s also good for common
skirts. In making up flannel, back-stitch and run the seams, and then
cross-stitch them open. Nice flannel, for infants, can be ornamented,
with very little expense of time, by turning up the hem, on the right
side, and making a little vine at the edge, with saddler's silk. The
stitch of the vine is a modification of buttonhole-stitch.

Long night gowns are best, cut a little goring. It requires five yards,
for a long nightgown, and two and a half for a short one. Linen
nightcaps wear longer than cotton ones, and do not, like them, turn
yellow. They should be ruffled with linen, as cotton borders will not
last so long as the cap. A double-quilted wrapper is a great comfort, in
case of sickness. It may be made of two old dresses. It should not be
cut full, but rather like a gentleman's study-gown, having no gathers or
plaits, but large enough to slip off and on with ease. A double gown, of
calico, is also very useful. Most articles of dress, for grown persons
or children, require patterns.

_Bedding._ The best beds, are thick hair mattresses, which, for persons
in health, are good for Winter as well as Summer use. Mattresses may
also be made of husks, dried and drawn into shreds; also, of alternate
layers of cotton and moss. The most profitable sheeting, is the Russian,
which will last three times as long as any other. It is never perfectly
white. Unbleached cotton is good for Winter. It is poor economy to make
narrow and short sheets, as children and domestics will always slip them
off, and soil the bedtick and bolster. They should be three yards long,
and two and a half wide, so that they can be tucked in all around. All
bed-linen should be marked and numbered, so that a bed can always be
made properly, and all missing articles be known.

_Mending._ Silk dresses will last much longer, by ripping out the
sleeves, when thin, and changing the arms, and also the breadths of the
skirt. Tumbled black silk, which is old and rusty, should be dipped in
water, then be drained for a few minutes, without squeezing or pressing,
and then ironed. Cold tea is better than water. Sheets, when worn thin
in the middle, should be ripped, and the other edges sewed together.
Window-curtains last much longer, if lined, as the sun fades and rots
them. Broadcloth should be cut with reference to the way the nap runs.
When pantaloons are thin, it is best to newly seat them, cutting the
piece inserted in a curve, as corner