SEWING-ROOM CONVENIENCES A gas or oil stove to heat irons for pressing is an added convenience to the sewing room. Two irons should be kept in the sewing room so as not to interfere with the laundry irons.
A Skirt Board and a Narrow Sleeve Board are also necessities. When not in use, the closet in which unfinished garments are hung is a handy place for keeping all such conveniences.
The Worktable.— A convenient cut ting table is made with leaves that may be dropped when the cutting is finished, and should be as large as the size of the room will allow. If the room is small, a folding table a yard long may take the place of the larger one.
A Handy Sewing Table may be made by using the legs of an old ordi nary sewing table.
Or have the legs made to allow for a top 8 feet long by 3 feet wide. The top should consist of two pieces of equal length with difference of of an inch in thickness, the thinner piece to be built up with felt or blotting paper to match the thicker, thus mak ing the table half felt covered and half bare wood. All pressing can then be done on the felt without leav ing unsightly marks. All work re quiring a hard surface may be done on the plain uncovered wood, and the length of the table allows for cut ting garments of any dimensions. The felt keeps the materials from slipping, as they will do on a smooth table.
The Workbasket.—The workbasket should be equipped with several pairs of sharp scissors, needles of various sizes for both fine and coarse work, and thread of different numbers and colors. Work cannot be done in a creditable manner unless one is in pos session of the needful tools.
A well-equipped sewing room takes away much of the drudgery of mend ing day. During the week articles will have accumulated in the sewing basket to be mended or renovated, and the many conveniences of the sew ing room will come into play during the weekly process of putting the various family garments in repair.
Patterns.—Patterns may be in de mand at any moment, hence a con venient holder should be provided. This may be made of a stout, short box divided into compartments, one for each member of the family. The
compartments are made by gluing in pieces of cardboard. Arrange the pat terns on their sides so that they may be examined like a card index without removing the box. Patterns should be gone over once or twice a year in order to discard those that have gone out of fashion, and hence will not he used again. When discarding pat terns, those made of soft paper should not be thrown away, as they are use ful for shaving paper, polishing mir rors, glass, silver, etc.
Or patterns may be kept intact by a series of pockets made in the fol lowing manner: take two yards of any suitable goods such as gingham or cretonne; tear it in half; cut one yard into strips 9 inches wide, hem ming one edge; stitch the strips lengthwise, dividing the whole into five strips, making four 6 inches wide and the fifth 3 inches wide. Sew these strips to the remaining yard, thus making sixteen pockets 9 by 6 inches, and three pockets 9 by 3 inches. Label the large pockets shirt waists, shirts, dresses, aprons, etc. The labeling may be done with India ink. A convenient place for this pattern receptacle is the inside of the closet door.
Bags.—No conveniences of the sew ing room are more to be valued than bags, which may be used for various purposes, such as scrap bags, bags for waste thread, button bags, sewing bags, etc.
Scrap Bags. — When the annual spring cleaning is finished all pieces of cloth that have accumulated during the winter should be sorted and put in bags labeled to denote their con tents. One bag may be marked calico, another linings, another silk, and so on. The labeling may be done with India ink, or by writing on a small slip of paper pasted on the outside of each bag. If odd pieces of cloth are cared for in this manner, it enables one to lay the hand upon any desired article at a moment's notice when do ing the weekly mending. The top of the bag should be finished with casing and draw string, so as to hang on a hook in the closet.