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Mother’s Sewing Room 
Farm Dressmaker’s Work Shop 
|| wiiimBy a Farmer’s Wife". . 11 
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Shrinking Goods. —At first I was 
quite suspicious of silks aud wool goods. 
However I find that textiles are very 
much like people—the more durable and 
better the quality, the more one likes 
them upon acquaintance. At first when 
buying woolens I had them shrunk at the 
tailors, this cost 25 cents, but I soon 
learned that I could do this at home by 
wringing two or three old sheets out of 
water, and spreading upon the floor, then 
laying the goods out full length upon 
them, and beginning at one end and roll¬ 
ing up the whole piece and letting it lie 
over night, possibly longer. I found the 
goods would be nicely shrunk. I usually 
press a little under a cloth afterwards. 1 
find it better to shrink all wools and nearly 
all wash goods before cutting into them. 
Ginghams and shirtings are put into a 
tub of water, then hung on the line to dry, 
after which the cloth is dampened for 
ironing, this makes a second shrinkage 
for these before making up. 
Use of Patterns. —I always choose 
the simpler patterns and when about to 
make a nice dress, usually make a cotton 
from that pattern first. I am then fam¬ 
iliar with it, and find it not only easier 
but often can save material. The same 
waist or skirt patterns are sometimes 
used several times with variations. I 
find I can work far more rapidly with 
the pattern that I have used before. 
When in doubt concerning anything I 
often write the editors of the fashion 
magazines, enclosing a stamped and ad¬ 
dressed envelope for reply. I find they 
are very willing to help me. I judge 
this by the length of the replies which 
they send. I have come to do the larger 
part of my shopping by mail. This is 
much easier than going to the village and 
one gets a better assortment by sending 
to the cities for samples of goods, and 
especially trimmings, than are usually 
kept in small places. 
Buying Trimmings. —It is well to send 
a piece of the goods to be made up to 
two or three different stores asking for 
samples of trimmings to match or har¬ 
monize; the result will be very satisfac¬ 
tory. In making up a cloth dress, a nice 
finish is produced by sending a piece of 
the goods to a merchant tailor and having 
buttons made to match the dress. These 
buttons can be had in two styles and any 
number of sizes. One style is plain and 
the other has a rubber ring around the 
outside. These latter in two sizes make 
a very desirable trimming for a plain 
heavy goods. 
Careful 'Work. —In making up almost 
any goods, it is well to do a generous 
amount of pressing, and in a heavy wool 
dress or coat one needs to press, press, 
press, each step. This gives a neat tail¬ 
ored effect. I am hoping to have a gaso¬ 
line iron, which will be a great addition 
to my sewing room equipment. After 
cutting out the dress I have found it 
best to baste and fit the waist and get 
this pretty well done, then putting it on 
the form a belt is pinned in place and the 
skirt adjusted to this, after which “Mary 
Jane” is lifted to the low table where. 
by taking the sewing chair, I can easily 
turn the hem. I use different sized spools, 
according to the length of skirt desired, 
a large spool for shorter lengths and 
vice versa. In adjusting darts, I pin 
them to fit on the right side; after re¬ 
moving from the form the garment is 
turned and chalked on the wrong side, 
when the pins can be removed and darts 
basted in without difficulty. For holding 
skirts fast to waist, the wide hooks and 
bars which are used upon the front of 
men’s trousers, are the best of anything 
I have found as yet. All boys in our 
family have given me a generous supply 
from the cast-off garments, but these 
could undoubtedly be bought from any 
tailor. Much of the elaborate effect of 
dresses is produced by a combination of 
trimmings upon a rather plain founda¬ 
tion. Nothing gives the amateur dress¬ 
maker away more than an ill-fitting, loose 
guimpe or yoke, one that is always pulling 
out somewhere. To prevent this it is 
a good plan to make a foundation of 
white lawn, long enough to come to the 
bottom of the waist both back and front, 
where it can be securely lastened with a 
tape. The yoke material can then be put 
upon this, the lawn cut away underneath 
and a lining of thin silk o: silk and cot¬ 
ton substituted. A narro / strip of can¬ 
vas (bias) put underneath facing of the 
dress insures a smooth fit around the 
opening and this is where the little snap 
fasteners are desirable in attaching the 
dress to this yoke. An easy \ ay to ad¬ 
just them is to mark both dress and 
yoke with a piece of chalk. A fresh yoke 
and perhaps buttons will brighten a dress 
very perceptibly; that is why it is well to 
keep some netting an! button moulds on 
hand. Often an old guimpe can be 
cleaned and retrimmed with very little 
effort, producing a very pleasing effect. 
Small Details. —By beginning at one 
side of a sleeve and stitching acx-oss the 
bottom, then on around and across the 
bottom again to the other side, one will 
strengthen the wearing qualities of the 
sleeve very materially. Another help is 
to baste where a buttonhole is to be cut 
and then stitch around it, thus holding 
the goods in place while working. When 
sewing on silks, if thin, it is a good plan 
to put a paper underneath when stitch¬ 
ing; this will tear away and it makes the 
stitching look so much better on the 
right side. All selvage edges are clipped 
about two inches apart, this prevents 
that drawn look sometimes noticed on 
seams. All braids, taped and finished 
braids, should be shrunk before using; 
it is well to do this before they are put 
away as sometimes one wants only a lit¬ 
tle piece and that in a hurry. Fine 
needles should be used for pinning silks, 
as these leave no mark. Rubber mend¬ 
ing tissue, used by tailors to fasten hems 
around the bottoms of men’s trousers, is 
a very necessary article to keep in hand; 
10 cents worth will last a long time for 
repairing little rents in dresses and coats. 
Other Helps. —The fashion magazines 
print a good many lessons in dressmaking 
designed especially for the home sewer. 
These ai’e very helpful; however, I find 
it necessary to re-read several times be¬ 
fore I fully understand their meaning, 
but it is time well spent. The catalogues 
issued by many of the city houses are a 
great help also. 
Economy In Ap~.ons. —Several years 
ago I had just enough dress ginghams to 
make seven aprons; these were reinforced 
underneath across the front, and were 
used alternately, the clean ones always 
being placed on the bottom of the pile. 
These seven aprons lasted three years for 
constant everyday service, when, much 
like “The deacon’s one hos3 shay, which 
was built in a logical way,” they nearly 
all went to pieces in a day. Then I 
made another set of seven, this time from 
a nice quality of shirting (so-called apron 
gingham is not worth while, as it shrinks 
and fades so much). This set will soon 
complete its third year and will last 
longer than that, as they are all good yet. 
NEW-YORKER 
Reinforcing across the front with the 
same goods is a great promoter of long 
life for an apron. I also made an apron 
of table oilcloth, for dishwashing, the 
same way as the others; this is one of 
the best investments I ever made. I al¬ 
ways watch for helpful hints in all mag¬ 
azines and papers, finding much that I 
can appropriate for my personal use, and 
I trust the reader may have gained a 
hint or two from this. 
farmer’s wife. 
My Experience With Wash Goods. 
ii'TMIAT gingham-veiling-crepy kind of 
X stuff is rather pretty,” said the 
guest as she looked over a fat envelope 
of samples. Other samples from other 
cities showed variations of the same goods 
most in demand this Summer, crepes, 
voiles and ratines. There were a few 
The Young Potato Grower. 
samples of tissue, a fabric thicker than 
batiste and thinner than gingham. What 
my guest admired was a crepe voile in 
Copenhagen and white. I much admired 
a plain ratine in rhubarb pink. One 
fabric that is very attractive and com¬ 
bines the *liree popular weaves is a ra¬ 
tine-striped er£pe voile. This is not ex¬ 
pensive, drapes prettily, but a beautiful 
gown of it shows a tendency to break 
close to the ratine stripes. The silk and 
cotton crepes are the prettiest things I 
ever saw at 50 cents per yard, §o soft and 
clinging. They seem to wash and wear 
well. Some of the daintiest old-fashioned 
patterns are reproduced, such as little 
stiff bunches of impossible roses. 
A whity-brown suiting linen pleased 
me, the natural color is harsh and white 
soils so quickly. There was one dainty 
crgpe at only 15 cents per yard, plain 
white with a tiny blue forget-me-not on 
it. One weird sample showed stiff lav¬ 
ender roses on a tango ground. In the 
tissues, at 25 cents, were the prettiest 
assortment of gray and white, plain gray 
and black and white fabrics for elderly 
women I have ever seen. I had no idea 
it was so hard to get attractive goods in 
these colors until I spent much time shop¬ 
ping with a dear old lady who wanted a 
“Music Hath Charms.” 
waist for everyday housewear. We vis¬ 
ited many stores in several places before 
finding anything passable. 
Eden cloth may now be had in 
good plain colors; it looks like French 
flannel and washes and irons easily, but 
shrinks a little, so one must allow for 
this in the length of skirts. It makes 
good sailor suits and house dresses for 
cool weather and costs 15 cents per yard. 
Serpentine crepe wears finely but stretches 
out of shape badly. Dresses made of it 
have to be pulled into shape while dry¬ 
ing and skirts need rehanging about every 
time they are washed. Tissue crepe is 
pretty and moderately satisfactory; this 
shrinks in length and gains in breadth 
with each visit to the tub. Nurse’s cloth 
is an English fabric that one cannot al- 
September 20, 
ways get. I»t is yardwide at 50 cents per 
yard. It does not fade nor shrink and 
wears forever. There is one exception, 
the red turns brick color after one wash¬ 
ing. For children’s cool weather dresses, 
house gowns and little boy’s suits, it can¬ 
not be beaten, if you are lucky enough to 
get it. The real Indian head linene is 
substantial but very hard to iron at first, 
as warm as thin wool and never wears 
out. Linene launders more easily than 
linen but only imitates the real thing. 
Percale is very successful in the light col¬ 
ors. In plain white, at 25 cents, it makes 
very satisfactory blouses. In gray, it 
makes the most practical and best-wear¬ 
ing kitchen aprons we have ever had. 
Galatea wears like iron, shrinks a good 
deal and the outside wears off with hard 
usage. It is too warm for any but cool 
days. The prettiest coat and skirt suit 
I ever had was made of white galatea 
with a little black stripe. It was known 
as my “serge” suit and admired by peo¬ 
ple of wealth. With ripplette, after wash¬ 
ing it dries harsh and the ruffled stripe 
is hard to get clean. Figured cr6pe is 
apt to look untidy unless very lightly 
pressed after washing. 
Flaxon is about the daintiest fabric 
there is for thin goods and wears splen¬ 
didly. Don’t make the mistake of buy¬ 
ing wash dresses too small and do try to 
keep the skirts an even length. It pays 
to shrink all goods before using. Our 
method is to pour boiling water over the 
goods, let stand all night, hang out drip¬ 
ping wet and dry in the shade. The 
wise woman merely has her lengths of 
goods put through the family washing, 
then hung out dripping. Still with all 
this, some goods will shrink a little the 
first few washings. Remember that one 
can often save laundering a thin dress 
that is only crushed by sponging it light¬ 
ly on the wrong side with warm water 
and borax, then pressing it. 
If you can’t match your dress in canvas 
shoes, mix a little dye with some of your 
white dressing and make your white shoes 
the color you want. Camisole lace can 
be bought with beading at top and bot¬ 
tom and only needs ribbon matching your 
dress to be ready to wear. The new V- 
pins are pretty to wear with V-neck 
waists, and I like the wide soft suede 
belts. But the ribbon sautoirs to wear a 
watch around the neck do not strike my 
fancy. edna s. knapp. 
A Coining Potato Grower. 
HE picture here shows a little farm 
boy and a part of his crop of pota¬ 
toes. Some of the potatoes appear to be 
almost as large as the boy’s head, and 
we can see how proud the little fellow 
is of his crop. It is a great thing to have 
a child interested in work of this kind. 
No one expects a little fellow to do a 
full man’s work. Many a time he will 
want to stop and play before the job 
is done, and unless some one can keep 
after him in a kindly way, the child will 
be sure to neglect part of his work or let 
the weeds grow where the plants ought 
to be. It is a fine' thing to be able to 
organize the work of these little fellows 
and get them to feel that they have really 
accomplished something without being 
made so tired that they feel that all work 
is disagreeable. All farm children should 
do their share of the work, but they 
should be made to do it in a kindly way, 
not driven to it like little slaves. This 
boy looks as though he would make a 
farmer some day and he is certainly on 
the right track. 
“ Music Hath Charms.” 
FIE little picture here shows a pair 
of musicians who are certainly mak¬ 
ing fun and making music. This was 
probably taken after supper, and that is 
a good time to make music on the farm. 
The little fellow, who is riding horse 
on the man’s knee is trying to keep up 
with the music, and while he may not be 
in time or tune, the chances are tiiat 
the man would rather hear him play than 
to listen to the finest musician who ever 
came across the water from Europe. It 
is a beautiful thing to have the confidence 
and the affection of a little child. There 
really ought to 'be three broods of chil¬ 
dren on every farm. Probably the sec¬ 
ond and third brood would have to be 
adopted, but many a farmhouse stands 
cheerless and out of use today because 
there are no children in it to make music 
and fill it with - joy. 
