Starch boxes, tobacco drums, small four-legged stools, made and
covered the same way, are a great addition to the room in filling up
vacant places or corners. The tops may be trimmed with cord and
tassels, or pleatings.
Any Old Table may be utilized by the addition of a pretty cover. If
a long table (even an old kitchen table will do), paint the legs black, as
all the furniture of the room should be wherever the wood shows, and
if the paint is varnished it is a very good substitute for ebonized wood.
Make a long cover, with the ends hanging nearly to the floor, with a
fringe or pleating of the same. If a round table, make a square cover of
chintz or cretonne, and around the edge put a wide stripe of the same
and fringe, if it can be afforded, or cut a cover the size of the table and
tack it over the top, using gimp and brass-headed nails on the edge.
Leather is also pretty. If fringe is added to the edge of the round table
it is quite an improvement.
Very Nice Ottomans can be made out of those old-fashioned bed-
steads which were used ever and ever so long ago. Take the head and
foot-boards and cut four pieces, lambrequin shape — that is, long on the
ends and short in the center — about two feet long and one foot high ;
fasten these together, place a top down in about two inches, make
a cushion with a fancy top that will fit snugly in the top, or fasten
in springs and strap them over, and then place on the fancy top and
fasten down securely. The legs will make another of a different style.
Cut them the right height, fasten together at the top with narrow pieces
of boards, and put the top in the same as the other. Of course the
wood in these will have to be oiled, as lying in the garret a hundred
years, more or less, rather takes the " shine " off of them.
A Packing-case covered with chintz, and put in a convenient place
for a seat, will hold a dress-skirt at full length. Smaller boxes of this
kind are very useful as window seats and will hold hats, jackets, work,
etc. But now, how to make one. Find a box of the shape and size you
wish, and see that there are no nails sticking out ; if so, hammer them
in or pull them out. Line the inside of the box, top, bottom and sides,
with' common white or gray glazed calico, using brass-headed nails or
tin tacks, at long intervals, to fasten the calico on with. Then take a
piece of the coarsest calico or canvas, double it and measure it with the
HOME-MADE FURNITURE. 173
top of the box ; let it be nearly half a yard wider all round. Make it
into a bag, leave the end open and stuff it rather tightly with horse-hair,
feathers, or even old newspapers torn into the tiniest fragments. Now
thread a packing-kneedle with very strong string and pass it once or
twice straight through this cushion ; pull it tight and knot it firmly.
Do the same at equal distances of six or eight inches all over the cush-
ion, which will then, if nicely done, look as though padded by anything
but an amateur hand ; nail the cushion firmly to the top of the box, and
so far your work is done.
Page 153
Presented as published in 1886. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
Starch boxes, tobacco drums, small four-legged stools, made and covered the same way, are a great addition to the room in filling up vacant places or corners. The tops may be trimmed with cord and tassels, or pleatings.
Any Old Table may be utilized by the addition of a pretty cover. If a long table (even an old kitchen table will do), paint the legs black, as all the furniture of the room should be wherever the wood shows, and if the paint is varnished it is a very good substitute for ebonized wood. Make a long cover, with the ends hanging nearly to the floor, with a fringe or pleating of the same. If a round table, make a square cover of chintz or cretonne, and around the edge put a wide stripe of the same and fringe, if it can be afforded, or cut a cover the size of the table and tack it over the top, using gimp and brass-headed nails on the edge. Leather is also pretty. If fringe is added to the edge of the round table it is quite an improvement.
Very Nice Ottomans can be made out of those old-fashioned bedsteads which were used ever and ever so long ago. Take the head and foot-boards and cut four pieces, lambrequin shape — that is, long on the ends and short in the center — about two feet long and one foot high ; fasten these together, place a top down in about two inches, make a cushion with a fancy top that will fit snugly in the top, or fasten in springs and strap them over, and then place on the fancy top and fasten down securely. The legs will make another of a different style. Cut them the right height, fasten together at the top with narrow pieces of boards, and put the top in the same as the other. Of course the wood in these will have to be oiled, as lying in the garret a hundred years, more or less, rather takes the " shine " off of them.
A Packing-case covered with chintz, and put in a convenient place for a seat, will hold a dress-skirt at full length. Smaller boxes of this kind are very useful as window seats and will hold hats, jackets, work, etc. But now, how to make one. Find a box of the shape and size you wish, and see that there are no nails sticking out ; if so, hammer them in or pull them out. Line the inside of the box, top, bottom and sides, with common white or gray glazed calico, using brass-headed nails or tin tacks, at long intervals, to fasten the calico on with. Then take a piece of the coarsest calico or canvas, double it and measure it with the
top of the box ; let it be nearly half a yard wider all round. Make it into a bag, leave the end open and stuff it rather tightly with horse-hair, feathers, or even old newspapers torn into the tiniest fragments. Now thread a packing-kneedle with very strong string and pass it once or twice straight through this cushion ; pull it tight and knot it firmly. Do the same at equal distances of six or eight inches all over the cushion, which will then, if nicely done, look as though padded by anything but an amateur hand ; nail the cushion firmly to the top of the box, and so far your work is done.