[Illustration: Fig. 298.—Button-hole Stitch.]
is used to keep the seams in flannel spread open and fastened neatly down. Fig. 299 shows how to take the stitch; make the stitches all even and of the same size.
[Illustration: Fig. 299.—Herring-bone Stitch.]
We have now given all the stitches which properly belong to plain sewing, and our next step will be
“A stitch in time saves nine;” this much most of us know from experience, and it is wise to devote a little time on a certain day each week to looking over the wardrobe and making any repairs that may be needed; the little care and time thus bestowed will prove a true economy, and it is a real comfort to have all one’s clothing in perfect order.
With a needle and thread carefully draw out the uneven ravelled edges of the hole, in order to diminish its size as much as possible, and bring the loops and ends back in their proper places; then place under it a wooden egg or anything that will answer the purpose, and using thread of the same texture and shade of color as the garment to be mended, run back and forth across the hole as far as the material is worn thin, leaving a loop at the end of each turn. In crossing the threads, take up every other thread alternately each way (Fig. 300), and make the darn of an irregular shape, as one of an even outline does not wear well; when the weaving or darning is finished the loops can be cut off.
[Illustration: Fig. 300.—Jersey or Stocking Darn.]
Carefully bring the ragged edges together and baste the tear as nearly as possible in its original position; then, if it is delicate muslin or dress material to be mended, use ravellings of the same instead of thread to darn with, and weave it in and out across the edges of the rent, as in Fig. 301; if the darn needs strengthening, baste a piece of the same material under the rent before darning, and catch down the edges of the piece on the under side of the goods. In mending broadcloth or like material, darn it on the wrong side, and when the darn is finished, ruff up the nap with the point of the needle at the edges of the tear on the right side to cover the stitches; then dampen the darn, and after laying a thin clean cloth over it, press with a moderately hot flat-iron; this should make the darn almost, if not quite, imperceptible.