n under the coat to give the body of Santa
Claus a decidedly rounded appearance; be sure that the padding is
securely fastened to the curtain. Then pin the sleeve caps, cut
according to Fig. 222, around the outer edge of the armhole. Pin raw
white cotton around the face opening to form the hair and long, full
beard. Allow the cotton to come well over the edge of the hole, that it
may lie naturally on Santa Claus's face.

With ink, mark the fleecy side of the strips of white canton flannel to
resemble white ermine. Notice particularly the shape of the black ermine
dots and have yours like them. Pin one ermine strip down the front of
the red jacket and another across the bottom edge. Make two long,
separate scarlet sleeves, unhemmed at top and bottom, and pin a band of
ermine around each for a cuff. The only necessary sewing for the entire
costume is the seams of the sleeves.

[Illustration: FIG. 224--Santa Claus's costume ready for the
impersonator.]

Polish up a pair of ordinary old shoes, stuff them out with newspapers,
and use them for Santa Claus's feet. Roll two pieces of cardboard, or
pieces of limber pasteboard boxes, into cylinders; ink or blacken them.
When dry, cut a curve in one end of each, like Fig. 223, and fit these
tops over the stuffed shoes to make them into boots. Set the boots on a
bench or a low table, placed across in front of Santa Claus, and
adjust them under the coat, so the little fellow will appear to be
standing on the bench (Fig. 224). Pin Christmas greens, either natural
or of tissue-paper, over the top and down the sides of the curtain, and
you will have a unique, very effective, and novel arrangement for
Christmas, easy to make, and costing but a trifle. Try it.

CHAPTER XVI

NATURE STUDY WITH TISSUE-PAPER

A NATURAL flower, some tissue-paper, a pair of scissors, a spool of
thread, and nimble fingers are all you need.

There are no patterns, only circles and squares and strips of paper
which you gather here, spread out there, wrap and tie somewhere else,
and, with deft fingers, model into almost exact reproductions of the
natural flower before you.

With its unfamiliar terms to be committed to memory and the many parts
of the flower to be distinguished, botany is apt to prove dry and
tiresome to the little child, but to study nature by copying the flowers
in this marvellously adaptable material is only a beautiful game which
every child, and indeed many grown people, will