Godey's Lady's Book

GODEY'S LADY'S BOOK
Philadelphia, April 1850

THE WORK TABLE.

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CROCHET.—SQUARE SOFA PILLOW.

Materials—Five shades of scarlet single German wool; five shades of green; five shades of French blue; four shades of stone and coarse Ficelle or Taylor's unbleached Mecklenburg crochet-thread. Use a fine ivory crochet-needle.

This pillow is composed of alternate stripes of wool in close crochet, and open stripes in ficelle or thread. The ground of the first wool stripe is worked in shades of scarlet, and the pattern in shades of green; the second wool stripe, the ground shades of blue, and the pattern shades of stone; at the end of every row, work one chain stitch, and cut off the wool, leaving about one inch, and draw it through to fasten it. To commence a row, leave one inch of the wool, work a chain stitch with it, and insert the needle in the first stitch of the row.

Commence with the lightest shade of scarlet, make a chain of 200 stitches, and work one row plain; then commence the leaf and flower pattern.

1st row.—Lightest shade of scarlet, and darkest shade of green. Work 20 stitches of scarlet, 2 stitches of green, 8 scarlet, 5 green; repeat.

2d row.—Second shade of scarlet and darkest shade of green.

3d row.—Second shade of scarlet, fourth shade of green.

4th row.—Third shade of scarlet, fourth shade of green.

5th row.—Third shade of scarlet, third shade of green.

6th row.—Fourth shade of scarlet, third shade of green.

7th row.—Fourth shade of scarlet, second shade of green.

8th row.—Fifth shade of scarlet, second shade of green.

9th row.—Fifth shade of scarlet, first shade of green.

10th row.—Fourth shade of scarlet, second shade of green. Then work the shades back again, and with the darkest shade of scarlet work one plain row.

Commence with the ficelle.

1st row.—1 treble, 1 chain, miss 1, 5 treble, 1 chain, miss 1; repeat; end with 1 treble.

2d row.—2 treble, *, 1 chain, miss 1, 3 treble; repeat from *.

3d row.—3 treble, *, 1 chain, miss 1, 1 treble, 1 chain, miss 1, 5 treble; repeat from *.

4th row.—Same as second.

5th row.—Same as first.

Second wool stripe, vine-leaf pattern, and with darkest shade of blue work one plain row; then commence the pattern.

1st row.—Darkest shade of blue and lightest shade of stone; 14 stitches of blue, 1 of stone, 29 blue, 5 stone; repeat.

2d row.—Fourth shade of blue, lightest shade of stone.

3d row.—Fourth shade of blue, second shade of stone.

4th row.—Third shade of blue, second shade of stone.

5th row.—Third shade of blue, third shade of stone.

6th row.—Second shade of blue, third shade of stone.

7th row.—First shade of blue, fourth shade of stone.

Then repeat the shades back again, then one plain row of the darkest shade of blue, and work the open ficelle stripe. Eleven stripes form the pillow.

I have given the stitches in first row of pattern, it being the most difficult to set; and to work two colors in a row, lay the color not wanted along the work, and crochet over it. In changing a color, draw it through before finishing the stitch when there are two loops on the needle; this makes the stitch even.

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PATCHWORK.

Many improvements may be made in the old style of patchwork that we have been accustomed to see, and, in anticipation of some improvement in the designs at present used, we venture to intrude a few remarks, trusting that our "Family Friends" will not take them amiss.

The materials necessary for patchwork are such portions of wearing apparel, whether of cloth, calico, linen, Holland, silk, velvet, cotton prints, &c., as would otherwise be thrown away, or saved for the rag-man. The next necessary article is some stiff paper, to form the shapes; and lastly, the design-shapes, cut out in tin, and the designs themselves. The materials should be arranged into shades and qualities. After having been cut to the requisite sizes, and the irregularities of the edges neatly remedied, they are ready for use.

The patterns may be varied ad infinitum, if the person possess the least talent for drawing and designing; but, for the sake of those who may not be thus gifted, we submit the accompanying simple and effective design, to be executed in any of the materials.

To make the Patchwork.—The pattern should be placed before the person, and, the shades being selected, the several pieces arranged so as to form the design, and the edges then neatly sewn together; after which, they are either pressed or ironed, the papers removed, and the lining proceeded with.

When silks and velvets are employed, it improves the effect to combine the two, taking the silk for the lighter, and the velvet for the darker shades; or, as in figs. 5, 6, 8, and 11, to have silk for the lighter shades, and two velvets for the others, shaded to pattern.

A very pretty effect is produced by combining Holland and calico, silk and satin, silk or satin and velvet, and rough and fine cloth.

The various articles that may be manufactured, are quilts in colored and white calico; anti-macassars in silks; ottomans in silks and velvets, or in silks and cloth; cushions for chairs or sofas, in silks; and mats, rugs, and carpets, in cloth.

We have seen many useful white quilts for children's cots made from the cuttings remaining after shirt-making. The centre might be of Holland and calico, pattern 10, fig. 5, and then fig. 7, with a fringe border, knitted. Numerous rugs might be made in colored cloths to look equal to carpets, and wear much better.

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CROCHET FLOWER WORK.

PRIMROSE.

(For directions, see March number.)

Three shades of yellow split wool will be needed for this flower; the darkest shade should be almost of an orange tint; or one shade of yellow and two of lilac may be used, if preferred.

Make a small ring of wire, as for the May, and work five stitches of double crochet in the ring with the darkest shade of yellow wool; break off the wool, and, if making the yellow primrose, take the second dark shade of yellow; or if the lilac, the darkest of the two shades. Work in each of the five loops just made, one plain stitch, four long stitches, and one plain stitch. For the next round, take a lighter shade of color, and work a stitch of double crochet in every loop of the preceding round, except between the petals, when one plain stitch will be required. A wire must be worked in the edge. This number of rows will be sufficient for the common primrose, but the larger species will require another row of double crochet, in a very pale, delicate color.

LEAF.—Make a chain of thirty or thirty-six stitches, with a very light shade of green Berlin wool, not split; work all round the chain with a deeper shade of green split wool, making the first six stitches and the last six in double crochet; all the rest must be done in long stitch, three stitches being worked in the top loop; a wire to be worked in the edge. In order to give more width to the leaf, a second round must be worked exactly like the last, with a still deeper shade of green, putting a wire also in the edge, and covering the stem with wool.

FORGET-ME-NOT. Take a light, but bright shade of blue wool, and a small steel crochet-needle.

Make a small ring of wire, or fine leto, and twist it tightly, leaving one end of the wire as a stalk. Make a loop on the crochet with your wool, which must be split, and form one plain stitch on the ring; then make a chain of five stitches, and fasten this on the ring by one plain stitch; continue thus till you have five little loops, each forming a small petal, twist the ring quite close, and thread a darning needle with a bit of light-green silk, split. At the end of this silk make a small tuft of light-yellow split wool, pass it through the centre of the flower, when the little tuft will serve as stamen. Twist the silk round the stem of the flower.

LEAF.—Make a chain of nine stitches in a very light yellowish green; work round this chain a row of long stitches, with a wire in the edge, and in a deeper shade of green. Then work another row of double crochet, of still deeper shade, and wire also in the edge; twist all the wires together, and cover the stalk with green.

The flowers can be mounted according to taste. Five or six flowers, with two leaves, form a pretty little bunch.

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