THE LONG AND SHORT OF BASTING.
“GOOD-BYE, dear,” said Grandma, taking leave of Mary Frances a day or
two later. “You may play in the garden while I’m gone, if you want
to.”
[Illustration: “Good bye, dear.”]
“I think I’ll stay in, Grandma, if you don’t mind,” answered Mary
Frances, not quite daring to mention her sewing lessons, “I have a
sort of an engagement.”
“Well! Well!” laughed Grandma, “so grown up already? You have been
out every day lately―I think perhaps you’ll like to play in the
sewing-room.”
“I hope you’ll have a lovely time, Nanny,” said Mary Frances as her
grandma closed the door.
“I wonder if Sewing Bird will be ready for the lesson,” she thought
as she skipped up the stairs to the sewing-room.
“Sewing Bird! Sewing Bird!” she whispered.
[Illustration: “I hope you’ll have a lovely time”]
“Oh, that’s the call
I love to hear;
I’m always ready―
Never fear!”
came the sweet singing voice of Sewing Bird.
Mary Frances was delighted.
“I’m so glad you remembered, dear little bird,” said she. “Where are
you?”
“Taking a rest,
In my dear little nest.
Chur! Chur!”
[Illustration: “Taking a rest in my dear little nest”]
came the answer.
“Of course,―the basket’s your nest,” laughed Mary Frances, carrying
Sewing Bird to her place on the table.
“I asked Grandma if I could have the sewing-room for my play-room,
and she said, ’Certainly, my dear, you may―anything to keep you
happy!’”
“Twitter, twitter, twitter, twit,” sang Sewing Bird―and somehow Mary
Frances knew she meant, “I’m so happy, too.”
[Illustration: “Twitter, twitter, twitter, twit”]
“I love to sit
And sing and sing―
But lesson time
Is on the wing:
Miss Never-Try
Never can do;
Miss Never-Begin
Never gets thru.”
[Illustration: “I love to sit And sing and sing”]
“Oh, dear me! Sewing Bird, I want to begin right away,” said Mary
Frances. “I hope to get so much done!”
“Well,” said Sewing Bird, “we will begin at once with that pretty
canvas and Turkey-red working cotton (D. M. C. No. 8). You may cut
some pieces of canvas seven inches long and one and one-half inches
wide. Work on the sewing table―that will be easier.”
“Oh, I know,” guessed Mary Frances, “the Java canvas is to learn the
stitches on.”
“Yes,” said Sewing Bird, “you use one of these pieces for each new
stitch; the regular open spaces in the canvas will help us so much.”
[Illustration: “I want to begin right away”]
“My needle’s all ready from the last lesson,” said Mary Frances,
holding up her threaded needle, “and my thread is knotted.”
[Illustration: “My needle’s all ready”]
“Little Miss! little Miss!
Not so long a thread!
Measure it only
From your hand to your head.”
“Oh,” said Mary Frances, breaking off some thread. “Thank you, I
didn’t know that. I suppose it is easier to use only an arm’s length
of thread.”
“Yes,” said Sewing Bird. “Now, it would be well to open the skein of
cotton.”
Mary Frances did so.
“Next clip both ends through―and you will have several threads of
the same length.”
“That’s so much easier,” said Mary Frances, “than cutting it each
time.”
“Now, for a new kind of puzzle,” said Sewing Bird. “Take one piece
of canvas already cut. For convenience we will call the regular open
spaces in the canvas, ‘holes.’”
“Yes,” said Mary Frances. “I understand, dear Sewing Bird; but please
tell me the puzzle.”
[Illustration: “Now, for a new kind of puzzle”]
“A puzzle then it soon shall be,
A puzzle which ne’er puzzled me,
A puzzle which I’ll let you see―
Its name is
3.―EVEN BASTING (ON CANVAS)
[Illustration: “A puzzle which I’ll let you see.”]
Cut canvas 7 inches by 1-1/2 inches.
1. Thread needle and knot thread.
2. Count five holes down from upper right hand end of canvas and
four holes to the left.
3. Put needle in this hole, pointing downward.
4. Push needle toward the left under two threads, upward through
second hole; pull through.
5. Now, again, over two threads under two threads; pull through.
6. Finish the row. Fasten thread by taking two stitches over each
other in the same holes at the end. Cut off the thread.
“That’s not much of a puzzle,” thought Mary Frances, sewing carefully.
“Why is it called Even Basting?” asked Sewing Bird.
“Because the stitches are of the same length,” said Mary Frances.
[Illustration: Even Basting]
“So wise you are―
Soon you will be
Quite a little bit
Too wise for me,”
sang Sewing Bird.
“Ho, ho!” laughed Mary Frances.
[Illustration: “Oh, I know why.”]
“You may wonder why the knot and the finishing threads are on the
right side,” continued Sewing Bird.
“Oh, I know why,” exclaimed Mary Frances. “Because basting stitches
are used only to hold the work in place until it is really sewed,
then they are easily pulled out if the knot and end are on the right
side.”
“Bless my feathers,
And bless my eye!
Soon you’ll know
As much as I!”
This pleased Mary Frances very much; but she said, “I don’t know―for
I have no idea what comes next, my dear little teacher.”
[Illustration: “Soon you’ll know As much as I!”]
“Oh, dear me!
Our time we’re wasting,
The next stitch is―
4.―UNEVEN BASTING (ON CANVAS)
[Illustration: “That’s all for to-day”]
1. Commence as in Even Basting.
2. Point needle downward, and bring it up through next hole.
3. Count three holes, put needle in downward and bring up next
hole―‘under one thread, over three’ to end of the row.
4. Finish as in Even Basting.
“That wasn’t very hard,” said Mary Frances, holding up the canvas for
Sewing Bird to see.
Then sang Sewing Bird:
“That’s all for to-day,―
Put things away;
And, now, little lady,
Good-day, good-day!”
[Illustration: Uneven Basting]
As Mary Frances went down the stairs, she caught the sound of her
name. Her grandmother was talking.
“That’s a wonderful child,” she was saying. “She’s no bother at all.
She spends hours in the sewing-room, playing with her dolls, just as
happy as can be!”
“Dear Nanny!” thought Mary Frances, “I wish I could explain about
everything―maybe the Thimble People will let me some day.”
[Illustration: Next clip both ends through―and you will have threads
of the same length]
[Illustration: CHAPTER IV]