290 
AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 
August, I9II 
Handicraftsman 
Conducted by A. Russell Bond 
Home-Made Summer Furniture 
By Mary Edith Griswold 
Photographs by Vahdah Van Eaton 
PXEAUTIFUL furniture for summer use can 
be made by a handy man or woman with a 
kit of tools which will cost under a dollar, 
the only really essential ones being a T 
square, a saw, and a hammer. 
The ability to use these universal and 
simple tools will grow with practice and 
the gift to learn new tricks, but they do not require unusual 
abilities. Taste, tact and perseverance with a willingness 
to take pains will accomplish any of the things described 
in this article. 
After you have learned how to saw a straight line, plane 
evenly, mark out your work and fit it together nicely there 
is nothing known to the ordinary carpenter’s skill which 
you cannot do. 
In the most enlightened homes a regular work-bench is 
found, having vises to hold the work, work stops, and tool 
rack. Of course upon such a bench are usually found more 
tools than_ those 
designated at the 
beginning of this 
article as necessary. 
diihceess willy be 
planes and bits and 
chisels and perhaps 
many more besides. 
With such an equip- 
ment wonderful 
things can be ac- 
complished. 
As such work is 
usually attempted 
by the children of 
the family, pieces 
which adolescents 
would naturally 
construct will per- 
haps be more sug- 
OES lny.e | tO. tie 
greater number ot 
readers. 
Girls will usually 
begin by making 
something tor 
their own rooms and the boys by making something 
for mother’s. A shirtwaist and hat-box case is good 
for both. A very neat one can be made of four lengths of 
two-inch square pine lumber each piece four feet long, a 
top board of half-inch thick lumber and shorter lengths of 
the two-inch stuff for braces. These side-pieces also serve 
as rails on which to slide the boxes in and out. 
This is a piece of furniture which can be made from 
boxes already on hand; the square hat box which is still in 
; 
i 
| 
= # 
A kitchen table used for a desk with book shelves built on top 
good condition will do and if you begin with it you will 
have to regulate the sizes of the other boxes in consider- 
ation of it. 
Beautiful patterns of such cases may be seen in the furni- 
ture and department stores. They usually have two deep 
boxes underneath the hat box long enough to hold a lady’s 
dress skirt folded once. They will hold a summer suit each. 
The space on the side of the hat box may be divided into 
two smaller boxes for holding veils, handkerchiefs, or the 
little accessories to a lady’s summer toilette. 
The handsome ready-made ones are covered with cre- 
tonne, but they are just as pretty and about as durable if 
covered with wall-paper. The general effect is the same 
because wall-paper comes in as pretty patterns as cretonne. 
Another thing which boys or girls can make with their 
own hands is a sewing screen. ‘The frame is made of 
lumber. Any kind will do, because it is completely covered 
with cretonne. 
It must be straight and planed off smooth, 
or the © cloth jy 
not le smooth and 
will look bad. The 
pointsof sucha screen 
do not have to be 
dovetailed, or done 
in any fancy way. 
Cut off half the 
thickness from both 
boards ~so thiae 
they will fit  to- 
gether neatly and 
then nail them to- 
gether with wire 
nails and drive the 
heads down deep 
with a nail set, be- 
ing sure to rest the 
work on a flat iron, 
or some other solid 
piece of metal. Sew- 
ing screens have a 
top row of spools 
of thread, a pocket 
below to hold 
things in, and a 
little table which lets down when required. 
The wooden frame of this screen must be covered with 
the cretonne before the outside piece is tacked on so that 
there will not be any raw edges showing. 
These are particularly nice for the nursery because they 
are light and easily moved about from place to place and 
they make mother look happy, forming a sort of lovely 
background for childish memory. 
They are also nice for a young girl because they please 
