g the braid edges, as in figs. 707, 708,
709, run a thread through the buttonhole stitches; this thread serves as
the foundation to the Russian stitches by which the two edges are joined
together. The empty square space left between the Russian stitches is
then filled up with buttonhole stitches, like those in fig. 651, in the
foregoing chapter.

[Illustration: Fig. 719. INSERTION WITH HALF BARS.]

INSERTION WITH HALF BARS (fig. 719).--Fasten on the thread in one of
the corners of the braid and conduct it by means of overcasting stitches
to the middle of the insertion, draw it through the edge of the braid on
the right and make buttonhole stitches over it, to the middle of the
space to be filled, then carry the thread to the left, draw it through
the left edge, a little higher up than on the other side, and make the
same number of stitches over it as over the first. You can vary this
insertion with very good result by making more stitches on one side than
on the other, but it should never be more than 10 or 12 stitches wide.

[Illustration: FIG. 720. PLAIN NET STITCH. FIRST LACE STITCH.]

PLAIN NET STITCH. FIRST LACE STITCH (fig. 720).--Make rows of
buttonhole stitches to and fro, loose enough to form loops into which
the stitches of each subsequent row are set. You must be careful to make
the same number of stitches in all the spaces that are of the same size,
and also, when you begin a row with a whole stitch, to begin the return
row with a half, and so on, in regular rotation.

The number of stitches should vary with the width of the pattern and the
decreasing and increasing should always be done at the edge.

The loops must be as many threads of the braid edge long, as they are
wide.

[Illustration: FIG. 721. DOUBLE NET STITCH. SECOND LACE STITCH.]

DOUBLE NET STITCH. SECOND LACE STITCH (fig. 721).--You leave the same
distance between the stitches here as in the preceding figure, but in
each of the loops of the first row, you must make two buttonhole
stitches close together. It is as well to round the loop a little less
than is usually done in net stitch.

[Illustration: FIG. 722. THIRD LACE STITCH.]

THIRD LACE STITCH (fig. 722).--Here, you make three buttonhole
stitches close together, joined to the next three by a loop of thread,
just long enough to hold the three buttonhole stitches of the subsequent
row.

[Illustration: FIG. 723. FOURTH LACE STITCH.]

FOURTH LACE STITCH (fig. 723).--Working from l