Thread a sewing needle with white cotton (say No. 40), make a knot, and just to fasten your thread to your work put your needle in on the wrong side just below the running stitches, at the inner end of the buttonhole, picking up one thickness of material only, and bring it out on the right side of your work between the edges of the buttonhole.

MAKING A BUTTONHOLE.

Buttonholes are always worked on the right side of the work, and are worked from left to right. To make the first stitch (after fastening your cotton on as above), place the needle downwards through the buttonhole, and put it in just where you put it at first, only this time right through both thicknesses of material.

When you have your needle in this position, place your cotton round it exactly as the little illustration shows it placed, pull your needle out, and you will find that you have made a knotted stitch, which must be pulled up so that the knot comes right at the edge of the buttonhole; this completes one stitch, and you must work a row of these stitches right along, making the ends of the stitches even to a thread.

The round end is made in the same way that you do oversewing, and each stitch must be made the same length as the buttonhole stitches, and taken round to form a half-circle at the end of the hole; the lower part of the little illustration shows how the needle is placed for this.

Work the second side in the same way as the first, then for the square end take a couple of ordinary back stitches right over the entire width of the worked buttonhole (from the lower edge of the stitches on one side to the lower edge of the stitches on the other), and work a row of buttonhole stitches across the end of the buttonhole, bringing the knots just over the bar of stitches you have just made across. This completes your buttonhole.

All that now remains to be done is the feather-stitching, and for the little girl who has not attempted this stitch before, we are giving an illustration showing exactly how it should be made.

This is worked from right to left. If you look carefully at the illustration you will see that the thread is always brought round to the front of the needle before making a stitch, and for the upper part a small stitch is taken downwards towards you, and for the lower part a stitch of the same length is taken turning upwards towards you. The feather-stitching should be worked just over the hemming line, and this will serve as a guide for keeping it straight; the bottom of the top stitch should come just above the hemming line, and the top of the lower stitch just below it. The illustration clearly shows where the feather-stitching should be added.

For Ribbons and Bows.

This is how the Box looks when it is closed.

Isn’t it just too tiresome when you want a particular bow to wear with a blouse, or a little lace collar that is just the right shape, and you look in vain through the drawer where you keep knick-knacks of this description. Then you know how the drawer gets all tumbled over, and you have finally to seize a bow that isn’t a bit the one you wanted, and rush off, to save being late for school. Have you ever been in a fix like that? If you have, you know all about it, and it is all the more annoying when you know all the time that the bow is there somewhere.

Now what is really the trouble here? Why the fact of the matter is the drawer is too big, and the little bow loses itself among the other things in the drawer.

Now what you want is a little compartment where you can keep your bows or collars (as the case may be) all to themselves. A cardboard box inside the drawer won’t last any time. No; the better plan is to make yourself a really pretty box, that can stand on your dressing-table. You see the sweet one illustrated, don’t you? Well, it will be a very simple matter for you to make one in the same way. The outside of this one is covered with a pretty flowered cretonne, of which pink and green are the principal colours, and it is lined with biscuit-coloured sateen. But you would, of course, make your box in the colours that will go best with your little bedroom. A flowered material is probably nicest for the outside, though plain material could be used. In any case, a deep cream is the best colour for the inside of the box.

To make a box the same size as the one here shown, you will want four pieces of thin cardboard 6 inches long by 5½ inches wide for the lid and bottom, four pieces 6 inches by 3 inches for the sides, and four pieces 5½ inches by 3 inches for the ends. Then you will want two pieces of cream sateen 7 inches by 6½ inches, and two pieces of flowered cretonne the same size, two pieces of cream sateen and two pieces of cretonne 7 inches by 4 inches, and two pieces each of sateen and cretonne 6½ inches by 4 inches.

The first step is to cover the cardboard pieces. This must be done very neatly. You will notice that the pieces of material are an inch larger each way than the cardboard they are to cover. When you lay a piece of cardboard on a piece of material there should be ½-inch of material all round, outside the cardboard, for turning over. Crease it over the edges of the cardboard all round, turning it in under again at the corners, as you see in the little picture. Start by taking a few stitches at the first corner, carry your needle on to the next corner, and again take a few firm stitches. When you have done all the corners, take a few long stitches from side to side, as you see in the illustration, to keep it secure.

COVERING A SECTION OF CARDBOARD WITH MATERIAL.

You must now sew the covered pieces together. Take a cretonne-covered piece, place it against a sateen-covered piece of the same size, having the turned-in sides together, and oversew neatly all round. Do this with all the pieces. Now you have six neat little sections, each of which is cream one side and coloured on the other.

Your next task is to oversew five of these sections together to make a box. First sew the two side and two end pieces together, and then sew the bottom piece to all four, taking care that all the cream sides are inside and the coloured sides outside.

Before you sew the lid on, sew cord round all the edges with neat stitches, as you see in the picture. Green cord was used for this box, but you could use whatever colour goes best with your cretonne. Sew cord also round the edge of the lid.

All that now remains to be done is to fasten the lid to the box. This is done by oversewing on the inside the cord on one side of the box to that on the lid. You have now got not only a useful receptacle for your bows, etc., but a very pretty addition to your dressing-table. The size given is a very useful one, but you are not bound to