Page 4 Advertisements Column 2

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2574, 7 August 1909, Page 4 (Supplement)

FOR THE EMBROIDERER. One of the most important points for the amateur embroiderer to remember is to keep her hands absolutely smooth, particularly if she is working with floss, silk. A rough piece of skin or nail may catch in the silk* and .spoil an hour’s .work by dragging a finished leaf or flower into a mass of ravelled ends. Professional embroiderers are as careful of their hands as prinra donnas aro of their voices. They pay the greatest attention v to_ maniauring, and when not actually working wear chamois leather gloves. Some exports, before beginning to embroider', always wash their hands in warm soapy water softened with oatmeal. When dry a little lemon is rubbed over the* fingers, and then a little honey wild glycerine is worked into the pores to mako the- skin supple. In a city the hands need constant washing, for it is surprising how the dust and smuts soil the hands while working; and, of course, the work must bo kept immaculate or it is valueless, ' An important thing for the amateur to notice is that long threads of silk arc a mistake, for they are So apt to tangle and knot. The best length for the thread is the width of the skein, cutting the latter at both ends. When this is done each skein should be wrapped separately in tissue paper, or, as is very often done by professionals, a hoiland ease, may bo used, made double and divided by stitching into narrow compartments; ."-'The silk is threaded through these, compartments, before it is out, by means of a long hairpin. Embroiderers who work at all by artificial light, should be very careful to name 'each skein by its right shade, for it is so difficult to judge of Itlie colors by gaslight, and thus mistakcisui^e,,often