102 
KERAMIC STUDIO 
No. 2 
THE LINEN PAGE. 
JETTA EHLERS ------ p AGE Editor 
i 8 East Kinney Street, Newark, N. J. 
FROM one of the little napkins shown this month, a very 
attractive, simple and inexpensive dining-room was 
evolved. The napkin itself was made from a spare piece of 
linen found in "the chest." It is a light silvery grey in color. 
The wood-block printing is in a soft grey green. The edge 
was rolled, and then finished with cross-stitch in green. This 
is very easily done. Simply overhand all around and then 
reverse the stitch. The length of the overhand stitch deter- 
mines the size of the cross-stitch. Practice on a bit of material 
until a satisfactory stitch is made. This makes such a charm- 
ing edge and for speed in making quite discounts any other. 
Less than an hour was used in the fashioning of the napkin 
illustrated, printing and all. The finished piece proved to be 
so attractive that an inspiration came to make the entire set. 
By good luck the linen could be matched. It is a risky busi- 
ness these days to attempt to match colored linens. If you 
are to make a set, by all means purchase what you need at 
the one time, for it is almost hopeless to go back later and match 
it. The dies vary considerably, and a new bolt rarely exactly 
matches the last, even though sold under the same number 
and supposedly the same. So do not attempt sets of things 
without this in mind. The cloth was made a yard and a half 
square, the edges finished with the cross-stitch, and the block 
printing placed as on the napkins. Two rows were used of 
eight units each, instead of the one row of four units as on the 
smaller piece. White china on this looked too cold. The 
yellow Wedgwood was lovely, but not caring to spend much, 
a general overhauling of the store of china on hand resulted 
in sufficient pieces to make up a set. 
These were tinted a deep cream or old ivory, using two 
parts of Yellow Brown and one scant part of Yellow Green. 
The yellow brown quality must predominate. When fired, 
No. J 
the set was decorated with simple bands of green, and little 
floret motifs painted on freehand, the idea being to carry out 
the same freedom of treatment suggested by the linens. 
Obviously a labored decoration would not be in keeping 
with the simple linen set. The little florets were done in rather 
gay coloring, old blue, reddish violet and a bit of orange being 
used. Next came the idea of painting a table and chairs. 
An ordinary drop leaf table and four wooden seated chairs 
were discovered and utilized for this. After considerable 
experimenting, a good grey with a suggestion of warmth was 
decided on. The pieces were given three coats of paint, rub- 
bing down the first two with steel wool. This gave a nice 
body, and when the chairs were further decorated with quaint 
baskets of flowers painted on the broad top piece, the set 
proved very attractive. 
The same bright coloring of the florets on the china was 
repeated in the flower baskets. Having gone so far, the idea 
of doing the entire room persisted, and so the windows were 
the next thing tackled. Plain curtains of cream voile were 
used. These hung about an inch below the window sills and 
were finished with a two inch hem. Grey denim was used 
for inside curtains and valance. Upon this were stitched three 
inch bands of green denim. The valance was cut in a wide 
shallow scallop with a deeper square cornered piece at each 
end. This also had the appliqued green bands, which were 
set back on this, as well as the curtains, about three quarters 
of an inch from the edge. Both were lined with grey green 
cotton sateen. One-half width of the material was used for 
the side pieces which hang perfectly straight. 
All of the curtain materials were inexpensive, and the 
labor and time spent in making them was but a trifle. The 
walls of the room were tinted a French grey and the woodwork 
painted the same tone. By doing this the room seemed 
less "cut" than would have been the case had a contrasting color 
been used. The idea was to get a good neutral background, 
as little broken as possible, as the room was small. The floor 
covering chosen to come within the very limited finances of 
