THE variety here is immense. All rich stuffs, plush, satin, silk, and embossed materials, are handsome and may be heavily embroidered, or some slight spray worked upon them.

Sail-cloth makes an exellent panel upon which to embroider figures in outline embroidery. The stamping can be done in most towns, or an ingenious person can transfer designs.

Cretonne makes a pretty screen. It can be embroidered by working in the high lights in silk. Many cover it with embroidery, but this hardly pays. The first screen we ever saw, consisted of one panel, and was made from the rich-flowered dressing-gown of one of the ancestors of the family.

A plain stretch of felting in any pretty color makes a beautiful background on which to arrange a group of feathers, a stuffed bird, or a pair of Japanese fans with the handles crossed and tied with a bow of ribbon in a pretty contrasting color. A pair of bird's wings, those of wild ducks are very nice, and a fan made of two pretty pieces of wall-paper laid in folds and held together at one end (an ordinary folding fan) with a large bow of ribbon, looks well. This same decoration in larger shape looks well on the wall.

A good use to make of one of those interesting old "samplers" which are stowed away in so many houses is to stretch it upon a pretty stuff panel of a screen and fasten at each corner with a bow of ribbon. If used in a screen with more than one panel, the others may be filled with

Japanese Piecework

Collect a quantity of scraps of ribbon, brocade, satin, velvet, plush, and silk. If the pieces are small and odd in shape, so much the better. Take squares of old muslin, lay over them a half thickness of wadding, then baste on the pieces, turning in or covering the edges. Put them on in as fantastic a way as possible. Many embroider the larger spaces with palettes, crescents, arrows, butterflies, two rings interlocked, or any odd design, and cover all the seams with feather stitch or point russe. Much embroidery is not necessary; we have seen blocks which had a loaded appearance. Having finished blocks enough for the space, sew them nicely together, line, and stretch in your screen.

Let us here recommend as a constant friend and helper to one new in the art of designing, an illustrated dictionary. You will find pretty shields, birds, insects, Egyptian symbols, and a host of other suggestive designs.

One panel of piecework could be varied by a diagonal band of plush, or a corner of the same; or the band could be of cloth, and if some learned friend would suggest a Sanscrit or Hebrew motto, it could be cut out and appliqued on. We have seen a beautiful hanging with an adornment of this kind, the letters being about six inches in length, and of black on a lighter ground.

We think some ingenious woman could make a

Patriotic Screen

Which would be useful and striking. Take the army blue coat which some brave husband or brother wore home. Those belonging to the heroic dead are perhaps too sacred to be converted even into a thing of beauty. The frame could be painted with a succession of coats of Venetian red rubbed smooth with pumice-stone and water. The light blue cloth could be stretched, and the edges at the back of the screen covered with a narrow, dark blue braid and tacked on with fancy brass tacks. Across the light blue field could be laid a diagonal band of dark blue cloth, fastened on with red and gold stitches and with army buttons at intervals. Upon the dark blue could be outlined in red, odd designs, some favorite motto, or a line from an army hymn.

The cap, sword, spurs, and pistol make a handsome group on the wall with a background of crimson felt. Small banner screens (see illustration p. 275) are very pretty. The ground-work is of pale blue satin. The border in applique is of dark blue velvet, embroidered in crimson and gold. The leaves are of velvet, and the stems and tendrils of chenille. Any material may be used with this design. The cords and tassels are sometimes of beads, but in any case they must harmonize in color.