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About The Oregon daily journal. (Portland, Or.) 1902-1972 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 11, 1908)
PATTERN AND DESIGN TRANSFER SECTIO NEEDLE WORK FOR GIRLS' CLOTHES The School Giif s Outfit What It Includes and How It May Be Most Appropriately Embellished. O society girl or bride-to-be takes more Interest in her clothes than does the girl in school or the young lady in, college. To most girls a season at school or college away from home is one of the very important events of life. And even the younger misses in school at home like to appear to equal ad- to criticize too great a display of elegance as too little. crosswise direction. Filling upon household linen should be thicker and higher than upon underwear. The school year offers plenty of time in which the . school girl may embroider the many handsome cushions which brighten her window seat and make life cosy in her den at school Where a girl does not know how to embroider and docs not want to learn she can trace an embroidery design upon her linen and stitch down upon it either an embroidery cord or one of the many pretty lace guimpes and braids provided for hasty work and which are so pleas ing in effect It is a simple matter to work the sets of household linen for a school outfit, for napkins merely have the initials worked in them and other pieces depend for their elaboration upon the amount of work their bwners wish to spend upon them. In no case should the patterns be too elaborate for this purpose. Girls are as prone vantage among their companions and playmates. While simplicity is the keynote of dressing for very young girls, enough latitud is allowed them in this respect to make the school outfit a very interesting matter. In most things a good quality of material and careful embroidery gives even better effects than elab orate and expensive garments. Even the most backwoodsy of pupils quickly comprehends the value of fine needlework upon apparel, and sighs for the distinction which this gives to its wearer. Happily for the ambitious mother and maiden sensitive lest her outfit might not be quite as good as that of other girls, a little ex penditure of time and taste will accomplish wonders in the building up of as handsome an outfit as a millionaire's daughter could enjoy. Handwork -is the reigning fad of the day and handwork is, liter ally, at every woman's finger ends. Materials for embroidery may be procured at every crossroads shop and designs are to be had almost for the asking. These have not always been accessible to women, but a woman may purchase her newspaper and charming embroidery designs for her wardrobe at the same time and price nowadays. The selection .of a school wardrobe includes a good many things that do not enter into the calculations of a girl at any other time. Most boarding schools and colleges demand that a pupil shall bring a certain amount of household linen with her to school, and most girls want to bring as pretty a supply as possible. They usually add dainty trifles in the way of embroidered scarfs and table covers which are not included in the school demand for sheets, towels, pil low cases and the like. Many, girls like to carry through .il! their belongings an individ ual design. A stamped -embroidery pattern for a collar, for instance, makes a lovely border for a scarf, sheet border or table cover. Small designs for necktie ends, cuffs and pocket flaps are very lovely when stamped in the ends and corners of household linen with the initials of the owner in or beneath the design. It is extremely fashionable to have one's sheets, bolster cases, pillow slips and towels embroidered. The schoolgirl is debarred from having as deep and gorgeous borders of embroidery mingled with lace upon her sheets as may adorn the bed coverings of her mother, but she insists upon having all that she is entitled to, and that is a good deal more than the simple f emstitched edges which her grandmother was content with when she went to school. Embroidery upon household linen is very quickly accomplished because the mesh of the material makes embroidery easy. Most linens should be washed before they are worked so as to get the stiffness out of them. Lay the design upon the article to be em broidered and transfer it. Ferhaps the design is a short one to ex tend upon a long border. In that case merely repeat the process until the whole border has been transferred. Then, run a coarse, soft thread of linen floss along the line of the tracery,' using a double, thread for outer edges where scallops are to be worked. Next to this run a filling thread to cover the width of the outline of the pattern and afterwards thread a finer needle with finer linen or mercerized cotton floss and work over the filling threads in a A very important item in the handwork is the coat suit for best wear and that for second best wear at school. The first should be worked in French embroidery in silk, or some species of yarn suited to the material of the dress. The coat. has to be embroid ered upon the collar, cuffs, lapels and often upon a narrow vest and pocket flaps. More embroidery than this is not suitable for a schoolgirl. A waist, to wear beneath the coat, is more elaborately embroidered and designs intended for collar, , cuff and necktie sets" are entirely suitable for coat decorations. This work is all done in the over-and-over French embroidery stitch. A belt to the waist and, possibly, panels and decorations upon the skirt are traced m the places desired and worked to match the rest of the suit. Self colors are best for this kind of work, as young girls cannot wear as richly mingled colors as may be introduced into the embroidery of . their elders. The second best suit at school may be traced with an embroid ery design and then braided with soutache or some other narrow braid. Small braid buttons and discs take the place of embroidered dots and discs and are very chic this season. Two lines of nar row soutache "braid outlining an embroidery design makes a most effective and beautiful finish to a dress and is work very quickly accomplished. Embroidery should not be spared upon other pieces in the young girl's wardrobe, and practically every waist should exhibit some form of it, either in self or contrasting colors. Belts, too, require embroidery and some delightful effects are produced with narrow ribbons, woven for this purpose, combined with mere lines of threads. Few stitches are required in ribbon embroidery and a few long stitches of colored silk will work wonders in elaborating a design which is given quite a rich effect by means of the materials used. Older people now embroider designs upon lace, but young girls content themselves with working a good supply of neckties and collar bows in white and colors, and no end of collars, for a girl's neck wear, must always be irreproachably fresh and dainty. All these pieces should be worked with filling-in threads and over-and-over or satin-stitch embroidery, and the same style of embroidery is most fashionable upon a girl's underwear. Embroidery, indeed, is abso lutely necessary upon the lingerie of young girls for lace is relegated to older women and girls out in society. The young girl is not supposed to wear much lace except upon her party dresses and then the kinds lean to Valenciennes, Irish point and simple forms of filet. A design that may be transferred to Hnen may be transferred to any other material. The only difference that exists is in the kinds of threads employed in doing the work, for all work t:-m young girls' garments must be simple. Dull-tinted silks and embroidery yarns for coarse patterns of embroidery are not only effective but desirable upon school clothes. Bright silk embroidery is intended for older women and, except where sharp contrasts are desired, are not used in working designs upon school dresses. The girl who wants to be very fashionable, indeed, takes with J her to school a quantity of embroidered articles for her wardrobe ! and room; she exhibits embroidery from the dainty tip of her neck- f" tie to the instep of her hosiery, but her mother has been careful that all the designs employed are simple, the materials fine, and that no over-elaboration proclaims lack of refinement In taste.
