DOMESTIC ART 



1838 



DOMESTIC SERVICE 



this simple way of designing. When you get 

 >t:utcd at this kind of work, you can hardly 

 keep from making a great number of designs, 

 so interesting is the work and so easy is the 

 process. 



However interesting you may find the work 

 on paper, you will enjoy far more \vorking out 

 some of these patterns with actual materials. 

 Fig. 7 was worked in filet crochet. Fig. 8 was 

 worked in a darning stitch, on Russian crash; 

 and Fig. 9 was worked in colored cross stitch 

 on Aida canvas. Any one of these borders 

 may be used in making an article of use and 

 service, for the home. Fig. 12 shows a table 

 runner, made of Russian crash, with the cro- 

 cheted border used as an insertion. A method 

 of finishing the edge, quite in keeping with 

 the crocheted insertion, is shown in Figs. 10 

 and 11. 



Sometimes we find it easier to design with 

 the materials themselves, rather than to draw 

 designs on paper. There is for sale in the 

 shops a square-meshed open canvjas or net, 

 like that represented in Fig. 13. This can be 

 worked in straight-line designs, with single 

 Germantown yarn. The design shown in Fig. 

 13 is much like the designs in Figs. 4 and 6. 

 It is worked in a simple stitch, with bright 

 orange and black Germantown. Other patterns 

 are shown in Figs. 14 and 15. Borders worked 

 in this style on filet canvas or net can be 

 appliqued on burlap or any other suitable 

 fabric for a bag. Figs. 16 to 19 show the 

 steps followed in making a shopping bag of 

 brown burlap. A border worked on a strip 

 of filet canvas was button-holed across the 

 bottom of the bag. The color scheme of the 

 border was orange and black. A draw string of 

 twisted orange and black, on which bright 

 orange and blue beads were strung, gave a de- 

 lightful finish (Fig. 20). 



Sometimes the commonest and cheapest fab- 

 rics, which show squares, circles or stripes in 

 their patterns, make us think of interesting 

 designs. Figs. 21 to 23 show the possibilities 

 of checked gingham. The color schemes and 

 stitches are given in the appended note. Fig. 

 25 shows a button bag, made of a piece of 

 ordinary gingham, but the bag looks anything 

 but ordinary because of the unusual design and 

 color it expresses. Satin stitch and couching 

 (Fig. 24) make gingham attractive. 



Calicoes and percales are often printed in 

 simple black patterns on white grounds. These 

 patterns may be used as diagrams, upon which 

 we may place a variety of decorative stitches. 



Fig. 26 shows an ordinary, dotted calico. As a 

 fabric, nothing could be less interesting. But 

 look at the result of a little invention! Fig. 

 27 shows the steps in working out a simple de- 

 sign, which transforms the uninteresting calico 

 into a bright and attractive trimming, as shown 

 in Fig. 28. The trimming has been used on 

 the cuffs of a little girl's dress as shown in 

 Fig. 29. A variation of the trimming has been 

 used for the girdle and collar. 



Other examples of the transformation of 

 cheap and uninteresting fabrics, making them 

 over into real works of art, are shown in Figs. 

 30 to 32. 



Related Subject*. The following articles in 

 these volumes give further information on the 

 subject of domestic art : 

 Basketry Home Economics 



China Painting Industrial Art 



Costume Interior Decorations 



Dolls, Paper Stencil 



Embroidery 



DOMESTIC SCIENCE. See HOME ECO- 

 NOMICS. 



DOMESTIC SERVICE, the name applied to 

 service connected with a household, including 

 the labor of those who work in the house, such 

 as cooks, laundresses, chambermaids, waitresses, 

 butlers, footmen and personal attendants, and 

 of those who do outside work, such as coach- 

 men, chauffeurs and gardeners. Domestic serv- 

 ice is one of the unorganized industries; that 

 is, there is no fixed standard of wages or of the 

 number of hours constituting a day's work, and 

 very little has been accomplished in the way 

 of organizing servants' unions. So long as this 

 situation prevails the general condition of the 

 household servant will be more or less unsatis- 

 factory. One of the problems of the present 

 day which is interesting students of sociology 

 is the improvement of domestic service by 

 means of organization, and it is the general 

 belief that putting the entire system on a busi- 

 ness basis would benefit both employers and 

 servants. This would make it necessary for the 

 w-orkers to ta*ke special training courses, as in 

 the other trades, and it would also give them 

 better standing socially. 



Much is heard about the "servant-girl prob- 

 lem." Complaint is made continually, by the 

 women who engage girls to work in the home, 

 of the uncertainty of the whole system, of the 

 lack of a standard of excellence and of a fixed 

 term of service, and of the difficulty of se- 

 curing competent and reliable workers. The 

 fact that large numbers of untrained immigrant 

 girls take up household work as a means of 





