1064 
THE RURAL 
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Mother’s Sewing Room 
Farm Dressmaker’s Work Shop 
’“""“By a Farmer’s Wife.. 
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H OW IT STARTED.—For a number 
of years my sewing machine migrat¬ 
ed from sitting-room to dining-room, and 
on to sleeping room, thence back to start¬ 
ing place, to begin the trip over again. 
This was a source of annoyance, as it, to¬ 
gether with the work which necessarily 
accompanied it, was always in the way. 
At last relief came through taking a 
small bedroom adjoining kitchen for a 
regular sewing room. My husband put 
a shelf three feet wide across one side of 
the room, just high enough for a cutting 
table and another two feet wide across 
the other side and higher up. This lat¬ 
ter shelf was used for storage purposes. 
This room was a great comfort and con¬ 
venience, only it was too small. As the 
years passed and the older sons began to 
< stablisli homes of their own, I found we 
had vacant rooms upstairs and realizing 
that the men needed the room I was using 
1 had the sewing machine taken to one of 
the rooms above, where it has remained 
ever since. This is a good-sized, well- 
lighted room with large clothes room 
connecting with it. Here I c..n store 
everything that pertains to sewing, as 
well as many other articles. Nothing is 
ever disturbed by the rest of the family. 
My work can be dropped at any time, 
left indefinitely, and will be just as it 
was laid down when I return. It creates 
a feeling of comfort to know that it 
isn’t in anyone’s way. The only draw¬ 
back is that the room is in the second 
floor, for with the passing years I find it 
a little more difficult to climb the stairs, 
and I cannot help an occasional sigh of 
regret for the little room down stairs off 
the kitchen. 
Conveniences And Arrangement.— 
As we did not wish to build broad shelves 
in this room, my husband bought a cut¬ 
ting table measuring 48x28 inches. This 
is large enough to cut a skirt nicely, but 
is not quite so convenient as the wide 
shelf which I had below. This cutting 
table stands next to the machine in or¬ 
der that the materials upon it can be 
easily reached when doing machine work. 
Upon it are kept a 00-inch tape meas¬ 
ure, a pair of shears, a spool of basting 
thread and some milliner’s needles, also 
a piece of chalk and plenty of pins. The 
needles mentioned are especially good for 
basting. Back of the machine hangs a 
little cupboard made of a shallow box, 
where are kept a sort of reserve supply of 
thread, buttons, buttonmoulds, hooks and 
eyes, silk and twist, etc. Tacked to the 
right end of the machine is a scrap bag 
into which are pushed pieces of thread, 
empty spools, etc. Another scrap bag is 
tacked to the wall near the cutting table, 
and a peach basket does duty for waste 
papers. Another table holds a large box 
of patterns also fashion magazines of 
which I take two; this table is also a 
good place upon which to lay extra work. 
.Still another table, which is an especially 
convenient article for this particular 
room, measures 42x21 inches. My hus¬ 
band sawed off the bottoms of the legs 
so it stands 24 inches high. As it was 
a homemade affair in the first place, the 
framework underneath was quite bulky, 
by cutting away a part of this on one side, 
it enables the sewer to use this table 
as a lapboard when needed. A covering 
of oilcloth securely tacked renders it 
very convenient from which to pick up 
the different articles in use. On it are 
kept a couple of box covers, which con¬ 
tain hooks and eyes, snap fasteners, col¬ 
lar supports, thread and bastings and 
many other little articles, a nut-pick for 
removing basting threads, also a half- 
pound box of dressmaker’s pins, which 
cost 35 cents, and which is a very con¬ 
venient article for any home sewer. This 
table has no stationary place in the room, 
but is moved around wherever needed 
most. These items, together with a dress 
form and yard stick, constitute my sew¬ 
ing equipment used exclusively in this 
room. 
A Workstand. —I have a workstand 
which is so convenient I will add a de¬ 
scription of it also. This is made of a 
cheese box and cover. The cover, 
inverted, makes a very handy tray 
for holding similar articles to those al¬ 
ready mentioned, also darning ball, cot¬ 
tons, tape needles, etc., and a little bag 
is fastened to it for holding scraps. In 
the box below are kept pieces of the gar¬ 
ments in use, so that patches will be con¬ 
venient, also a box of tapes, and there is 
room left to hold many articles to be 
mended. This stand is usually down¬ 
stairs and saves many trips to the regular 
sewing room. 
Extra Supplies. —In the clothes room 
connecting with the sewing room are a 
series of shelves, upon which are kept 
boxes of materials used in sewing, one 
each for ribbons, laces, nets, featherbone, 
belts and belting, collar supports and 
foundations, braids and tapes, discarded 
yokes, linings, new goods, patches, and 
left-over pieces. In the lining box are 
kept some crinoline both black and white, 
tailor’s canvas, percaline in black and 
gray, buckram, India linon and white 
lawn. I have found that by keeping these 
tilings on hand it makes it quite easy to 
rearrange a dress, as well as make a new 
one. One shelf in the clothes room is 
devoted to odds and ends that do not 
pertain to sewing. A card upon which 
each article is listed hangs near. I hope 
that other women are not afllicted as 1 
am by putting things away and then for¬ 
getting where they are. For this reason 
I make an effort to keep each kind of 
material in separate labeled boxes, and 
I find it saves me a vast amount of time. 
Class of Work Done.— Years have 
brought about quite a change in the 
character of my sewing; formerly it was 
mostly children’s apparel and household 
items, now it is largely dressmaking for 
myself, household articles, with a gener¬ 
ous amount of shirts, nightshirts and pa¬ 
jamas added by way of variety. The 
question of getting a dress made bad come 
to be quite a problem. It required a num¬ 
ber of trips to the village, and a great 
amount of fortitude to keep from "say¬ 
ing things” to the dressmaker when after 
I reached there, I was told that the gar¬ 
ment was not ready and “would not be 
before next week.” Added to this was 
the rapid increase in prices which were 
fast getting prohibitive. 
The Dress Form.—I talked the mat¬ 
ter over with the dressmaker and she 
suggested that I get a dress form and then 
I could make my everyday dresses easier. 
I followed her advice, sending to New 
York for a form which cost $1.08 besides 
the freight. This was adjustable to dif¬ 
ferent heights. I fitted a lining to myself 
and put it upon the form. The effect 
was anything but complimentary to me 
but after a while with patience and 
plenty of cotton “Mary Jane” began to 
assume my proportions. Then I found I 
had made a mistake. I had sent for the 
same sized form that I used patterns, and 
in places “Mary Jane” was larger than 
I, and I could not make her smaller. 
However I managed with this form until 
I had an opportunity to sell it, and then 
I got another two sizes smaller. This 
needed still more building, but now I have 
a form over which I can make a dress 
and feel assured that I shall get a rea¬ 
sonably good fit. Three other women sent 
for forms the last time, thus reducing the 
NEC W-YORKEK 
freight charges for each of us. From 
making the everyday dresses I have grad¬ 
ually come to the point where I now 
do all my dressmaking and even attteanpt 
an occasional coat. A number of years 
ago a little rhyme caught and held my at¬ 
tention so persistently that I committed 
it to memory and have since found it an 
ever present source of help and inspira¬ 
tion. 1 insert it here hoping that it may 
do as much good for at least one reader 
as it has done for me. 
“Are you in earnest? Seize this verv 
minute 
What you can do—or think you can.— 
Begin it! 
Boldness has power, magic, genius in it. 
(Inly engage and the mind grows heated; 
Begin, and then the work will be com¬ 
pleted.” 
Tiie Tailored Suit. —If a suit is need¬ 
ed a blue serge, at $1.25 a yard, is very 
serviceable. Five yards of serge and l ] /> 
yard of messaline, at $1 a yard, will be 
required. The two-piece skirts with 
flounces and the little jackets they are 
wearing this year are very easy to make, 
as they do not require the careful tailor¬ 
ing that the plainer ones do. This suit, 
made at home, will cost about $8. If a 
long coat is needed, a black and white 
shepherd’s check with black trimmings 
and buttons, or a medium shade of gray 
does not show the dust. All girls like 
pretty gloves. One can get such nice, 
August 29, 
long chamoisette gloves for 50 cents. 
With a medium-sized black hat, trimmed 
with band of ribbon and “stick-up” of 
ribbon or flowers, two gingham dresses at 
15 cents a yard, any young girl would be 
well-dressed, either for town or country. 
MRS. W. W. S. 
E dison, the inventor, being hard of 
hearing, is obliged to see with his 
eyes. On a recent trip Mr. Edison saw 
a bumble-bee in flight, and watched it 
carefully, lie said later that he had ob¬ 
tained an idea for a new form of flying 
machine. We shall have a real hoavier- 
than-air machine when we obtain some¬ 
thing that will beat the air at the rate of 
200 times per second. 
That bumble-bee was one inch long, 
three-eighths of an inch in diameter, with 
a wing one-quarter inch wide and five- 
eighths of an inch long. The wings 
weighed a milligram. That bee weighed 
7.000 times more than his wings. If we 
can only get to that, get to that—the 
greatest thing for the smallest wing— 
that is the thing. The bee’s wings beat 
the air 300 times a second. A bee works 
on sound waves. Remember the air is 
rigid as steel if the pressure is only sud¬ 
den enough. Give us something that 
heats the air 200 times a second and we 
will have a real plane. 
Aunt: “Why, Tommy, when I was 
your age a lie never passed my lips.” 
Tommy: “When did you begin, auntie?” 
—Boston Evening Transcript. 
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THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 333 W. 30th St., NEW YORK CITY 
