THE DOLL’S BLANKET
[Illustration]
One day in early spring Margaret was making up her doll’s bed with its
clean white sheets and pillow-slips.
“Dear child, it seems to me you are not warm enough this weather. You
should have a warm blanket to sleep under. I’ll ask Mother for something
to make one,” she said. Smiling fondly at her child, Margaret went to
see what her mother might have in her piece-box that could be used to
make a tiny blanket.
Now Margaret’s mother was a very wonderful woman. She never turned her
little girl away empty-handed when she came asking for something to make
her play more interesting. As it happened, there was in her piece-box a
piece of lovely white flannel just large enough for a doll’s blanket.
She gave it to Margaret to use. Skipping happily away the small mother
came back to her own room and showed it to her doll-child.
[Illustration]
“This will make you a pretty blanket,” she said. Then she turned to her
work-basket and called, “Sir Bodkin! Please bring out the One-Eyed
Fairies!”
[Illustration]
“Yes! Yes! My Lady!” he answered sliding quickly out of the basket. “You
now know all of us; which shall it be to-day?” All the other shining
Fairies were following him. They danced and pranced out of the
needle-book very happy to be called.
“Baster, first,” said Margaret importantly. “I’m making a blanket for my
doll’s bed and I want to baste the hem at the top and the one at the
bottom. Then perhaps you will tell me the best way to sew them to stay.”
Sir Bodkin leaned far over the edge of the table to get a better look at
the tiny blanket.
“Is it the right length and width for the bed?” he asked Margaret.
“Oh, yes. I measured that before I called you,” she answered, harnessing
Baster with basting-thread.
[Illustration: Catch-stitch]
“Very good. You do not need to turn the hems down but once. Flannel will
not ravel much if quickly held by catch-stitching,” said he.
Margaret and Baster soon had the hems basted.
“What is ‘catch-stitching’?” Margaret asked Sir Bodkin.
“A stitch used to hold a hem down flat and keep the goods from
ravelling. You can also use it for a trimming sometime, if want to.
You’ll need the Crewel One to help you do this stitching. He’ll show you
how. It’s very easy and pretty,” he said.
The Crewel One stepped forward and asked for some wool floss in his eye.
“Either pink, blue, or red will do to use for catch-stitching,” he said.
Margaret cut some pink floss the proper length and squeezed a tiny loop
to put in his eye. When harnessed, he told Margaret to hold the hem over
her left forefinger. She took him in her right fingers. He stepped to
the hem and sang:
“Coming towards you as I step
Away from you I hop.
First on the blanket, then the hem,
Go backward, do not stop.
Evenly I step along
And leave a crisscross track,
Which catches fast the blanket hem,
To do this is a knack.
Be sure to fasten tight the floss
At both the ends, my dear,
Or when it’s put into the wash
It might come out, I fear.”
They worked busily along each hem.
[Illustration: “I’ll put you to sleep in your little bed”]
“Oh! how pretty and easy!” cried Margaret when the little blanket was
finished. “How sweet the pink stitches look on the white flannel at each
end.” Then she said to her doll, “Come to me, dear, and I’ll put you to
sleep in your little bed underneath your pretty, warm, new blanket.” She
was so busy tucking in her doll and singing her to sleep that she did
not thank Sir Bodkin and the One-Eyed Fairies or notice what they were
doing. With a hop, a skip, and a jump each one was having a wonderful
time taking a pleasant plunge foot first through the emery strawberry.
[Illustration]
“We must scrape off our dullness and brighten ourselves a bit,” said
their King standing by to see that every one got a turn. Then, in the
firelight, they danced and pranced to their hearts’ content on
Margaret’s table, to show how glistening and shining they were again.
Soon to their needle-book bed they all slipped away for a good night’s
sleep.