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CHEAP CARPETS. 
In a late number of the Floral Cabinet I no¬ 
ticed an inquiry for a cheap carpet for a chamber floor. 
I will describe one I made a few years ago. I took 
cheap unbleached muslin, printing cloth I think it 
was ; measured breadths the size of the room, sewed 
them together, and tacked them firmly along the 
edges to the floor. I procured a pattern of wall-paper 
similar to oil-cloth, cut in lengths and papered the 
cloth as you would the walls of a room, being careful 
to press out every wrinkle with a clean cloth. When 
thoroughly dry I gave the whole a coat of varnish, and 
it made a beautiful covering for the floor and lasted a 
number of years. 
I tried another room, putting the paper directly on 
the floor, but the result was not satisfactory. A pat¬ 
tern of paper in diamonds or small figures, well cover¬ 
ing the paper, is most suitable. This same corre 
spondent, I think, asks some directions for making a 
home-made lounge. We took a packing box, three 
feet wide by six in length and eighteen inches in depth, 
covered the ends and one side with striped goods — 
making the stripes run from top to bottom. On the 
lid, which we hung with hinges, we laid old barrel 
staves, the rounding side uppermost, which gives a 
spring to the seat, tacking them firmly to the edges of 
the lid, crosswise. Then made a mattrass of straw, 
with a layer of cotton on top, covered with the striped 
material, the stripes running from hack to front, which 
with two square pillows, the width of the lounge, 
made of the same covering, completed a most com¬ 
fortable lounge by day, and, when necessary, a very 
comfortable bed by night, keeping the covers to be 
used in making up the bed, in the box, which proved 
a most convenient receptacle in a small house poorly 
furnished with closets. 
My old-fashioned bureau I cut off at the bottom, 
almost even with the lowest drawer, and with a chisel, 
screw-driver, and a determined will, I took off the 
little square drawers on the top which had always 
been such an eye-sore to me, because they left no 
room for anything on the bureau. After smoothing 
off the old nail-holes and any roughness my amateur 
carpentering had left, I covered the whole top with 
white marbled oil-cloth drawn tightly to the under 
edge and held by upholsterers’ tacks. 
An old oval table, and a ricketty washstand I cov¬ 
ered in the same way, and with a coat of varnish 
over the wood work of all. 1 had a very pretty mar¬ 
ble top chamber set. Any furniture of common wood, 
or such as has been badly defaced by hard usage, is 
very easily converted into black walnut furniture by 
using black walnut stain, which costs but a trifle, is 
easily put on with a common varnish brush, and after 
burnishing can scarcely be told from the real wood. 
If you wish to match rosewood furniture, even pine 
articles, rubbed first with Venetian red, moistened 
with vinegar, and when dry, coated with the stain, will 
deceive critical eyes. 
My lambrequin for the one low window of this 
room, I feel quite - proud of. I got at the carpenter 
shop a piece of pine 0. G. moulding for a cornice, 
about three inches wide. The strip was forty inches 
long and three inches at the ends, the top projecting 
outwards. After staining and varnishing it, I cut a 
narrow strip of gold paper and pasted along the bot¬ 
tom of the strip, and my black walnut and gilt cor¬ 
nice was complete. I nailed it to pieces of lath that 
1 nailed to the window casing near the top, making 
my window on the inside to appear at least fourteen 
inches higher. I bought some red and white striped 
cotton goods, folded it in the middle and cut a scal¬ 
lop, which was eighteen inches deep in the centre and 
twelve inches at the selvedges.; then twenty-two 
inches along the selvedge; cut the goods straight 
across; sewed the short sides together which gave me 
a piece of cloth, forty-six inches wide, with one scal¬ 
lop in the middle and a half one on each side. One 
and one-quarter yards of cloth will cut it for an ordi. 
nary window. I lined it with a worn-out sheet, trimmed 
the lower edge with cotton cord fringe, and tacked it 
on the inside of my walnut (?) cornice, and it was a 
handsome ornament to the room. I took six yards of 
coarse dotted muslin, cut it in two pieces three yards 
long, put a ruffle of plain hook muslin three inches 
wide on one selvedge and bottom of each, gathered the 
top, and also tacked that inside the cornice, and my 
window was finished. 
I covered my entire sitting-room furniture with 
green terry, which is quite inexpensive, as it is a yard 
and a half wide, and can he procured in good quality 
for two dollars a yard. I found very little difficulty in 
doing it, as I did not attempt to tie it down, and a few 
yards of upholstery gimp and a paper of fine tacks, 
will cover a great many discrepancies. I cut paper 
patterns of the old covers after removing them, and so 
was able to cut my goods more economically. When 
these covers got shabby, I made brown linen ones to 
slip over the old ones, hound with scarlet braid, and 
with window curtains to match, with scarlet covers 
and tassels, the room looked quite fresh again, and I 
felt really repaid for my labor when visitors would ex¬ 
claim, “ How cosy you look ! ” 
I have just been making a lot of bureau mats for 
Christmas, that are simple and pretty. I took white 
Java canvas, eight inches square, and worked a bor¬ 
der of daisies with red split zephyr, filling in the cen¬ 
tre with yellow stitches. Outstrips of Victoria muslin 
two and a half inches wide, rolled a hem on one side, 
. I 
and overcast with red split zephyr ; gathered the other 
edge and sewed to the edge of the canvas, falling 
slightly. Cut another strip, rolled hem and overcast 
both edges ; gathered one-half an inch from one edge, 
sewed around the canvas so the first ruffle showed 
three-fourths of an inch ; twisted a cord of the zephyr, 
and laid on the gathers with loops of the cord at the 
corners. 
I also made two smaller mats in the same way for 
the toilet bottles. For tidies for the room just de¬ 
scribed, I took red Java canvas, and worked a bor¬ 
der of daisies in white split zephyr with yellow cen¬ 
tres, and fringed the canvas. I made wall-pockets of 
white pasteboard, ornamented them with spatter work, 
enlivened with bright embossed pictures, and tied with 
scarlet ribbon hows. 
I have just made some mats, suitable for the piano, 
of gold perforated cardboard. Took the kind with 
round holes, cut a circle, six inches in diameter, cut 
out pieces of the card, an inch and a half long in shape 
of leaves, worked vines with black split zephyr, 
hasted them around the edge of the circle, so their 
points projected a little, and put a row of cross stitches 
where the leaves joined the cardboard. They are quite 
elegant, and I think by far the prettiest way to use 
gold cardboard. 
Last Christmas I made pretty little court plaster 
cases for my gentlemen friends. I cut a piece of 
pasteboard an inch and a half wide by six long, 
doubled it in the middle, across, hasted brown silk on 
one side, and orange kid on the other, hound the edges 
with very narrow brown ribbon, stitched on the ma¬ 
chine with gold colored silk, sewed up the sides neatly 
with brown silk ; cut a piece of pasteboard one inch 
wide and five inches long, covered smoothly on both 
sides with brown silk, folded in middle, across, and 
laid inside pieces of court-plaster, tied in with narrow 
brown ribbon with how on top, and slipped open ends 
into the open ends of the first case. They are neat 
and durable, and I hope my friends will try them. 
They are also lovely for a lady’s work basket made 
of silver cardboard, lined and trimmed with blue or 
scarlet, or gold paper, with brown trimmings. 
I will also describe a lovely note-case for the wall. 
A piece of tinted cardboard (not perforated) cut in 
some handsome shape, with pocket piece for front, 
select some little sprays—such as are used for em¬ 
broidery—transfer them to tissue paper, and place in 
position in the corners, and on the pocket a wreath 
perhaps, or a handsome initial; fasten the tissue pa¬ 
per with just a touch of flour paste, or fold it over the 
corners. Cover a piece of pasteboard with canton 
flannel, on which lay the cardboard, with the pre¬ 
pared designs, and with a No. 7 needle fasten in a 
piece of wood for a handle; carefully prick the outlines, 
making the holes as evenly as possible. When fin¬ 
ished, remove the tissue paper, turn the paper over 
and perforate thickly the leaves and flowers, using a 
Mo. 9 needle. The effect is very beautiful, the right 
side presenting an embossed surface that is lovely. 
Patterns of tidies and cap crowns in application work, 
embossed on dark brown or gray cardboard with the 
edge pinked, make lovely vase mats, and are a plea¬ 
sant change from the worsted ones now in use. 
Mrs. H. M. Clyde. 
Match Scraper. —Materials: white perforated 
cardboard, sand paper, a yard of pink ribbon, pink 
zephyr. Cut your cardboard four by five inches, your 
sand paper the same ; work with pink zephyr on the 
cardboard these words, ‘‘Scratch My Back ; ” fasten 
the sand paper and cardboard together and bind the 
edge with pink ribbon ; place a small bow on each 
corner; complete with a loop to hang it up by; place 
it up lengthwise, hanging it between the catchalls, 
with “Scratch My Back ” facing you ; hang these on 
one side of the looking-glass ; on the other side hang a 
comb-case made of pasteboard, cutting it diamond 
shape; make a pocket in the centre for combs, and 
one at the bottom for combings; cover the whole front 
with fish scales colored pink. 
A Beautiful Hanging Basket. —First take a 
round hoard nine indies across; paint it dark brown, 
tie some netting of red yarn, two inches wide and long 
enough to extend around the board; tie a tassel in 
every other loop of the netting on the last edge of the 
work. Fasten netting on with small tacks; find a 
strawberry box, paint it brown, tie a piece of netting 
wide enough to go around it, tack it on top edge of 
box, draw a string in the lower edge, and draw it un¬ 
der the box and tie; fasten the box in the centre of the 
hoard by placing two nails through the bottom of the 
box into the board (this will not make it very strong 
as the box generally splits a little), then tack a brad 
on each side of the box on the outside; you can pull 
the netting over the brads so they will not show much. 
Make some cord out of red yarn ; with a gimlet bore 
three holes near the edge of the hoard ; in these sus¬ 
pend cord to hang it up by. Fill it with earth, put 
your plants in, letting some droop over the box, and 
some run up the cord. P. C. W. 
