready to turn a heel, while the others are far behind. 
 It saves time to teach the whole class to knit a heel on 
 two needles, with coarse cotton, then those who are 
 ready can go on with their stocking, and the others 
 will know what to do when they come to the same part. 
 
 A still better plan is to teach the girls all the difficulties 
 of the stocking before they begin with four needles. 
 For example, cast on twenty-nine stitches, rib, two 
 purl and two plain, for two-and-a-half inches, then purl 
 every alternate turn, and make the seam stitch, as if 
 for the back of a stocking ; put in the decreasings ; say, 
 four decreasings, with six turns between. Then knit 
 two-and-a-half inches for ankle, continuing the seam 
 stitch, then turn the heel. Let them work such a strip 
 as this twice, and they will be quite at home with the 
 intricacies, and will save themselves and their teachers 
 much time and vexation, caused by frequent unpicking 
 of the stocking. It is a good exercise for the girls to 
 pull the stitches off the needle when knitting a practice 
 strip, and put them on again, as the taking up of stitches 
 is not easy, and is necessary as a practical lesson, not 
 only in cases where mistakes may have been made, but 
 also when knitting a new foot to an old stocking leg, 
 etc., etc. 
 
 The making of a toe is also a separate lesson ; this 
 must be learnt on four needles. To avoid waste, short 
 lengths or quarter-ounce balls of cotton, or wool, will 
 serve for the separate lessons of heel or toe, which may 
 be ravelled out, and used again. The lesson on knitting 
 
Cutting- Out. 51 
 
 a toe of stocking or sock may be utilised thus : cast on 
 about seventy stitches, with No. 12 needles, and coarse 
 knitting cotton, knit with four needles, rib the first inch, 
 knit plain about six inches, then decrease for toe. 
 This makes a capital glove for children to wash them- 
 selves with. 
 
 ^Intakes! ^ DeaxasingSy or ^ Nar rowings ' are made 
 in two ways : 1st — knit two stitches together ; 2nd — 
 slip one stitch, knit the next, and pull the slipped stitch 
 over the knitted one. 
 
 When decreasing in a stocking or sock, both methods 
 should be used, as the stitches then fall in pairs. There 
 is generally one plain stitch between the intake and the 
 seam stitch down the back of a stocking. Before the 
 seam stitch, slip and pull over ; after the seam, take two 
 together. The two best heels are the Dutch and the 
 Gusset. 
 
 The manufacturer's and the French are much alike^ 
 but unless in very fine material, the thick ridge made 
 by casting-off is very apt to cause blisters in wearing. 
 
 The Dutch Heel is considered the easiest to teach, 
 and the simplest to darn. 
 
 If given as an exercise on two needles, it may be 
 made thus : cast on twenty-nine stitches, first turn, 
 knit plain fourteen, purl one, plain to the end. Second 
 turn, purl fourteen, plain one, purl to the end ; slip the 
 first stitch in every turn, repeat these turns until there 
 are fourteen slip stitches up the side ; then knit plain 
 fourteen, purl one, plain four. Turn, leaving the 
 ten stitches on the left needle untouched ; then purl 
 four, plain one, purl four. Turn, plain four, purl one, 
 plain three, slip one, knit the first of the ten, and pull 
 the slip stitch over it. Turn, purl four, plain one, purl 
 three, and purl the fourth and the first of the ten 
 
52 Plain Needlework and 
 
 fbgether. Continue this till the ten are absorbed. 
 There will then be nine stitches on the needle, pick up 
 the fourteen slip stitches down the sides, and the turn- 
 ing of the heel is complete. 
 
 The Gusset Heel. — After knitting up the required 
 length for the heel as above — viz., till there are fourteen 
 slip stitches up the sides, proceed as follows : knit 
 fourteen, purl one, knit one. Turn, leaving thirteen 
 stitches untouched, purl one, knit one, purl one. Turn, 
 knit one, purl one, slip one, knit one of the thirteen, 
 and pull the slip stitch over it, knit one more of the 
 thirteen. Turn, purl two, plain one, purl two together, 
 purl one. Turn, plain two, purl one, plain one, slip 
 one, knit one, pull the slip-stitch over, plain one. 
 Turn, and repeat till all of the thirteen stitches on both 
 needles are absorbed, then pick up the slip-stitches at 
 the sides, as in the other heel. 
 
 The Toe. — There are various methods of decreas- 
 ing for the toe. One is to decrease in four places at 
 equal distances, and come to a point. Another, to 
 decrease spirally, by knitting two stitches together in 
 every found, four or five stitches beyond the previous 
 decreasing. But this makes holes, and cannot be re- 
 commended. The simplest way, and the most comfort- 
 able, when made, is to decrease at the sides, half the 
 number of stitches being on the instep needle, and the 
 remaining half on the two heel needles. At the 
 beginning of the instep needle, slip and pull over ; at 
 the end of it, knit two together. At the beginning of 
 the right-heel needle, slip and pull over ; at the end of 
 the left-heel needle, taP.e two together. The distance 
 between each decreasing cannot be exactly given, on 
 account of variation of sizes and number of stitches, 
 but as the toe from the first intake is to occupy one- 
 
Cutting- Out. 53 
 
 third the length of the foot, it is easy to see how 
 frequently to decrease. Each intake for toe absorbs 
 four stitches, and the total number of stitches to be 
 cast off varies from sixteen to twenty-eight. The 
 following may serve as a guide. Decrease three times, 
 with as many rounds between each decreasing as there 
 are between each decreasing at calf of the stocking ; 
 twice, with half that number of rounds between ; twice, 
 with two between, and then every round. 
 
 The original scale which I give for knitting stockings 
 has been worked out for me by several expert knitters. 
 It has also been proved by comparison with the scales 
 of sizes used in stocking looms, and is now in use in 
 many large schools. It is the result of much careful 
 inquiry, and the comparison of existing scales; amongst 
 others, those of M. C. G., Cirencester, and Henrietta 
 Warlegh, Colchester. 
 
 I do not presume to say it is infallible, but I believe, 
 and hope, it will be found of the greatest help to those 
 who have to superintend the knitting of large numbers 
 of stockings, and who are frequently at a loss for a 
 scale that will produce a well-shaped stocking by an 
 easy method of calculation. Many of the existing scales 
 work in proportion to the number of stitches cast on, 
 but these entail much counting, and still the difficulty 
 remains — How many stitches are to be cast on ? 
 
 My desire has been to construct a scale that every 
 girl should learn off, and that would be easily re- 
 membered. It is, therefore, advisable that every girl 
 in the school should have either a neatly written or 
 printed copy of the scale, for her own use. 
 
 Inasmuch as there must ever be persons who are 
 not 'stock size,' it would be impossible to produce a 
 scale, whether for stocking or garment, that w^ould fit 
 everybody. Therefore, when the scale has been 
 thoroughly comprehended, it must be taken as the 
 
54 Plain Needlework and 
 
 foundation, and any slight variations that may be 
 necessary, when ' working to order ' — i.e., making for the 
 individual — must be adapted to requirement. For 
 example, the length of the stocking leg is given as 
 twice and two-thirds the length of the foot, but a very 
 tall person will require three times the length of foot. 
 Again, a child may have a large foot, and still be very 
 short, in which case the length of the stocking leg may 
 be twice and one-third the length of the foot. The 
 variation in length must be between the casting on and 
 the first intake; the remaining proportions stand as 
 before. A very stout person may require that eight, or 
 even sixteen should be added to the ' standing number ' 
 to be cast on. But still the remaining proportions will 
 work out correctly. Manufacturers' stockings increase 
 the length of the foot by half-an-inch for every size. A 
 child of about four years will take six inches in the 
 length of the foot, and half-an-inch may be allowed for 
 every eighteen months' additional age, up to fourteen or 
 sixteen years ; nine-and-a-half inches is the length 
 of a medium size for a woman, ten-and-a-half inches 
 for a man. 
 
 The first thing to be done is to determine the length 
 of the foot. 
 
 The second, to find out how many stitches are knitted 
 to the inch, with the material and needles with which 
 the stocking is to be made. (This is done in the 
 following manner : cast on some twenty stitches, knit 
 and purl alternate turns for about one-and-a-half inches, 
 then place this piece of knitting flat on the table, and 
 count carefully the number of stitches covered by the 
 inch measure.) Then multiply the number of stitches 
 knitted to the inch by the number of inches in the 
 length of the foot. This I call \h.^ standing number, and 
 is the number of the stitches to be cast on. 
 
 The ribbing is a matter of taste, from one to two 
 

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56 Plain Needlework and 
 
 inches. Length from casting on to first intake, once 
 and one-third the length of the foot. 
 
 The number of intakes will be the number cast on, 
 divided by eight, without considering fractions. The 
 length from first to last intake, two-thirds the length 
 of foot. (Therefore the distance between each intake 
 can be measured on an inch tape.) 
 
 The ankle begins at the last intake, and must be one- 
 third the length of the foot. The heel is one-third the 
 length of the foot. Length from seam stitch at back of 
 heel to first intake for toe, two-thirds the length of the 
 foot. 
 
 The toe must occupy one-third the length of foot. 
 The figures given in the scale on page 55 will serve as 
 an illustration of the above. 
 
 Socks may be worked in the same proportions, with 
 slight variation. Length of socks, from casting on to 
 end of heel, should be the length of the foot, and three 
 inches in addition. (These three inches are generally 
 ribbed.) 
 
 The number to be cast on will not be so many as for 
 a stocking, as a sock does not cover the largest part of 
 the leg ; therefore, the number of intakes must also be 
 reduced. 
 
 Find the standing number as above. Divide this by 
 sixteen (without counting fractions). This will give 
 the number of intakes. Deduct twice the number of 
 intakes from the standing number, and that will give 
 the number to be cast on. 
 
 The scale will then run as follows : — From casting 
 on to first intake, three inches ; from first intake to last, 
 one-third the length of foot. Ankle, one-third the 
 length of foot. Heel, one-third the length of foot. 
 Length from back of heel to first intake for toe, two- 
 thirds the foot. Toe, one-third the foot. 
 
 It will thus be seen that the principal measurement 
 
Cutting Out, 57 
 
 a girl has to keep in her mind is one-third the foot. 
 Should she forget any detail, one moment's thought will 
 enable her to correct herself. 
 
 If a teacher provides a large class (Standard III.) 
 with the same materials and size of needles, it will only 
 be necessary that she should find the standing number. 
 Then, for the loose knitters of the class, needles one 
 size smaller must be given. But girls of Standard IV. 
 ought to work out the standing number for themselves, 
 in order to see and understand the principle, for use in 
 after life. Frequently girls are allowed to bring their 
 own material for their stockings, in which case the 
 teacher will find it useful to write on a slip of paper, with 
 the girl's name, the following particulars : — Length of 
 foot, number of stitches cast on, and number of intakes. 
 
 To Knit a Stocking. — A slip of card, or paper, the 
 length of the foot, marked in thirds, will be a great 
 assistance as a measure. Cast the requisite number of 
 stitches on to three needles, and join the last stitch to 
 the first, by knitting double with the end of the wool 
 for four stitches. 
 
 Rib, two purl and two plain, for one-and-a-half to 
 two inches ; then cease ribbing, and knit plain round 
 and round, purling only one stitch, wiiich is called the 
 seam stitch. This purled stitch should be in the middle 
 of one of the three needles. Continue thus, till the 
 length measures from casting on once and one-third the 
 length of the foot. Make the first intake. The number 
 of intakes having been ascertained, by dividing the 
 number cast on by eight, the distance between each 
 intake can be measured on the paper slip. The space 
 the intakes are to occupy is about two-thirds the length 
 of the foot (six or seven rounds are generally sufficient 
 between each). 
 
 The ankle begins at the last intake, and must be one- 
 
58 Plain Needlework and 
 
 third the length of foot. This is knitted plain round 
 and round, keeping the seam stitch. 
 
 Divide the stitches for the heel, put half the number 
 on to one needle, of which the seam stitch is the centre. 
 This is called the heel needle ; there must be an uneven 
 number on this needle, therefore it must rob one stitch 
 from the other half if necessary. 
 
 For example, if the stitches number fifty-seven al- 
 together, twenty-nine must be on the heel needle, 
 fourteen on each side the seam stitch, and fourteen on 
 each of the two other needles, which must be called the 
 instep needles. 
 
 Then knit the heel, using only two needles, and 
 continuing the seam stitch. Slip the first stitch in each 
 turn. The length must be one-third the foot. 
 
 Turn the heel, Dutch or Gusset, picking up the slip 
 stitches on each side, and proceed to knit with four 
 needles again. It will be better now to put all the 
 instep stitches on to one needle and use two needles 
 for the heel stitches. I will call that the right heel 
 needle which is on the right of the knitter when she 
 holds the back of the stocking nearest to herself, and 
 the other will be the left heel needle. The number of 
 stitches on the heel needles must now be reduced, until 
 there are as many as are on the instep needle (i.e.j as 
 many on all the needles as were on for the ankle). The 
 stitches being arranged, discontinue the seam stitch. 
 Knit one plain round. Then decrease thus. At the 
 end of the left heel needle, knit the last two stitches 
 together, and at the beginning of the right heel needle, 
 slip the first and pull the second over it. Knit two 
 plain rounds between each decreasing. When the 
 necessary reductions have been made proceed to knit 
 plain, round and round, until the length measures two- 
 thirds the foot, from the seam stitch, at the back of the 
 heel. Make the first intake for the toe, as follows : at 
 
 •^- 
 
Cutting- Out 59 
 
 the beginning of the instep needle slip, and pull over ; 
 at the end of it knit two together; at the beginning of 
 right heel needle, slip and pull over, and at the end of 
 left heel needle, knit two together. The toe occupies 
 one-third the length of foot; cast off by putting the 
 needles together and knitting the sets of stitches off, or 
 draw the needles out and graft. 
 
 My reason for working the intakes of a stocking as 
 given above is that the only thing the girls have to keep 
 in mind is, at the beginning of the needles ' slip and 
 pull over ; ' at the end, * knit two together.' This is 
 necessary at the instep gusset, and therefore I carry the 
 same plan all through, though I am aware that many 
 may think it better to work them differently in different 
 places. 
 
 A ribbed stocking can be worked on the same scale. 
 It is better to discontinue the ribbing when knitting the 
 heel, but the stitches on the instep needles are generally 
 ribbed until the first intake for toe. 
 
 A thickened heel is decidedly most satisfactory when 
 knitted with double wool, or rather when a finer wool 
 is knitted in, along with the original. It may also be 
 made by slipping the alternate stitches on the purl side. 
 It is better to slip the even stitches on the purl side, in 
 one turn, and the odd stitches in the next, as this does 
 not contract the heel so much as when the same stitches 
 are always slipped. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 DARNING. 
 
 HAVING learnt how to make most of the necessary 
 articles of underclothing, the next important 
 point is to know how they should be mended. There 
 
6o Plain Needlework and 
 
 is much talk about thrift nowadays, but very little 
 practice of it. A German proverb says, it is easy 
 enough to earn money, but a difficult art to spend it. 
 If it is chiefly the business of the man to make the in- 
 come, it is generally the lot of the woman to lay it out. 
 A little careful mending will save many shillings, and 
 certain it is that the stitch in time saves the proverbial 
 nine. 
 
 The actual stitches required in ordinary mending 
 present no difficulty whatever, but patching and darn- 
 ing are grouped as work for the higher standards, 
 because judgment and consideration are necessary. In 
 patching, the whole difficulty is in the fixing, which 
 requires a little power of manipulation, the stitches used 
 being only those learnt in Standard I. 
 
 The correct way to mend can be taught readily 
 enough, with also neatness of work, in patching or darn- 
 ing : but practical mending requires common sense, and 
 whether that can be taught, or whether it is only a gift 
 of nature, which may be cultivated, but cannot be 
 grafted in, is one of those questions which do not 
 wholly belong to a chapter on needlework. 
 
 The first principles to be taught in Darning are, ' Do 
 not wait for the hole ' ; ' Avoid a straight edge ' ; ' Use 
 material as much like the original as possible ' ; ' Con- 
 sider the position of the part, before deciding what sort 
 of darn shall be used.' 
 
 It must be remembered that darning is an endeavour 
 to supply that part of the original which has been 
 destroyed, or to strengthen that part of the fabric which 
 shows signs of weakness. In its more elaborate forms 
 of damask darning and stocking-web stitch, it is really 
 hand weaving. 
 
 Not only is a great deal of time and trouble saved, 
 but a much more satisfactory result is obtained, if thin 
 places are strengthened before they break into holes. 
 
Cutting' Out, 6 1 
 
 This may be done without having any unsightly work 
 at all. 
 
 Straight edges should be avoided, because all the 
 weight of the darn is borne by one single thread of the 
 original, the consequence of which is, that another hole 
 is made just on the edge of the darn. This may be 
 practically shown on the frame, the old-fashioned 
 straight-edged darn with its weight of crossed material 
 breaking away on all sides. 
 
 I should have thought it unnecessary^ to lay down as 
 one of the principles to be taught, that the material 
 used in darning should be as much like the original as 
 possible, had I not seen worsted and cashmere stockings 
 darned with silk and cotton, cotton stockings with sew- 
 ing cotton, and silk stockings with wool or angola. 
 (One exception may be mentioned, as a liberty to be 
 allowed to the experienced, but not taught to children. 
 Black knitting silk, split, or filoselle, is a more satis- 
 factory material to use in darning fine black lisle-thread 
 stockings than the cotton wx are able to bu}^, because 
 it keeps its colour better. This, however, does not con- 
 tradict the principle, because as soon as a good black 
 darning cotton can be bought, that will be preferable to 
 silk for cotton stockings.) Darning material should be 
 soft and yielding. 
 
 The position of the darn should be considered, in 
 order that suitable work may be used. For example, 
 a yachting Jersey, or the knees of a child's knicker- 
 bocker stocking, may be strengthened by Swiss-darning, 
 so as to avoid all appearance of a darn. But to Swiss- 
 darn the heels of fine black hsle-thread stockings is a 
 misappHcation of good work, and a complete waste of 
 time and eyesight. 
 
 Coarse pieces of stocking-web material, which are 
 sold for the purpose, are excellent for teaching darning 
 upon. Pieces of knitting \\'ill also ser\^e, but they must 
 
62 
 
 Plain Needlework arid 
 
 be well knitted, otherwise the darns will be spoiled if 
 there are mistakes, such as dropped stitches, etc. 
 
 Plain darn, and its variations of Twill and Wave, 
 must be darned on the wrong side of the material. It 
 
 Fig. 9.— Details of Plain Dakn. 
 
 has sometimes been argued that the darn should be on 
 the right side of the sock, because the ' lumps ' hurt 
 the skin. There should be no Mumps.' The pupils 
 must be made to see that on the wrong side of the web 
 one row of loops goes upwards and the next comes 
 down, for until they have taken this in they will never 
 
Cutting- Out, 
 
 £3 
 
 succeed in making a pattern, or even a neat darn. It 
 may be illustrated on the blackboard. 
 
 Fig. io. — Plain Darn. 
 
 It will be seen from the accompan3'ing illustration 
 (fig. 9), that if the needle is put in at the lower part of 
 the darn it must take those loops that go upwards ; 
 
64 
 
 Plain Needlework and 
 
 then, when turned to come down, it will be found that 
 the next row of loops are in the same position relative 
 to the needle. Loops of the darning material must be 
 left at both ends ; these are afterwards cut and trimmed 
 neatly, and after having been washed once or twice, it 
 
 
 
 t: 
 
 =1, 
 
 ^x^ 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 jt,^ 
 
 ir: 
 
 rp^-~s(v- — N)^ 
 
 fF ^T" 
 
 i^tS-I 
 
 
 A^'^j^x. 
 
 /^ A^ A 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 irrrxj 
 
 
 ^fN 
 
 1 
 
 5^ 
 
 ^ 
 
 'i^/k^ 
 
 -*S; 
 
 r 
 
 
 T'lT'iiri'r 
 
 /iUi'l J k 
 
 
 
 t 
 
 
 %y^ 
 
 ma^ 
 
 
 
 _jJ\7X' 
 
 ^oi^-^-^ 
 
 S^C^ 
 
 K^^,^5K^^/cK_ .^-^ 
 
 ^ 
 
 ^K 
 
 
 r. 
 
 t~ 
 
 Tr^tjt^m 
 
 Fig. II.— Twill Daiin. 
 
 will be a difficult matter to p 11 out the darning thread, 
 as it will have become part of the original. If no loops 
 are left the darn will shrink and draw up into ' lumps.' 
 To make a plain darn, as in Fig. lo : — • 
 
 Take one thread and miss one, till there are three 
 
Cuttino~Out. 
 
 65 
 
 white loops on the needle ; draw it out and turn. Be 
 careful in beginning the second row that the correct 
 loop or thread of the web is taken up, as pupils are 
 apt to take two rows above instead of only one. Then 
 take one, miss one, till there are four white loops on 
 the needle. Continue thus, making each row longer at 
 
 Fig. 12.— Wave Darn. 
 
 both ends, until there are, say, eight loops on the 
 needle ; let three rows be made with eight loops, and 
 then decrease one every row till there are three only, 
 as at the commencement. 
 
 The Twill darn (fig. i i)is obtained by keeping the same 
 
 5 
 
66 Plain Needlework and 
 
 number of loops on the needle, and therefore, though 
 increasing at one end, decreasing at the other. This 
 is considered a very strong darn. It also shows that a 
 darn may be made on a twill-patterned tweed, or serge 
 material, so as scarcely to be visible. 
 
 It will be seen that the Wave darn (fig. 12) is made 
 by taking one loop higher each turn for, say, four rows; 
 then one below each time for the same number of turns. 
 This is one of the best ways of strengthening the toe 
 of a stocking, both on the upper and under part of the 
 foot. The heel may be strengthened in a similar 
 manner, or by the use of the twill, letting the longest 
 thread be down the seam-stitch, and gradually shorten- 
 ing on both sides. 
 
 The Bird's-eye darn (fig. 13) may also be used as 
 an interesting pattern, when strengthening thin places. 
 For fine stockings it is less trying to the eyesight, after 
 it has once been learned on coarse material. Coloured 
 wool or darning cotton makes the lesson more interest- 
 ing, and also enables the teacher to detect the faults at 
 a glance. The following directions will assist in teach- 
 ing the Bird's-eye pattern. 
 
 It can, of course, be made larger by simply missing 
 more threads in the first line, and working out the 
 pattern in accordance with the numbers in the first 
 line. 
 
 Begin at the lower end of the darn, and therefore 
 take those loops that go up. 
 
 \st turn. — Take one, miss four; take one, miss four, 
 till there are five white loops on the needle. 
 
 2nd turn. — Take one (this will be below the last 
 loop on the previous line), miss three ; take two, miss 
 three ; take two, miss three ; take two, miss three ; 
 take one. 
 
 ird turn. — Take one, miss two ; take one, miss one; 
 
Cuttinor^Out, 
 
 o 
 
 6; 
 
 take one, miss two ; take one, miss one ; take one, miss 
 two ; take one, miss one ; take one. 
 
 4.ih turn. — Take one, miss one ; take one, miss two ; 
 take one, miss one ; take one, miss two ; take one, miss 
 one ; take one, miss two ; take one, miss one ; take one. 
 
 Fig. 13. — Bird's-eye Darn. 
 
 ^th turn. — Take one, miss three ; take two, miss 
 three ; take two, miss three ; take two, miss three ; 
 take one. 
 
 6th turn. — Take one, miss four, to the end. 
 
 The sixth row is the same as the first, and the 
 
68 
 
 Plain Needlework and 
 
 pattern will show two halves of a diamond. It will be 
 wise to increase one loop at each end, after the sixth 
 row, otherwise the pattern will come to a point. It 
 will be seen that the pattern needs no counting after it 
 has once been understood. 
 
 Grafting is joining two pieces of web, or knitting, 
 
 Details of Grafting. 
 
 together with the needle in such a manner that when 
 the same material is used the join is invisible. 
 
 Fig. 14 shows the appearance of the stitch. The 
 loops must be cleared and perfectly even. The pieces 
 to be joined must be placed so that the loops of one are 
 exactly opposite the corresponding indentations of the 
 other. The stitch is worked from right to left, and on 
 the right side of the knitting. The end of the wool 
 .having been secured by being darned in on the wrong 
 
Cuttijig- Out, 
 
 69 
 
 side, the needle is brought to the front, and is worked 
 as follows : — Put the needle in at A, and bring it out 
 at B, in the upper row ; put it in at C, and bring it out 
 at D, on the lower row ; then in at B and out at E, and 
 so on. Each loop has the needle passed through it 
 twice. 
 
 Swiss darning is also worked on the right side of the 
 knitting or web, and from right to left. This is a most 
 valuable method of strengthening a thin place, but 
 cannot be used where there is a hole. The appearance 
 of stitch is the fac-simile of knitting, and is in effect the 
 same as the stitch used in grafting, though grafting 
 
 Swiss Darning. 
 
 supplies a missing thread, and Swiss darning covers 
 what is already there. 
 
 The material used should be a little finer than the 
 original, for if coarse, the darn will be clumsy. If the 
 eye is carried up and down a piece of knitting on the 
 right side, the stitches look something like a series of 
 tiny leaves, which go upwards, as may be seen from 
 fig. 15, and if half the next row is added, the eye 
 instantly sees a row of leaves that go down. 
 
 In Swiss darning, the needle goes in and comes out 
 at the point where the leaves meet, which w^e may call 
 the stem. Let fig. 15 represent a piece of knitting, as 
 
70 Plam Needlework and 
 
 it may be easily drawn on the blackboard ; the stems 
 being numbered for the sake of simplification. The end 
 of the wool being darned in on the wrong side, the 
 needle is brought out on the right side at i, goes in at 
 2, and comes out at 3. It is then put in again at i, 
 and comes out at 4 ; goes in at 3, comes out at 5 ; goes 
 in at 4, comes out at 6, and so on, as far as may be 
 necessary. Then turning the work round, proceed with 
 the next line in the same manner, being careful not to 
 draw the thread too tight, and to see that it covers the 
 ground without leaving spaces between. 
 
 When turning, the needle must be brought to the 
 front wherever it may be wanted for the next stitch. 
 This, of course, depends upon the shape the darn is to 
 be ; no rule can be laid down for this ; it is a straight 
 stitch, and may be either horizontal or perpendicular, 
 but the eye quickly sees the point where the needle is 
 wanted to appear. 
 
 A piece of knitting made of scarlet fleecy or double 
 Berlin, or leviathan wool, knitted with thick wooden 
 pins, stretched on a work frame, or the frame of an old 
 slate, is most helpful in demonstrating darning to a class. 
 
 To darn a hole as required by Standard V. is not 
 generally understood by teachers, who cut a piece out 
 of some stocking-web material, and expect the girls 
 fo fill it in by darning, with results too unfortunate to 
 contemplate. It should be remembered, that a hole in 
 a stocking is generally produced by one thread giving 
 way, and then the friction of wearing causes the loops 
 to drop out of place, but all the material is still there. 
 Therefore, when teaching, imitate as nearly as possible 
 the practical hole. Let the children cut one thread of the 
 stocking-web, stretch it about, and put the thumb into 
 the hole thus made. They will then have a very real hole, 
 but without having cut away any part of the fabric. 
 The next thing to be done is to repair the damage. 
 
Cutting-Out, 71 
 
 On the right side of the material, with an ordinary 
 needle and coloured sewing cotton, draw all the loops 
 close together, being careful not to pucker, and when 
 the hole is thus closed, turn over on the wrong side, 
 and, with darning material, plain darn. A considerable 
 margin should be covered around the hole. It will 
 very rarely be necessary to cross the darn if it is treated 
 in this manner. The sewing cotton should be cut, and 
 afterwards picked out. 
 
 To take up a ladder is a very simple matter ; it 
 frequently happens that, in knitting, a stitch will drop, 
 and run down, or, in a woven stocking, the same thing 
 may occur, not necessarily from a broken thread, but 
 because the loop has been slipped in the weaving. The 
 loop should be crocheted up, and grafted, or Swiss- 
 darned, in at the top. A small crochet-hook is the best 
 implement to use, though it can be done with a needle 
 or pin. In stocking factories it is a regular trade in 
 itself, women and girls being employed in looking over 
 every article, jerseys, drawers, stockings, etc., taking 
 up the dropped stitches or Swiss-darning places where 
 the wool may have become thin. 
 
 In the darning required for calico, or linen, the same 
 principles must be observed as in any other darning, 
 but more neatness is necessary, as the threads are finer. 
 In darning a ^ crosscut ' the difficulty consists in the 
 fact that the threads are cut cross-wise, whilst a tear 
 goes with the threads. Two triangles are generally 
 used as the shape of the darn of a ' crosscut.' It is a 
 great help to mark out the triangles in pencil. Suppose 
 the line AB, fig. 16, to be the cut; place pencil dots 
 to form a square, and let each dot be the apex of a 
 triangle, the base line of which passes through the 
 apex of the other. 
 
 The first triangle is darned with the selvedge, and 
 the second across (it is of no consequence which 
 
72 Plain Needlework and 
 
 triangle is called the first), the double darn, therefore 
 covers the cut. In the three-cornered tear two squares 
 or oblongs are used as the shape of the darn, as shown 
 in fig. 17. 
 
 In patching linen, calico, or Holland, the patch 
 should be fixed on the wrong side of the garment. The 
 sewing or seaming must be on the right side, and the 
 felling on the wrong. It is too frequently taught 
 exactly opposite ; this mistake has probably arisen from 
 the difficulty of fixing, but common sense shows that 
 
 Fig. 16. — Darning a Crosscut. 
 
 if seaming, which is the strongest sewing used, is put 
 on the outer edge of the patch, the garment, which is 
 worn somewhat thin, has to bear the strain of the 
 weight of the patch on a thread weakened by the seam, 
 whereas, if the patch is felled on to the garment, the 
 strong sewing is borne by the new patch. 
 
 The old-fashioned and very difficult mode of fixing 
 this patch is to turn down the edge of the patch, as for 
 sew-and~fell, to cut out the thin part of the garment by 
 a thread, mitre the corners, and put the patch in by 
 means of the sew-and-fell. Exactly the same results 
 
Cutting- Out, 
 
 73 
 
 are obtained if the fixing is done as follows, and the 
 harass of mind caused by ' those horrid corners ' en 
 tirely avoided : — Turn down the edge of the patch once, 
 then fix it perfectly straight on the wrong side of the 
 garment ; let the fixing threads be quite at the edge of 
 the patch, and straight ; then turn over to the right 
 side of the garment. The fixing threads will be a 
 guide as to the cutting out of the thin place. Sufficient 
 material must be left between the tacking threads and 
 the cutting to give good turnings-in. Then mitre the 
 corners {i.e.^ a diagonal snip in each corner) ; turn the 
 
 Fig. 17. — Darning a Three-Cornered Tear. 
 
 edge of the garment well under, and tack it. The 
 patch is now so fixed that Standard I. might put in the 
 rest of the stitches. In working for examination it 
 should be remembered that the fixing is the. test of the 
 child's knowledge. The seaming, as I said before, must 
 be on the right side, or inner square ; the corners will 
 require a few careful stitches, as, of course, they are 
 the most likely to give w^ay. 
 
 It is most important that the patch should be put in 
 the same ' way of the stuff' as the garment. Too little 
 attention is given to this point, and hence arise puckered 
 patches, which prove most impractical when the actual 
 
74 Plain Needlework and 
 
 garment has to be mended. When patching flannel 
 the right and wrong side have to be considered, and 
 the way of the nap, as well as the selvedge. A flannel 
 patch requires no turnings-in, but must be carefully 
 and neatly fixed on the wrong side of the garment, and 
 both raw edges are herring-boned down — the edge of 
 the patch on to the garment, and the edge of the gar- 
 ment on to the patch. Print should be matched in 
 pattern. Then, as fashion supersedes thrift, one sewing 
 only is used for print — viz., the seam on the right side 
 of the material. The raw edges are laid out flat on the 
 wrong side, and overcast. 
 
 A mull muslin patch should be counter-hemmed, as 
 the material would not bear a sew-and-fell. 
 
 The patch in dress material required from Standard VI. 
 should be treated as common-sense suggested. We 
 have three distinct methods of patching — viz., the calico 
 or linen, the flannel, and the print. I should, there- 
 fore, adapt or combine such of those methods as I thought 
 best suited to the material. For example, I have seen 
 a serge patch seamed on the right side, and the raw 
 edges herring-boned on the wrong. This made a safe 
 flat patch. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 CUTTING-OUT. 
 
 THERE seems to be an idea in the mind of pupil- 
 teachers generally, that needlework marks do not 
 count for the admission of candidates to the training 
 colleges, though they do count in the final examination 
 for certificates. I have the highest authority for saying 
 this is an utter fallacy, and the sooner it is eradicated, 
 the better for the candidates. Good needlework is an 
 important qualification, and one the pupil teachers 
 
Cutting- Out. 7 ^ 
 
 would do well to secure. Handwriting, reading, and 
 needlework, are three subjects which require time and 
 practice to perfect. No amount of ' cram ' at short 
 notice can work them up, and marks for them every 
 girl may reasonably hope to secure. Geography and 
 history papers may contain a difficult or unexpected 
 question, which, if unanswered, will entail loss of marks, 
 and which it is almost impossible to be prepared for. 
 Therefore let every girl who hopes to become a teacher 
 pay the greatest attention to her needlework, and look 
 upon it as ^fourth RJ It is hopeless to make a good 
 needlewoman of a girl of eighteen years who has 
 hitherto neglected that acquirement, and there are so 
 many subjects to be worked up at college, that com- 
 paratively little time can or ought to be given there to 
 the practical part of needlework. The students should 
 only require to learn some of the higher arts, with 
 methods of teaching, not the actual making of button- 
 holes, or setting-in of patches, as is now the case in too 
 many instances. No teaching can make a girl work 
 well, if she does not practise herself in neat, careful 
 manipulation. 
 
 Cuttmg-out is a very important branch of the needle- 
 woman's art. 
 
 To be a good cutter-out requires a knowledge of 
 certain rules, great practice, and an infinite power of 
 contrivance. 
 
 To teach cutting-out is one of the most valuable 
 lessons a mistress can give her class, but to put a paper 
 pattern in the middle of material and let the pupil cut 
 all round it, is no lesson, but only work for a baby. 
 One can no more hope to make a first-rate cutter-out 
 of every girl in a school, than to make an artist out of 
 every shoeblack in the brigade. There are, however, 
 certain principles which may be taught, and the e3'e 
 may be trained to a knowledge of proportion, and many 
 
76 Plain Needlework and 
 
 practical lessons may be given, which will be of the 
 greatest assistance in after life. 
 
 The system of teaching cutting-out by the black- 
 board is not particularly new, and has been practised 
 with success for some years both in Germany and 
 England. The chequered boards are, however, some- 
 what of a novelty, and are a great help. The boards 
 are ruled in lines, one inch apart each way, so as to 
 form squares. Every ninth inch has a different coloured 
 line, to mark the quarter yard. Boards should be ruled 
 in red lines, the ninth being white, or green, as the 
 pattern then shows up more clearly. The pupils are 
 supplied with a sheet of paper ruled in chequer, but in 
 quarter-inch squares, the side of each square therefore 
 being one-fourth the size of the one on the board. The 
 pupils must be made to understand that their paper 
 represents the board, and that they must copy the 
 pattern on to their paper, exactly as the teacher puts it 
 on to the board, but that, of course, it will be a minia- 
 ture pattern. 
 
 In Kinder-Garten schools infants are taught to draw 
 teacups, houses, trains, etc., by chequered board and 
 paper; why then need there be a difficulty to older girls in 
 working out diagrams of garments by the same means ? 
 Wherever the method has been tried, it has been 
 successful. It will be seen that, instead of cutting a 
 pattern, the teacher draws it in chalk ; the whole class 
 can thus see for themselves, and by following the 
 directions, take down the pattern, using the pencil 
 instead of scissors. One of H.M. Inspectors remarks 
 in his report that 'We have much to learn from 
 Germany, and nothing of more value than the principle 
 of consolidating instruction, instead of allowing it to 
 wander into the grooves of subjects.* 
 
 Here, then, we endeavour to make the drawing-lesson 
 assist the needlework. I recently heard of a girl, 
 
Cutting- Out, 77 
 
 Standard VI., who had won a certificate for drawing, 
 and was surprised to find that, when she applied for a 
 situation as nursemaid, and it was discovered that she 
 could not hem a pocket-handkerchief decently, still less 
 cut out any undergarment, she was not in demand. 
 If now she had applied one lesson to the other, she 
 would probably have been a valuable nursemaid and 
 risen high in service, though from the specimen of 
 drawing produced, she would never have excelled as an 
 artist. Again, one of the difficulties in the way of 
 teaching cutting-out to large classes is want of space. 
 Nineteen by twenty-seven inches is, I believe, the desk 
 room allowed in elementary schools, and this difficulty 
 is met by the drawing. As soon as a good diagram of 
 the garment has been drawn, a result which one or 
 two lessons ought to produce, the teacher should show 
 the class how to enlarge from the miniature. 
 
 Take the inch tape measure, and dot the inches on 
 the margin of a newspaper, then calling the upper left- 
 hand corner *A,' proceed to mark out in pencil the 
 pattern given, using the tape to measure the required 
 distances. This may be a home lesson, and is a very 
 good practical exercise, humanising and womanising both 
 homes and girls. The first attempt will probably not 
 be very successful, but if the teacher holds up her own 
 perfect pattern, and compares this with those cut by 
 the girls, they will see their mistakes, and will be able 
 quickly to correct them. The girls learn as much from 
 noticing their own and others' faults, as by seeing the 
 perfect specimen ; indeed, the lesson, made perfect by 
 correction, is more likely to be remembered than if, by 
 good luck, the exercise is successful the first time. I 
 shall endeavour to give a few diagrams of simple gar- 
 ments which may be of use in illustrating the S3'stem. 
 The ^ statement ' which will accompany each diagram 
 should be read out to the class line by line, after the 
 
78 Plain Needlework and 
 
 manner of a dictation lesson, the pupils working out 
 each order. The very first attempt might be some 
 simple figure, merely to make the girls understand 
 what is to be done, as in fig. i on Plate III., page 8o. 
 
 Make a dot where two lines meet, and call it K. 
 
 Count four to the right from K, make a dot, and call it L. 
 
 From K count four down, and make a dot, M. 
 
 From L count four down, and make a dot, N. 
 
 Join K to L, join K to M, join L to N, and N to M, 
 join K to N, join L to M. 
 
 Count from M four down, and two to the right, make 
 a dot, and call it P, join M to P, also N to P. 
 
 From K count upwards four, and to the right two, 
 and put O. Join K to O, and L to O. 
 
 Lack of accuracy is one of the greatest faults in girls' 
 work ; a sort of rough-and-ready anything-will-do policy 
 seems to be the ruling method adopted by them. These 
 drawings require great accuracy, as a quarter of an inch 
 is represented by a very small portion of the square, 
 yet in the garment, one quarter of an inch is all the 
 difference between fit and misfit. 
 
 A field of a certain size must first be drawn, from 
 which all the measurements are made. The pupils 
 must understand that the dot is the important mark, 
 the letter is nothing but a name to the dot, and may be 
 placed above or below it, as may be convenient. 
 
 Statement of Fig. 2. — A pair of Knickerbocker Drawers, 
 
 Draw an oblong IQ-J by 14 inches, 14 being the 
 upper line. 
 
 Mark the corners A, B, C, D. 
 
 From A measure four to the right, and put a dot I. 
 
 From A measure 12 down, and put a dot H. 
 
 From A measure 2 down and 5 to the right, and put 
 a dot E. 
 
Cutting- Out, 79 
 
 From B measure 3^ down, and put a dot F, 
 
 Join I to F by a slanting line. 
 
 Join F to E. 
 
 Join E to H. 
 
 From A measure 2 down, and 2\ to right and dot. 
 
 From A measure 4 down, and i-^ to right and dot. 
 
 From A measure 6 down, and i to right and dot. 
 
 From A measure 8 down, and \ to right and dot. 
 
 From H measure i^ up, and dot. 
 
 Join I to H by a curved line passing through the dots. 
 
 From H measure \ an inch down, and one to right 
 and dot. 
 
 From H measure i down, and 2 to right and dot. 
 
 From H measure 2 down, and 3 to right and dot. 
 
 From H measure 3 down, and 3-J to right and dot. 
 
 From H measure 5 down, and 4 to right and dot. 
 
 From C measure 4 to the right and put J. 
 
 Join H to J by a curved line passing through the dots. 
 
 When enlarging this pattern double the paper or 
 material from B to D, then cut the upper fold, from 
 F to E, H and J, and the under fold from F to I 
 H and J. 
 
 This gives one-half of a pair of knickerbocker drawers, 
 for a child of seven to nine years of age. 
 
 If opened down the sides, the sUt will extend from 
 F to K, and the waistband will be in two parts, each 14 
 inches long and 2 wide, wlien made. The legs can be 
 set into a band or insertion 12 inches long. 
 
 Statement of Fig, 3. — A Baby's FlanneU 
 
 Draw an oblong, 5 by 24 inches (24 being the upper 
 line). 
 
 Mark the corners A, B, C, D. 
 
 From A measure 2\ down, and put a dot E. The 
 same from B. 
 
So Plain Needlework and 
 
 From A measure 'j\ to the right, and put a dot F. 
 
 Join F to E on the left. 
 
 From B measure j\ to the left, and put a dot F. 
 
 Join F to E on the right. 
 
 From C and from D measure 3 towards the centre, 
 and make a dot H. 
 
 Join E to H on both sides. 
 
 From each F measure 2 towards the centre, and put 
 a dot G. 
 
 From each F measure I towards the centre, and i:^ 
 down, and put a dot. 
 
 From each F measure half-an-inch towards the centre, 
 and I down, and put a dot. 
 
 From each F measure i^ towards the centre, and I 
 down, and put a dot. 
 
 Join F to G on both sides, by a curved line passing 
 through the dots. 
 
 The slit X is under the right armhole of the garment, 
 and is for the string to pass through. Tapes about 
 half-a-yard long are placed at the points E to tie round 
 the waist. Shoulder straps of binding, 5 inches long 
 when made, are placed at the points G and F. 
 
 Two widths of flannel, 24 inches long, pleated into 
 the waist from H to H, make the skirt of the garment. 
 
 The arrow indicates the way of the warp — i.e.^ the 
 selvedge. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 CUTTING-OUT (^continued), 
 
 THE 'way of the stuff' is an 'unknown quantity' 
 to most girls and many teachers, and yet it is one 
 of the utmost importance, both in the wear and fit of 
 garments. 
 
 One good general rule is, that the selvedge way (i.e.^ 
 the warp) should go downwards, from neck to foot of 
 

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Cutting' Out. 8 1 
 
 the garment, except in the case of bands, such as neck- 
 band, waistband, wristband, when the selvedge should 
 go round the garment. Another good general rule is, 
 that the long way of the pattern goes the long way of 
 the material. By these two rules all doubt should be 
 removed from the mind of the cutter-out. 
 
 The next important point is contrivance — the plan- 
 ning-out of the pattern on to the material, so as to avoid 
 waste in cutting. Although it is chiefly in the house of 
 a poor man that it is necessary to make the most of a 
 purchase, it is there that we often see the most prodigal 
 waste ; and perhaps this may, in some cases, account 
 for the poverty. 
 
 I once saw in a school some capital little shirts made 
 out of the gores of calico that were left after cutting 
 out a chemise of a much larger size. The selvedges 
 were seamed together, and were then the centre of the 
 little garment, the sloped sides forming the shape. 
 What could be a more excellent lesson in thrift ? The 
 girls could see for themselves, that by a little manage- 
 ment a garment could be made out of what would 
 otherwise be thrown aside, the little shirt costing lite- 
 rally nothing but time, and very little of that. They are 
 thus brought to think in what other methods they may 
 lay out a little money to the greatest advantage when 
 making their purchases. This is the more important, 
 since, strange as it seems to people of a higher class, 
 the shopping of the poor is nearly alwa3'S done by the 
 children. 
 
 A teacher has the power of inculcating good thrifty 
 habits by her needlework lessons more than by any 
 amount of the mere accumulation of pennies in a savings 
 bank. Where children don't earn, it is not easy to save. 
 
 How rarely do we find a class of girls who have the 
 least idea how much material will be required to make 
 any garment held up to their view, or who know that it 
 
 6 
 
82 Plain Needlework and 
 
 is necessary to consider the width of the material ! 
 CaUco, for instance, varies from 28 to 40 inches. It 
 would be quite as improvident to buy caHco 28 inches 
 wide for a full-sized man's shirt, as to buy 36-inch 
 for a little boy's. 
 
 The proportion one part of a garment should bear to 
 another is also apparently a mystery wrapped in the 
 deepest obscurity. The little pattern required in the 
 Old Code from Standard VI., as cut by many girls, 
 was indeed a curiosity — a body which might, or might 
 not, fit a child, with sleeves that could only serve for a 
 doll ! 
 
 I have with great care worked out the following scale 
 for a shirt, which I trust will be of service as a funda- 
 mental scale for plain night-shirts, working-men's day- 
 shirts, and for night-dresses. 
 
 The measurements give the paper pattern {i.e., what 
 the garment must be when completed), or what the 
 shirtmaker calls the ' block.' 
 
 All paper patterns, except Butterick's, are cut the 
 exact size the garment is to be when made, and all 
 turnings required in the material must be allowed for 
 when cutting out from the paper pattern. 
 
 A shirt cut out by this scale will be in strict pro- 
 portion, but if required as a pattern for an individual, 
 it must, of course, be adapted to the size of that 
 individual. In outfitters' houses shirts are made of 
 different sizes to one collar measure. For example, 
 they will have perhaps five or six different patterns for 
 a fourteen-inch collar, in order to fit the tall or short, 
 the stout or thin figure. If the garment is well pro- 
 portioned, it is sure to fit somebody. 
 
 The following is the scale for a working-man's day- 
 shirt, or for a night-shirt : — 
 
 Determine the length of the collar-band {i.e.^ what 
 will meet with comfort round the neck). 
 
Culiing-OuL 83 
 
 The length of the yoke will be once and one-fourth 
 the collar length. 
 
 The depth of the yoke one-quarter the collar length. 
 
 The yoke slopes to half its width. 
 
 The length of the shoulder of the yoke from neck to 
 sleeve half the collar length. 
 
 The length of the sleeve, without the wristband, once 
 and a fourth the collar, or the same as the yoke. 
 
 Length of wristband, half the collar. 
 
 Width of armhole, half the sleeve length. 
 
 The shoulder binder should be two inches longer than 
 the armhole ; the width of binder one-eighth of the collar. 
 
 Total length of day-shirt, from highest point at the 
 neck, two-and-a-quarter collar lengths ; the front two 
 inches shorter. 
 
 A night-shirt would be two-and-a-half collar-lengths, 
 or twice the yoke. 
 
 Width of material, about two-and-a-quarter collar 
 lengths. 
 
 Depth of the side opening below the hip gusset is the 
 same as the armhole, measuring from the back 
 breadth. 
 
 When cutting the material, one inch, at least, must 
 be added to the collar length for buttoning, also to 
 each wristband. So that if the paper measure of a 
 collar is fourteen inches, the calico must be cut fifteen 
 inches, and whatever may be required for turnings 
 besides, 
 
 So also for the wristband ; the paper measure would 
 be seven inches, but the material must be eight inches 
 for each wristband, and turnings in addition. 
 
 The width of a collar-band is entirely a matter of 
 choice. About one inch when made is usual, though 
 for night-shirts it is sometimes made wide enough to 
 turn down. 
 
 The width of a wristband is also a matter of choice. 
 
84 Plam Needlework and 
 
 It may be half its length or less. The collar- band, 
 collar, yoke, and wristband, must be of double material. 
 
 Sleeves are not now made with gussets, except in 
 remote country places. The following is a simple 
 method of cutting them. Tear off a breadth of material 
 the required length. Divide the width into three, and 
 put in pins to mark the thirds. Then cut diagonally, 
 from the first pin at the top to the second pin at the 
 bottom, counting from the left side of the calico, as 
 it lies on the table. (In order to cut this evenly it is 
 well to double the calico, to form a crease to guide 
 the scissors.) The diagram (Plate IV., page 8i) will 
 assist in explaining this. Then place the selvedge to 
 the crossway, and let it lie flat on the table, and cut 
 off the surplus at the corners on both sides. The 
 crossway of the sleeve goes to the back or under part. 
 The gathers are put in the middle of the wristband. 
 The slope affords play for the elbow, and the gathers 
 at the top of the- sleeve are put in at the shoulder. 
 The slit for the wrist-opening ought to be half the 
 length of the wristband, to enable the laundress to 
 iron the wristband when opened out. This is an 
 important detail entirely overlooked by young teachers. 
 The front opening ought to be the same length as 
 the collar. 
 
 The hollowing-out of the yoke, at the back of the 
 neck, should be about half-an-inch. The middle of the 
 collar-band should be fastened to the centre of the yoke, 
 and fixed carefully to the point where the yoke joins 
 the front. The rest of the collar-band should then be 
 doubled ; this gives the depth for the hollowing out of 
 the front of the neck. This should be cut quite straight 
 down from the yoke, and straight to the front opening. 
 A mistake invariably made by the inexperienced is to 
 cut down to a point from the shoulder to the front of 
 the neck, and that is the reason of so many ill-fitting 
 
Cuiting-Out, 85 
 
 shirts. The diagram will give almost a corner. A 
 point, however, should not be made in putting on the 
 collar; this must be rounded, though the main lines 
 must be kept straight. When tearing for the front 
 opening, if it is intended to put a wide hem on to the 
 side that folds over, the slit must not be made in the 
 centre of the breadth, but the side that folds over must 
 rob the other of half the width of the hem. The side 
 that is robbed will require a false hem. In men's gar- 
 ments ' left over right ' is the correct fold, in women's 
 the reverse is usual. If a collar is made fast on to a 
 day-shirt, it must not be so long as the collar-band, 
 but should measure only the 'paper' length, and should 
 meet in the middle of the front, when the collar-band 
 is buttoned. The amount of material required for a 
 shirt is seven-and-a-quarter collar lengths.* The 
 shoulder of the front is sloped to match the 3^oke. 
 The scale applies equally well to night-dresses, the 
 length only requiring to be altered. Three times the 
 yoke, or three-and-three-quarters the collar, will be a 
 good length. Four gores about four inches wide at the 
 bottom, and reaching from the hem to a little below 
 the armhole, should be added to the v;idth. Some 
 people add to the width a straight piece, half the 
 breadth of the calico, instead of gores. This is a 
 matter of choice, and depends upon the size of the gar- 
 ment required. 
 
 If it should be wished to make a shirt or night-dress 
 without the yoke, the measurements will be exactly the 
 same, omitting only those given for the yoke. The 
 material may be doubled so as to avoid a join on the 
 shoulder, and shoulder-straps may be added. These 
 will be the same length as the measure from neck to 
 collar — viz., half the collar, and their width one-eighth 
 
 * This calculation supposes the width of the material to be two-and- 
 a-quarter collar lengths. 
 
86 Plain Needlework and 
 
 the collar. The neck-gusset will be a square of one- 
 eighth the collar length. 
 
 With respect to the diagrams on Plate IV., page 8i; 
 it will be well to work out each portion of the garment 
 given on a separate piece of chequered paper, as other- 
 wise confusion, especially with respect to the run of the 
 cloth, may arise, so many parts being there given to 
 save space. In fig. 2 the way of the cloth is across 
 from L to O, but in the others it runs up and down 
 from A to L. 
 
 The upper part of half a front is given (fig. i), just 
 to show the shape of neck and shoulder, but the corner 
 at G should be rounded off. 
 
 The sleeve (fig. 2) explains itself. The line from H 
 on the left, to N, is joined to S O, and of course the 
 other half of the material, which in the diagram is 
 occupied by the front, is the second sleeve. 
 
 Figs. 4 are the wristbands, figs. 7 the shoulder- 
 binders. Figs. 5 and 6 are the collar-band, and false 
 lining to hem down the front. 
 
 Statement of Fig. I . — Upper Part of Front. 
 
 Make a field 12 by 18 (18 is the upper line). Sel- 
 vedge running from A to C. 
 
 Mark the corners A, B, C, D. 
 
 From B measure 2 down, and put a dot E. 
 
 From B measure 7| to the left, and put a dot F, 
 
 Join E to F. 
 
 From F measure 2 down, and put a dot G. 
 
 From A measure 2 down, and put a dot H. 
 
 Join F to G and H, and round the corner at G, 
 instead of as in figure. 
 
 The space from E to D is for the armhole. 
 
 Fig. 2. — Sleeve. 
 Draw a field 20 by 36 (36 is the upper line). Sel- 
 vedge running across from L to O. 
 
Cutting- Out, 87 
 
 Mark the corners L, A, O, M. 
 
 From L measure one-third of the width — viz., 12 to 
 the right, and put a dot H. 
 
 From M measure one-third of the width — viz., 12 to 
 the left, and put a dot H. 
 
 Join H to H. 
 
 From L measure 3 down, and put a dot S. 
 
 From L measure 5 J to the right, and put a dot R. 
 
 Join S to R. 
 
 From O measure 20| to the right and 5 j up, and put 
 a dot N. 
 
 From O measure 1 1 to the right, and put a dot P. 
 
 Join P to N. 
 
 Join R to P. 
 
 Fig. 3. — Yoke, 
 
 Draw a field 4 by 20 (20 is the upper line). Selvedge 
 running from X to W. 
 
 Mark the corners W, X, Y, Z. 
 
 From W measure 2 down, and put a dot E. 
 
 From X measure 2 down, and put a dot E. 
 
 From Y measure j\ to the right, and put a dot F. 
 
 From Z measure 7| to the right, and put a dot F. 
 
 From F measure 2\ towards the centre and \ up, and 
 put a dot. 
 
 Join F to Fby a curved line passing through the dot. 
 
 Figs. 4, 4 are the wristbands, figs. 5 and 6 the collar- 
 band and lining for front opening, fig. 7 the sleeve 
 binders for the front. Those for the back would be two 
 inches shorter. 
 
 For a better arrangement of these patterns see the 
 3-yard length diagram. 
 
88 Plain Needlework and 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 PATTERN-MAKING. 
 
 A CAPITAL and interesting test, exercising a girl's 
 power of contrivance, may be arranged in the 
 following manner. Let some sheets of paper, brown or 
 lined, as used in London Board Schools, be pasted 
 together, to represent a piece of calico, print, or holland, 
 say 32 inches wide and 3 yards long. On this let the 
 pupil place paper patterns of garments, so arranged as 
 to get the greatest number of articles out of the quantity 
 of material, attention, of course, being given to warp and 
 weft, and due allowance made for turnings. It is im- 
 portant that the patterns should be of garments that are 
 cut from the same material. For example, at one lesson 
 the three-yard-length may represent calico, and then the 
 patterns must be of garments made in calico. Another 
 time, the length of paper may represent holland, and 
 the patterns should be of garments made of holland. 
 
 It will be obvious, that the girls should not be allowed 
 to plan shirts and pinafores at the same time, out 
 of the same length of paper. This exercise may be 
 either a home or a school lesson. 
 
 Pupil-teachers in their fourth year are expected to 
 produce 'a roll of sectional paper, :|-inch scale, re- 
 presenting a piece of calico or holland 32 inches wide 
 and 3 yards long, on which patterns of garments 
 suitable for children attending elementary schools are 
 drawn, so arranged as to show the greatest economy of 
 material.' 
 
 Here the pupil-teachers are to put on to sectional 
 paper (by way of saving unnecessary waste of material, 
 I presume) the exercise described above. 
 
 When the material to be cut out is calico or holland, it 
 is not so necessary to consider the right and wrong side, 
 
Cutting- Otit, 89 
 
 and, provided the warp and weft are attended to, the 
 patterns may be placed simply with a view to economy ; 
 but when print or flannel is to be cut, then the right 
 and wrong side, and the up and the down, must be 
 carefully noted. 
 
 Sometimes the patterns in print are geometrical, then 
 the right side only must be thought of; but if the 
 pattern consists of sprigs of flowers, etc., the material 
 must be so cut that the pattern goes upwards in all the 
 parts of the garment, and every breadth must, of course, 
 be carefully put together, so that the sprigs may not be 
 going up in one breadth and down in the next. Large 
 patterns are very wasteful for children's dresses, or, 
 indeed, for any, as they look very unsightly unless 
 made to match ; and the cutter-out has to pay more 
 attention to the pattern than to economy of material. 
 
 Flannel has, in addition to a right and wrong side, an 
 up and a down, which may be easily detected b}^ passing 
 the hand along it. The garment should be made with 
 the nap falling downwards ; the right side is the most 
 woolly. Some people like to have their flannel gar- 
 ments made with the woolly side inwards, but this is only 
 a peculiarity, and unless so ordered the}' should always be 
 made with the proper side out. 
 
 Under-garments are fortunately not so much affected 
 by change of fashion as outside clothing, but still the}^ 
 do undergo a change. I fancy our grandmothers would 
 much scorn the ' skimp}^,' close-fitting garments of the 
 present day, and think them very shabby, when com- 
 pared with the voluminous be-frilled clothes which they 
 were accustomed to wear. 
 
 Formerly it was only necessary to tear off three 
 breadths of flannel, a yard or more in length, to make a 
 full-sized petticoat. Now, however, it must be gored. 
 It is the most economical plan, to slope from the front 
 breadth what may be necessary, rather than to gore in 
 
go Plain Needlework and 
 
 the ordinary method, by cutting a width aslant, because 
 half the gores thus cut are wrong side out, with the nap 
 falling the wrong way. Therefore, to cut off a sloped 
 piece from both sides of the front breadth causes the 
 least waste. Two-and-a-half breadths are sufficient for 
 the full width at the bottom of the petticoat. 
 
 If a deep rounded waistband is wanted, a pattern can 
 be quickly made as follows. Cut out a circle in the 
 centre of a newspaper the size of the waist — i.e., the 
 third of the length round the waist will be the diameter 
 of the circle cut out. Then cut straight from the out- 
 side edge of the newspaper to the edge of the circle, so 
 as to allow the newspaper to be placed round the figure, 
 and fold down the surplus, so that the paper lies close 
 to the figure; then cut the band the depth wished 
 for. 
 
 The probable quantity of material that will be required 
 for any garment, or series of garments, ought to be 
 carefully calculated before buying, to avoid unnecessary 
 waste. Some people always buy calico by the dozen 
 yards, others by the score. One lady I knew used to 
 buy one single yard whenever she went into the town, 
 because a ' bit of calico was always useful, you know.' 
 Four-and-a-half to five yards will make a nightdress 
 for a person of medium size : a dozen yards of calico 
 would therefore be a most wasteful purchase if intended 
 for these garments. 
 
 Seven-eighths of a yard of linen will be sufficient for the 
 ordinary size of English pillow slips, therefore seven 
 yards will make eight slips. The quantity to be purchased 
 should be any number of yards divisible by seven. A 
 whole school staff' of pupil teachers failed to tell me how 
 many yards of holland would be required to supply 
 Standard I., consisting of thirty-five girls, with material 
 sufficient for one apron each, a yard long, and containing 
 a width and a half of holland, as their examination gar- 
 
Cutting- Out, 9 1 
 
 ment, and I am not sure that to this day they quite under- 
 stand why it is more economical to buy three yards to 
 make two aprons than to buy two yards and have the 
 * piece over.' 
 
 Many persons find a difficulty in knowing how to 
 enlarge or reduce a pattern. The following suggestions 
 may be of use. Let us take, for example, a child's 
 frock. The pattern is good, but the frock is too small 
 every way. How much too small ? Let the waist be 
 the line from which all measurements are taken. The 
 skirt, we will say, is fourteen inches long; it is neces- 
 ary that the new one should be quite two inches longer. 
 Two inches equal one-seventh of fourteen. Increase 
 the whole of the frock one-seventh. For the sake of 
 simplicity, I will suppose the bodice of the frock to 
 be seven inches from the waist to the highest point; it 
 must be increased one-seventh ; consequently it will 
 be eight inches deep ; but that additional inch must 
 not be put all in one place, but must be divided among 
 the various parts. For instance, the length of seam 
 from waist to armhole must be increased one-seventh; 
 the armhole itself must also be increased one-seventh, 
 and also the little bit of shoulder seam. 
 
 The waist measures say 19 or 20 inches round. 
 One-seventh must be added to this, but half the in- 
 crease must be put in the front of the bodice, and the 
 remainder divided between the two halves of the back. 
 So with a shirt, or similar garment, where there is no 
 waist-line, each separate part, — body, 3^oke, sleeves, 
 wristband, neck, etc., — must be increased in their own 
 proportion. 
 
 These measurements should all be verified when made 
 before material is cut, because children do not always 
 grow in proportion, and some may only require the in- 
 crease in length, and not in width. 
 
 The following table of sizes will probably be of some 
 
92 
 
 Plain Needlework and 
 
 little use as a guide to those who may be cutting out 
 children's under-garments : — 
 
 Age. 
 
 Waist. 
 
 Bust. 1 
 
 Hips 
 
 2 to 4 years 
 
 19 inches 
 
 20 inches 
 
 26 inches 
 
 4 » 6 „ 
 
 20i „ 
 
 22i „ 
 
 28 „ 
 
 6 „ 8 „ 
 
 2ii „ 
 
 23i V 
 
 28 „ 
 
 8 „ lo „ 
 
 22i „ 
 
 25i ,, 
 
 3oi „ 
 
 ,, 12 ,, 
 
 24i „ 
 
 28 
 
 32 „ 
 
 It is necessary always to cut from the first pattern, 
 when cutting out a number of garments, by which I 
 mean, when a garment has been cut in material from a 
 paper pattern with the turnings, hems, and tucks all 
 arranged, it is advisable to use this first material pattern, 
 as the one by which to cut all the rest, and it is neces- 
 sary to be careful that this first is the one used, and not 
 the last cut each time, or else the size of the twelfth 
 garment will be considerably greater than the first. 
 
 Do not grudge time spent in fixing. 
 
 Be very particular and exact in cutting curves. 
 
 When both sides of a pattern are alike, double the 
 material, and cut them together. 
 
 Tear everything that can be torn when a straight 
 edge is required. 
 
 In holland and linen, a thread must be drawn to cut by. 
 
 When a pair of patterns is required, such as dress 
 sleeves, or a pair of backs or fronts of a bodice, the first 
 half having been cut in material, it must be placed with 
 its right side to the right side of the material for the 
 second half, or the two wrong sides may be placed 
 together. 
 
 Children should be practised in the use of the scissors ; 
 while waiting at odd moments, let them cut sets of 
 squares, triangles, octagons, etc., out of old exercise- 
 books. They are sometimes so entirely unaccustomed 
 to the handling of scissors that they are most awkward, 
 and jag, hack, or saw, but cannot cut. 
 
Cutting- Out. 93 
 
 Description oj Pattern of Pinafore. — Plate V., page 96. 
 Statement of fig. i. 
 
 Draw a field 26 by 23 inches (23 is the upper hne). 
 
 Mark corners A, B, C, D. 
 
 From A measure 2 down, and put a dot K. 
 
 From A measure 4J to the right, and dot E. 
 
 From K measure i to the right and dot. 
 
 From K measure 2 to the right and J up, and dot. 
 
 From K measure 3^ to the right and i up, and dot. 
 
 Join K to E by a curved Hne passing through the 
 dots. 
 
 From A measure 7 to the right and i-^ down, and put 
 a dot F. 
 
 Join E to F. 
 
 From K measure I down and 6 to the right, and dot. 
 
 From K measure 3 down and 5 to the right, and dot. 
 
 From K measure 6 down and 3 J to the right, and dot. 
 
 From K measure 8 down and 3 to the right, and put 
 a dot G. 
 
 Join F to G by a curved hne passing through the 
 dots. 
 
 From G measure 3J to the right and i up, and dot. 
 
 From G measure 5 to the right and 2 up, and dot. 
 
 From G measure 6\ to the right and 3 up, and dot. 
 
 From G measure 9 to the right and 5 J up, and put a 
 dot H. 
 
 Join H to G by a curved hne passing through the 
 dots. 
 
 From D measure 9J up and i to the left, and put a 
 dot I. 
 
 Join H to I. 
 
 From D measure 7 up and 3 to the left, and dot. 
 
 From D measure 5 J up and 5 to the left, and dot. 
 
 From D measure 4 up and 7 to the left and dot S. 
 
 From C measure 6 to the right, and dot. 
 
94 Plain Needlework and 
 
 From C measure 8 to the right, and \ up, and dot. 
 From C measure lo to the right and i up, and dot 
 From C measure 13 to the right, and 2\ up, and dot. 
 Join I to C by a curved Une passing through the dots. 
 
 Statement of Fig 2,— The Collar, 
 
 Make a field 6 inches square. 
 
 Mark the corners W, X, Y, Z. 
 
 From W measure 3^ to the right, and put a dot E. 
 
 From W measure \\ down, and put a dot L. 
 
 From W measure i to the right and i\ down, and 
 dot. 
 
 From W measure 2 to the right and I down, and dot. 
 
 Join E to L by a curved line passing through the dots. 
 
 From X measure i-^ down, and put a dot F. 
 
 Join E to F. 
 
 From Z measure 2 to the left, and put a dot M 
 
 Join F to M. 
 
 Fig. 3 is the Pocket. 
 
 The collar is fastened to the pinafore on one shoulder, 
 E, F, and the other shoulder is made to button. 
 
 The material is doubled from W to Y, so that only 
 half the collar appears in the diagram. 
 
 The arrow indicates the selvedge of each figure. If 
 several pinafores of this pattern are being cut, material 
 must be economised by placing them neck to neck. 
 Then the collars can be cut afterwards ; but if one only 
 is wanted, in this case it would be of very little conse- 
 quence with regard to warp and weft if the collar were 
 cut as placed in the diagram. Half of the pinafore is 
 given, the material being doubled from A to C. The 
 width of Holland would not allow of the whole skirt 
 being cut without a join. The line O O represents the 
 selvedge of the holland. Therefore, the gore R, S, T, 
 must be cut as indicated in fig. 4, and the selvedges 
 seamed together. 
 
CuUing'OuL 95 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 CTITTING-OUT FOE SCHOOL-WOEK. 
 
 I CANNOT reiterate too forcibly what I said in the first 
 pages, that though certain rules are given for the use 
 of teachers, as to the size and shape of stitches, and the 
 number of threads to be taken up, no teacher must 
 expect children to work by threads on material of which 
 garments are made. 
 
 When first learning a stitch, the coarsest of canvas 
 may be used, as it presents no difficulty to the eyesight. 
 Then, if possible, let some proportion be suggested to 
 the children as a guide, when working on material. 
 For instance, in marking, the stitch forms a cross, going 
 from corner to corner of a square. Ingathering, ' Take 
 up half as much as you leave dowm,' is an order that 
 requires no strain of vision. 
 
 The object of teaching needlework is to enable the 
 girls to make and mend for themselves and their families, 
 and I am certain if we turn them out of the schools 
 practical needlewomen, with a good ' household stitch,' 
 we shall have done as much to raise them and their 
 belongings out of the gutter, as any philanthropic move- 
 ment. Although our workmen get better w^ages than 
 those of France and Germany, it is well known that in no 
 part of these countries is there to be found the degra- 
 dation and squalor that there are in England ; and why ? 
 The ready reply is always. Drink ; but we must go 
 further. Drink is the result of wretchedness, as well 
 as the cause. I cannot help thinking that the remark 
 of a member of a School Board, if not strikingly origi- 
 nal, is at least the truth. In the broadest Yorkshire 
 dialect he said, 'What we want is better mothers.' I 
 often wish, when I pass miserable homes, displaying 
 from the windows the filthy rags which compose the 
 house linen, that the mothers could use a needle and 
 
96 Plain Needlework and 
 
 thread. The self-respect begotten of tidy clothes will 
 find soap, a fireside, and an account at a penny bank. 
 
 At the risk of being ridiculed as a specialist, I would 
 urge upon head mistresses the importance of the needle- 
 work subject as a benefit to the community. I would 
 ask them to take it for the 25. grant until it is thoroughly 
 taught in the schools. By-and-by, when the collective 
 system of instruction has become universal, it will be 
 found that there will be time for other subjects to be 
 taken up as well. At present, the children w^ho are being 
 forced into the schools are, except in certain neighbour- 
 hoods, of the very lowest class of society, who would 
 have been in the old * ragged schools ' if in any school 
 at all. Therefore it is by slow degrees that we can 
 arrive at high education. 
 
 To return to our needlework. We have gone over the 
 ground covered by the requirements of the New Code, 
 Schedule III. We have seen that by teaching children 
 to fix from the first— z>., in the infant school — they are 
 quite able to fix the simple parts of garments from 
 Standard II. and upwards. I have at this moment on 
 my table a parcel of infants' work — paper shps folded 
 for hemming, and fixed with cotton by infants of five 
 years ; pieces of calico, with the hems folded and 
 tacked by infants — boys and girls of six years — from a 
 school which numbers in average attendance 260. By 
 this means the teachers are not obliged to stay after 
 hours fixing and preparing the needlework for the 
 following day. I am surprised that there are still some 
 mistresses who object to teach the children to fix their 
 work. I can only say to them. Try it, and I know that 
 when once tried, it will be found a complete success. 
 If I were a mistress I should object to having to stay 
 after hours to fix the work myself. Work heartily in 
 work hours, and when the hours are done, put away 
 work altogether 
 

 
 
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Cutting- Out. 97 
 
 Now, a word as to the cutting-out of the garments 
 for a school. Government requires only one for each child, 
 but we all know that three times that number can well 
 be accomplished. Still, let us look only at requirements. 
 I have frequently seen garments attempted which are 
 absolutely beyond the powers of the girls, and which 
 the teacher, sick and weary, has to unpick and rearrange 
 nearly every day. 
 
 For example, a baby's robe of fine Mull muslin, with 
 thirty or forty tucks of various length, insertion let in, 
 and the whole trimmed with whipped embroidery or 
 lace-edge frill, is a garment that should only be under- 
 taken by a first-rate needle-woman. A girl who could 
 be trusted with such a piece of work must be an ex- 
 ceptionally expert, neat-fingered pupil, whose aptitude 
 for needlework will be to her a living ; but such a girl 
 comes only at a rate of about one in two or three thou- 
 sand, therefore do not put this class of garment out 
 for general school work. 
 
 Let us suppose we are planning the work for some 
 285 girls, the first four standards each containing 
 sixty, the fifth thirty, and the sixth fifteen pupils. 
 
 Before the end of the school-year, let all the material 
 for the following year be cut out and prepared. 
 
 Standard I. is to make thirty women's aprons of hoUand 
 or yarn * and thirty infants' shirts. 
 
 Standard II., forty-two pillow-cases, and eighteen 
 shirts for children from two to four years. 
 
 Standard III., thirty chemises for girls from ten to 
 twelve years, and thirty flannel petticoats for girls of 
 same age. 
 
 Standard IV., thirty frocks for children about two 
 years, and thirty shirts for boys from ten to twelve. 
 
 Standard V., fifteen pairs of drawers, and fifteen 
 chemises for girls from thirteen to sixteen. 
 
 * Note. — Yarn is a coarse linen used for servants aprons. 
 
98 Plain Needlework and 
 
 Standard VI., fifteen nightgowns for babies. 
 Let Standard VI. cut up the forty-five yards of 
 holland or yarn for the aprons of Standard I. The 
 material being placed on a newspaper on the floor, can 
 be measured into yard lengths and snipped by one girl ; 
 when she has snipped some three or four yards, three 
 or four girls can each begin to draw a thread and cut off 
 the lengths. Fifteen of these lengths must be again cut 
 into two ; a thread must be drawn down the centre of the 
 width, selvedge way (each apron will contain a width 
 and a half of material). The thirty undivided yards 
 must have a piece two inches wide cut off down the 
 selvedge for the bands. 
 
 Ten yards of white calico, 28 inches wide, may be 
 cut by girls of Standard III. Thus, one to measure 
 12 inches, snip, and pass on ; the next will tear 
 the piece off, and a third will fold it neatly. These 
 pieces are now ready to be cut by Standards V. or VI. 
 into the pattern required for the baby's shirt (a most 
 simple one is made by folding the width into four, and 
 at the quarters tearing down one-fourth of the length — 
 i.e.y 3 inches. On each side of this slit, at a distance of 
 one-fourth — i.e., ij inches — tear two more slits, the 
 length of the first — viz., 3 inches. The two narrow 
 pieces form the sleeve). 
 
 Standard III. will require 35 yards of calico not less 
 than 36 inches wide (38 would be better), cut by another 
 group of three girls out of Standard III. into lengths \ 
 of a yard. These are for the pillow-cases. 
 
 Nine yards of calico, 36 inches wide, torn into yard- 
 lengths, and each yard again torn down the centre, 
 selvedge way, will make the little shirts. 
 
 Standard III. will require 52^ yards of calico, 36inches 
 wide, to make 30 chemises. The calico must be torn 
 into lengths of i j yards. The bands will come out of 
 the gores which are cut off when the garment is shaped. 
 
Cutting- Out, 99 
 
 Thirty yards of flannel, 28 inches, torn into half-yards, 
 will make 30 petticoats, i \ yards of calico torn into two, 
 and the width of each divided into 15 equal parts, will give 
 30 strips, selvedge way, for the bands of the petticoats. 
 
 Standard IV. Forty yards of print will make 30 
 frocks for children about 18 months to 2\ years of age. 
 
 Sixty pieces, half-a-yard long, must be torn off for 
 the skirts, and 30 pieces, about 8 inches deep, for the 
 bodices. The remainder will make the sleeves. The 
 skirts will have a hem and one or two tucks. 
 
 Seventy-two yards of caUco, 28 inches, will make 30 
 plain shirts (for boys about 10 to 12 years, who would 
 take 12 inches as the paper length of the collar-band). 
 This must be torn as follows: — 30 pieces, 16 inches long, 
 for sleeves; 30 pieces, 16 inches long, out of which will be 
 cut yoke, etc.* Sixty pieces, 27 inches long, for back 
 and front breadths (both are cut the same length because 
 the yoke gives the increased length at the back). 
 
 Standard V. Thirty 3^ards of calico, 36 inches, will 
 make 15 pairs of drawers. This may be torn into 
 2-yard lengths by the girls. The bands will come out 
 of the pieces left when the pattern is cut. 
 
 Thirty yards of calico may be also torn into 2-3'ard 
 lengths for the chemises, and the bands torn off down 
 the selvedge before the gores are cut. 
 
 Standard VI. Twenty-seven yards, 36 inches, will 
 make 15 babies' nightgowns. These should be torn 
 off in lengths of 66 inches. Then after the sleeves 
 have been cut out, the 30 sashes can be torn by the 
 girls, and the 15 pieces, 7 inches long and \\ wide, for 
 the band in front. 
 
 It will thus be seen that out of 2S5 garments, 162 can 
 be entirely cut by the girls, and of the remaining 
 123, much is prepared by simply tearing the requisite 
 lengths, and when each girl in the upper standards can 
 
 * See description of fig. C of the 3-yard length diagram, page 107. 
 
lOO Plain Needlework and 
 
 have her piece of material out of which the garment is 
 to be made, she can pin a paper pattern on to it, and cut 
 it out — as, for example, in the chemises for Standards 
 II., III., and v., and the bodices for the frocks of Stan- 
 dard IV., and so forth. 
 
 If a mistress dare not allow the girls to cut from 
 pattern, we have enough garments prepared by tearing 
 to give work to all the school in fixing hems and 
 seams, than which nothing could be a more practical 
 lesson, whilst the teachers are completing the cutting- 
 out in the work hour, and so the whole needlework for 
 the following year may be made ready a month before 
 the inspection, and then the last month may be used in 
 going over the stitches of the different exercises, etc. 
 
 As soon as the examination is over, let the new gar- 
 ments be put in hand. Where a mistress has several 
 standards under one teacher, as is frequently the case 
 in small schools, when the garments are thus ready, all 
 the standards can be getting on with those stitches they 
 already know, such as hems and seams, while the mis- 
 tress, perhaps, gives her first attention to Standard I., 
 and sets it going. I have often grieved over the waste of 
 time at the beginning of a year : three months will be 
 allowed to slip by without one single stitch being put in. 
 Then comes hurry, flurry, and fume. The children 
 having been allowed to forget, are now put under high 
 pressure, and crammed. This is a most disadvan- 
 tageous state of affairs, and it would be well for us all 
 to remember, ' Sure and steady wins the race.' 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 PUPIL TEACHERS' WORK. 
 
 THE syllabus of pupil teachers' work is but that of 
 the standards carried out with greater skill, and if 
 a girl is careful to be thoroughly well grounded in this 
 
Cutting- Out, 
 
 lOI 
 
 she will have comparatively little to learn at college, 
 except methods of teaching, construction of garments, etc. 
 
 Stocking web stitch is a stitch by which a hole in 
 knitted or woven material may be filled in with a needle 
 to look exactly like the original. 
 
 It is advisable to learn first on a card pricked with 8 
 holes \ of an inch apart (see fig. i8), and another 
 similar row of 9 holes, about two inches higher. Pass 
 strands of strone^ sewino: cotton from one row to the 
 
 87654321 
 Fig. 18. 
 
 other, beginning at the top, and make the cotton go 
 twice through every hole, except the first and last on 
 the top row, where the cotton only goes in once. Then, 
 with a large-eyed needle and knitting cotton, w^ork on 
 these strands a stitch very similar to Swiss darning 
 and grafting (see pages 6Zy 69). 
 
 The diagram will help to illustrate this. 
 
 The stitch may be made to represent the right or wrong 
 side of knitting, or both, as in ribbing, purl and plain 
 
102 
 
 Plain Needlework and 
 
 (fig. 19). The purl may be learnt by preparing a card as 
 for the plain stitch, and by simply reversing the position 
 of the needle — where it goes under the strands in the 
 plain, it must pass over them in purl ; the easiest way 
 to teach oneself is to work a card, in plain stocking- 
 web stitch, and then to cut away the card, and follow 
 the threads on the wrong side. 
 
 When making an actual patch, proceed thus : — ravel 
 a hole the size required, carefully unpicking, but not 
 
 cutting away any of the old ends. If mending a real hole 
 not only making a patch for the sake of doing it, enlarge 
 the hole so as to obtain an inch or two of ravelled thread 
 for every row of knitting. When the upper and lower 
 loops are quite clear, and in a straight line, and the 
 sides are also straight, fasten the stocking on to a card 
 to keep the hole even, that there may be no pucker. 
 Preserve the ravelled ends with the greatest care, at the 
 back of the card, or stocking. Then make the strands 
 
 J 
 
Cutting' Out, 1 03 
 
 of sewing cotton as before, only going from the upper 
 to the lower loops of knitting, instead of pricking holes 
 through the card. With the same cotton, or wool, that 
 the stocking is made of, work the stitch, beginning on 
 the loops of knitting on the right-hand corner of the 
 lower row, and continue to work up the strands, till the 
 upper loops are reached, then graft the last-made row 
 of loops, to those of the stocking which are ready there. 
 
 Cut away the fastening threads, which held the 
 card in place. The sides of the patch will still remain 
 to be fastened to the stocking. Now appears the reason 
 for our care of the ravelled ends. Thread a rug needle 
 with one of these ends, and catch a side loop of the 
 newly-made patch, and darn away the end of the ravel 
 about half an inch, in a slanting direction, on the wrong 
 side of the stocking. Thread the next ravelled end, and 
 do the same ; for every loop of the patch, there will be 
 found the ravel to join it to the original. 
 
 This makes a much flatter, neater join up the sides, 
 than any other method. A patch may be knitted in, 
 instead of worked with a needle. The sides must be 
 treated in precisely the same manner. Sometimes a 
 hole comes in the leg of a knickerbocker, or shooting- 
 stocking, which is well worth the trouble of mending 
 by a patch of this kind. No one would, however, attempt 
 to mend very fine stocking material with such care 
 unless under exceptional circumstances. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 RECAPITULATION. 
 
 THIS little handbook has been written entirely for 
 teachers in elementary schools. It therefore treats 
 only of rudimentary needlework, with especial reference 
 to the requirements of the present Code, and does not 
 attempt to enter upon the higher, and finer, branches 
 
I04 Plain Needlework and 
 
 of the subject. A careful reading of the Code will 
 show that nothing more is expected from girls up to 
 Standard VI. than the knowledge necessary to put 
 together the simplest of garments, such as they are 
 sure to require in their own lives. 
 
 I object to teaching needlework on fine material. Un- 
 bleached calico will fulfil all the demands of Schedule III., 
 though good needlewomen, both amongst teachers and 
 girls, would prefer a better material. Patent yarn, which 
 is a coarse linen used for servants ' aprons, and coarse 
 stocking- web, will be sufficiently fine for the darning, 
 because when correct methods of the construction, and 
 mendin'^ of garments, are understood by the girls, it is 
 easy enough to apply this knowledge to finer material 
 when necessary. But though the material may be 
 coarse, the H,eedlev/ork should be good, the hemming clear 
 and regular,'- the patches straight, and placed 'the right 
 way of the stuff,^ the tapes straight and firm, the buttons 
 secure, and the button-holes not only firmly made, but 
 cut to match the size of the button. Teachers should 
 be careful about the size of the needles and cotton. I 
 have seen what would have been good work spoiled 
 by a thick, clumsy needle and coarse cotton, utterly 
 unsuited to the material of which the garment was made. 
 Cotton No. 60 of Clarke's or Coates' make, is suitable for 
 ordinary white calico, with No. 8 needles (short needles 
 are supposed to lend speed to the needlewoman). No. 
 40 of the same* make, is quite strong* enough for un- 
 bleached cahco, with No. 7 needles. I have seen linen 
 thread used for unbleached calico, with the iltea that 
 great strength was necessary ; very coarse, clumsy work 
 was the natural result. It must be remembered that^;^/5A 
 gives strength, and it is this that is so wanting as yet in 
 girls ' work. * Beginnings and fastenings off' are insecure, 
 
 * I merely mention these makers in order to give a definite guide as 
 to the size. Other makers use different numbering. 
 
CuiH?ig-Out, 105 
 
 and yet these are the very points requiring extra atten- 
 tion in the machine-made garment, by which I mean, 
 that when a machine has done all it can, the hand has 
 to make beginnings, and fastenings off, safe and neat, to 
 add buttons, button-holes, etc., etc. 
 
 I have often spoken of the influence of a teacher, but I 
 do not know that I ever felt it more strongly, than one 
 day when I visited two schools within a very few yards 
 of each other, as the crow flies, and perhaps five minutes' 
 walk. Both were at the end of their school year, and 
 both had about the same number of infants in average 
 attendance. In the first I found dull, dirty children, with 
 strips of needlework and knitting on the table. ' Where 
 are the garments ?' I asked. 'Oh, we have not made 
 any ; we are not required to make garments in an infant 
 school,' said the teacher. ' I know that ; but you would 
 find it make your lesson much more interesting to the 
 children, if you let them make something for themselves. 
 Pocket-handkerchiefs, for instance, or little pinafores, 
 would take no more trouble to fix than those strips.' *0h/ 
 replied the teacher, 'I should not know what to do with 
 them when they were made. There is a cupboard full of 
 things the children finished before I came.' ' Would not 
 the parents buy them?* I inquired. 'Oh no, not these 
 children's parents. This is such a bad neighbourhood ; 
 they've got no money.' ' Did you ever try to have a 
 Httle sale?' 'No, it would be no good.' 'Some teachers 
 send the things home by the children, and then the 
 mothers will buy.' ' Oh no, not about here ; they are 
 a dreadful set, nothing is any good.' Feeling depressed 
 beyond measure, at the hopelessness of everything, 
 I went to the second school. The same neighbourhood, 
 the same local circumstances, the same ' dreadful set.' 
 There was an array of infants in snow-white pinafores, 
 little faces so clean and bright, little feet placed close 
 together, with an evident desire of attracting attention. 
 
io6 Plain Needlework and 
 
 ' Will you notice the boots ?' whispered the lady visitor 
 to me. ^ Hands up, all little boys and girls who have 
 cleaned their own boots this morning.' Up went all 
 the little hands but one. * H ands up all who let their 
 mothers clean their boots.' Up creeps the one little 
 hand, very much ashamed of itself. ' Do you get this 
 every day, or is it only for my visit ? ' I asked. ' No, 
 every day. At first the mothers were very angry, when 
 I sent the children back to be washed, but I gave the 
 cleanest child a medal to wear in school time, and soon 
 all came clean. Then about the boots, the mothers said, 
 how could I expect them to find time to clean them. I 
 said I did not, but wished them to let the children try 
 to do it for themselves. Now they take such pride in 
 their children being clean, and often bring them to 
 school to see how nice they look.' ' I see you have 
 made a number of garments.' ' Oh yes, all in the first 
 class have made something.' ' Can you sell them ? ' ' Oh, 
 they are nearly all bespoken. The mothers would be 
 very angry, if I sold their children's work.' 
 
 Cases of this sort I could multiply, but I must not 
 omit to mention the kindly help of the lady visitor, who 
 in this school was most regular in her visits. Once in the 
 week, not always on the same day, she would come in, 
 and quietly taking a chair would listen to whatever 
 might be the lesson of the hour, encouraging both 
 teachers, and children, in any improvement visible, since 
 the previous visit. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 BESCEIPTION OF THE 3-YAKD LENGTH DIAGEAM. 
 
 THE sectional diagram at the commencement of the 
 book represents a piece of material 3 yards long, 
 and I wide. The patterns are arranged with due 
 regard to turnings. 
 
 Fig. A is a baby's nightgown. 
 
Cu tting- Out, 1 07 
 
 If figs. I and 2 are placed as on the diagram, the 
 sleeves (fig. 3 a), can be got out of the material, on each 
 side of the skirt. 
 
 Figs. 4 A, are the sashes. 
 
 Figs. 5 A, the band into which the gathers at the waist 
 are set in. 
 
 Fig. 6 a, the false hem down the back. 
 
 Fig. I B, is a baby's shirt. 
 
 Figs. 2 B, are the sleeves. 
 
 Fig. c represents a breadth of calico 27 inches wide, on 
 which all the small parts of a shirt are arranged. It 
 will thus be seen that when cutting out a large number 
 of shirts, the widths may be torn off as described on 
 page 99, and then the small parts, out of one width. 
 
 Fig. I B, is the yoke, and its lining. 
 
 Figs. 2 B, the wristbands. 
 
 Fig. 3, the collar-band. 
 
 Fig. 4 B, the lining to the hem down the front. 
 
 Figs. 4 B, are the sleeve-binders, two of which miglit 
 be i-^ inches shorter, as it would be clumsy to put the 
 binder over the yoke at the back. 
 
 Figs. 6 B, and 7 b, are the gussets. 
 
 Fig. D is a child's shirt. 
 
 Figs. I E, and 3 e, are the backs and linings of a 
 calico bodice for a child's petticoat. 
 
 Figs. 2, and 4 e, are the fronts of the same. The fronts 
 come close to the selvedge. As they would be seamed 
 together, and require no turnings, the backs are arranged 
 so as to allow of a hem, for buttons, or strings. This is 
 not intended as a model for the exercise required from 
 fourth-year pupil teachers, because the object of that 
 exercise I should suppose to be the testing of their 
 powers of contrivance. 
 
 I am aware that I lay myself open to criticism by 
 introducing fig. c — firstly, because the calico used for 
 a baby's garment may be supposed to be finer, and 
 
io8 Plain Needlework and 
 
 thinner^ than would be used for a boy's shirt, and also, 
 because it is not a complete garment ; but I have intro- 
 duced it, as I wished to show how little waste there need 
 be, if the shirt were cut, after some such plan. Also, I 
 am aware, that the usual material for a baby's shirt, is 
 fine cambric, but I should feel glad if I thought that 
 every poor baby had a shirt of the same calico as its 
 nightgown. 
 
 The material left on either side of fig. 2 a, will serve 
 for the crossway linings to the hems, at the neck of the 
 nightgown. 
 
 T 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 OUTimES OF LEssoisrs 
 
 HE following slight sketches of lessons may be of 
 use in suggesting methods of teaching needlework 
 to large classes. 
 
 We will begin at the beginning — i.e., with the babies' 
 class, and the threading of needles. We must have a 
 supply of suitable materials. Thick needles, called 
 ' threaders,' with large eyes, and without points, are 
 made for the purpose ; they are very cheap, about 4^d. 
 per lOO. Cotton, or very fine twine, such as will easily 
 go through the needle's eye, should be cut in lengths 
 of about J yard. 
 
 The teacher supplies the class with a threader, and a 
 piece of cotton. 
 
 ' What have I given you ? ' asks the teacher. 
 
 * Needle and fread,' will be the reply. 
 
 Teacher : ' Now I'm going to show you how to thread 
 the needle like soldiers. You must not touch them 
 till I tell you.' 
 
 ' Take up the needles in your left hand ' (the teacher 
 will use her right). * What do we use a needle for ? ' 
 
 Reply, * To sew with.' 
 
Cutting- Out, 109 
 
 'Yes. Now look at your needle, and tell me what 
 there is at one end.' 
 
 Some will say, 'An eye,' 'A hole,' or 'A point.' 
 
 Teacher : ' I want you to hold your needles as I hold 
 mine, the little eye at the top, just showing above my 
 finger and thumb.' 
 
 This having been accomplished, * Needles down ' 
 will be the next command. 
 
 The cotton will be then held up in the right hand — 
 a little bit, about | inch, showing above the finger and 
 thumb to match the needle. Then ' Needles up.' 
 
 Now the class has needles in one hand, and cotton 
 in the other, ready for the threading. The drill may be : 
 ^i) ' Hold the cotton up ' ; (2) ' Hold the needle up ' ; 
 (3) ' Hands together.' * Now put the cotton through the 
 eye of the needle while I count twenty ' ; or, the drill 
 may be, ' Cotton up, needles up.' ' i, hands apart ; 2, 
 hands together. I, 2, I, 2, Three, thread the needle. 
 Show.' 
 
 The next step will be the attempt at making a stitch. 
 The work {i.e., a bit of rag, of any sort, or shape) must 
 be placed over the finger. Thimbles must be given out. 
 ' What do we wear a thimble for ? ' asks the teacher. 
 ' On which finger are you going to put it?' The needle 
 may be put in without cotton. The drill may be some- 
 thing like this : 'Work, needle.' Repeat once or twice till 
 the class all hold up needle and work as called for. (i) 
 ' Make a Uttle stitch.' (2) ' See if it shines through.' (3) 
 ' Turn it back again.' (4) ' Push it through with the 
 thimble.' (5) 'Draw it out over the shoulder.' Or (i) 
 ' Hold your work up.' (2) ' Hold your needle up.' 
 (3) ' Put your thimble against your needle.' (4) 
 ' Make a nice little stitch (a bit at the bottom and a bit 
 at the top '). (5) ' Push it through with the thimble.' 
 (6) * Draw it out over the shoulder.' 
 
 The teacher will ask what is meant by ' it ' in the 
 
I TO Plain Needlework and 
 
 different sentences. This lesson will not last longer 
 than ten minutes or a quarter of an hour. Later on, 
 when the little ones understand what to do and cotton 
 is introduced, the lesson may be started by drill, and 
 then allowed to go on a little, while the teacher super- 
 vises a few at a time. 
 
 When we come to the first class we may teach the 
 beginning of a new needleful. ' Attention ! We are 
 going to learn how to begin a new needleful ' (cotton 
 of a different colour helps this lesson). * Break off 
 cotton' (the teacher will demonstrate with her own) 
 ' Show.' 
 
 ' If you have not got a little end of cotton where it was 
 broken off, you must undo three little stitches, and make 
 the little end come out, just under the hem. Now we 
 will put the new needleful in. We must not have any 
 knots at the end of the cotton. Point the needle away 
 from you, and take up only the little bit at the top of 
 the fold ; we do not want it to shine through this time. 
 Now draw the needle out away from you, very gently, 
 till there is a little end, about as long as the old end ; 
 now you must tuck both those little ends under the 
 hem, as we don't want to see them again, and put your 
 thumb on the place, till you have made three stitches.' 
 
 The drill will not be carried on monotonously for 
 half an hour, but when the children have been accus- 
 tomed to school-life, they may be trusted to try a little 
 by themselves, while the teacher satisfies herself, that 
 everything is going on correctly. Perhaps the class 
 will be started by drill for five minutes ; then, if the 
 children get fidgety, another five minutes in the middle 
 of the lesson, will pull them together again. 
 
 When we arrive at Standard III. we generally dis- 
 pense with drill, and use the frame and board, though 
 many teachers continue to use drill when giving a new 
 lesson. The following may serve as a sketch of a 
 
Cutting- Out. 1 1 1 
 
 lesson on herring-boning : — Canvas samplers having 
 been given out, the teacher says, * To-day we are going 
 to learn a new stitch. This frame is like your samplers, 
 only much larger. You see I have threads that go 
 down, and threads that go across. Look at your 
 samplers, and see if you understand me; also in your 
 pinafores, you will see the threads going down and 
 across, only finer and closer together. This new stitch 
 is called herring-boning. Who can spell it ? We will 
 write it on the board. Do you ever have herrings for 
 dinner? Well, the next time notice if you think this 
 stitch is at all like the shape of the bones.' (Demon- 
 strate on the board the likeness.) * It is used for flannel. 
 If we can keep one piece of flannel on the top of 
 another, until it has been washed a few times, the two 
 pieces will have ** felted " together ; and flannel is so 
 thick, we cannot double it, as w^e do calico ; so if 
 we can protect the raw edges by a stitch, until it has 
 been washed, we shall not require to make a thick 
 ridge by doubling it under. This is the first stitch 
 you learn which you work from left to right. Now 
 I fasten my cotton (the long coloured wool or cord), 
 and I bring my needle to the front, close to the left- 
 hand side. Now I count down four threads from 
 where the cotton comes out, and to the right four, and 
 put the needle in, and take up two threads, pointing the 
 needle from right to left. I work the stitch on two 
 lines, with four threads between. The next stitch must 
 be taken on the upper line. From where the cotton 
 comes out, count upwards four threads, and to the 
 right four threads ; put the needle in, and take up two 
 threads. Now, who can tell me on which line my 
 next stitch is to be made ? From where the cotton 
 comes out, how many threads ? Up, or down ? Do I 
 go in ? No, to the right. How many threads ? and 
 how many do I take up ? ' and so on. 
 
112 Plain Needlework and Cutting- Out, 
 
 As soon as a teacher has shown the new stitch, she 
 should make the class tell her what to do ; then, when 
 all have thoroughly understood the lesson, they will take 
 up their samplers and work it. If the stitch is drawn 
 upon the board, and the attention of the children called 
 to the position of the little crosses (see page 27), it will 
 help them in keeping it straight without counting 
 threads. The next step will be working the stitch on 
 flannel, turning down the edge, and herring-boning it. 
 When this is worked on a square of flannel there is 
 no turning of a corner required, because, first, the top 
 edge will be turned down, and herring-boned from end 
 to end ; next, the bottom edge will be treated in the 
 same manner ; then the sides will be folded over, so 
 that four straight lines of herring-boning are all that is 
 necessary for the square. When a patch is put in 
 flannel, the corners must be made safe and neat. 
 
 Young teachers would do well to make their lessons 
 very clear, and concise, and to keep to the point. 
 Sometimes I have heard a teacher — giving a lesson on 
 the above stitch — confuse herself and her class, by 
 telhng them what it isn't, rather than what it is. 
 For example. ' This stitch is something like feather- 
 stitching, only different ; and feather-stitching or coral 
 stitch, as it is sometimes called, is an ornamental 
 stitch, worked on calico, on the bands, or round the 
 collar, of a garment. I'll put it on the board, and then 
 you will see where the difference is.' Now herring- 
 boning is taught to Standard III., while feather-stitch- 
 ing is not taught till Standard VII. Consequently a 
 child is much puzzled by the complication of the 
 stitches, and fails to learn its herring-boning altogether. 
 
STERLING & FRANCINfc CLAHR ami ims i 1 1 u i c 
 
 NK9100 .J65 1886 Stack 
 
 Jones, Emily G7A manual of plain needle 
 
 1962 00079 0323