Miscellaneous

Stitch lace curtains with the machine around the selvage or scalloped edge, and they will launder and wear better, and hang straighter.
Mrs. H. C.

Wishing to do a cross-stitch border and having no canvas, I basted a strip of new curtain-scrim over the linen and worked my design very nicely, crossing over two threads each way.  I then pulled out the scrim-threads and found they and answered as well as canvas.
M. B.
 
Pretty little scarfs are made of two long or short lengths of tulle, knotted at the ends or ornamented with tassels.  They supply a little warmth; and a touch of color may be given to the costume by them, as the two lengths used together may combine a color with either white or black. 

 

One Woman’s Way

When suddenly faced with a business-venture as a means of livelihood, women are apt to be too timid in the matter of spending what little money they have.  They fear too much for the return.  There is a saying that should appeal to housewives:  “You can’t make an omelet without breaking eggs.”  One brave little woman who believed this, was left with two children to support.  She took what little money she had and spent it in this way.  She left her small home town and spent some time in the nearest large city.  Here she cultivated her tastes for embroidery, crochet, and similar work.  She took lessons, studied materials, designs and stitches, for she believed that she might form classes in her own town for this sort of work if she learned all the newest stitches.  While in the big city she worked hard all day in the art-sops and art-departments of large stores, and was busy until past midnight each night putting what she had learned during the day into shape to use in her classes.  She had staked her financial all on this trip, and she felt the strain of the risk she ran.  But she has scored a great success, and each year her income grows, for she keeps abreast of her work, going often to the cities to study the newest stitches and designs.

 

The lace neck-ruffle, standing upright at the back and falling softly away from the neck at the front, is a favored fashion in neckwear.

 

I ordered some rose-beads from the lady to whom you referred me, but although they are very fragrant they are dark-brown, almost black, in color.  I thought they would be of the tint of the flowers.  Certainly I have seen them so.  Please let me know about this through our paper, because other may like to understand it.  –Mrs. H. R. L.

Let me quote from a letter received from a friend in California, who is an expert in this particular line of work:  “California can boast of the so-called violet-, carnation-, and rose-beads, of light pink, cream and other delicate colors, but one who has made the real rose-beads knows that such are formed of paste, scented and tinted.  I recently saw heliotrope-beads offered: just imagine gathering enough of those tiny flowers, only the petals of which can be sued, to make even one string of beads!  As soon as the rose-leaves – or any other petals – are ground they proceed to turn brown, and after the grinding is completed you have a black mass to work up.  There can be no other way.”  Hence I am positive the beads ordered were exactly as they should be – certainly the little manufacturer is perfectly reliable.