Do not fill the bags anything like full, or the quilt will be
impossibly heavy. If you fill the bag about a third full, or at most a
very loose half-full, that will be quite enough. Each little bag just
wants a slight thickness inside, to give the extra warmth, much the
same as we sometimes line quilts with a layer of cotton wool between
two cotton covers.
[Illustration: SECTION OF THE ECONOMY QUILT.]
The reason we put the clippings in little bags, instead of into one
bag, is to keep the stuff evenly distributed over the surface of the
bed. Otherwise, every time the sleeper turned over, or disarranged
the coverings, there would be the chance of all the clippings slipping
over, and collecting themselves on the one side or the other of the
bed, or possibly all falling to the foot of the bed.
A quilt made of the bags, not too full, can be shaken and kept
thoroughly aired.
Almost any sort of material can be used for the bags, provided it is
not too delicate in colour, as one does not want to have a quilt of
this sort frequently going to the cleaners. Strong stuffs are best,
such as cretonne, serge, stout print, sateen—anything in fact that will
stand some wear.
Mix cotton clippings with wool clippings in each bag. Obviously the
quilt will not need any lining, as the back will be fairly neat. If
you like, you can finish the edge with a cord; but I myself always
aim to get the outside bags all of one colour scheme; this in itself
makes a certain finish—a kind of border—and I just leave it at that.
After all, these quilts are not for ornament so much as stern utility;
nevertheless, they can be made to look really pretty, if a little care
and taste is expended on the placing of the various colours and designs.
To Finish the Hems of Blankets.
[Illustration]
Turn down a hem a little more than ½ an inch, having a ball of wool
ready (Andalusian or 3-ply white will do), fasten in the end with a
darning needle. Having the working end of wool out at the top of hem,
ready for the crochet hook (a coarse steel hook is best), catch up a
chain stitch with the hook and * bring the wool across the hook as for
doing a stitch, insert the hook at the bottom of hem, catch wool on
opposite side, the opposite way to lifting the thread as in crocheting,
that is hooking the wool in a downward movement from right to left,
draw loop through and up level with the top of line. Take out the hook
and make one loop, just drawn up to lie in two straight lines and slip
through loop on needle, afterwards doing a chain stitch, and repeat
from *. A little practice will soon show that done in this way the
stitches are not twisted but lay flat, like the machine finish.
Doing up an Eiderdown.
In the days of our grandmothers, eiderdowns were considered a luxury,
things to be taken care of and kept well covered. At the present time,
however, they are found on nearly every bed, varying from those made of
sateen and chintz to those made of satin and silk.
I suppose it is because “familiarity breeds contempt” that we do not
take the care of ours that our grandmothers did of theirs, and that
therefore they became so much sooner soiled and worn out. If your
eiderdown is getting shabby, why not clean it and re-cover it yourself?
If anybody is not willing to give up a little time and trouble to the
success of this venture, let them not so much as contemplate cleaning
and re-covering an eiderdown at home, for though quite easy it is a
little tiresome, and the only two things really needed outside a few
yards of chintz are patience and common sense. To explain: patience
will be needed, for an eiderdown takes some time to dry when once wet,
and common sense to choose the right day on which to do it.
The first thing to do is to choose a hot day, as the eiderdown must be
dried out-of-doors, and the brighter the day the quicker it will dry,
added to which the sunshine fluffs up the down better than any fire
does.
[Illustration: A NARROW INSERTION FOR A NURSERY CASEMENT CURTAIN.