OLD IDEA REVIVED

Manawatu Times, Volume 64, Issue 96, 26 April 1939, Page 14

OLD IDEA REVIVED

PATCHWORK PICTURES Patchwork pictures, like those in favour with our great-grandmothers, are being revived, but the patchwork is easier to do than it was years ago. Instead of stitching down the shapes, you simply paste them to the background, and this seems to be a good idea for the nursery. You need not be much of an artist to achieve cheerful results, as the quainter and more unconventional the pictures are the happier will be the effect.

The lowest picture in the sketch is the simplest to follow, because nearly all the shapes are rectangles or triangles. A sheet of stout cardboard forms the foundation, covered with bright blue poster paper. The fir-trees are tall triangles of emerald green cotton, the house has yellow walls, a red cotton roof, checked gingham windows, and a green door. Clouds are suggested by round and oval blobs of white linen. Paste all the shapes to the foundation, and make the tree trunks from strips of brown bias binding, the hedge from a strip of floral cretonne, the path from golden linen, and the lower edge of “field” from another scrap of floral fabric.

Rather more elaborate, but quite simple to copy, is the central picture. Two white flannel or felt lambs prance over a green and white polka dotted cotton “meadow,” under a blue paper sky, white linen clouds, and a flower starred tree.

The top example shows a cheerful peasant damsel dancing out of the pages of a fairy tale book. Wearing striped cotton skirt, white apron and sleeves, black felt bodice and hat, and gay red boots, she presents a happy picture. Plaited strands of yellow wool suggest the pigtails. The daisy-chain flowers are

circles of yellow and orange felt, pine trees are green felt, and the field is cut from sprigged cottpn. The pictures can be framed with wooden beading about half an inch wide and they need not be glazed. Some stitches have been indicated on simplest picture, to show what it would look like if you were to applique the shapes on to a background, instead of pasting them down. Either method of working is effective, but if time is an object you will probably prefer the paste.