Chapter 38 - Making Your Home More Beautiful

Choose fabrics for home sewing carefully. Consider the effect you want and critically examine materials for draping qualities, texture, strength, wash ability. Plan colors and try to visualize your finished room. Looking at magazines specializing in home decoration, and visiting furniture departments of retail stores will give you many good ideas.

Work carefully. Develop a pride in craftsmanship. It is poor economy to botch something and have to replace it very quickly because it does not stand up in wearing quality, or because it does not look well.

Review other parts of this book on fabrics, ruffles, pleats, headings and casings. You will need more than a nodding acquaintance with these techniques. And provide yourself with a flexible steel rule for measuring accurately. Know your machine attachments. The foot hemmer, ruffler and edge stitcher will be of invaluable assistance.

Flounces: Slip covers, bedspreads and other articles for the home are usually made with some kind of flounce attached to a top piece. To attach flounces, see pp. 121, 122 on attaching ruffles.

Circular flounce: This is cut on the bias. Make a crosswise fold and put a pin into one corner to hold the fabric secure. To one end of a string, tie a pencil. Hold the string firmly at the corner with the pin, and with this homemade compass, draw a circular line about an inch down from the selvage to the fold. From the point thus made on the selvage, measure down the desired length of the flounce plus one inch for seams, and from this point make a second circular line with the pencil. Cut out as many flounce pieces as are necessary and seam them together. Narrowly hem the bottom or make a shell hem. The top raw edge is then attached to the spread, slip cover, etc.

Godet flounce: Cut out a straight piece the desired width and length (seam pieces together for long length) of the finished flounce, plus seam allowance top and bottom. Finish bottom with a hem or any desired decoration. Slash the flounce almost the whole width at even intervals and insert triangular godets. The bottom width of the godet should be a little less than half the depth of the flounce. Cut out the godets by marking them  on the fabric thus:

 Circular ruffle

The godet should be cut so that a line from the top angle perpendicular to the bottom is on the lengthwise of the goods. To insert the godets, see p. 118.

Pleated flounce: Prepare a strip two to three times the finished length of the flounce, depending on the amount of fullness desired, and the proper depth, plus seam allowance. Have the pleating done professionally or do it yourself (see p. 118), but put in bottom hem first. Stitch across the top of the pleats to hold them in place.

Gathered flounce: Prepare a strip twice finished length and hem the bottom. Gather the top with two lines of machine stitching with the stitch regulator set at the longest stitch. Gather in several sections, rather than in one long line, for ease in pulling up gathers. Wind ends around a pin to hold. You may use the machine gatherer attachment or the ruffler. Scalloped flounce: This is made like a gathered flounce, except that the bottom is scalloped first. Make a paper pattern of a scallop the desired size, make flounce the desired length and mark off at the bottom the spaces for the scallops. Use the paper pattern to trace the scallops on the fabric and cut out. Sew bias binding on to scallops double, French style (see p. 125). Clip around curves, slash to points, turn bias over, baste and stitch.

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