preceding chapter, must never be allowed to get in between the stuff and
the paper.

This kind of paste makes no spots and does not injure even the most
delicate colours as it contains no acid. In winter it will keep for
several days, but in hot weather it very soon begins to ferment and
should then on no account be used.

Gum arabic ought never to be used for applique work, as it becomes so
hard that it is impossible to get the needle through, whilst the
saccharine it contains almost always causes ugly spots to appear in the
stuff when it dries.

When the work is finished it is a good plan to spread a very thin layer
of paste over the entire back of it with a fine brush made of hog's
bristles, and not to take it out of the frame until it is perfectly dry.

TO STIFFEN NEW NEEDLEWORK.--In the chapter on Irish lace, page 441,
we said that new needlework of that kind had to be ironed; this should
be done in the following manner: when the lace has been taken off its
foundation, lay it, face downwards, on a piece of fine white flannel;
then dip a piece of very stiff new organdie muslin into water, take it
out again almost immediately and wring it slightly, so that no drops may
fall from it, and then dab the wrong side of the lace all over with this
pad of damp muslin and iron it with a hot iron which should be moved
slowly forwards so that the moisture which the organdie has imparted to
the lace may evaporate slowly. Not until you are quite sure that the
lace is dry should it be taken off the board.

There is no better way than this of giving new lace that almost
imperceptible degree of stiffness by which alone it is often to be
distinguished from old. Water only does not stiffen the thread
sufficiently and it is difficult with starch to hit upon exactly the
right consistency, whereas the organdie muslin supplies just the needful
quantity.

Embroidered network can be stiffened in the same manner and should be
damped in the frame on the wrong side and not taken off until it is
quite dry.

We even recommend embroidery on linen being treated in the same way but
when the linen is very creased, cover it with a damp cloth and iron upon
that first, then take the cloth away and iron the embroidery itself so
as to dry it completely.

TO WASH ORDINARY LACE.--Wind it round a bottle the same width top and
bottom and cover it entirely with muslin, fastened to the lace by a few
stitches. Fill the bottle half full of sand, so t