THE LADIES' FLORAL CABINET. 
25 
is of Carnations for the end of a table scarf, and should 
be repeated once or twice as may be necessary to carry 
the embroidery across the material above, and partly 
on the border of crimson plush. The scarf is of gold 
colored sateen, such as is used for furniture covering, 
the price ranging from three dollars a yard and upward. 
The Carnations on the sateen should be dark crimson, 
those on the plush a delicate pink. And a heavy che¬ 
nille fringe finishes either end of the scarf. 
M. E. Whittemoee. 
Needlework Notes. 
Plush, satin and pongee are the most popular materi¬ 
als to use in decorating, as they seem more adapted to 
the delicate embroideries now in vogue; though plush, 
except when used as a mantle lambrequin, or in cases 
where there will not be much wear, gives better satis¬ 
faction as a supplement to some other material, as it soon 
shows signs of constant use. It is most effective when 
worked with the cut-stitch explained in this number or 
with arrasene, a material resembling chenille, except 
that it is flat instead of round, and comes in exquisite 
shades of coloring. (The manner of working this is 
given in the Cabinet for April, 1S82). Pongee is worked 
in outline stitch, or else in darned embroidery in 
silks and with hemstitched border and long silky fringe, 
produced by ravelling out the material—any simple pat¬ 
tern can he used with good effect. For tidies and chair 
backs, pine-apple cloth is desirable, because of its trans¬ 
parency and delicate richness, and is embroidered in out¬ 
line stitch or solid silk embroidery. Felt is very seldom 
sought after as a material to embroider upon, and canton 
flannel, as used for hangings or other decorating pur¬ 
poses, is considered very unsafe, its fuzz being so inflam¬ 
mable that a spark from a match falling upon a table 
cover sets it instantly ablaze; as an inexpensive material 
for hangings, diagonal serge is recommended to take its 
place. 
Linen crash, ornamented with silks or crewels in out¬ 
line embroidery, is seen in many of the art windows ; 
when used for buffet covers, a drawn work border above 
the fringe is a pretty finish. 
Among new flowers used in decoration the Art Ama¬ 
teur mentions the thistle, and describes the manner of 
working it as follows : “ The calyx is done in green and" 
olive crewels in Kensington stitch. This is afterward" 
crossed by diagonal lines in greenish olive silk, caught 
down at the crossings of the lines, which gives that scaly 
effect seen on a thistle calyx. The purple bloom is in 
arrasene mingled with silk, and lighter silks are used to 
give the long hairy effect of the upper part of the thistle 
blossom.” Also “ another flower which produces abeau- 
tiful effect is ‘ Love-lies-Bleeding,’ The blossoms re¬ 
semble those of the Madeira vine in form, but grow in 
clusters and range in color from deep red to light red. 
The leaves are done in the usual way with arrasene, 
and the flowers are also of arrasene in Kensington 
stitches, but are raised, built up as it were, until the 
flower is in relief. In a mantel lambrequin of olive 
plush, embroidered with Love-lies-bleeding, the clusters 
of long red blossoms stand out almost as if they were 
applied.” 
For transferring designs upon plush, etc., nothing is 
nicer than coarse tarleton ; care should be taken when 
tracing to have it fastened to the original pattern so that 
it cannot possibly slip, then draw the outlines with pen 
and ink ; baste the tarleton securely to the material to be 
worked and embroider over it; when the work is com¬ 
pleted the tarleton threads can be drawn out as we used 
to the canvas after embroidering a pattern over it on 
any material. It serves a double purpose when working 
upon auy delicate shade, if left large enough to cover the 
entire material, thereby shielding it from any soil in 
handling until the work shall bo completed. 
If it seems more desirable to have the pattern trans¬ 
ferred directly to the material, it can be done satisfac¬ 
torily by drawing the outline on tracing paper, and then 
stitching these lines on a sewing-machine, using rather 
a coarse needle unthreaded and a long stitch, which rap¬ 
idly perforates it. Lay this over the cloth to be em¬ 
broidered and dust with white powder through the 
perforations. Remove the paper carefully and go over 
the outlines with a camel-hair brush and Chinese white- 
moistened with water. 
Portieres should be just full enough to hang in easy 
folds escaping the floor, and are hung by rings from a 
pole within the door casings. Those for folding-doors, 
arc in two parts. Silk sheeting, with plush border at top 
and bottom set up a little from the edges, makes hand¬ 
some portieres. F. 
'I 
WHAT WE SHALL WEAR. 
A visiting costume recently made in Paris has a skirt 
of bottle-green fine cloth, with treble box-pleats, and is 
worn with a long redingote of brocaded velvet, orna¬ 
mented in front with five very handsome Brandeubourgs 
and cords ; the back was made with several flat pleats 
caught together by three Brandenbourgs and cords. 
Very pretty wrappers for invalids are made of pale-blue, 
rose or cardinal cashmere, or flannel, trimmed with a 
pinked niche around the neck and down the front, or else 
are ornamented with soutache braiding .of the same 
shade down the front and around the sleeves and collar. 
Tasteful little breakfast sacqucs of camel’s-hair in some 
quaint shade, are trimmed with embroidery used for 
trimming cashmere dresses, or with Spanish lace of cor¬ 
responding color. 
Colored flannel skirts are used this season and are of 
blue, rose or scarlet twilled flannel, with three tucks 
ornamented with feather stitch and an edging of em¬ 
broidery or crocheted lace of wools to match the colors 
of the skirt. Quilted skirts are still preferred to felts or 
flannels for cold weather, and are very serviceable when 
made of black farmer’s satin wadded with wool or cot¬ 
ton batting, and quilted in diagonal rows or diamonds. 
Any silk skirt in a.shade that is out of date can be made- 
