The Mary Frances sewing book

“Well, I’m glad such a delightful person is coming, I’m sure,” said Fairy Lady, “but let us have as much done as possible before she gets here. To do to-day’s lesson, we have to...

THE sun shone brightly into the sewing-room; everything was neatly in place. Sewing Bird was sitting on her perch on the sewing table. Mary Frances’ work basket was at one end.

“SAY, are you a really-person? Say, I say, are you real? You look so swell and so beautiful,―can you talk?―say, can you? I wonder if I can touch you, you pretty Mary Marie.”

Do the same to the other side. “Tack” the center of the upper part of the folded edge of the flap to the _single_ thickness lying just beneath. Do same to other side

“IF only in her nightie clad, She took a cold, ’twould be too bad― And so the dear child may not freeze, And so the dear child may not sneeze, A nice warm bath robe next will be...

“Oh, Thimble People,” she said, “listen! I can scarcely wait to tell you about the delightful surprise Mother has sent me. It is too beautiful―and you can all share it with me!...

“TO-DAY I am to know all about where your dresses went, my dear Mary Marie, and I’m so excited I can hardly wait,” said Mary Frances, hugging the dolly close to her as she went...

“Oh, good!” exclaimed Mary Frances. “That is just what she needs. I had to loan her Angie’s best one; and Angie’s terribly cross. You see, I fear she is a little jealous of my n...

“Dull! Fatty,” began Scissors Shears, “You―” then, seeing Mary Frances’ look, he added lamely, “Pretty is as pretty does, and beauty is only skin-deep. If you lost your skin, To...

“Why, no, my child!” said Grandma. Mrs. Bennett is going with me, so I’ll have company, but I thought you’d be lonely. Good-bye, dear,―take a nap if you feel like it.”

“Oh, I know what the white pet is, Sewing Bird,” interrupted Emery Bag. “It’s a white mouse! One of my uncles had a whole side eaten out of him by one of those sweet pets. I won...

“Can I talk?” exclaimed Scissors Shears in a growling voice. “Can I talk? Yes, and walk, too! As if I weren’t years older than that Sewing Bird― Rip ’er up the back! Rip ’er up...

“A gentle scratching at the door, A gentle foot-step on the floor, Then Jubey, black as a blackberry, Looked up at pretty Dick Canary, And what he said, to me seemed clear:― ‛Ah...

There on the sewing table was Scissors Shears looking woefully upon a pretty little doll’s dress carefully cut out and pinned together. All over it were gashes and slashes where...

“Oh! Oh! Oh!” she cried. “I know, Nanny dear, I know! Mary Marie is my dear new dolly. I do wonder what she will be like! Isn’t Mother too sweet and kind!”

“My, I wish I could explain about my little friends,” thought Mary Frances, but she answered, “I don’t get very lonely when you are away, Nanny dear, because I keep busy; and wh...

She looked out of the sewing-room window. No, not a single feather was in sight. All the birds were doubtless in their little nests, or hiding close in the barn to keep themselv...

“Good-afternoon, dear Thimble People,” said Mary Frances. “I was so sorry that I had to miss last week’s lesson! Grandma didn’t take her afternoon out, and little Lottie was ove...

“Well,” said Sewing Bird, “we will begin at once with that pretty canvas and Turkey-red working cotton (D. M. C. No. 8). You may cut some pieces of canvas seven inches long and...

“Indeed I will! Indeed I will! Just watch a while my little bill; And I to you will quickly tell, And you will quickly do, and well, This lesson coming next.”

For Tucking, Hemming, Running. No. 9 No. 60, 70 or 80 For Stitching, Overhanding, Overcasting. . . . . . . . . No. 8 No. 50 or 60 Button-holes . . . . . . . . . No. 7 or 8 No. 3...

1. Cut a piece of lawn five inches, lengthwise of the goods; and seven inches wide. You can pull out a thread and cut along the line it makes, to get a perfectly straight edge.

“That’s all right,” said Fairy Lady, “I feel a little more comfortable to know she is more interested in mice than in birds, at present. You see, she seems to birds very much as...

“S’sh! s’sh!” she said. “Oh, Thimble People, I’ve,―oh, dear me! Oh, Magic and Mystery,―I’ve got the bath-tub half full of water. It’s the ocean, I have my sail-boat on it, and M...

“DEAR me,” sighed Mary Frances. “How will I ever get so much done? I didn’t want to interrupt you, dear Fairy Lady, but I’ve gotten, you see, no further than basting the hem of...

“Why, I know how to thread my needle,” said Mary Frances, to whom the talking of Sewing Bird seemed just as natural as the talking of Tea Kettle and the other Kitchen People.

“THIS letter says,” explained Mary Frances, “this letter says, oh, Thimble Friends, that my mother and father are coming home in two weeks,―and Billy, too. I must hurry to finis...

“For your dear dolly we will make, And every pains will try to take, An apron, and a pinafore; And later, other things galore; Her wardrobe we so full will fill, No one would ca...

“Of course, you have a pretty voice; Of course, you love to make a noise― If this rhyme sounds a bit contrary, It’s good enough for a canary; But, Dick, what I’d really like to...

“Oh, look! dear Sewing Bird,” cried Mary Frances, holding up her work, “I really do believe that is the way Mother makes a button-hole! She said she would show me how to do it v...

“It is the Thimble People’s pride That they have ever, always, tried: Whenever they fail,―this is no tale, As you can easily guess,― They twist the failure round about, They twi...

“Surely,” she thought, “Sewing Bird is talking with some one. I wonder if it’s one of the Thimble People. Oh, I do hope so!” and, as she tripped into the sewing-room, she asked,

“Oh, that sweet little kimono and Mary Marie’s bath robe, and―her―her―everything―they were all in the trunk. Last night, when I finished her tippet, I put that in. I’m sure I di...

“Why, my dear,” puffed the old lady, climbing the last of the stairs, “I am home very early, you see. There was no regular meeting to-day because almost all the members of the L...

“If the Thimble People hadn’t helped me, Mother, I never could have made them; and if you hadn’t sent me the beautiful goods, and my dear, lovely dolly, I couldn’t have done it!...