There are notable little sempstresses even in these days of machines
("and I am thankful to know that there are," says Mother Santa Claus)
who set their stitches as swiftly and as precisely as ever their
grandmothers did before them, and have the same liking for what used
to be called "white seam." To such we would suggest, what a nice and
useful Christmas present would be a beautifully made under-garment.
It need not of necessity be a shirt, though in old days no girl was
considered educated who could not finish one all by herself, from
cutting out to the last button-hole; but an apron or petticoat or
dressing-jacket or night-gown, over which little fingers had labored
deftly and lovingly, would, it seems to us, be a most wonderful
and delightful novelty for mamma or grandmamma to find on the
Christmas-tree this year. A set of handkerchiefs nicely hemmed and
marked (girls used to cross-stitch the marks in their own hair!), or
a soft flannel petticoat, cat-stitched at the seams, scalloped with
coarse working cotton,--which grows whiter with washing, instead of
yellowing like silk,--with three pretty initials on the waistband,
would be other capital ideas. Try them.