The top of a hair mattress is made of sateen Leeds ticking, bordered with fancy striped Belgian. The underside can be covered with fine hessian, but if made of the same material as the top the mattress can be reversed. Seam the material to the required width of the mattress, then machine on a border of Belgian all round, 5 in. wide; this will give the mattress a thickness of 4in. Let the stripe of the border run the opposite way to the cover. Fold in the corners neatly, and make a small roll by running a seam \ in. from the outside edges all round the top and bottom. For best work these rolls are piped with cord. Fill the mattress with curled hair, and tuft in rows 6 in. apart with strong twine and red woollen tufts. To make the mattress square and firm at the edges the sides are stitched up with two or three rows of blind stitches. For this purpose an upholsterer's 9-in. double-pointed mattress needle, threaded with twine, must be used, the needle being passed through the side about 1 in. from the bottom edge,-and brought out, but not drawn through, 6 in. from the edge on the top; the needle is then, being double-pointed, backed out on the side about 3 in. from the place at which it was first inserted.

When the needle is pulled up tight all the hair contained in the stitch is drawn up to the edge of the mattress. Stitch all round in this way as many times as necessary.