APRONS AND FLANNEL PETTICOATS

ALL WOMEN need aprons, both for sewing and household use. For any one who has had little experience in needlework the making of a few simple, pretty aprons will make her familiar with the use of stitches and materials.

Two sewing aprons can be made from three yards of lawn thirty-six inches wide. Tear the goods into three equal breadths. If the edges are uneven, pull the crosswise threads into shape by stretching through the bias. From one length tear four strips, thirty-six inches long and six inches wide for the ties, and two lengths for the belt bands. The latter should be three inches wide and two inches shorter than the waist measure.

Take one of the remaining large pieces and turn up a four-inch hem at one end by folding over a narrow turning and creasing evenly. Make a second turning four inches wide and crease. Baste along the line of the first turning and hem neatly with small even stitches, using fine cotton and a small needle.

Beginning with the selvage, slope the apron off a little at the

top to keep it from hooping up at the front. It should be one-half inch shorter at the center front than at the sides.

Gather the top three-eighths of an inch in from the edge and stroke the gathers. Draw up the threads, making the apron two-thirds of the waist measure. Pin the middle of the band to the middle of the apron on the right side. Hold the gathers toward you and backstitch to the band. Hem the ties with three-eighths-inch hems at the sides and two-inch hems at the ends. Lay a plait in the upper end making it one inch in width and back-stitch to the end of the band three-eighths of an inch from the edge. (Fig. 128). Turn the band toward the wrong side of the apron, turn in the raw edge three-eighths of an inch and hem to the gathers, covering the line of sewing. Turn in the ends of the band and hem them to the ties. Overhand the remaining spaces on the band.

The apron may be finished without ties by cutting the band one and one-half inches longer than waist measure. Turn in three-eighths of an inch at each end and overhand all around. Make two buttonholes at one end and sew two buttons at the other end.

A FLANNEL PETTICOAT or UNDERSKIRT is an excellent garment for the inexperienced needlewoman to practise on.

Select a good pattern and cut as directed in the instructions. If the pattern allows for no hem, each gore must be cut about three inches longer at the bottom. Baste the seams, matching the notches, and backstitch them. Leave a ten-inch opening at the back for a placket, which can be finished with featherstitched hems as shown in Fig. 129, The seam edges may be catch-stitched as shown in Figs. 11 and 12 on page 5.

The bottom of the skirt may be finished with a scalloped edge as shown in Fig. 87 on page 25. Or, the hem may be turned up on the right side, made into a French hem, and finished with a row of featherstitching as shown in Fig. 131. If this latter finish is de-

Fashion Design Drawing - Aprons And Flannel Petticoats 1.jpg

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