650. Table-cloths.-These may be purchased either singly, or cut from the piece. In the latter case the ends should be hemmed as neatly as possible, and marked and numbered.

651. Dinner Napkins.-These are of various materials; if cut from the piece, they must be hemmed at the ends the same as table-cloths. Large and small tray napkins and knife-box cloths, are made in the same manner. The hemming of all these should be extremely neat. It is a pretty and light employment for very young ladies; little girls even should do this work, and thus early acquire habits of neatness and usefulness, which will prove useful in after life.

652. Housemaid and Kitchen Linen.-In the housemaid's department, paint cloths, old and soft, and chamber bottle cloths, fine and soft, are to be provided. To these must be added dusters, flannels for scouring, chamber bucket-cloths, which last should be of a kind and color different from everything else. All these must be neatly hemmed and run, or seamed if neeessary. Nothing, in a well-directed family, should bear the impress of neglect, or be suffered to assume an untidy appearance.

653. Clothes-bags. - Clothes-bags of different sizes should also be provided, of two yards in length, and either one breadth doubled, in which case only one seam will be required, or of two breadths, which makes the bags more suitable for large articles of clothing. These bags are to be seamed up neatly at the bottom, and to have strings which will draw run in at the top. The best material is canvas, or strong unbleached linen. In the kitchen department, you will require both table and dresser cloths, which should be made as neat as possible.

654. Mending.-In cutting up an old garment, it is a great advantage to have a portion of the same material new. For this reason, when purchasing cloth for a new garment, buy a little additional quantity for repairs, and take care that it is kept for that purpose, and not wasted in any way.

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It was formerly the custom with all careful women, buying a dress, to buy an extra yard for new sleeving. To be sure a gown was then more expensive than now; but it should be remembered, that if six gowns can be bought for the money that used to buy three or four, they cannot be made up in the

same time at home, nor for the same money if put out. Any tolerably handy woman, though she may not choose to ventura upon cutting out and making a new dress, may repair one, having the old pattern and lining to work by, and the very creases and stitches for a guide. If, by so doing, a gown will wear half as long again, the price of a little over-quantity at first, and a few hours employed on the work, are well bestowed. The same remark applies to the garments of men. Unless these be bought ready-made, the pieces should be carefully laid by for repairs. In children's clothing, these alterations and repairs are often needed.

655. Patchwork.-Many improvements may be made in patchwork that most of us have been accustomed to see for years. It is a kind of needlework very interesting for little girls; and old ladies frequently resort to this for amusement by their cosy firesides, during the long winter evenings, when tired of reading.

656. Of the Materials.-The materials necessary for patchwork are such portions of wearing apparel, whether cloth, calico, linen, holland, silk, velvet, cotton, &c., such as would otherwise be thrown away, or saved for the rag-man. No matter how small the portion, every scrap has its use. The next necessary article is some stiff paper-old envelopes, backs of letters, brown paper, &c., to form the shapes; lastly, the designshapes, cut out in tin, and the designs themselves.

The materials should be arranged into shades and qualities. After having been cut to required sizes, and the irregularities of the edges neatly repaired, they are ready for use.

657. Patterns. The patterns may be varied ad infinitum, if the person possesses the least talent for drawing; but for the sake of those who may not be able to do this, we submit the following simple and effective designs to be executed in any of the materials.

658. To make the Patchwork.-The pattern should be placed before the person, and the shades being selected, the several pieces arranged so as to form the design, and the edges then neatly sewed together; after which they are either pressed, or ironed, the papers removed, and the lining proceeded with.

When silks and velvets are employed, it improves the effect to combine the two, taking the silk for the lighter, and the velvet for the darker shades; or, as in figures 5, 6, 8, and 11, to have silk for the lighter shades, and two velvets for the others, shaded to pattern.

A very pretty effect is produced by combining Holland and calico, silk and satin, silk or satin and velvet, and rough and fine cloth.

The various articles that may be manufactured, are quilts in colored and white calico; anti-macassars in silks; ottomans in silks and velvets, silks and cloth; table-covers in silks and cloth; cushions for chairs or sofas, in silks; and mats, rugs, and carpets, in cloth.

We have seen many useful white quilts for children's cots, made from the cuttings remaining after shirt making. The centre might be of Holland and calico, pattern 10, fig. 5, and then fig. 7, with a fringe border, knitted. Numerous rugs might be made in colored cloths, to look equal to carpets, for poor people, and wear much better.

659. The materials required, consist of braid of various hues, purse-silk of different shades, bed-ticking, feathers, down, horsehair, or worsted ends; the design-shapes, some cord for pipings, the various colored cloths, silks, &c., and a curtain-ring or a piece of cardboard for the centre.

The size varies from fifteen to eighteen inches in diameter, according to taste.

The colors cannot be fixed, because it depends much upon taste, but we have made the elegant musnud given p. 160, by placing cobalt as the right hand centre-piece, then (proceeding from right to left) white, salmon, purple, crimson, amber, pea green, and madder-brown. The handles are amber, the side

brown, and the back purple.

It is better, in combining or arranging all colors for patchwork, to keep as near as possible to the harmony observed by Nature; therefore, to attend to the same order displayed in the case of a refracted ray of light, viz., violet, indigo, blue, green, yellow, orange, and red, adding, in this case, white, to represent the ray in its natural state before refraction or dispersion of its colors took place.

To make the Musnud.-Cut two circles of fifteen or eighteen inches in diameter in bed-ticking, and a strip of the same material three inches deep, and thrice the length of the diameter; make into the usual shape, and stuff with feathers, down, horsehair, or the refuse ends of worsted. Cut out two handles as in the design, of the same material, and sew them on. Rub the inside of the bed-ticking with a lump of bees'-wax previous to making up the musnud, (as it prevents the feathers and dust working through,) and tack the centre down.

Cut out the back in a piece of purple moreen, or any other material, then cut four strips of brown cashmere, each three inches deep and five long, join these neatly together to form the side, and braid the following design in bright yellow on it, finishing the veining of the leaves in chain-stitch with purse silk.

The wedge-shaped pieces should now be cut out in the various colored cloths, &c., and braided as in the design, four being braided with floral, and four with fancy designs. Each piece should measure nine inches in length and six inches and threequarters in breadth at the outer part. The centre piece should measure two inches and a quarter in diameter, be of a dark brown, and braided with a bright yellow star,