For this, you must buy a straw basket, flat in shape, and without a
handle. It can be round, square, oval, or eight-sided, just as you
prefer. You must also buy a yard of silk or cashmere in some pretty
color. Line the whole basket, first of all cutting the shape of the
bottom exactly, and fastening the lining down with deft stitches,
which shall show neither inside nor out. Make four little pockets
of the stuff (six if the basket is large), draw their tops up with
elastic cord, and fasten them round the sides at equal distances.
These are to hold spools of silk, tapes, hooks-and-eyes, and such
small wares, which are always getting into disorder in a pocketless
basket. Between two of the pockets on one side, suspend a small square
pincushion, and on the other a flat needle-book hung by a loop of
ribbon. At the opposite ends, between the pockets, fasten an emery bag
and a sheath of morocco bound with ribbon to hold a pair of scissors.
Finish the top last of all with a quilling of ribbon, and you have as
dainty and complete a gift as any younger sister can wish to make, or
any older one receive. It will cost time and pains, but is pretty and
useful enough to repay both.