Materials

Cretonne (Chap. I, Par. 12)..

1 piece of cretonne 7"xl4".

1 piece of featherbone 9" long.

San silk or embroidery cotton to harmonize with the cretonne.

2 small rings.

1 crewel or embroidery needle to correspond.

Thread No. 70.

Needle No. 8.

Introductory Statement

Every girl should learn to keep her room as neat, clean and attractive as possible. It may not be furnished with fine furniture, but it should be well kept. Nothing adds to the charm of a girl's room more than to have it properly supplied with little conveniences of her own make.

A very useful accessory to a girl's dresser or dressing table is a hair receiver, as there is nothing more unsightly than a comb filled with hair or bunches of hair lying about.

The hair receiver affords an opportunity for a girl to show her skill and good taste; many designs have been worked out some of which are suggested on the next page. Whatever design is used should be neatly made and rather decorative in appearance.

The hair receiver presented in this lesson is very simple and will not be at all difficult. It is provided with a cord so that it may be hung near the dresser or on one of the supports that holds the mirror-

References:

Embroideries and Their Stitches. Butterick Publishing Co., N. Y. Embroidery, W. G. Townsend. Truston, London.

Suggestions For Optional Modification

Handkerchief Hair Receiver

No. 1. This hair receiver is made from a bordered handkerchief. An embroidery hoop is placed under the points of the four corners, the body of the handkerchief is pushed down inside to form a bag; it is gathered around the hoop.

Cornucopia Hair Receiver

No. 2. This hair receiver is made from white Indian head or linen, hemmed around the edges, embroidered, starched in cold starch, ironed, fastened together at the top and bottom and hung with loops of ribbon.

Embroidered Hair Receiver

No. 3. This hair receiver is made from white linen, scalloped and embroidered with the satin stitch. It is held together with ribbon laced through eyelets, and held open at the top with featherbone. The baby ribbon provides a hanger and part of the decoration.

Lawn Hair Receiver

No. 4. This hair receiver is made from white lawn with flaps similar in shape to the bottom of the bag. The top is held open with featherbone. The bag is suspended with baby ribbon finished at the ends with rosettes.

Working Directions For Hair Receiver

Preparing Material

Straighten the short edges of the material (Chap. II, Par. 102). The curves at the bottom of the hair receiver may be drawn freehand on the material, which should be folded crosswise, but it would possibly be safer to draw a pattern on paper and use that as a guide in cutting out the hair receiver.

To Make The Pattern

Cut a piece of paper about 6" square; fold two edges together evenly. This makes the folded paper half the width of the receiver. As the top of the receiver is to be straight, do not change the top edge of the pattern, but at the bottom from the folded edge cut off the outside open corners in a graceful curve as shown in the illustration on the front page.

To Cut Out The Hair Receiver

Open the pattern and lay it on the double thickness of the goods with the wrong side out; make the top exactly even with the straightened edges of the material. To keep the pattern from slipping, pin it to the goods at each corner of the top and at the bottom, then carefully cut out the hair receiver; cut through both thicknesses of material. Remove the pattern.

To Make The Seams

The curved edges of the two pieces that are to form the hair receiver are to be joined with an overcast seam. To make the seam, first pin the material together (wrong side out) in two or three places to keep it from slipping, then follow directions for an overcast seam (Chap. II, Par. 140), sewing the seam with the backstitch (Chap. II, Par. 107), or combination stitch (Chap. II, Par. 108). Trim off the ravelings and overcast the seams neatly (Chap. II, Par. 113).

To Finish The Top

As the cloth is to be gathered slightly on featherbone 1/8" wide which is run through a hem in the top of the hair receiver, make the hem 1/4" wide, with a narrow first turning turned toward the wrong side; baste (Chap. II, Par. 103), and hem it in place (Chap. II, Par. 114). As the featherbone is inserted after the hem is made, it will be necessary to leave a space of about 1/2" unsewed in the edge of the hem, preferably near one of the seams. After the hem is completed, turn the hair receiver right side out.

Single featherstitching (Chap. II, Par. 121) may be used to finish the hem on the right side if desired. If it is used, omit the hemming stitches.

To Finish Curved Edge

Single featherstitching (Chap. II, Par. 121) is used around the curved edge of the hair receiver. Special care will be required to make the featherstitching perfectly even on the curved edge.

To Put In The Featherbone

As featherbone is rough at the cut end, it is very difficult to run this through a hem without having it covered with a small piece of cotton cloth. To do this, take a strip of the cretonne 1/2" wide and 1" long, double it over the end of the featherbone and fold it around it; sew in place with the overcasting stitch (Chap. II, Par. 113), sewing through the featherbone with each stitch. After the end of the featherbone is covered push it through the casing, or hem, at the top of the receiver. Gather the material in the hair receiver slightly on the featherbone, as shown in the illustration. Fasten the two ends of the featherbone by overlapping them about 1/2", then sewing through and through them until they are securely fastened together. Wrap the thread around the joint several times to keep it from making a bulge in the hem; fasten the thread securely. (Cut off any extra featherbone). The opening may be hemmed down.

To Put On The Hanger

Sew an ivory ring on the top end of each seam. The bag may be suspended with white cord or ribbon the ends of which are simply tied at each end in a bowknot.