December, 1910 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



477 



mmmmmm 











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A stencilled curtain to match the bed cover 



found that weaving 

 is one of the best 

 character formers of 

 any of the crafts. In 

 planning the design, 

 a sense of color is 

 cultivated, and perse- 

 verance and neatness 

 are taught in the 

 careful weaving of a 

 tiny rug; and, as the 

 children are trained 

 to make their own 

 designs, originality 

 and creative ability 

 are also brought into 

 play. 



When these crafts 

 have been perfected, 

 quite small children 

 are able to take up 

 the simple forms of 

 working in sheet 

 metal. Hammered brass 

 has a fascination for the 

 youngster, which may 

 partly be accounted for 

 by the noise made by the 

 hammer, while the cut- 

 ting of the metal with a 

 fret-saw trains the eye to 

 accuracy and the fingers 

 to deftness. 



Give a small child a 

 sheet of paper and a pair 

 of scissors, and he will 

 need no other entertain- 

 ment as long as the pa- 

 per lasts. This love for 

 snipping paper can be 

 turned to good account 

 if the child be shown 

 how to cut out regular 

 patterns, no matter how 

 simple. The paper is 

 folded upon itself a 



number of times, a few apparently meaningless slashes are 

 made with the scissors, and then when the paper is unfolded 

 it is found to take an unexpected form with lace-like pattern 

 in the center. The unexpectedness of the design makes, such 



vm 





A wild rose pattern 







A pattern for stenciUing 



cutting very fascinat- 

 ing to the child. 

 However, it is not a 

 difficult matter to 

 solve the mystery of 

 the cutting. The pa- 

 per pattern may be 

 used as a decoration, 

 for instance as a 

 book plate. 



It the paper be 

 cut at random, new 

 and attractive de- 

 signs may be found 

 which will furnish 

 valuable sugges- 

 t i o n s for original 

 stencil patterns. The 

 accompanying en- 

 gravings show a 

 number of examples 

 of stencil work. A 

 detail of a wild rose 

 pattern is given, as well 

 as the method of apply- 

 ing it to the bedroom 

 curtains and the bed 

 cover. The variety of 

 decoration made possible 

 by this method is end- 

 less. 



The same stencil may 

 be employed in different 

 ways, to vary the design. 

 This is a class of work 

 that anyone can take up 

 to advantage. 



When a child goes to 

 school and the hand- 

 crafts are not a part of 

 the curriculum, it will be 

 well for the parents to 

 study a few of the sim- 

 pler crafts, so that they 

 can supply the deficiency. 

 It is not fair that the 

 child should suffer for lack of this training, for he will feel 

 conscious and stricken when he finds his friends are able to 

 make beautiful articles, for he will feel that he has been cheated 

 out of his rights to compete with his comrades. 



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A girl copying from a model 



A stencilled bed cover 



