CHAPTER XVII
MARY MARIE’S HANDKERCHIEF
MARY FRANCES watched for the first chance to show the Thimble People her mother’s presents.
When she knew her grandma was napping, she ran breathlessly up to the sewing room, leaving Mary Marie and her trunk outside the door.
“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! Guess what it is! Guess!”
“That’s easy!” said Scissors Shears excitedly, “it’s a plow!”
“A plow!” exclaimed Emery Bag. “What a silly thing! What put that in your head?”
“What else has a share, I’d like to know? Little Miss said she’d ‘share it’―and I’ve heard of a plow-share―and so there! Rip-him-up! I say, Rip-him-up-the-back!”
Scissors Shears gave a kick toward Emery Bag.
“For shame!” said Mary Frances. “Now be good, Scissors Shears; and all guess again.”
“I give it up!” sighed Scissors Shears.
“I’ll tell you!” said Mary Frances. “No, I guess I’ll show you! Now, Thimble People, look! look!” she exclaimed, bringing in Mary Marie and holding her up before Sewing Bird.
“Oh, lovely beauty! Lovely thing! And can it sing, Oh, can it sing?”
“No,” laughed Mary Frances, “I don’t believe she can!”
“Oh, what’s her name? Oh, what’s her name? Oh, will she run Or is she tame?”
asked Sewing Bird.
“Very impolite,” whispered Scissors Shears to
This pattern plate should remain permanently in book so that tracings on tissue paper can be made from it as required.
Tommy Pin Cushion, “to call anybody, ‛What’s-her-name.’”
“This,” said Mary Frances, pretending she did not hear, “this, Thimble People, is Mary Marie.”
“A sweet little dolly Is Mary Marie! As pretty a dolly As ever could be.
“She’s not only sweet, But tidy and neat From the top of her head To the soles of her feet;
“But she’s full of real woes― From her head to her toes She sadly needs stitching And making of clothes,”
sang Sewing Bird.
“She certainly does, dear Magic and Mystery,” laughed Mary Frances. Then to Fairy Lady,―“and I shall need your help so much! I’m simply too excited to tell you rightly about all the rest of my perfectly beautiful surprise―but I will try.”
Then she told of Mary Marie and her trunk.
“Bring in the trunk,―will you, please?” asked Fairy Lady, who had come at once, in answer to the magic word.
“Yes, indeed!” said Mary Frances; “I’m the richest mother, I guess, in the world, with such beautiful goods, dear Thimble People―oh, such a wonderful lot!”
Then she brought in the trunk and spread out all its pretty contents before the admiring eyes of the Thimble People.
“It makes me sing As on the wing, Though now I’m not a birdie; I’ll break in song And sing so long No one can say a wordie―
if I don’t look out,” sang Fairy Lady, “with such lovely goods to use for our lesson! But to-day’s lesson, little Miss, is to make a dolly’s handkerchief. You must first learn
24.―HEM-STITCHING ON CANVAS
(Size: seven and one-half inches by two and one-half inches)
1. Draw out one group of threads one inch from edge of canvas.
2. Turn a hem to meet open space and baste with white cotton.
3. Thread needle with red cotton and begin at right hand side as for hemming, keeping the hem at the top.
4. Point needle toward you; put needle under one group of cross threads and pull through.
5. Put needle back and under same group of threads, and point it through the fold of the hem. Pull through.
To make
PATTERN 3.―DOLL’S HANDKERCHIEF
Cut a five-inch square of linen and prepare to do
HEM-STITCHING ON LINEN
1. One-half inch from the edge of the cloth, with the point of a needle, pick out and draw a coarse thread; then draw several more next to it.
2. Do the same to the other sides.
3. Now, turn a hem each side to meet the open space, and baste.
4. Hem-stitch with number sixty cotton.
“If we were not here to help you, dear little Miss, you’d have to wait until you were much bigger before doing hem-stitching, for it is quite a strain on the eyes.
“You may do the canvas hem-stitching; then use the Needle-of-Don’t-Have-to-Try for making dolly’s handkerchief. Otherwise, you could simply hem the edges of the cloth, and learn about
25.―SEWING ON LACE EDGING
If lace is to be put on quite full, measure the distance on which it is to be sewed, and allow one and one-half times that distance in lace.
1. Place the right side of the lace to the right side of the cloth. Baste lightly, along one side. Overhand―beginning one-half inch from end of lace.
2. To turn a corner, measure the width of the lace, and allow twice the width, and pin a quarter of an inch beyond the corner. Overhand around the corner. Finish and allow one-half an inch on end of lace beyond sewing. Cut off.
NOTE.―Valenciennes Lace has a heavy thread woven in the top on which the fullness may be drawn. A gathering thread should be run in lace without such a thread.
4. To join the ends of lace you must learn about making a fell.
“What is a fell?” asked Tommy Pin Cushion.
“A fell’s a fellow,” solemnly declared Scissors Shears.
“For shame!” exclaimed Fairy Lady.
“What does ‘fell’ mean?” persisted Tommy Pin Cushion.
“It means he fell down,” said Scissors Shears.
“Silly!” exclaimed Needle Book. “How could anybody ‘fell down?’”
“Down is entirely too soft to fell!” said Tommy Pin Cushion.
“This is all foolish nonsense!” smiled Fairy Lady. “Let’s proceed to make the felled seam.”
“Excuse me!” exclaimed Scissors Shears, “but how does a fell seem?”
“It seems you seem to seem not to be what you seem to be!” laughed Tommy Pin Cushion.
“What’s that?” demanded Scissors Shears sharply.
“A―a seemly fellow!” said Tommy Pin Cushion, giggling.
Everybody laughed.
“You interrupted me,” said Fairy Lady, “in telling about
26.―MAKING A FELL
Cut two pieces of muslin, five inches long and two inches wide.
1. Place the two pieces together, one one-eighth of an inch below the other. Baste with uneven basting.
2. Sew together with Combination Stitch. (Two running stitches and a back stitch.)
3. Take out the basting, and open the pieces of cloth, and lay the seam over so that the wider edge will be on the top.
4. Turn this in over the narrow edge, and hem.
Lace is joined in the same way.
“Oh, I see, Fairy Lady. That is so that no raw edges will show,” exclaimed Mary Frances.
“Good!” smiled Fairy Lady. “Now, to hem-stitch the handkerchief.”
“Where did I put that square of lovely linen?” said Mary Frances. “Oh, I left it in the work basket. Why―why, look, dear Fairy Lady, look―it is all cut and hem-stitched.”
“How did this happen?” asked Fairy Lady.
“I did it with my little helmet,” answered a little voice.
“Thimble!” exclaimed Mary Frances.
“Thimble, what did you answer first for?” cried a sharp voice. “I started it!”
“Oh, Scissors!” said Mary Frances.
“Oh, for shame,―to quarrel before our little Miss―” began Tommy Pin Cushion.
“Oh, you turned good, have you, Tommy Pin Cushion!” exclaimed Scissors Shears.
“I had the honor, your Seamstress-ship,” said Tomato Pin Cushion, “to furnish the ‘Needle-of-Have-to-Try’ for this work.”
“Ha! Ha!” laughed Needle Book. “That’s a joke.”
“We did have to try hard,” said Thimble, “to get it done so soon.”
“I thank you all, dear Thimble People,” said Mary Frances.
“Will you sew on the lace edging and bring it next time?” asked Fairy Lady.
“I will,―” said Mary Frances, “Oh, I haven’t shown you the outlined kitties. Aren’t they good?”
“Splendid!” exclaimed Fairy Lady.
“Those kittens always will be good And never bother you for food; You’ll never have to lay down laws To make them wash their heads and paws; Their whiskers, too, will stand out straight As when they sit before the grate; They won’t annoy you with their noise Nor hide away your pretty toys; But kittens quite as good as that Were never kittens of a cat.”
“Oh, no,” laughed Mary Frances. “Jubey’d never recognize them. She’d not know they were kittens.”
“Oh, Jubey!” exclaimed Sewing Bird Lady, anxiously. “Would she eat me?”
“No,” said Mary Frances. “Not Jubey. She never looks at Dick Canary.”
“Oh, I forgot,” said Fairy Lady, “I am a bird without feathers, and Jubey wouldn’t care for a bird that didn’t tickle her nose.”