WORK FOR LITTLE FINGERS

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1260, 23 April 1896, Page 17

WORK FOR LITTLE FINGERS

JAPANKSK SPILLS AND HOLDER,

It will be wiser to make the holder first, then, as the spills arc made, a receptacle is ready for them. The holder I have is made from a long round box that held toilet oatmeal. A look among the bottles and tins that mother keeps on a hidden shelf may reveal j‘>st such a treasure. If no tin or box can be had’ready made, the little worker must get some cardboard for a foundation. The inside must be lined with a pretty coloured tissue-paper. The outside must be covered with spills. Anyone can make ordinary twisted spills with strips of paper, so that I need only toll you to make a number of them in two colours. These muss be laid side by side in alternate colours round the holder. Have two needles threaded with long pieces of cotton. With one, the wide end ( of the spill must be tacked to the bottom.

So cover the whole, putting first a broad end, then a narrow, side by side at the top and bottom. Suppose we pick heliotrope and yellow; then the yellow must stand broad end uppermost, the heliotrope narrow end uppermost. Finish at the top and bottom with a narrow ruffled frill to hide the stitches.

Now to make the Japanese spills. Cut strips of paper as for ordinary spills. The prettiest colours for these particular spills is leaf-green, with yellow, Then

shape one end like the blade end of a tableknife. Have the papers about fourteen inches long, one and a-half inch wide. Now cut pieces of yellow paper just the same shape, but only two inches long. Take a steel knitting-needle, double the paper over it, and pinch up with finger and thumb to a fine crinkle. The green must be treated the same way, two inches from the top. Now put flic yellow inside the green. It looks something like a very peculiar flower opening out. Pinch the two together at the has), twist the stem tightly, and the spill is made. The cluster of thorn in a hoi.lor looks really ornamental.