“2 _ AMERICAN 
HOMES AND GARDENS 
February, 1911 
Decorations and Furnishings for the Home 
Conducted by Alice M. Kellogg 
Gah iene 
ES m ‘birsouind teaney, 
By Monica Bastin 
RNG) make the dwelling place beautiful in every 
3) detail and to endow it with an air of fit- 
<M ness and harmony is the desire of every 
true devotee of the picturesque. For this 
purpose, any work which is done by hand 
has a value and a certain personal touch 
which must of necessity give it the advan- 
tage over all machine made productions. Thus the clever 
needlewoman would fain arrange and carry out her own 
schemes of decoration and is glad when she has the oppor- 
tunity for so doing. Among other interesting ideas, that of 
copying effective china ware for the embroidered et ceteras 
of a room is original and 
decidedly worth considera- 
tion. ‘The excellence of the 
designs shown on many 
pieces of old pottery for 
instance is unquestionable, 
and often the shades and 
the blending of colors may 
be copied exactly and with 
delightful results. A very 
good example of the way 
such work may be adapted 
is shown in a scheme of 
furnishing which might well 
suggest itself to the posses- 
sor of a collection of old 
willow patterned china. 
The soft blue and white would of course be taken for the 
principal coloring and considered in the choice of rugs, mat- 
ting and carpet. The willow pattern, or as much of it as may 
be thought suitable, is exactly reproduced for borders of 
casement curtains of cream or Paris colored cloth. It is 
also repeated on cushion covers of holland or muslin and it 
can still further be shown on the table centers and cloths. 
A May flower pattern taken as a copy from an old plate 
A “Willow” room, thus carefully thought out and arranged, 
will be a charming apartment with a tone of coloring which 
will at once please the fancy of all admirers of old china. 
On the same lines a room may be arranged in harmony with 
any quaint or beautiful variety of ware. 
The china patterns are equally effective for decorating 
single articles and they are useful for almost all branches 
of fancy needlework. It is as a rule easy to trace the design 
straight from the china. piece and then transfer it to the 
material to be embroidered. The pattern, more often than 
not will be found convenient to reproduce in its original 
size. If, however, it is to be enlarged or reduced, or the 
shape of the article makes 
it impossible to lay the 
tracing paper flat, it is 
sometimes an advantage to 
take a photograph of the 
part of the pattern which 
is to be copied. A tracing 
can then be easily made 
from the finished print. Of 
course another way and 
quite the most simple for. 
those skilled with a pencil, 
is to make a direct free- 
hand sketch onto the mate- 
rial. . It ‘will’ ‘be siound 
impossible to copy all the 
finer points in line, so it is 
principally important to have the most striking features of 
the design clearly set forth. The remaining details must be 
filled in by eye at the actual time of working. With the copy 
at hand, ready to be continually consulted, it will be compar- 
atively easy to carry it out correctly both in line and in shad- 
ing. Of course whether the coloring is reproduced exactly 
must be purely a-matter for personal taste, but where varia- 
