d paper,
which may be lined with calico or alpaca, according to the work
intended to be done.

French braid, whether made of linen or of cotton, is laid on the
pattern with stitches taken across it, from one edge to the other.
This mode of putting on braid prevents it from stretching, as, from
the nature of the plait, it would otherwise do. In forming angles,
each edge should be sewn down to the paper, and then the braid turned
over. Circles are made by laying the braid on the design, and forming
it into the proper shape with the fingers, before tacking it down.

We give a diagram showing the manner in which lines of braid cross and
intersect each other, to form the pattern; and we would observe, _en
passant_, that each line is done with a separate piece of braid, that
from A to B being one piece, and from C to D another.

Italian braid, being so much wider, requires to be tacked down at both
edges; and in forming circles and scrolls, one edge has, not
unfrequently, to be gathered in slightly. When thread is used as an
outline, a second, and much finer thread is used to tack it down. The
coarse thread is laid on the outlines, and the needle is brought up on
one side of it, and down, in the same hole, on the other. The stitches
are taken at the rate of five or six to an inch, one being always
placed at the point of each angle, so as to keep the outlines as
accurate as possible. To fasten on a thread, run the needle along the
braid a little way, taking a button-hole stitch to secure it. Fasten
off in the same manner. If the outlines are in thread, you can twist
the needle round it two or three times, and then take a tight
button-hole stitch.

The chief stitch in all Point Lace is that known as the common
button-hole or overcast stitch. This stitch, worked as closely as
possible, or at regular intervals, drawn tightly, or the reverse,
forms almost all the stitches, or more properly _laces_, used. We will
begin by describing the simplest of all, which is known as

[Illustration: BRUSSELS EDGE.]

BRUSSELS EDGE (No. 1). This is a continuous line of button-hole
stitches, not drawn tightly, and taken at equal distances of about the
fourteenth part of an inch. When worked on braid, care should be taken
that the needle is inserted at a little distance from the edge of the
braid, which would otherwise be apt to fray.

LITTLE VENETIAN EDGING (No. 2). In working this stitch, do one
Brussels, and in the loop of that work a _