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COT HOUSEHOLD SUBJECTS. 
If you wish to have your walls tinted, put indigo or 
Barlow’s blueing in your prepared whitewash ; if blue 
tint is wished, a few cents’ worth of glue dissolved in 
water, and salt added to the whitewash, will prevent 
it rubbing off. A bright pretty border will add very 
much to the looks of your room. 
A SLEEPY HOLLOW CHAIR 
will add very much to the comfort and looks. Take 
a barrel and draw with chalk or pencil the shape de¬ 
sired for your chair ; then bore holes to admit a fine 
saw, and saw around, following the marks. Bore 
holes one foot and six inches from the bottom for the 
seat and draw strong wire or rope through as many 
times as you think necessary to hold the cushions. An 
old bed-quilt will do to cover it first; cover it all over. 
An old Dolly Varden dress will be pretty to cover it, 
or pretty chintz; and blue cambric is nice. For 
economy, two partly worn sheets, bleached nice and 
white, and blued considerably; starch and iron nicely; 
then measure off the length of your chair, and pleat all 
one way about two inches between pleats, or closer if 
desired, aud pleat in this way around the chair. Sew 
on the quilt that has been previously tacked on. A 
pleating or ruffle around the seat, and a fold of the 
cambric or cord, will furnish it nicely. 
TO MAKE SHELVES OR WHAT-NOTS. 
Saw shelves the desired .size and bore holes in the 
corners; take wire or strong cord and fasten your 
lower shelf on first by fastening large buttons with 
strong eyes on the wire first to prevent the wire draw¬ 
ing through; then string empty spools on, the largest 
on the bottom; then put on your second shelf, and 
you may in that way have as many as you wish. Sus¬ 
pend it with spools. or cord, and you have shelves 
strong enough to hold books or any other articles. 
Spools can be had of dressmakers, or have friends 
save them for you. 
If you wish lambrequins for your shelves, the em¬ 
broidered ones are very nice, or spatterwork on green, 
blue, or white velveteen, is beautiful, pinked or fringed 
around. A more economical way is to take old pieces 
of black broadcloth, cut in scallops or points, the 
longest in the centre ; then notch or pink around the 
edge; some pretty embroidery pattern can be traced 
with chalk or pencil in vines and flowers; then cut 
out in long notches or round holes, following the pat¬ 
tern traced; longer slits for flowers, leaves, etc. Put 
blue or red cambric under it, and the pattern will 
show off nicely; any color is nice under it, or leaves, 
vines and flowers can be cut out of bright colored vel¬ 
veteen and chain-stitched on the broadcloth or ladies’ 
cloth. Spatter work lambrequins are nice made of 
huff silesia, such as is used to line coat-sleeves, and 
the delicate buff harmonizes beautifully with blue. 
A WASHSTAND OR DRESSING-TABLE 
can be made of a common dry goods box tbe right 
size, or a half oval pine table. I have seen one made 
of a barrel set on end and a board two feet wide by 
three feet long placed on it and covered with cambric, 
or a sheet can be used. Gather or pleat it, then tack 
it on the edge of the stand ; on the bottom put a ruffle. 
You can get for thirty or forty cents enough marbled 
oil-cloth for the top of your stand or table. It is wide 
enough to cover your table and make a splash mat to 
put against the wall to protect it. A half yard will 
be enough for both, as it is wide. The upper corner 
of the mat is to be rounded off, and pink it all around, 
if you cannot paint flowers, vines, etc. on it. The 
pretty decalcomonie pictures are very nice transferred 
on the mat. The oil cloth is much nicer than any¬ 
thing else, as it is so easily cleaned when soiled. A 
shelf, if a box is used, is very handy to place rubbers, 
shoes, soiled clothes, etc., on. 
An ottoman can he made of a tea chest or box; if 
a tea chest is used, cut strips of leather from old hoot 
tops or shoes and tack on the cover, then to the chest, 
and the inside of the chest serves for a receptacle for 
soiled clothes, or shoes, slippers, etc. Pad the top 
with cotton or pieces of bed-quilts that are too much 
worn for use; then cover .over that a pieced top of 
hits of silk or velvet. A pretty cover is made of black 
cloth, and take nicely shaped oak leaves and cut out 
leaves of velvet on any blight colored material; then 
chain-stitch them on the black with gold-colored silk, 
and the veins of brown silk; for the sides you can 
take the best breadths of an old black dress, or color 
some if you have no black; then pleat it, and fasten 
the pleats at the bottom. A cord could be put around 
the box about an inch from the bottom and it will 
form a pretty edge, a piece about two or three inches 
wide to be kilt-pleated and tacked to the cover. A 
nice ottoman can be made of a small tobacco caddy, 
which can be had of any grocer. Made same as the 
chest, except the kilt-plcating on the cover ; in place 
of the pleating make a puff by making reverse pleat¬ 
ing about three inches wide. The covering can be 
made of the best parts of old coats or pants. 
A KNITTED CARPET. 
Knit on strong wooden needles, or it could be cro¬ 
cheted in breadths half a yard wide and sewed to¬ 
gether; it makes quite a pretty carpet for a bed-room. 
The cost is trifling to make and have wove a rag car¬ 
pet with bright pretty colors; old calico dresses can 
be colored a pretty tan color, with blue and twisted 
stripe of black aud white, or any color fancy may dic¬ 
tate. Three or four dollars will cover all the expense 
for a bed-room carpet. 
MATS FOR THE FLOOR 
are nice made of coffee sacks; one sack is large enough 
for two ; get scarlet or bine, or clouded Germantown 
yarn, and work a Grecian pattern for the border; in 
the centre is the word “ Welcome.” Some have large 
initials worked. Take four threads in working same 
as for Java canvas. A nice rug is made by piecing 
blocks, same as for the log cabin bed-quilt. Sew 
enough together for a nice sized rug; then sew all 
around on canvas, or something heavy, for a lining 
and to hold it in place; a strip of red flannel about 
three inches wide is pinked both edges, and a nar¬ 
rower piece of black cloth is pinked the same, and 
stitched on the red around the rug. Another rug is 
made of odd pieces of cloth cut octagon shape and 
sewed together. Ball-stitch with coarse Germantown 
yarn, and a pleated border around the rug of any 
color desired. 
A WORK-BASKET 
is very pretty made of strong wire; take four pieces 
from two and a half to three feet long; string spools, 
the largest at the bottom, until the wire is covered ; 
then from the bottom curve the wire nicely in and 
then out large enough to admit a work-basket; if a 
pretty basket is not attainable, take a small sized 
peach basket, cover it inside and out with a bright, 
pretty color; make pockets outside and small ones in¬ 
side for thread, buttons, balls, etc.; pleat braid around 
the bottom and top, and yon will he surprised to see 
what a pretty work-basket you will have, with your 
nice standard of spools; paint with burnt umber aud 
varnish. 
A WALL-POCKET 
for combs and brushes is made of pasteboard from old 
boxes; cover it smooth with blue or pink cambric; 
pleat muslin in fine pleats and put over the cambric; 
finish top and bottom of the pocket with a ruffle two 
inches wide, each edge rolled and overcast with blue 
or pink zephyr, in quite long stitches, then gather 
half an inch from the top and sew it around; have 
pieces of the same to hang it by; finish it with hows 
at the corners and where it hangs on the nail. 
A TOILET SET. 
A very nice toilet set can be made of marbled oil¬ 
cloth. Cut out a piece large enough for the wash¬ 
bowl, and a piece for soap-tray and other articles; pink 
all around or hind with ribbon or braid stitched on ; 
then with water colors, or oil paints, paint a vine with 
flowers around; it makes a nicer set for a wash- 
stand than crochet ones, as it saves washing; when 
soiled it can be wiped off. 
A great many things can be made of marbled oil 
cloth that are useful as well as ornamental. I covered 
a wash-stand which was very much soiled, the varn¬ 
ish was rubbed off, and it was scratched badly. I cut 
the oil-cloth large enough to tack under the edge, and 
it looks much better than before. It is nice cut and 
fitted on pantry shelves; also to spread on the table 
for children. Take four pieces, ten inches long by 
three inches wide, cut one end of each to a point; 
bind around with bright ribbon, and paint some pretty 
autumn leaves, vines, or flowers in each one; then 
sew all together ; the pointed ends for the bottom, and 
you have an elegant scrap- hag. It also makes an ele¬ 
gant portfolio cover, painted in delicate colors, either 
a head or flowers, vines and leaves, lined with silk 
and bound all around; or if preferred, black can be 
used instead of white oil-cloth, and painted the same. 
MATCH RECEIVERS, ETC. 
Tin spice boxes make very pretty hanging recep¬ 
tacles for burnt matches; crochet covers for them, 
with crochet cord and tassels to hang by. Another 
pretty way is to take a piece of perforated cardboard, 
enough to cover the tin box, and work a pretty pat¬ 
tern on and crochet a bottom to the cardboard and 
slip the box in; they are very pretty indeed and so 
little work; the bright tin shines through and gives it 
a pretty effect. They make pretty hair-pin boxes 
made just the same, except they are covered on the 
top ; fill with curled hair or combings; crochet a ruffle 
around the top and bottom. Iiair receivers can he 
made of the large sized baking powder cans, with 
crochet covers, or covered with cardboard worked with 
border and initials, or “ Hair Keceiver” worked on it. 
Take a square piece of perforated cardboard, work a 
neat border around and fasten a piece of sand paper 
a little smaller on the hack to scratch matches on; 
then on the cardboard work the sentence, “Scratch 
My Back,” or work the figure of an old man with the 
same words; crochet of the color used a cord to hang 
it up; hang it under your lamp. Photo-holders to 
hang on the wall made of perforated cardboard, and 
picture frames also, are very nice. A nice photo¬ 
frame is made by cutting four strips of cardboard to 
fit the photo and an inch longer ; then cut eight pieces 
three times as long as the strips are wide, and cross 
the pieces on with a long stitch, in any colored zephyr; 
cross the corners just the same, with a long stitch; it 
makes a very pretty frame. 
