CHAPTER XXXIII.

ON SEWING, CUTTING, AND MENDING.

Every young girl should be taught to do the following kinds of stitch,
with propriety. Over-stitch, hemming, running, felling, stitching,
back-stitch and run, buttonhole-stitch, chain-stitch, whipping, darning,
gathering, and cross-stitch.

In doing over-stitch, the edges should always be first fitted, either
with pins or basting, to prevent puckering. In turning wide hems, a
paper measure should be used, to make them even. Tucks, also, should be
regulated by a paper measure. A fell should be turned, before the edges
are put together, and the seam should be over-sewed, before felling. All
biased or goring seams should be felled. For stitching, draw a thread,
and take up two or three threads at a stitch.

In making buttonholes, it is best to have a pair of scissors, made for
the purpose, which cut very neatly. For broadcloth, a chisel and board
are better. The best stitch is made by putting in the needle, and then
turning the thread around it, near the eye. This is better than to draw
the needle through, and then take up a loop. A thread should first be
put across each side of the buttonhole, and also a stay-thread, or bar,
at each end, before working it. In working the buttonhole, keep the
stay-thread as far from the edge as possible. A small bar should be
worked at each end. Whipping is done better by sewing _over_, and not
under. The roll should be as fine as possible, the stitches short, the
thread strong, and in sewing, every gather should be taken up.

The rule for _gathering_, in shirts, is, to draw a thread, and then take
up two threads and skip four. In _darning_, after the perpendicular
threads are run, the crossing threads should interlace, exactly, taking
one thread and leaving one, like woven threads.

The neatest sewers always fit and baste their work, before sewing; and
they say they always save time in the end, by so doing, as they never
have to pick out work, on account of mistakes.

It is wise to sew closely and tightly all new garments, which will never
be altered in shape; but some are more nice than wise, in sewing frocks,
and old garments, in the same style. However, this is the least common
extreme. It is much more frequently the case, that articles, which ought
to be strongly and neatly made, are sewed so that a nice sewer would
rather pick out the threads and sew over again, than to be annoyed with
the sight of grinning stitches, an