USEFUL HOME WORK.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1061, 30 June 1892, Page 16

USEFUL HOME WORK.

A TASTEFUL HANGING PINCUSHION. A long bag. one inch and a half wide, stuffed with bran and covered on each side with a different shade of ribbon, tied at the top with narrow ribbon and a loop left to hang it up by. The P ins can be stuck in all over it, or only in a row up each side, And down the centre of each ribbon a design or verse may run. ■ A similar cushion for parlour use is made of a bag eight inches long and three inches wide, inserting a Japanese doll’s head at the top of the bag, oversaaming the edges across the shoulders. Openings for

the hands to extend horizontally are left at the sides. A sasli and girdle of halfinch ribbon shape tho doll, which is suspended from the gas by a loop at the back of thee same ribbon. A MOST ACCEPTABLE PORTFOLIO. Here is something easily made, inexpensive, and very acceptable to a schoolgirl, schoolboy, or busy woman who is laughingly said to prefer to ‘ write on her knee.’ It is a pretty thing, too, to place on a table in a ‘ spare room ’ supplied with stationery for the convenience of a guest, in lieu of a writing desk. Cut two pieces of stout pasteboard, each lOJin long and Bin wide, and one piece of grey or ecru linen 16in wide and lljin long. , Cut from very stiff paper—a visiting or postal card is excellent for this purpose — two crescent-shaped p'.eces, one 3in long and 2Mn wide in the broadest part —the centre—and the other 2in long and Jin wide in the broadest part. Lay the linen flat on tho table, and in the upper right-hand corner, at least an inch from the edge, trace the outline of the larger crescent. Iu the lower righthand corner, at about the same distance from the edge, trace the outline of tho smaller crescent, then lay it across the pattern and trace a 3ec nid time, ...taking care to avoid marking asross the first one by commencing the second at the line of the first and then drawing the second half.

Proceed in this manner according to your taste, drawing sometimes a large single crescent, sometimes two large ones crossing, sometimes the smaller ori6 crossing the larger. The effect is hotter it they are not placed too near. Then, with olive and red course silk—or any colours you prefer —work around each crescent in outline stitch, using red for one and olive for the other where two cross, and sometimes red and sometimes olive for the single one?. Lay the oblong pieces of pasteboard as closely together as possible and baste the linen neatly over them around all the edges—except, of course, where the two pieces come together. Then cut a piece of linen-backed satin, olive or dark red, the same size as the linen. Out a second piece eleven inches long and two inches wide. Fold it so that the raw edges overlap iu the middle, and, on the right side, feather-stitch with rope silk-using red if the satin is olive, olive if it L red through the band from end to end. Cut a third piece of satin eleven inches long and five inches wide. Turn a hem all inch wide, baste it, and feather-stitch it on the right side. Now baste the two narrow ends and

the long unhemmed end of this strip on the right hand end of the largo piece of satin, keeping the satin side uppermost, and put a second row of feather-stitching across the centre of the strip, thus forming two pockets. Next sew the feather-stitched inch-wide band at the top and bottom only, four and a-half inches from the left-hand side of tho large piece of satin. Next turn in the wide piece of satin all the way round to exactly fit the pasteboard —the raw edges of the pockets and the embroidered band are turned in too —and with a stout needle baste it on. Sew the satin and the linen together with ‘ over-aud-over ’ stitches as neatly as possible.

Out two pieces of blotting-paper ten inches long and fourteen inches wide ; lay them flat on the satin, then fasten a piece of ‘baby ’ ribbon, the colour of the satin, at the middle of one side of the portfolio, draw it across the sheets to hold them in place, and fasten at the other end. If you desire to make the portfolio handsomer use linen-backed satin or rich brocaded silk for tho outside also. In the latter case, dispense with the embroidery. If durability need not be considered, use white duck for the outside, embroidered or painted with rosebuds, forget me-nots, poppies, or any favourite flower, lining with satin the shade of the blossom. White kid, handsomely painted, also makes a dainty portfolio.

CHILDREN’S PLAY HARNESS. Materials : Six. ounces of double Berlin wool, six little sleigh bells, and a bone crochet needle. Make a chain of twelve stitches ; join in a ring with a slip stilch; turn the flat or right sid9 of the chain on the inside, and crochet once around with the single crochet stitch, putting the needle through the loop on the wrong side of the chain. Keep the right side of the chain always on the inside of the tube, and hold the work so that the inside will alwajs be toward you and your work wrong side out. The next round and the rest of the harness is made by a single crochet stitch fastened in the loop, made by passing the thread from one stitch to the other previous to pulling it through the stitch to form the single crochet stitch. This makes a diagonal rib run around tbe harness, and can be formed by taking no other Btitch.

The harness is very firm and durable, and should be three and a half yards long. Sew the ends together, then crochet a similar piece one-half yard long and sew it to the long piece of harness on each side one-half yard from where it is joined. This makes the piece to come in front of the child at the waist line when the long harness is over the neck. The harness will be a hollow tube, with the right side of the crochet stitch inside. Sew the little sleigh bells on the one half yard that reaches from the neck to the waist line.

Be particular not to miss any stitches in crocheting, lest you make the harness Bmaller.