side of the long room. These letter Vs are usually made of
wood, tipped all around with brass or some other fine metal, and are of a
great variety of sizes. They are the umbrella cover patterns, as you soon
make out. To begin with, the cutter lays his silk or gingham very
smoothly out on a long counter, folding it back and forth until the
fabric lies eight or sixteen times in thickness, the layers being several
yards in length. (But I must go back a little and tell you that both
edges of the silk, or whatever the cover is to be, has been hemmed by a
woman, on a sewing machine before it is spread out on the counter). Well,
when the cutter finds that he has the silk smoothly arranged, with the
edges even, he lays on his pattern, and with a sharp knife quickly draws
it along two sides of it, and in a twinkling you see the pieces for
perhaps two umbrellas cut out; this is so when the silk, or material, is
sixteen layers thick and the umbrella cover is to have but eight pieces.

After the cover is cut, each piece is carefully examined by a woman to
see that there are no holes nor defects in it, for one bad piece would
spoil a whole umbrella.

Then a man takes the pieces and stretches the cut edges. This stretching
must be so skilfully done that the whole length of the edge be evenly
stretched. This stretching is necessary in order to secure a good fit on
the frame.

After this the pieces go to the sewing-room, where they are sewed together
by a woman, on a sewing-machine, in what is called a "pudding-bag" seam.
The sewing-machine woman must have the machine-tension just right or the
thread of the seam will break when the cover is stretched over the frame.

[Illustration: SEWING "PUDDING-BAG" SEAMS.]

The next step in the work is to fasten the cover to the frame, which is
done by a woman. After the cover is fastened at the top and bottom, she
half hoists the umbrella, and has a small tool which she uses to keep the
umbrella in that position, then she fastens the seams to the ribs; and a
quick workwoman will do all this in five minutes, as well as sew on the
tie, which has been made by another pair of hands. Then the cap is put on
and the umbrella is completed.

But before it is sent to the salesroom, a woman smooths the edge of the
umbrella all around with a warm flat-iron. Then another woman holds it up
to a window where there is a strong light, and hunts for holes in it. If
it is found to be perfect the cover is neatl