140 
THE RU1\’AL NEW-YOR I\ER 
January UO, 
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The Possibilities of Feather Stitch. 
:: The Home Dressmaker :: 
.. 
J ANUARY is the month of “white 
sales” (underwear) and of bargains 
in coats, furs and heavy clothes used for 
Winter dresses and coats. Now that we 
have parcel post there is no reason why 
country people should not avail them¬ 
selves of some of the opportunities in 
nearby large cities, provided they buy 
the things from reliable houses. All the 
department stores keep clerks who go 
around the store and shop for mail order 
eustomers, and if the right sizes are 
given, color or colors wanted (it is better 
to give more than one in case they are 
out or don’t keep that color) ; whether 
it is wanted for a slender or stout, short 
or tall person, very good results will be 
obtained. On account of business depres¬ 
sion owing to the war Winter clothes 
have been reduced, I think, more than 
other years. The new style coats, rip¬ 
pling at the bottom, will probably stay 
in style another year at least, and would 
then permit of alteration if necessary 
after that. 
T HIS is my favorite stitch, and one of 
two fancy stitches taught in my 
“Dime Sewing Class,” on the principle 
that it is better to do two well than more 
poorly. The secret of success lies in tak¬ 
ing the stitches regularly and close to¬ 
gether, and slanting the needle toward 
llie imaginary line you are following. 
Any braiding pattern may be outlined 
Underwear. —Busy farm women who 
cannot get help in the kitchen would do 
well to buy the underwear for the 
family instead of trying to make it, and 
take the little time in between home 
work for recreation and rest. Children’s 
cambric drawers can be purchased at 15 
Suggestions In One-Piece Dresses. 
and 25 cents up; petticoats, 89 cents up; 
night dresses, 39 cents to 49 cents. 
Women’s drawers, 25 cents and up; 
petticoats, 79 cents and up; night 
dresses, 39 cents and up; corset covers, 
25 cents and up. For women, however, 
I think the union suits in woolen or 
fleece-lined cotton for Winter and the 
gauze for Summer are by far the most 
practical, as they are a little cheaper 
than undervests (shirts) and drawers, 
are easier to wash, need not be ironed 
and are not so bulky under the corsets. 
For babies up to the age of three years 
there are stockinette night dresses at 49 
cents up to $1.75, according to weight 
and style of garment. The 49 cent ones, 
however, are very good and so easy to 
wash, and require no ironing. Outing 
flannel night dresses can be bought for 
Winter wear at 49 cents and up. 
Aids For The Home Dressmaker.— 
For a little thing I do not think there is 
anything that will save as much time, as 
well as give better results in appearance 
of finished article as the bias seam tape, 
both single and double. This comes in 
pieces of 12 yards, and is made of white 
lawn and cambric, the latter, being the 
cheaper grade. It is numbered from one 
to nine, the first width being one-quarter 
of an inch, and the last, three-quarters 
of an inch. No. 1 in the lawn (nice 
and fine) is 10 cents per piece, and the 
last size 20 cents, the sizes in between 
in proportion. The cambric is a cent or 
two on each piece cheaper. The double 
bias tape is about two or three cents 
apiece more. This is used to bind arm¬ 
holes, seams of heavy cloth skirts, necks 
and armholes of petticoats; and also 
when hemming a skirt of heavy material 
instead of turning the rough edge under, 
as in a regular hem, it is simply bound 
with this tape and then the hem stitched 
as usual. It is not so bulky and gives a 
Coat Linings. —For anyone making a 
coat at home much time and effort will 
be saved as well as much better results 
in finish obtained if the readymade 
canvas linings are used, provided, of 
course, anyone is at all near the normal 
figure. They come in sizes ranging from 
32 to 44 inches bust measure and are 
49 cents for the short coat models and 85 
cents for the long coat models. 
New Styles. —While it is a little early 
yet to say just what will be worn this 
Spring, advance styles for the people 
who go South are out, and there are a 
few general characteristics which show 
the trend of fashion. In skirts the circu¬ 
lar two or three piece model is undoubt¬ 
edly the favorite, although tunics very 
full and reaching well down below the 
knees are still popular. Pleated skirts 
are also worn. The skirts are very short 
in length, only coining to the ankles. 
Yokes of various kinds are worn and 
these combined with the tunics and the 
jumper waists make it very easy to 
make over an old dress into an up-to- 
date one. The natural and slightly raised 
waistline are again fashionable, and also 
the short basques (fight waists with 
peplnms attached. In spite of predictions 
that the set-in sleeve would be worn this 
Winter the kimono sleeve is still with us 
and is likely to continue so. It is so 
easy to make and much prettier than the 
regulation armhole. The sleeves are long 
and close-fitting, the majority having 
cuffs or frills, though some of them are 
perfectly plain at the wrist, but are 
made to flare slightly over the hand. 
However, there are a few short sleeves 
still worn and probably there will be a 
great many worn during the Summer. 
Nevertheless, the long sleeves are much 
better for the woman of limited purse, 
because they only require the short gloves 
to be worn with them instead of long 
ones, as with the short sleeves, thus just 
cutting the glove bill in half. 
Collars. —Most any kind of collars 
can be worn now, provided they fasten 
in front and have some kind of a flare 
or turn-down arrangement. Rut there is 
one exception, and that is the old-fash¬ 
ioned tight-fitting plain collar that fas¬ 
tened in the back. You do not see that 
-‘It all. MRS. BELLE BEARDSLEY. 
I N Pettis County, Missouri, and the ad¬ 
joining County of Johnson, the far¬ 
mers’ wives are out for a farm woman 
adviser. The women in each countv are 
endeavoring to raise $500, the county to 
secure a competent woman. The woman 
will be to the home, the- school and the 
young girls of the counties the same as 
the county agent is to the men. 
and in general this stitch looks best on 
curving lines. In laundering, iron on 
the wrong side over a Turkish bath 
towel. 
For everyday underwear a feather- 
stitched hem and the plain tatting edge 
our grandmothers made will wear as long 
as the cloth. Triple feather stitching 
with French knots gives the effect of a 
fine embroidery border and is doubly 
effective over hemstitching. It is useful 
in fine underwear, collar and cuff sets, on 
baby clothing, on handkerchief aprons 
and in many other places. It is shown 
on the linen capo collar for a morning 
gown in the iirst picture. Several card¬ 
board stencils for marking patterns are 
Em broidered Apron. 
shown. At the loft is the “aster” de¬ 
sign, shown worked on the apron in tin- 
second picture. I have it in two sizes, 
you will notice. Design at right is used 
on the (-ml of neckties; it will give either 
a pointed end or four rounding scallops 
and part or all of the circles may be 
traced. Traced all but the notch and 
worked gives a wreath effect. Relow col¬ 
lar is a connected leaf design that repeats 
and can be used as a border. This is 
shown worked on the second collar in (he 
first picture. Below this is a fern de¬ 
sign ; I have this in five sizes, and it is 
shown worked on the embroidered waist 
in the fourth picture. 
For a simple design, I like the con¬ 
necting ovals best, they can bo used al¬ 
most anywhere. Cut a cardboard oval 
%-ineh wide and an inch long and trace 
around it lightly with a very sharp pen¬ 
cil; the thread connecting the stitches 
will cover the line. On a round apron, 
it is best to begin in the middle at the 
bottom to trace, and work toward both 
ends, so the design will end right. 
Circles, singly, and in groups, make 
some effective designs. One waist of nat¬ 
ural colored linen was decorated with an 
all-over design of small circles, traced 
with a spool that had held 120 threads. 
Leaving them wide open at the top gives 
much nicer finish. The single width tape 
is used to finish the necks of dresses (to 
cover the rough seam where collar and 
dress is joined) ; to cover joining of skirt 
and waist on children’s petticoats; to 
cover rough seams on petticoats and 
drawers where embroidery is used, etc., 
etc. Everyone who has ever sewed real¬ 
izes how much time it takes to cut a 
perfectly even bias fold, particularly 
when it is narrow, and no matter how 
hard you try it is most always, uneven 
when you get through. With this tape, 
which has the edges already turned under, 
you can sit right at the machine and 
make every bit of underwear without 
taking a needle in you hand. That, of 
course, is if you have the attachments 
for gathering, tucking, etc. If you have 
been in the habit of using longcloth or 
nainsook for your underwear, just try 
Berkeley cambric this year and see if 
you do not like it better. \ r ou get a bet¬ 
ter quality for the same money and it 
wears better, I think. This you buy by 
the yard instead of by the piece, like long- 
cloth. 
Buttonholing. —This is another time 
and labor saver. It is made of lawn or 
cambric, the buttonholes being machine 
made, of course, and sells from 10 cents 
up to 22 or 25 cents a yard, according to 
the finish of the material. You simply 
stitch the requisite number of buttonholes 
at the same time that you stitch the hem 
in the lapping side of the waist, as it is 
made of a double thickness and is hemmed 
before the buttonholes are made. 
Details of Designs. 
a wreath effect, this is pretty grouped 
on the front of corset covers or chemises 
or to surround an embroidered initial. 
In working up designs for the chil¬ 
dren’s class or for personal use, I have 
found it best to make cardboard stencils 
or forms. Bristol board is stiff enough 
to use and cuts easily with a sharp knife. 
Some stencils are reversible, like the fern 
which can be turned to have the fern 
curve either way. In working this par¬ 
ticular design the stem is done in out¬ 
line stitch, each frond is worked separ¬ 
ately from the outside end. Have a small 
knot in your thread and take the first 
stitc-h so as to hold (lie knot down flat. 
Fasten by taking several stitches on the 
wrong side, running the needle back un¬ 
der three or four stitches. It takes an 
hour to work one of the largest ferns 
shown on the waist of a lawn dress in the 
fourth picture. 
The aster design is worked much like 
the fern design, the petals are done the 
same way as the fronds. The circle in 
the center is outlined and filled in with 
French knots in yellow. I like it best to 
connect the petals with the center. Any 
desired color may be used for the petals; 
pale blue was used in the apron shown in 
the third picture. 
The border stencil may be done in all 
white or have the stems and leaves in 
Embroidered Corset Cover. 
green and the berries in red, in outline 
stitch. A very effective border in Per¬ 
sian effect can be made by using a form 
like a conventional palm leaf. Trace a 
border of these and outline with feather 
stitch in any colors you like. Fill in 
with French knots in contrasting colors. 
This is a good way to use up odds and 
ends of embroidery silks. A large poin- 
settia design was the most elaborate I 
ever tried, but paid for the trouble. 
Experiments prove that the children 
can best follow a straight line at first. 
Some designs can be made using such 
lines. On a sewing bag of plain mate¬ 
rial, straight lines, the upper edges form¬ 
ing scallops, were good. On tin- front of 
a guimpe, a diamond lattice formed of 
diagonal lines crossing an inch apart, 
looked well. 
Embroidered Waist. 
Those designs are the results of ten 
years’ study of various stitches, and arc- 
only a hint of what may be used. The sec¬ 
ond picture shows one of a matched set 
of undergarments made for Winter fancy 
work. EDNA S. KNAPP. 
